Hello and welcome! I write (and teach) poetry and fiction in the green elder mountains of southwestern Virginia. From my porch, I can watch storms move up the valley to snow on Virginia Tech and the town of Blacksburg below, or join my husband, children, and grandchildren among lightning bugs rising from the grass on summer evenings, or brainstorm with the co-author of some of my science fiction, friend and VT colleague Susan Allender Hagedorn.

I hope you'll enjoy this site, stop by the blog, and check back for updates.

Recent Adventures and Near Future News:

Sunday 23 Ocyober 2011, 1 p.m., Charleston Civic Center, Charleston WV, West Virginia Book Festival: Su Clauson and I, with planning help from colleague Sue Hagedorn, offered our writing workshop, "The First Hundred Words." Even scheduled opposite the festival's famous guest author, our workshop hosted 18 writers! Some fine openings were created and several new works well started. The book festival was a fine event, and we look forward to it next year.

Tuesday 7 June, 6-7 p.m., Green Bank Public Library, Green Bank WV: with Sue Hagedorn and Su Clauson-Wicker--Reading/Book Signing 

Tuesday 7 June, 7-8:30 p.m., Green Bank Public Library, Green Bank WV: with Sue Hagedorn and Su Clauson-Wicker--Writing Workshop: The First Hundred Words

Wednesday 6 April, 8-9 p.m., Chez Lulu, English Village, Alabama: Following an hour of great music by Sarah Green from 7-8 p.m., I'm reading my flash fiction "Dancing at Mulate's" from Birmingham Arts Journal, my story "Eleven Eleven" from Crimewave 11, and poems from Old Woman at the Warm Spring. 

Tuesday 5 April 2011, 6-8 p.m., Hoover Library, Hoover, Alabama: My story "Dancing at Mulate's" comes out in the new issue of Birmingham Arts Journal, with readings and a reception at the library.

Thursday 31 March 2011, 7 p.m., Easy Chair Coffee Shop, Blacksburg VA: Reading and book signing--Poems from Old Woman at the Warm Spring and my story "Eleven Eleven" from Crimewave 11, with music to sit down by from Terry Douglas.

ICFA--International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando Florida: I was there March 18-19, heard and even chatted by the pool with truly fantastic authors and SF bookworld stars, and flew back home on the night of the Supermoon (photo in blog).

Thursday 17 March 2011, 7 p.m., Pamplin Hall 30, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA: Reading and book signing--poems from Old Woman at the Warm Spring and my story "Botch and Coyote," out this month in Cosmogoria.

Friday 25 February 2011, 7 p.m., Fairfax Coffee House, Berkeley Springs, WV: Reading and book signing--poems from Old Woman at the Warm Spring and my story "Designer Deities, out this month in Cezanne's Carrot and soon in Bewildering Stories.