Category: Uncategorized
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Waltzing Matilda: Helen White’s Not Built With Hands and the Many Faces of Medieval Fiction
I originally was going to start off this discussion with a statement that was something to the effect of, “I don’t read a lot of medieval historical fiction,” but even a cursory glance through my shelves on Goodreads belies that. I’ve actually read quite a bit of medieval historical fiction, which I find falls broadly…
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Goth Girls: More Roman Historical Fiction and Wilkie Collins’ Antonina
Okay, okay—as we hurtle toward fall, we’re finally going to take a break from our Japan Summer (for real this time). You know what we haven’t talked about for a while here? Historical fiction. And you know what we haven’t touched on in even longer? ROME. But despite me photobombing you with His Almighty-ness, the…
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The Beginning of the End: The Shirakawa emperors and the Decline of Heian Japan
“He [Shirakawa] controlled everything except the Kamo floods, sugoroku game dice, and the unruly Mount Hiei monks.” – The Tale of Heike Fortunately or unfortunately for all of you, I want to get through one more major Heian history lesson before I stop hyper-focusing on Lady Safflower content here. So today we’re going to look…
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Beyond Bueller: Day Tripping at The Art Institute of Chicago
So last time I promised you all a “beach episode,” and still made you learn stuff about medieval Japan, which was arguably kind of an abuse of the term beach episode. So this week, I thought I’d give you a real break from our current stream and do a museum entry instead! Because last week…
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In the Uncanny Valley: Yōkai and the Wild World of Japanese Folklore
Okay, y’all have been very patient as we’ve discussed medieval Japanese history and literature the past couple of weeks. And while I have at least one more historical entry lined up discussing the Lady Safflower emperors, I figured you earned a little break. So this week, we’re going to have a bit of a “beach…
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Dispatches From the Margins: The Women Diarists of Heian Japan
I know that I’m behind my usual schedule this week, but I took a self-care day yesterday to get a second look at the Carnegie International. And I’m glad I did, because I was able to get some clarifications on musings I had in my May entry, mainly: 1) yes, asinnajaq’s cross-environment installation in the…
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The Illusions of Peace: A Brief Introduction to Heian Japan
Okay, as promised, we’re going to start some discussions on the general milieu of my latest book, Lady Safflower, and it seemed like the best place to start is with its historical setting: Heian-era Japan (794 CE—1185). And while I won’t be able to hit everything involved in a four hundred year timeframe in a…
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RELEASE DAY for LADY SAFFLOWER
Howdy, all! Just a friendly reminder that my next novel, Lady Safflower, is out TODAY on all major platforms (except Hoopla, which is lagging as usual…). I’m so excited for you to meet Nagako, Jūrō, and whole supernatural gang living at the end of an era and the edge between realms! Below you’ll find links…
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PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT for LADY SAFFLOWER and eBOOK SALE!
Hello, my dear readers! I am so pleased to let you know that my (seventh!) novel, Lady Safflower, is coming out THIS FRIDAY, June 26th, 2026! Join me for a brand new historical setting (medieval Heian Japan) and cast of characters (we’ll have emperors, ladies, and Buddhist monks—but also fox spirits, demonic courtesans, and tofu-loving…
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Monks, Masons, and Mozart: Enlightenment Fiction in The Life of Sethos
In my post about Mary Wollstonecraft’s novels, I intimated that the Enlightenment had a bit of a fictional literature problem. In the broad strokes, it’s just very hard to create compelling fiction if you were a serious adherent of the period’s new cult of reason (if not the literal Cult of Reason…) and science. At…
