Category: Nonfiction

Want to Help the Environment? Eight Questions to Get You Started

We face an often bewildering set of environmental challenges–on a local, regional, and global scale. Sometimes that’s enough to freeze you in place and not know where to start. And yet, while no one person can fix the world, everyone can make a difference in some area. After two years of rewilding our yard to […]

Thoughts on the Writing Process: Optimal Conditions and Tips

(Detail from Theo Ellsworth’s contribution to the expanded edition of my Wonderbook, out in July) I just completed my ninth novel, the first volume in the Adventures of Jonathan Lambshead series, working title “I am Squishy” (that will change, I’m sure). I’m also working on the tenth novel of my career, Hummingbird Salamander. This doesn’t […]

2017 Books: Eight Blurbs and an Introduction

I thought I’d provide a round-up of all the 2017 books I’ve blurbed, along with one reprint, Lives of the Monster Dogs, that I’ve written a new introduction for. I’m really enthusiastic about all of these titles, and hopefully there’s a little something for everyone! My blurb in italics before a brief description. – Jeff […]

Nonfiction This Year: Scenes, Weird Florida, Black Clock, Black Mirror, Squirrels, and More

  It’s been quite a year for me writing-wise. I’ve finished a couple of long novellas–“Bliss” and “The Journals of Doctor Mormeck”–made significant progress on two novels and something weird called “Nice Is Just Another World for Terrible,” and I wrote a fair amount of short fiction. This in addition to selling the movie rights […]

Views from the Trias House: Readings by Amelia Gray, Dexter Palmer, and Jeff VanderMeer

I’ve been blessed as part of serving as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence–blessed to curate a reading series in addition to all of the other wonderful opportunities. This fall, I kicked things off talking about the Southern Reach trilogy and sharing some of the inspiration for the novels (as well as reading). Then we […]

Views from the Trias House: Introducing Dexter Palmer’s Version Control

(All photos by the  HWS staff photographer) This post is one of several about my experiences in the Finger Lakes District in upstate New York while serving as the Trias writer-in-residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva). Dexter Palmer read from Version Control, his latest novel, as part of the Trias Reading Series at HWS […]