I suspect a lot of casual readers are turned off by the idea of a poetically written #biography, but the #poems are quite accessible and I worked to give the collection a narrative arc as potent as any novel's #maryshelley #percyshelley #lordbyron

I discuss the newest edition of William H. Gass's The Tunnel (Dalkey Archive Essentials) and The Tunnel Reader, as well as the availability of The Tunnel #audiobook - #thetunnel #williamhgass youtu.be/Jo6EqYWEqKU

I've published a brief excerpt from the commentary I'm writing for my collection of lectures - this focuses on that staple of #creativewriting #instruction - the #writingworkshop twelvewinters.com/morrissey-th...

An update on my current #writing project - preparing some lectures for publication & writing commentaries for them - I've published an excerpt on the dreaded research paper #researchpaper #creativewriting #pedagogy youtu.be/E1sBMcEetlw

I would like to think that the sonnet form led to an understanding of Mary Shelley and her work that stands apart from so many other biographies and critical assessments #maryshelley #frankenstein

The featured story in Episode 35 of the #podcast is ideally timed for #pridemonth26 as it was published in Sinister Wisdom - celebrating #lesbian #literature for 50 years youtube.com/shorts/6YuEu...

Newly published at Twelve Winters Journal - a captivating #memoir piece by Sante Matteo, who has become a regular contributor twelvewinters.com/matteo-gone-...

I provide some background and read my sonnet "Reprisal" that was longlisted for The #Poetry Lighthouse Prize - from my collection Aspiring Child: A #Biography of Mary W. #Shelley in Sonnets. youtu.be/9cKt9vRFyNk

I appreciate that my Mary Shelley sonnet "Reprisal" has been long-listed for The Poetry Lighthouse Prize and will be included in an anthology archived in the National #Poetry Library in #London, no matter its final status

A get-together last night of William Gass scholars in St. Louis to catch up and collaborate on various projects - came home with the newest edition of The Tunnel and The Tunnel Reader - sweet

Mary's story is one of resilience - the tragedies and the traumas began with the death of her mother at 11 days old - and life was just getting warmed up #maryshelley #frankenstein #trauma

This past week my MFA students have been studying the work of E. Nesbit, a continentally educated Londoner whose literary interests and talents were wide-ranging.

Check out this #video of Brady reading from A Journey to Al Ramel, a finalist for the Big Other #Book Award in #Fiction youtu.be/l1han-eBKIg?...

Of course I advocate #reading the #classics - I organized a Finnegans Wake reading group for years - but our profession needs to focus equal attention on today's great #writers and #poets, who toil away in obscurity and whose work will be lost to future generations

Artificial Intelligence continues to worm its way into every aspect of #writing, #editing and #publishing - but the costs are far greater and more widespread than many people realize #AI #podcast

It's gratifying that the enthusiastic endorsements and all-around positive vibes for Aspiring Child continue to arrive - Mary deserves nothing less #maryshelley #frankenstein #biography #poetry

While some scholars have focused on the shortcomings of Mary Shelley's work, I wanted my poems to emphasize and celebrate her intellect and perseverance - Mary's indomitable spirit

In my Classic #Horror & #Sci-Fi by Women Writers class we've been studying the work of the popular Victorian author Margaret Oliphant, largely forgotten today but widely read in the 19th century. #womenwriters #victorianauthors #supernaturalstories

I've been #writing new commentaries for my forthcoming #book, a collection of seven lectures I delivered internationally. In my #teaching career I came to believe focusing so much attention on "the research paper" was a bad idea. #researchpaper #education

To write Aspiring Child I read a combination of Mary's fictional works as well as letters & diary entries, biographies of her & her circle, & critical studies - often drawing from more than one source when writing a particular sonnet. I will always recall summer 2025 as my "Mary Shelley summer."

Even avid #readers don't realize they're not getting the best of the best when they visit bookstores & libraries - they're getting the best-advertised mediocre writing that's being produced by corporate publishers - our #podcast introduces phenomenal yet unknown #writers to our audience each episode

Maybe it's the appropriateness of the Frankenstein's #monster metaphor for our time - something terrible unleashed beyond the creator's control (AI, Trump, ICE, RFK Jr., mass shootings) - but my #Frankenstein sequel has been collecting new #readers

I have set aside working on my Poe-inspired novel for a while, but he'll continue to knock about in my subconscious - waiting for the return of my attention #edgarallanpoe

I'm a firm believer in the importance of #writing by hand (my #fiction and #poetry at least) - there's something about the hand-brain connection that generates better first drafts than typing them can achieve - obviously I'm not alone in this belief #cognition #creativity #handwriting

We remain amazed that a teenage girl, minus anything resembling formal education, could conceive of and then write a groundbreaking #novel like #Frankenstein - my #biography doesn't dwell on this part of Mary Shelley's life, but it doesn't ignore it either #summerreading2026

Yann Martel's new novel Son of Nobody leaves a mark - a Classics grad student secretly translating an unknown story of the Trojan War, marital strife, faculty friction, and an experimental narrative structure - what's not to love?

Writers and lovers of literature, treat yourself to Episode 35 of the #podcast & its featured short story, "Owl/Dyke" from Sinister Wisdom, celebrating #lesbian #literature and art for fifty years - the story by a.c.d is a keeper (available online)

My hope was to humanize Mary Shelley who, even in her lifetime, was mythologized as "The Author of Frankenstein" - but her humanity makes her achievements and her impact on literature even more impressive #maryshelley #biography #readers

I fixed it! #blackoutpoetry #poem #writingcommunity #writersky

Frankenstein is one long letter to a woman named Margaret Saville, about whom we learn practically nothing - I decided Mrs Saville deserved a magnetically captivating story of her own - so I wrote her one - #frankenstein #readingcommunity #booklover

Twelve Winters Press will be publishing a new Hayden Fuller #mystery by #crimewriter Grant Tracey later this year - meanwhile check out Grant's #noir story in Dark Yonder #anthology youtube.com/shorts/UiVep...

I continue to work on preparing my collection of international lectures for publication - this one comes from the International Conference on the Short Story in English in 2023 - next year the conference will be held in Arkansas (much shorter travel time)

A shoutout to Brady Harrison and his #novel A Journey to Al Ramel, a finalist for the Big Other Book Award in Fiction - the list of finalists is a Who's Who of great contemporary novelists youtube.com/shorts/NVbwc...

I endorse both of the points this young scholar is making, but want to emphasize the latter - my interactions with the students, faculty and administrators at #NUML has not only been enjoyable but also intellectually and spiritually nourishing on so many levels - as #writer #teacher #scholar

Episode 35 of the #podcast is available - number 50, counting bonus episodes! - and as usual we cover a wide variety of #writing related topics - as well as discussing a very cool short story from Sinister Wisdom, celebrating #lesbian #literature and art for fifty years

Mary Shelley's work remains as popular as ever (Guillermo del Toro's recent adaptation of Frankenstein, Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride, etc.) - Mary's real-life story is every bit as fascinating as the stories she created - #frankenstein #thebride #maryshelley

Curious what we'll talk about when we record Episode 35 tomorrow? Me too. Watch for the always unpredictable #podcast episode to drop on #YouTube #Spotify and #Applepodcasts

I expanded on this line of thought in our recent #podcast - perhaps the loss of my parents in 2012 and 2020 enabled me to #write about Mary's #grief more effectively - as a #trauma theorist I'm especially interested in how our unconscious minds affect the #creative process

On the Press's publishing schedule this year is Grant Tracey's fifth Hayden Fuller Mystery, Acts - which may be the coolest Hayden novel yet - meanwhile check out Hayden Fullers 1 thru 4 #crimenoir #mysterylovers

I gobbled up Nabokov in America by Robert Roper - Lolita was only one of Nabokov's projects in the years he traveled the West hunting butterflies - another was his trans. of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin - my reading for the summer: a novel told via nearly 400 sonnets, plus Nabokov's 1000 pages of notes

I intended the novel that became The Artist Spoke to be set in the "near future," but I worked on it in fits and starts for four years and discovered that the future arrives sooner than you anticipate - it won a Maincrest Media Award and other modest honors

In #podcast Episode 34, we discuss the fast-changing #writing & #publishing landscape because of #AI - and the featured story comes from Cola Literary Review youtube.com/shorts/xOl22...

My decision to write my #biography of Mary Shelley *to* her rather than just *about* her has been commented on by several readers and reviewers, all but one thus far finding it a strength of the collection - of course it's a longstanding tradition to pen a #sonnet to its subject, Shakespeare, et al.

If all goes as planned (and when does it?), the #podcast crew will record Episode 35 next week - meanwhile check out our last installment, which features a story by an author who has perhaps managed to ghost the internet

My collegial relationship with faculty and students of the National University of Modern #Languages in #Islamabad (especially Dr. Amina Ghazanfar, a fellow trauma theorist) has already been productive and inspiring - and we anticipate further collaborations in the near future #literature #pedagogy

Brady's ambitions for his #novel - structurally, stylistically - were immense; and as his publisher I can say getting it into print was itself a Herculean labor of love. The final proofreading took place on transatlantic flights, Irish Rail, and in hotel rooms and cafes across Dublin and Killarney.

The amazing students at the National University of Modern Languages in #Islamabad have been sharing their analyses and reactions to the #book launch event for Aspiring Child - I'm always humbled by the close attention they pay to my literary efforts - #maryshelley #NUML #biography

This is one of my favorite remarks by a reviewer, referring to the first-person narrator of my 2014 #novel An Untimely Frost, for which I'd mimicked the #narrative voice of Washington Irving - An Untimely Frost was my first Mary Shelley-inspired #book - #readers #bookreview #maryshelley

In last month's #booklaunch of Aspiring Child, I discussed Mary Shelley's cleverness in sidestepping her father-in-law's prohibition of publishing a biography of Percy after his death. #maryshelley #percyshelley #biography #aspiringchild #numl youtu.be/YuHMpx3FiK8

The Press received the great news that Brady Harrison's debut novel, A Journey to Al Ramel, is a finalist for the Big Other Book Award in Fiction - Brady appropriately joins a star-studded list of fellow finalists - take your brain on an amazing adventure!