A link to the entire review as well as links to various outlets: tedmorrissey.com/aspiring-chi... #maryshelley #frankenstein #poetry #biography

I'll be joining the Two Month Review #podcast crew in a couple of hours to discuss The Tunnel - in honor of the Master, here's a quote which, for me, provides some solace in the readerless world we find ourselves in

The first review of Aspiring Child has been published at Reader Views - hopefully it portends good things for the book's reception: "The letter-esque poetry gives an interesting insight into both Morrissey's view of Shelley and of Shelley herself." #poetry #biography #bookreview #maryshelley

With the publication date just days away, Aspiring Child has begun appearing in international markets #sonnets #biography #MaryShelley #germany #sweden #books

Fiction #writers! Polish up those short stories and submit them to the newly re-established Short Story journal's "The Short Story #Prize" - northamericanreview.submittable.com/submit/33741...

Looking forward to the new book's release, but meanwhile ... #booklife #readerscommunity #ghoststories #literaturelover

A week away from the official release of Aspiring Child, which tells Mary's story from birth to her 24th year. #MaryShelley #Frankenstein #poetry #biography

Looking forward to joining the Two Month Review #podcast crew next week to discuss my favorite section of William Gass's The Tunnel, "Around the House." I'll drop in once more, for the final Tunnel episode in December. They are doing an amazing job. #literature

In this Dickens quote I modernize it by asserting him to mean *artistically* successful #fiction, not *commercially* successful, which *is* written easily. In Dickens' day, fiction could be successful in both senses. Nowadays it must be one or the other. #writingcommunity

An online #book club will be discussing Mrs Saville in February - I'm not sure if my new Mary Shelley book piqued their interest, or perhaps the wild popularity of Guillermo del Toro's adaptation on Netflix - As the cover says "A novel that begins where Mary Shelley's #Frankenstein ends."

If you love #writing, #publishing, #teaching writing - treat yourself to a #podcast that organically covers all this and more - part of the fun (for us!) is finding out what we're going to talk about twelvewinters.com/a-lesson-bef...

With the release date of Aspiring Child fast approaching, I would love to set up some talks/readings for the coming year. I taught #Frankenstein for 25 years, and this is my third book focused on Mary Shelley. My novel Mrs Saville (a sequel to Frankenstein) won the Manhattan Book Award. Let's chat!

We had the privilege of featuring eleven short stories by eleven expert practitioners of the craft this past year. Typically the last 30 minutes of each #podcast episode was devoted to discussing the story and underlining effective narrative techniques. #writingtips #writingcommunity

I was pleased that two of my sonnets to Mary Shelley found a home with the journal Feminist Spaces - I suspect Mary and certainly her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, would have been advocates of the journal, and very likely contributors, if they were #writing now. #femenism #literature #poetry

Just one of the interesting issues we cover in Episode 30 - sparked by Brady's collection-in-progress wherein he's responding to Hemingway's fiction and larger-than-life persona. #podcast #writing #reading #hemingway

Grant opened our discussion of Episode 30's featured #story with a brilliant analysis of the writer's artistry, paving the way for a fun and fruitful talk about "The Fog" by Roseanne Pereira, who is accomplished in the fields of #fiction, creative nonfiction, and journalism. A #writer to watch!

It's been awhile since I've enjoyed a #book as much as this one, Alex Beam's The Feud: Vladimir #Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship - although it might have been titled "The Feud: Nabokov vs. Everyone." It focuses especially on Nabokov's massive translation of Pushkin.

We've posted our 30th episode - #podcast #writinglife #publishing #readingcommunity #youtubevideo #spotify #applepodcasts

As always we had a blast recording Episode 30 of the #podcast last night. Among out topics is the growing interest in other kinds of writing besides "literary" and how that trend will be reflected in the newly re-established journal Short Story. The featured story comes from an Asia-based journal.

Aspiring Child: A Biography of Mary W. Shelley in Sonnets is filtering into more and more markets, including university bookstores. International markets won't be far behind. #poetry #biography #maryshelley #frankenstein

The #podcast crew is recording our 30th episode tonight. Watch for it to drop on #YouTube, #Spotify and #Applepodcasts - anticipate 50 minutes of free-flowing conversation about #writing, #publishing, etc. & 30 minutes about the fascinating featured story #writingcommunity

Several of my sonnets to Mary Shelley had the good fortune of being picked up by small journals - like this poem, "Recitation," which became Sonnet XIX. Coleridge was a friend of Mary's father and recited from his new poem, about an old mariner, in their home. #poetry #maryshelley #biography

The "best books of 2025" are really the "best-advertised books" - or maybe the "best books among the best-advertised books" - and practically all come from the few presses that have the wherewithal for mass advertising campaigns. There is nothing "best" per se about their writing. #writinglife

I'm happy to report that #readers are still discovering Brady Harrison's award-winning story collection The Term Between - but not nearly as many as the book deserves. His novel A Journey to Al Ramel came out this year and a new collection will be released in 2026. #fiction #shortstories

How many times can you listen to poor Grandma get run over by that reindeer? Instead treat your brain to something both soothing and stimulating - we're recording our new episode later this week - meanwhile catch up on the classics #writinglife #writingcommunity #publishingadvice

When I first read #Frankenstein in the mid-80s - in a lit course at University of Iowa - I of course had no clue how influential that novel and Mary Shelley herself would be on my #writing life - and I certainly never envisioned a trilogy of books inspired by her and her work ... yet here we are.

Just a couple of weeks until the release of Aspiring Child - the #book is appearing at more and more sites for presale - if you prefer, check your fav indie bookstore's website #reading #poetry #biography tedmorrissey.com/aspiring-chi...

Many thanks to the speculative fiction journal Hell Itself for publishing "The Unbearable Sweetness" and also nominating it for a #PushcartPrize - as you can see from the content warning it may not be everyone's cup of tea. hellitself.com/the-unbearab...

Masterclass this morning with legendary medievalist Stephen Pollington. It's gonna be great!

New from Hell Itself, a haunting dystopia by @tedmorrissey.bsky.social, "The Unbearable Sweetness" hellitself.com/the-unbearab...

What precisely is Grendel in #Beowulf? Just as modern filmmakers of horror will leave the threat somewhat out of focus, the Beowulf poet uses a variety of nouns and adjectives to refer to Grendel: ogre, troll, giant ... and his mother is described as a wolf.

I was delighted to accept the invitation to sit on the advisory board of the newly re-established literary journal Short Story. My primary job is to promote the journal and its newly re-established "The Short Story Prize." Here, dear reader, is my inaugural promotion. scholarworks.uni.edu/shortstory

What an honor. Thank you Poetries in English Magazine for publishing this odd story - written in both English and Spanish - and for the unexpected nomination.

If you can relate to this quote, you're a #writer - it's why nearly all of us (99.999%) keep writing even in the absence of more than a handful of #readers: the act of writing itself makes the effort worthwhile. The joy is in the writing, not in the being read. #writingcommunity

There are few things journal editors love more than publishing a writer for the first time - Twelve Winters Journal is proud to introduce Colleen Hummel and her debut publication, a piece of #CNF, Inventing Stephanie twelvewinters.com/hummel-inven...

2025 has been the year of Mary Shelley for me. The first six months I wrote sonnets to her. The next three months I revised them and assembled them into a collection of 100 sonnets. They're now available for preorder in a lovingly prepared hardcover edition. #readers #poetry #biography #frankenstein

I've updated the webpage for Aspiring Child: A Biography of Mary W. Shelley with the Amazon link as well as links to several well-known independent bookstores where the book is available for presale. tedmorrissey.com/aspiring-chi... #readingcommunity #poetrylovers #BiographyLovers #Frankenstein

I'm honored to report that one of the first places my new #book, Aspiring Child: A Biography of Mary W. Shelley in Sonnets, has appeared for pre-sale is the iconic Left Bank Books in St. Louis. Aspiring Child will be officially released on January 1st. www.left-bank.com/book/9798993...

Further evidence of our Golden Age of creative #writing: John Paul Jaramillo's award-winning novel Carlos Montoya - this beautiful #book should be sitting on bookshelves and nightstands everywhere. #readingcommunity #latinobookawards

This amazing dual-language book by the Press continues to trickle out to readers - it ought to be part of every major library's collection #chinesepoetry #literarytranslation #librarycollection

Earlier this year I had the honor of giving a talk on literary #trauma theory with colleagues in the U.S., Afghanistan and Iran -- thanks to Nasir Arian --and the text of that talk online continues to fuel interest in my #book on the subject.

I assert that we are living in a Golden Age of creative writing, and I offer as proof these amazing works of fiction by Brady Harrison. Give the gift of great literature this holiday season. #readingcommunity #giftideas

Add some mystery to your life (specifically some hardboiled gumshoe mystery) -- with Grant Tracey's amazing Hayden Fuller series, set on the mean streets of Toronto in the 60s and 70s. It's terrifically page-turning fun!

We had to say goodbye to Einstein just over a year ago, but he lives on thanks to Melissa's wonderful book and the gorgeous illustrations by the multitalented Miles Wisniewski. It's a heartwarming story about a little guy who suddenly needed a new home through no fault of his own. #childrensbooks

This quote speaks to me because now practically all American #writers -- not just #poets -- find themselves in this position: only writing for other writers (namely editors and contest judges). The #reading public is by and large indifferent, if not nonexistent.

Working on an article, "A Tale of Two Sonnets," about a pair of my Mary Shelley sonnets that sprang from the same idea-kernel yet became distinctly different #poems. They are similar enough, however, that I felt I could select only one for the published collection.

I made a video for my students about the importance of persistence when trying to get your creative work published & I turned it into Bonus Episode 9 of our #podcast - Free on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. #writingtips #PublishingTips

When the #podcast crew was recording our episode live in Cedar Falls last month, we were asked "How do you write horror?" I stressed the importance of understatement, but I found this quote by Hoffmann in which he more effectively says what I meant.

Retirees don't often get snow days, but I took advantage of mine to complete the #translation of section 9 of #Beowulf - the especially long section has been neglected for most of 2025 while I worked on my sonnets to Mary Shelley. The translation-in-progress is available at tedmorrissey.blog

So often sequels to Mary Shelley's #Frankenstein focus on the creature - but I was curious about Margaret Saville, the woman to whom this long, strange letter is addressed. What is *her* story? I was especially honored by BookTrib naming the #novel one of their 25 favorites of 2021.