Ceallaigh's Blog

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The Longest Road in the Universe: A Collection of Fantastical Tales, Second Edition, is now available for purchase and pre-order. If you're a paperback lover, you can buy the book now, which showcases Nancy Farmer's stunning illustrations of the titular story in full-page and two-page spreads. If you prefer e-books, the collection is available for pre-order and will be released on February 1st. You'll find the book here:

Buy the Paperback | Buy the Kindle Version | Buy Another Version

Here are the folklore-related memes I published to social media in December 2019.

On the last night of When Words Collide, Joshua Pantalleresco graciously offered to interview me about my writing and academic careers. We sat in the lobby of the hotel and had a great chat, which evolved into a discussion of bullying and scapegoating in the writing community via my negative experience at Clarion some years ago. Afterward, we considered cutting that part of the interview, even though I don't provide details about my experience, and it isn't my intention to call the offending parties out for their misconduct. But in light of the recent revelation that Sandra Kasturi and Brett Savoy of Chiaroscuro Press have been abusing the good will of writers for years, I thought it was important to elevate the overall conversation about these issues of bullying, scapegoating, and the exploitation of unequal power in the writing community. Specifically, I care that listeners understand there are often long-term impacts of these behaviours upon the creative lives of writers.

Hello, and welcome to the Folklore & Fiction newsletter. In this edition, I'm writing about ritual with help from scholars Catherine Bell, Ronald L. Grimes, and others, discussing ritual use in story craft, and providing you with an example and exercise on the topic. This edition of the newsletter marks a departure from folkloric narrative and the beginning of a five-month exploration of folkloric belief. You'll notice a change in format and focus as well, from the use of folkloric narrative types in writing to the use of folkloric ideas and principles in world-building, characterization, and plotting.