Each night for years, at the end of our phone calls, my mom would ask about Osito, and then I’d tell her the day’s new little story. Osito stories were like her bedtime tales, and after I was done, she’d giggle and sigh. Then we’d say I love you and trade Goodnights and Sweet dreams.
In honor of my beautiful mom, gone two years today, here’s a wee story to keep ushering in her sweetest dreams. This flash piece is included in Boudin’s new issue, which is pet-themed and benefits animal shelters. It’s a wonderful issue and you should definitely check it out. I’m thankful to Vallie Lynn Watson and the rest of the Boudin staff for their work on this lively collection.
So, now you can imagine my mom’s lilting, faintly Scottish voice on the phone, asking in a cute, tired way, like her cheek is squished on the pillow, “And how is Osito doing today?”
I’m gathering other Osito stories for her, but here is today’s flash. It’s called “Howling at Osito.”
After you’re done reading, you can imagine my mom’s giggle and “I love you” and “Sweet dreams.”
The timing worked out just the way it was meant to. My flash essay, “Playing with the Wizard,” came out today in Boudin, on the fourth anniversary of Matti Greenman’s official date of passing. I hope you enjoy this view into one little part of Matti’s magic.
Many thanks to Vallie Lynn Watson for her wonderful support of my work and for weaving together each of these lovely pieces for Boudin’s hybrid issue.
“He was always the hero, helping return the world to balance and magic, though sometimes he was a Viking, or a medieval wizard, or a Cyclops monster, or a rock-star spaceman saving the galaxy through the power of love and music.”
I’m excited to share my flash essay, “Home Is a Shape-Shifter,” featured in Creation Magazine’s new “Homesick” issue. Years ago, I lived in Eldorado and fell in love with a bobcat mama. I wrote this piece soon after I left her, and it speaks about an important part of my heart. I love Creation Magazine’s theme for this issue, and I’m looking forward to diving into the other writers’ work. I hope you check it out and enjoy! You can find the full essay at the link below. ❤️
Happy Halloween and Samhain! Press Play and step through the veil… If you dare! And if, you know, you like hearing about cool ghost ships and seductive skeletons and malicious tree spirits and eerie midnight invitations at the door. ☠️👻😱🖤
I worked hard on getting this episode together with Plume: A Writer’s Companion. I hope you’ll check it out! Plume’s new episode features ghosty poems and stories by Danielle Hanson (“Ghosts and Mirrors”), Melanie Unruh (“Altar Me”), Sarah Mina Osman (“The Djinn”), Elsa Valmidiano (“Marmarna”), and Lisa D. Chavez (“The Customary Kiss”), along with my story, “Ghost Sisters,” which includes experimental music by Hedia (Bryce Hample). You can find the episode here, or wherever you get your podcasts:
Holiday sale on new delightful books! Who doesn’t like free fancifulness? Each of my books released this year comes with a magic feather for a bookmark and a handwritten inscription, if you order from me. Plus, free shipping in the continental US throughout December!
Vallie Lynn Watson recently wrote an evocative review of my flash fiction chapbook, Now, That’s a Trick (Finishing Line Press, 2022). Read it now in The Paper.
Pick up a copy of Now, That’s a Trickfrom the publisher or your favorite bookseller. It’s a perfect holiday gift for all the eclectic, weird-fiction readers dear to your heart.
After a very long wait, it’s out! My first full-length book, MY BONES ARE LOVE GIFTS, containing my poetry and drawings, is now available from Shanti Arts Publishing.
This book has a lot of magic in it. I feel like the world is at a low-energy place right now and we’re all shaken in our foundations and searching for ways to feel like life is meaningful and still beautiful. That’s what MY BONES ARE LOVE GIFTS is tapped into. It’s a channel into the intimacy of being connected with life, no matter what’s going on, and the power and beauty that can be found by claiming your own moment.
Even though I am currently dealing with many challenges, this book is full of a lot of the shiniest bits of me, with poems and drawings that span decades. It contains that inspiring light that spoke through me and guided me, that voice that’s mine but not mine, which I’ve been so grateful for throughout all the years that I wrote these poems and drew these pictures. Many of these poems are like old friends who have taught me a lot, and I’m happy to introduce them to you too.
I feel like I am fulfilling a goal of my lineage by being a woman publishing my soul truths and art in a world that has really tried to squash that and over-edit and silence me, like it did to so many women in my bloodline before me. But as you must know, there’s a lot of power that can come from listening to your soul and claiming your own multidimensional moment and sense of self. My hope is that this book is a touchstone that reminds you of your own private magic.
You can learn more about it here at the Shanti Arts website, where you can also pick up a copy, or you can order it at your favorite bookseller.
I have a couple offerings for you today, two stories: a video and a podcast. They’re both magical and odd, and they’re from my debut flash fiction chapbook, NOW, THAT’S A TRICK, which is currently available for preorder from Finishing Line Press. (!!)
First, the video. Hello! 🖖🏼 This is the title story, ”Now, That’s a Trick,” from my chapbook. It was first published in Zizzle Literary last year. (In this video, you may also notice evidence of the indoor mosquito that was haunting me. (Summertime.))
Now, the podcast. Maybe you could use a 15-minute break to listen to a story about love and river men. Yes? These have been awful days in the news. Claim some downtime and listen to a story. The newest podcast mini-episode from Plume: A Writer’s Podcast (my amazing crew! 💜) features my story, ”If the River Men Take You” (first published in Annalemma).
(You can learn more about what we’re all doing with the writing community at Plume: A Writer’s Companion, here.)
I hope you enjoy these story offerings, and if you’re inspired to buy my chapbook, I’d just love it. My advance sales period (which determines my royalties rate) ends on July 1, so it would be awesome if you ordered your copy of NOW, THAT’S A TRICK by then, though preorders will still be available after that date. Chapbooks are scheduled to ship August 26.
I hope your days are full of good stories, and your goals are supported! ❤️⚡️
At my mom’s house, I see her thoughts in what’s in the room and where it’s placed. It helps me feel closer to her. It’s healing to be surrounded by her evidence and decisions and her mind reflected in all of these details. The tangibility feels like a blessing during this confusing loss, while I try to understand her absence and this pivot to my life’s trajectory. I love seeing the big ceramic S on the kitchen counter next to her tea supplies, her crystal bowl full of Stevia packets, her pile of neatly folded linen dish towels with quaint patterns.
The main place to sit in the house is on her blue-and-white checkered couch, so while I sit here, I can imagine her seated countless days in that spot over the past almost-30 years, and imagine her taking so many naps with different sleeping bags and blankets, tucked in cozy with the TV on (maybe playing Out of Africa again or a British murder mystery).
In front of the couch, there’s a framed picture that hangs in the wall’s inset area that it fits perfectly, making the theme for the room. The frame holds an Impressionist print of two women reading a large book, sitting by a window, and the colors are pinks and maroon and emerald and moss green, and the light is shining through the window, and it totally shows my mom‘s vibe. My mom had another large framed print with three young girls looking down at a large open book, and one of them looked a lot like me, and I looked a lot like her when we were both young.
I love how she encouraged reading and learning in all of these subtle and overt ways. Now that I’ve become a person who’s devoted her entire life towards writing and words, I can really see my mom’s influence and encouragement and what a blessing that has been on me, and I love looking forward as I sit on this checkered couch and gaze at those two women reading the book by the window, and how one has her hand up to her chest like she is overtaken.
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#findingauthentichealingrituals
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It’s almost my birthday, and my birthday wish is that you buy my debut fiction chapbook, NOW, THAT’S A TRICK — available for preorder now. My preorder sales determine my royalty percentage, so if you want a copy, this is the perfect time to order yours! This chapbook of magical realism stories will ship August 26.
Thank you, and I hope your dreams are supported too.
Dawn Sperber 