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Erotica That Doesn’t Suck
I originally wrote this post back in 2012, when I was still working at the Big Chain Bookstore, because all the hullaballoo over 50 Shades of Grey was driving me batshit crazy. Not because people wanted to read erotica, but because 50SoG is SO FUCKING BADLY WRITTEN. No kidding, you guys, I have a three chapter rule, and I could barely make it that far. Anyway, so I’m re-running this because, in the almost four years since I wrote my original post, even more people are reading erotica and apparently I’m That Friend You Ask About Smut. If 50SoG is gateway smut, here’s some stuff you need to read that’s…
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Meeting Other Pagans
I get a lot of questions from people who lead in with “I’m the only Pagan in my town!” You might be, rabbit, you might… but there’s also a really good chance that there are a boatload of other Pagan-y types in your town – hell, maybe in your own neighborhood – who are thinking exactly the same thing. Keep in mind that since Paganism is not a single religion but a collection of thousands of different spiritual paths, there’s no clearinghouse list of all of the people who self-identify under this heading. However, there are a number of ways to find and meet other Pagans in your area –…
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The Christians and the Pagans
Random note: The Christians and the Pagans is one of my favorite holiday songs, by Dar Williams. Go listen to it on YouTube. Anyway, I’ve noticed over the past zillion years that there tends to be an awful lot of Christian-bashing in the Pagan community. Not all the time, but enough that it’s noticeable, and enough that I get emails like the one here: Do Pagans Hate Christians? A reader says, "I've been studying Paganism recently, and although I'm very drawn to it, there's one thing that really concerns me. I've met several Pagans who are pretty vocal in their hatred of all things Christian. I was raised Christian, I…
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Stop With the Emotions, Laydeez!
First, I need to preface this by saying I kind of struggled with whether or not I wanted to share my thoughts on this, and that’s because I know for a fact that several of my friends think the article I’m about to discuss is a really good one. I know this because they’ve shared it on various social media thingies. And then after about eleven seconds of waffling, I said, “Nah, fuck it, Imma write it anyway,” because, gentle reader, I have no internal monologue filter. So there’s this couple named Gary and Joy Lundberg who write articles about marriage, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m completely…
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Celtic Paganism, and Stop Being Effin’ Lazy
I get a ton of emails and messages and random smoke signals from people who want to learn new things. Learning new things is good – except when those people say “Well, I don’t have time to read, can’t you just teach me?” No, that’s fucking lazy. What makes you think I have the time or interest to teach someone I don’t know? Can we talk about #1 some more? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to learn. You’ve got the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else. I’ve had to have this conversation multiple times lately with people who want to be…
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Up Helly Aa: Great Balls O’ Fire!
One of the things on my bucket list is a trip to Scotland, which I’m hoping to accomplish as a graduation gift to myself in a year or two. Ideally, I’d like to visit in the summer time, when the weather is less sucky and the heather is a-bloomin’ on the moors… but the problem is that a summer visit means I’d miss Up Helly Aa! Up Helly Aa is a Shetland festival that’s a throwback to the islands’ Viking heritage. If you ever do any Sheltand Island genealogy research, you’ll know what I’m talking about – I’ve got people with names like Angus MacDonald marrying people named Gunnhild Olafsdottir,…
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Scar Tissue: Zombies, Time Travel & Mad Scientists
Originally published on August 21, 2015, but moved over here for your viewing pleasure: Scar Tissue is available now for your Kindle or the Kindle app! It’s 2213, and Zanna Tradescant is one of the best Historical Interference Control agents in the district – after all, who else would let the Launch Team strap them into a pod and shoot them back in time? Not too many people would sign up for that at all, so when rogue scientist Austin Kent timerides back to 1893, carrying a deadly virus with him, Zanna’s the only one who can stop him. She’s going to need some help, though, to navigate the turn-of-the-century…
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Guess Who Moved?
Okay, I haven’t actually moved, per se, as in “a physical shifting of location,” but what I have done is moved my website to a new hosting service, which means I’ll be spending the next few days relaunching everything. This year is going to be chock full of bloggy goodness, with a new (and renewed) focus on adding stuff on a regular basis, as well as adding different types of material. Good news, though – if you miss the look of my old site (and who wouldn’t, amirite?), you can always access it over at Outside the Lines on Blogspot. Also, because I’m feeling sassy as hell, I’m kicking off…
