Writing, Published Works & Blog
Grandpa Santa
As Christmas approached after my fourth birthday, my grandpa Alphonso told me with great pride that he and Santa Claus (a.k.a. St. Nicolas) were from the same town – Bari, Italy. Grandpa knew I adored Santa. I guess it was obvious to him and everyone else because, beginning the day after Halloween, my other favorite holiday,…
Interview With E. Lily Yu, Winner of the 2017 LaSalle Artist Trust Storyteller Award
I am very pleased to announce that E. Lily Yu is the recipient of the 2017 Gar LaSalle Artist Trust StoryTeller Award. Lily’s lyrical, poetic, delightful prose lilts with fresh metaphors, framed within an atypical context. Her primary submission sample, The View From the Top of the Stair, has been published in Hazlitt. More about…
Why I Created The Storyteller Award
As a small child growing up in Seattle’s Rainier Valley “Garlic Gulch” – so named then because that’s where the Italians lived – I had the great privilege to listen to my father who could keep an encircled crowd captivated with gentle, humorous, animated, sometimes extended tales that invariably entailed something that would resonate with…
In Search of the Good Doctor
A few weeks ago I had the honor of delivering the 7th Annual James McClellan “Humanities in Medicine” lecture at Whitman College to an audience composed of physicians, academicians and students. Research for the topic, “In Search of the ‘Good Doctor’” allowed me to explore and in many cases, re-acquaint myself with a wide array…
How to Write Bad Guys
I once knew an opera singer who built a successful, very specialized career by exclusively playing the witch in Hansel und Gretel. For two months out of each year during the winter holiday season, she flew around the world, shuttling from performance to performance, singing and artistically seducing kids into her gumdrop house. She was so…
The Fairness of Beasts is Published!
Today is the day! Book III in the Widow Walk Saga is now live on Amazon, and I am thrilled. The team at Solipsis Publishing and I have been working hard for months to get everything ready, and it’s exciting to release the book to the world. Click here to order The Fairness of Beasts…
The Fairness of Beasts Pre-Order Bundles Are Here
Hello everyone, I am thrilled to announce that pre-orders for The Fairness of Beasts, Book III of The Widow Walk Saga, are now available. We are very happy with this book, and reviews are already starting to come in. We are honored that The Midwest Review named it a Reviewer’s Choice as well as selecting it…
The Medallions of the Widow Walk Saga (so far)
Many people have asked about the beautiful medallions that adorn the covers of the first three books in the Widow Walk saga. Who did them? Why did you choose to use them? How were they created? What do they represent? Widow Walk The talented Randy Mott of Mott Graphics (MottGraphics.com) is the designer of…
2017 Artist Trust LaSalle Storyteller Award
I consider it an honor to support the arts, especially in Washington State where I live and work. When I developed this StoryTeller Award with Washington State’s Artist Trust, I wanted to be part of their work supporting regional artists. I named it the “StoryTeller Award” because I believe there is an unacknowledged responsibility of fiction…
Artist Chat: Representing Women in Literature
Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of being part of an artist’s chat with to award-winning author Karen Essex. Karen has written many books based on hidden stories behind famous women like Kleopatra, and it was fascinating to hear her insight into how women are represented across the media, and talk with her about…
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