Ireland So Much History

May 31, 2026 6:21 pm

5 Days Left

I've explored a lot of Ireland and really loved Cork and Galway. But my soul is uneasy. For those of you who are Gen X or older, you'll remember hearing about the Troubles in Ireland and how they just quit being reported on. Well, they are still there and Belfast is still a city with segregation between the Catholics and Protestants and the violence isn't gone, just not worth of news stories anymore. I snapped at someone when they were talking about the "history" of it. It isn't history. All of this is during my lifetime, that makes it current, not history. It has left me ... thinking about the nature of humanity, hate, and the reasons we come up with to divide ourselves.

All of that to say, I'm trying to make sure I put that into my writing. While I'll freely admit I try to write happier stuff than dystopian, I think it is important to unravel and explore what makes up the definition of humanity, which means looking at the good and the bad. I'm hoping all that I have learned in Ireland will make my writing richer.

Now on to brighter stuff. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that I have written very little this month. Bad Mel. So I'll have to double down when I get home and see if my plants have survived. I know I'll need to weed some, but over all I think my hardscaping is working pretty well. Now to work on the next section and figure out how to do that and get the pool pulled apart.

Also - I've been getting hit with a ton of spam lately on my Shopify store, so I've had to shut of Shattered. Let me know if you need it and I'll turn it back on, and give you a code to make it .99, instead of $5.99 because of bad actors.

Book Recommendations!

Check out this fantasy, where a woman must decide how far to go to protect her kingdom and her people. Can she be the queen the monsters need? A Throne of Claws and Shadows is available now!

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Weekly Micro Story

Wrong Number

I stepped through the portal and paused, looking around. This was not what the probe said was here. All I saw stretching out I all directions was old lava flows, fresh lava, and crumbling ruins. This hand't happened in a few moments, but over decades, if not centuries.

"Shit," I muttered and spun to step back through, but the portal snapped closed. This wasn't good. It was only supposed to be an hour here, taking some samples, but either the probe lied (doubtful, it was a computer) or someone had entered the wrong number. Already the heat lapped at me, the ash in the air scratched at my lungs, and sweat evaporated as soon as it formed. An hour might be too long. But I was here, might as well make the best of it. Not that I could go anywhere, the entire portal was surrounded by rivers of lava. While my gear was heat resistant, it wasn't lava proof.

I scraped up some stone, put it in a container, scraped off the ash, piling up on my sleeves, and cussed more under my breath.

Interesting. You are alive?

I jerked upright, almost losing my balance as words formed in my mind. I spun, not wanting to believe someone was using a form of telepathy, which should have been in impossible. Besides what could live here besides some bacteria or microbes?

Movement caught my eye, above the surface level movement, and I pivoted only to watch a nightmare glide toward me. A chimera made of spider, octopus, and humanoid got closer and closer and my brain shrieked at me to run, but I had no place to escape to. So I held my ground and waited. Hoping I didn't pee my pants.

Closer it resolved into something that was a monster by any sense of the word, but the eyes were what caught me, black and glittering like obsidian and locked on me.

Oh good. Food or conversation. Maybe both.

40 minutes. I needed to stall for 40 minutes.

"Hi," I said in a perky voice that I couldn't stop from shaking. "I'm Lena." I needed to be interesting for 39 minutes.

~*~

Could you be interesting for 39 minutes?

My up coming appearances - come see me!!!

Ireland - May 4- Jun 5th! < coming home soon, sad face.

Dragoncon - Atlanta, GA Sept 3-7

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