Own Hands Story Search Is For You

Welcome to Arwen’s revamped newsletter! I’m going to prioritize news and offers for the Own Hands Story Search tool, an advanced search tool for fiction, as well as featuring general author news and SF&F-related stuff.

Thanks to everyone who filled out the opening questionnaire for Own Hands Story Search! Reading the responses has been fascinating. Some key wishes:

* WELL-WRITTEN female characters
* small press/indie author representation
* more granular search options
* option to include or exclude tags
* multiple responses asking for warnings for animal cruelty (which I rarely see warned for)

I’m now sketching out search categories based on the questionnaire and prior research. I’m at twenty-two (22) different relationship categories—and that’s with a lot of simplification! Stay tuned for further invitations to help build/test this tool.

Author News:



I’m proud and grateful to have a short story in JayHenge Publishing’s The Kafka Protocol, an anthology of suitably Kafka-esque situations, where Surrealism and Bureaucracy spawn a child called Horror. My story, “Leech,” plays on the economic black hole that is choosing a teaching career in the humanities.

Streaming Recommendation:

In case you missed it due to poor marketing (as I did), I highly recommend AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, season 2. As a die-hard fan of the Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, I have my discontents with some of this show’s adaptive choices, but I join almost everyone in recognizing it’s a very well-written and well-acted show.