I have an article in the Smithsonian on how How Beatrix Potter Invented Character Merchandising. Excerpt: Beatrix Potter is known for her gentle children’s books and beautiful illustrations. But the sweet stories of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and others helped…
My short story Murmur is up on Every Day Fiction. It’s about a ghost. Excerpt: She came in with the rain, through an open window. It was the house of a young family. The ghost, whose name had been Amaya,…
I really enjoyed Hourglass by Dani Shapiro. Check out my review on KQED. Excerpt: My 15th wedding anniversary is in June. It seems impossible that my husband and I have been together for that long. The first 10 years of…
I wrote an article on seaweed foraging for NPR. Did you know most seaweed is edible? And that it’s a natural thickener? And a source of protein? And MSG? AND that seaweed isn’t even a plant, but algae? Interesting stuff,…
Over at the Superstition Review, check out my essay On Sondheim and Whether Lyrics Are Poetry. I wrote about why I don’t think Bob Dylan should have won a Nobel Prize in Literature, using Sondheim–another great storyteller through lyrics and…
I have an essay on Parent.co today! It’s about 3D printing, something I talk about a lot on here. In particular, it’s about 3D printing toys for our son Gideon. Right now, we’re printing him stocking stuffers for Christmas. Here’s…
Check out my review of Michael Chabon’s elegantly structured novel Moonglow on KQED.
I have an op-ed up on Vice! Check out How Reality TV Made Donald Trump President. A sample: We should learn from this election. It’s imperative that we look at who and what we’re elevating in the form of harmless…
I have a new book review up on KQED. This time I’m looking at The Mothers, a debut novel by Brit Bennett. Check it out here!
In June I went to the Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency. It was the first year they had the residency, which was located on Cuttyhunk Island, near Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. I’d never heard of it before. Along with 14 other…
The Green Room in Ireland interviewed me about my article in The Atlantic on the rise of plagiarism in self-publishing. Listen to it online here.
I was lucky enough to be on another beer panel for All About Beer magazine. I got to taste beer and say what I thought of the nuances and flavors. Nice work if you can get it. Check out the…