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Work As Therapy
It’s been a long time since I’ve had to process the kind of emotional loss I’m dealing with at the moment. If I were a full-time writer, I think I would be entirely adrift. All my stories seem to have dried up under a knot of pain. I can’t think straight about publishing or marketing…
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Sunset Over Summer
We are on the cusp of the new academic year. Emails to my Avila account have increased in frequency. The long parade of faculty and staff meetings that precedes the start of classes begins this week. An ever-greater sense of urgency accompanies my renewed attempts to finalize my syllabi and get ahead on some of…
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Eolyn: Round Two
Thomas Vandenberg, who did the cover art for High Maga, has started on a new work depicting a scene from my first novel, Eolyn. I wish I could share the preliminary sketch with you, but a premature unveiling would be unfair. So let me just say: It’s phenomenal. My plan is to use this artwork for a…
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50 Years of Dune
There were many reasons to celebrate this past Fourth of July weekend. One that caught me by surprise was the 50th anniversary of the publication of Frank Herbert’s DUNE. I first read DUNE in high school. While I often sing praises of Tolkien and Martin, if I’m to be honest with myself I’d have to…
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Musings of a Wayward Catholic
Those of you who follow my blog know that every so often I come back to issues of Church and faith. Over the years I’ve developed my own eclectic brand of spirituality, but my Catholic roots remain strong. In many ways I continue to take pride in what I consider the best of the Catholic tradition: service to…
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On the Relentless Erosion of Hope
A lot of people are talking about Game of Thrones right now, so I guess I’ll add my voice to the clamor. Heads up: there will be NO spoilers in this blog post. At least, no season five spoilers. Everything season one through four is fair game. I’ve found myself going through the same transition…
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Life After Epic
Today the dolphins are dancing in the deep blue waters outside our beach house. Somehow the stay at Virginia Beach never seems complete until they appear. While I always expect to see them, that first (and second and third) sighting never ceases to inspire a sense of awe and privilege. This is my third stay…
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Every Writer’s Nightmare (or, How to Write a Synopsis)
Few things make a writer groan more than the word synopsis. I still remember my first encounter with the s-word, back when I finished my novel Eolyn and started the long arduous task of submissions. It seemed an insult, somehow, that anyone should demand I write a less-than-3000-word version of a story that clearly took 120,000 words…
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What We Believe
In Costa Rica, celebration of Easter is embedded in the larger event of Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Semana Santa are national holidays. Many families take the entire week off to travel to the beach or the mountains. Others enjoy their vacation in the city, with friends and family at home. For the faithful,…
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The Fires of Galia
One of my favorite stories to tell is about the formation of Central America. I’ve given this lecture for many different audiences at multiple academic levels over the course of about fifteen years. Still, I never tire of retelling the story, rolling through about 250 million years of history in just over an hour. Central America…
K.R. Gastreich, Author
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K. R. Gastreich, Author 