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Marie Judson's books:
Fantasy
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Braided Dimensions Series
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Sci Fi
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Excerpt of first pages available, full book coming out in Spring, 2022
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Callisto's Song Newsletter #6
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Native American Nature Myths
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This year's newsletters have contained mythic characters from different parts of the world each month. November's focuses on Native American tribes, which had/have marvelously rich mythic traditions, many honoring and caring for nature. Their traditional stories are full of symbolism about the seasons, weather, plants, animals, and the elements: earth, water, air, and fire.
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Just the meanings of the names of tribes are often fantastically lyrical or poetic. The name Abenaki means "People of the Dawn Land." One of their mythic characters, Gluskab, founded the Golden Age of the Earth by teaching humanity how to build shelters and make art and invent. He taught how not to strain nature's abundance. Gluskab's departure ended the Golden Age, though he is prophesied to return and renew it again.
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Fantasy and science fiction are hardly more outlandish or imaginative than the myths that emerged among the ancient peoples, probably sitting around the fire, or working together picking herbs or berries, lying awake at night looking up at the stars we see today. I particularly love the tales that taught wise caring for the land: the plants, the animals, the waters... By giving powers to the animals, they gave them a voice and greater presence, not merely to be exploited. Even the snail! Among the ancient Abenaki, Wa-won-dee-a-megw was a snail spirit that could live in trees, on land or in the water, and could change size and appearance to look like a huge snake, an alligator or a scaly man
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Among the Inuit, Nerrivik is sea mother and food provider (left).
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In the Iriquois tradition, Gendenwitha or Gendewitha was represented by the Morning Star. Her name means "It Brings the Day" (below).
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Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Fantasy and Young Adult / Fantasy
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This promotion runs through November 30, 2021.
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Fantastic Fantasy for Fall
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Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Dystopian, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Fantasy, and Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Horror
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This promotion runs through November 30, 2021.
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Treat Yo' Shelves Fantasy Giveaway
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Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Steampunk, and Young Adult / Fantasy
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This promotion runs through November 30, 2021.
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Real Life Magic
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Genres: Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Urban Fantasy, and Young Adult / Fantasy
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This promotion runs through November 29, 2021.
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From Marie Judson's blog:
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The Travelall
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Last week, I wrote about selling my yellow VW beetle. I hadn't recalled that the Travelall of my childhood was also yellow. I wonder if that occurred to me, subconsciously, when I was drawn to buy the Beetle. This is the International Harvester Travelall I learned to drive a stick on (above). I was glad to run across this slide …
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Ode to Buttercup
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I sold my VW Beetle this weekend. I had her ten years. Turbodiesel, stick shift. Great car. It's partly opening the way for going all electric, along with other reasons, like the fact that neither of my kids drive a standard transmission. But it's poignant, seeing your car drive away from you, probably seeing it for the last time. Here's …
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Split Rez
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My school and its community emphasize the Native American heritage of this place. The school hires a full time Indian Liaison who arranges activities for students emphasizing Pomo identity. Many of the students bus from the Manchester-Pt. Arena Band of Pomo Indians' reservation. The Garcia River that runs through the middle of the "Rez" (how the reservation's referred to locally) …
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China in the late 1800s/early 1900s
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My grandparents on my mother's side were born and grew up in China. These photos are from the late 1800s or early 1900s. Their families were there as medical missionaries. My mom lived there until age five. There was a lot of lore about that time in my childhood. Now I love to see the photos of this lost world. …
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Coming in the Fall
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Okay, continuing my love affair with Pt Arena buildings, I heard recently that this very cool one is going to be a microbrewery pub, with the intriguing name, "The New Museum." I've been searching for the story of the name, etc... but haven't found anything online. I did hear that the parents, owners of Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino, are financing …
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Arena Elementary
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The school where I work has these old built-ins. It also has the old-fashioned kind of chalk boards. I love that. I have to take photos because they're seen so rarely now. In fact, I didn't take photos of the outsides of the buildings quickly enough. One of the things I fell in love with when I interviewed for this …
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Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
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This feels like an important question to answer. I have to start with the latter: what drives me is giving readers an experience they love to fall into and live in. That's why I take such care to create scenes that feel real. I love literary work but my reading home is books in which I live with the main …
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What are the main characters doing now?
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The main character of my Braided Dimensions series is Kay Hamelin, a former professor of ancient languages at UC Berkeley. We enter her story in 2009., twelve years ago. Now she’s struggling to save the earth. Her first travel of a spirit nature took her to medieval time. She discovered, along with Baird, that she had the ability to travel …
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When is writing most exciting?
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There are a few general times when I find writing most satisfying and even thrilling. One is when a sentence comes together elegantly—not necessarily from a literary point of view. A single word, or restructuring of a sentence, can achieve a plot element powerfully, or capture the build-up of a character's emotion. Phrasing might flow into place describing a scene …
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Waylaid by a gas leak
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As soon as I got home today, I started hunting for photo albums among the boxes in the garage, hoping to find the pics of the old Long Beach, and maybe, by chance, Gramma's old sewing machine. I did find a box full of slides. My dad was an avid photographer and labeled them all. There's also an old viewer. …
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RURAL SCHOLAR PRESS
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