Folkbyte October 2026

Greetings, and mòran taing for taking the time to read my newsletter. This is the October 2026 edition of Folkbyte, and it comes to you with a rustling of autumn leaves, a memory of sweet linden tea, and the sharp intake of breath before a sharing of good news. Onward!

Dispatches from the Word Mines

The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore

I've received an offer of contract for The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore. I can't share any more just yet, but the contract process is moving forward at good speed, and I anticipate being able to make an announcement soon. Two years ago, I wrote in a Folkbyte newsletter that I was prepared to self-publish my book if necessary. So it's been somewhat surreal to watch the contract briefs go back and forth between my agent and editor and to see the enthusiasm expressed for this thing I've believed in and carried so long.

I've been struggling to find the right words for the gratitude I feel toward those of you who made this journey with me. Back when Folklore & Fiction was a dispatch and podcast series, I had something to offer every month, but I knew when the podcast went on hiatus in 2024 that it would be a while before I finished my book. I tried to fill the two years that followed with newsletters, articles, reels, and memes, but I couldn't offer more than that and still have time to write. I lost subscribers, and that was completely all right! But I didn't lose many, and I even picked up a fair number of new folks along the way. (Hello, new folks! Welcome!)

Anyway, it means the world to me that you stayed. It means the world to me that you're here now. Thank you for reading my dispatches, listening to my podcasts, subscribing to my newsletter, and making my work a small part of your life. You have been and remain a blessing.

Folklore & Fiction

There will be no Folklore & Fiction course in 2026. However, I will be teaching a speculative folklore course in 2027 (TBA), and I plan to relaunch Field Notes for Storytellers: Research, Security, and the Archival Muse with sharper content and remastered production to coincide with the publication of The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore.

Song and Covenant

Some of you will remember that I've had a fantasy trilogy on the back burner for a while now. I'm completing a thrutopia course this month as a last step before consolidating my notes and beginning to draft the trilogy next year. I thought I'd reintroduce it this month, since you'll be reading more about it in due course. Song and Covenant will be a dark fairy tale about what we choose to remember for the Earth, what we choose to forget, and what it means to be a story keeper in a world that prefers your silence. I'm so looking forward to writing it.

Lead On, Wild God

I'm also working on my next EP, albeit slowly. All of the lyrics are written, and I'm writing the music now. It's a bit easier to shift gears between a nonfiction writing project and a music project than it is to shift between two writing projects, and it's been therapeutic for me to continue making art while I finish The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore. I'm hoping to have Lead On, Wild God out the door by Yuletide 2027.

This Month on Social Media

My #throwbackthursday Folklore & Fiction posts will conclude at the end of the month along with my regular photo posts. I don't have anything planned after that right now, but I'll certainly be sharing news about The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore and other projects as I have it.

Final Thoughts

At Samhain last year, I was in Brighton at the World Fantasy Convention and then at the Clophill Centre outside London, where I served as völva (priestess and seer) in an ecstatic ancestral ceremony with roots in pre-Christian Northern Europe. Today, I had a conversation with a fellow Pagan at the food co-op about Samhain feasts she held back in California, where friends would gather to break bread together and remember their beloved dead. Then and now, I was struck by the necessity of these rituals for helping people connect with their ancestors, the land, and one another. I'm a big fan of animism, gnosis, and reimagined ceremonies, and I deeply believe that we all have the right to honour the dead, honour the Earth, and honour one another. So as the year wanes and veil thins between the living and the dead (so sayeth the folklore), I invite you to reflect on the people who came before you, care for the people around you, and let your reverence for the Earth be practical, practicable, and permanent.

Beannachdan,
Ceallaigh