In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story that explored in fictional form concepts that would later be examined in the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The title of the story, The Imp Of The Perverse, has passed into the English language as a turn of phrase referring to self-destructive urges or behavior. Poe himself describes it this way:
“We stand upon the brink of a precipice. We peer into the abyss—we grow sick and dizzy. Our first impulse is to shrink away from the danger. Unaccountably we remain… it is but a thought, although a fearful one, and one which chills the very marrow of our bones with the fierceness of the delight of its horror. It is merely the idea of what would be our sensations during the sweeping precipitancy of a fall from such a height… for this very cause do we now the most vividly desire it.“
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As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, when I was a teenager I had a strong curiosity about all things supernatural. I read a lot of books, both fiction and nonfiction. I watched a lot of movies, both documentary and total make-believe. All of this research and exploration churned inside my mind and gave rise to this poem, published by editor Emerian Rich on HorrorAddicts.Net.
Some people believe the Winchester Mystery House is haunted. They believe in the curse said to be laid on the Winchester family by the First Nations people who were slaughtered in such staggering numbers by Winchester rifles. Sarah Winchester held seances in one noteworthy room of the house, partly to contact the spirits of her family who died too suddenly and too young. She’s also said to have made an effort to contact the spirits of the First Nations people who laid the curse on her family. Fear of this curse drove her to keep building more rooms, adding on to the house as a means of holding off the fulfillment of the curse: the moment she stopped building, she would die.
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This makes a great story, and it generates considerable income from the tours offered at the Winchester Mystery House. There are flashlight tours offered at night in the Halloween season, and you can even take a tour of the basement. I lived in San Jose for several years, just a few blocks away from the grand old building. For all of my interest in ghost stories and the occult, I never bothered to visit this famous landmark. Then came my 25th Wedding anniversary. When you’ve been married that long, you start running out of things to do. So my husband and I decided it was time to see if the stories were true. We would tour the Winchester Mystery House.
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The tricky part about going to a place that has a famous reputation for being haunted is the power of suggestion. If you’re already disposed to think you’re going to see ghosts or have some kind of paranormal experience, it’s entirely possible that you will interpret whatever you see and feel in terms that confirm that expectation. I know myself pretty well when it comes to looking for the supernatural. I have such an overactive imagination I’m perfectly capable of scaring myself silly. No, I do not believe the Winchester Mystery House is haunted. I believe Sarah Winchester led a life full of tragedy and sorrow. That state of intense and lingering emotion has permeated the house and grounds.
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One could also consider the Winchester Mystery House in the context of feng shui. To put it in simple terms, feng shui is the art of placement. How your house is oriented according to the compass and how your possessions are arranged inside can affect the flow of chi, or life energy. The Winchester Mystery House is a mind-boggling tangle of rooms and stairways and closets and bathrooms and fireplaces. There are two thousand doors in the House. Some of them open onto brick walls. At least one of them opens out into thin air. This is especially disturbing given that the door is on the second floor. Trapped energy, blocked energy, and energy that flows too quickly can all have an effect on the perceptions and experience of a person dwelling inside such a building or even just passing through.
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Then there’s the issue of what people who visit the Winchester Mystery House bring into the house with them. Thousands of people tour the Winchester Mystery House every year. A given percentage of them go there hoping to see something so they can take home a ghost story like their own personal souvenir. When you have that many people generating that much energy, that much concentrated desire, it might very well attract certain types of spiritual entities. In the late 19th Century, spiritualism was very popular. Its followers believed the dead can and do interact with the world of the living all the time. One room in the House is called the Seance Room. It’s a very strange room, with three entrances but only one exit. To leave the room, you have to pass through a doorway hung with double doors. That would seem easy enough, wouldn’t it? My wedding anniversary falls in early July. San Jose is quite warm at that time of year. The Seance Room does not have any kind of climate control or air conditioning. As soon as I walked into the room, I felt cold and slightly sick to my stomach. The tour guide’s comments on the history of the seance room took maybe five minutes, but those minutes seemed to drag on and on. I really wanted to get out of that room.
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And now, for the really weird moment. As much as I wanted to leave, I could not pass through the double doorway. I was stuck, as if the air itself had thickened around me. People passed by me, but I could not cross that threshold. My husband had already stepped through. He looked back at me, knowing me well enough to know I was having some sort of trouble. All I could do was hold out my hand to him so he could pull me through. That worked. Once I was out of the room, that creepy sense of coldness and the sick feeling went away. The welcome heat of the day warmed me up again.
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Is the Winchester Mystery House haunted? All I can say is I believe it may have become a focal point for a mixture of energies. If it wasn’t haunted to begin with thanks to the curse, the House has quite likely attracted several low grade spiritual entities. It all depends on your sensitivity and what you might or might not want to see. I have no intention of returning to the Winchester Mystery House. Whatever the truth is, I am content not to know.
This year’s BayCon promises to be marvelous. So many fun things to do, so many wonderful people participating. The Programming Ninjas have given me quite an exciting schedule!
SATURDAY
Readings
1 Jul 2023, Saturday 13:00 – 14:30, CA Ballroom 8 (Santa Clara Marriott)
I’ll be reading from my new short story, To Reach For The Stars, from Jewels Of Darkover.
Travel is more complicated and risky than ever. What should writers do? Take readers away to foreign cultures and alien worlds? Or show readers what a forbidding landscape exists right outside the front door?
Medicated And Motivated
1 Jul 2023, Saturday 16:00 – 17:30, CA Ballroom 8 (Santa Clara Marriott)
How do you keep writing when you have to face the daily battle of chronic pain?
*****
SUNDAY
Why Movies Mean So Much to Us
2 Jul 2023, Sunday 10:00 – 11:30, CA Ballroom 4 and 5 (Santa Clara Marriott)
From “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, You’re my only hope!” to “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” we all can quote lines from our favorites. Movies have been a deep and enduring part of our entire lives. What good do they do for us? What bad?
At some time in your writing career chances are you are going to work with an editor, but many authors know next to nothing about the field of editing. Copyeditors, acquisition editors, managing editors, line editors, developmental editors—What do they do? How do you know what kind of editor you need? How do you find a good editor? How do you work with an editor of a magazine, anthology or publishing house? Everything you need to know but were afraid to ask.
The dealer’s room will probably have at least some of the anthologies where you can find my short fiction. If all goes well, I will have book cover postcards available for $5 each, suitable for signing.
I am delighted to announce the appearance of my new short story To Reach For The Stars in JEWELS OF DARKOVER, the latest anthology set in the Darkover universe. The anthology is now available for pre-order in both ebook. The trade paperback edition will become available on the release date, May 2, 2023.
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This is the story of an elaborate jewel heist that may have consequences for not just the galaxy but all life in the universe. It’s such a thrill to create my own heist story. I grew up watching movies such as The Italian Job, Diamonds Are Forever, The Bank Job, Thief, and of course The Pink Panther and its sequels.
Appearing in this anthology marks a new milestone in my writing career. Way back when I was in high school, I read BRISINGAMEN by Diana L. Paxson. “The gift of an ancient necklace, the legendary Brisingamen, gives Karen Ingold the extraordinary powers of the goddess Freyia and leads her into a perilous confrontation with the evil Loki.” I’d already been a big fan of sword & sorcery, so this blew my mind. This novel introduced me to the genre now known as urban fantasy. I wrote a fan letter to Diana Paxson. Much to my astonishment and joy, she replied with a kind and gracious note on stationery that featured a pen and ink drawing of Hildisvini, Frejya’s boar or “battle swine.”
Years later, after I’d begun to publish my own fantasy stories, I had the honor and the pleasure of appearing alongside Diana Paxson on panels at SF/F conventions.
Now, almost forty years after reading BRISINGAMEN, I’m proud to say my story To Reach For The Stars appears on the same Table of Contents with Fire Seed by Diana L. Paxson.
When I set out to write The Wheel of Misfortune (Best Indie Speculative Fiction, Volume One), I asked myself what if one of the spirits of Japanese folklore who punish the wicked came after Dr. Harrington? How could the hero of my Kyoto Steampunk series possibly be wicked? This was a great opportunity to explore the early days of Dr. Harrington’s career as a member of the Royal College of Physicians. A serious error in judgment comes back to haunt Dr. Harrington ten years later in the form of the wanyudo, the Soul Eater.
Some people think plotting your story before writing it takes all the spontaneity and adventure out of the process. I disagree. I need at least some idea of where I want to go, if only for that day’s writing. I need a target to focus my aim and build momentum. There’s still a whole lot of adventure to be had just getting from one end to the other in a single scene.
When I began writing fiction, the how-to book that gave me the best advice suggested completing a first draft, then literally cutting apart and pasting together chunks of text. That seems ridiculous now in the age of Scrivener and Evernote. I’m a hands-on kind of person. Crafting provides me with much-needed occupational therapy. This tendency has led me to rely on scene cards for building plots for my longer projects.
Time This can be the century, the year, the season, the hour, whatever you need.
Place Where does this scene occur? You can be as general as galaxy or as specific as a patch of sand on the beach.
Point Of View (POV) Which character’s head is the reader inside? Change of time and/or place requires a scene break. The same is true for a change of POV.
Goal What does the POV want to accomplish during this scene? This can also be whatever the POV wants to avoid doing.
Opposition What prevents the POV from achieving the scene goal? Another character? A natural disaster?
Inciting Incident This is also referred to as the Problem Situation, the change in the POV’s life that sets the story in motion.
Resolution How does the scene end? Is the goal achieved?
Disaster This is one word for the end of scene hook, the twist that raises the stakes and heightens tension and suspense. This is what will keep your reader turning pages.
I find using 4 x 6 notecards gives me the most flexibility when it comes to lining up scenes in different ways. Wondering where to put that exposition? Trying to figure out where a flashback won’t ruin your pace? Scene cards are your friend. Scrivener provides something similar, but I can tolerate only so much screen time. Notecards don’t put you at risk for the dangers of digital eyestrain.
It’s OK if you can’t fill in all the info on every card right away. Story ideas evolve. That’s part of the fun, and another big advantage of scene cards. You can create several variations on the same scene card. Play around with the possibilities. Be sure to keep the cards you don’t use. You never know when those ideas might come in handy!
“A person attracted to that which is foreign, especially to foreign peoples, manners, or cultures.” YourDictionary.com
In Kyoto you will find 400 shrines and 1600 temples. Of the many larger and more famous temples, Kiyomizu-dera is truly one of a kind. If I had to name just one single reason for going to Kyoto, I would say I had to visit Kiyomizu-dera. This was the number one item on my bucket list. Thanks to my husband’s kindness and generosity, this dream came true.
I’ve been a lot of places and I’ve seen a lot of things, and I’ve written about many of them. This is the first time I have deliberately gone to visit a location where I have already set four short stories. My steampunk short fiction, which appears in 12 Hours Later and the forthcoming 30 Days After, centers around Kiyomizu-dera. If there’s such a thing as a literary pilgrimage, I made one, and it stands out as one of the highlights of my strange and adventuresome life.
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The Pure Water Temple stands halfway up Mt. Otowa, near the Otowa Falls. Primarily a shrine to Kannon (aka Kwan Yin), the Goddess of Mercy, the main hall is home to the Eleven-Headed and Thousand-Armed Kannon Boddhisatva. There’s a lot to know about Kiyomizu-dera. Please follow the links to discover fascinating facts about this temple and Kyoto itself, both ancient and modern.
There must have been hundreds of people visiting the temple the day Pat and I were there. People were dressed in traditional kimono or yukata, modern street wear, or school uniforms. When a tour group of high school boys passed by, a dozen manga sprang to mind.
The best times of the year to visit Kiyomizu-dera are springtime for the cherry blossoms and autumn for the maple leaves. Few things are more beautiful to me than the sight of late afternoon sunshine seen through the red leaves of a Japanese maple.
Here I stand on the veranda overlooking a thirteen meter drop. Known as the Stage, the veranda is built from over four hundred cypress boards. The Stage contains not a single nail. Wooden pegs were used instead.
In “A Demon in the Noonday Sun,” this is the spot where Dr. Harrington must protect the Abbot against the anger of Amatsu Mikaboshi, the Japanese god of chaos. The Abbot is sitting in a steampunk wheelchair at the time. Amatsu Mikaboshi keeps blasting it with black fire. Poor Dr. Harrington, a scientist to the bone, has to make a rather sudden adjustment to the reality of Japanese gods and monsters!
This is the view of the Stage from the opposite direction. I stood at the corner on the center left.
There are several shrines on the temple grounds. This is an excellent example of a shrine to Inari, god of rice/wealth. I love those fox figurines. Strangely enough, I could not find a shop that sold them.
Kiyomizu-dera is known for its shrine to Okuninushi, the god of romance and matchmaking. The statue of him makes him look like a tough samurai. Standing beside him is a rabbit that could give the one in “Donnie Darko” a run for its money. The rabbit holds a haraegushi, a “lightning staff” decorated with those paper zigzags called shide.
Now for the rather chilling part of this expedition. The sign below explains the history of the god whose name is never spoken, the one who will punish playboys and heartbreakers. A wronged woman can take a straw figure that represents the man who hurt her and nail it to the cypress tree behind this particular shrine. The god-with-no-name will then bring down some hard karma on the man responsible.
Note, please, that the second thing to scare me in the Haunted House at Toei Kyoto Studio Park was a falling tree. Pat told me later she noticed it was a cypress with a straw figure nailed to it. We didn’t understand that at the time. Now we do!
The ema plaques below give one insight into the hopes and dreams of many people. I was surprised to discover some of them had English writing on them, not just kanji. Pilgrims come to Kiyomizu-dera from all over the world. Most of the plaques we saw had a sheep on them. Still not sure what that was all about.
Here are the three waterfalls that grant particular blessings. On the far right, wisdom. In the center, long life. On the left, success in scholarship. I meant to drink from the water of longevity. Turns out I drank the water for wisdom instead. I suspect that’s probably what I really need!
Soon it was time to head back down the mountain. This took us back along the Sannen-zaka, a narrow lane lined with shops selling maneki neko, fans, mochi, dango, all sorts of postcards and cell phone charms and the items pilgrims might need such as prayer beads.
I bought a hat embroidered with a battle between the God of Wind and the God of Lightning. Pat found a number of items on her souvenir wish list. If you love shopping, you simply must visit the Sannen-zaka. We also enjoyed a singular snack: pickled cucumber on a stick. Legend has it that cucumbers are the favorite food of Japan’s most famous monster from folklore, the kappa. I have to say the giant pickle on a stick was crunchy and refreshing, right up until the moment when I bit into the stick.
It’s taken me more time than usual to recover from the wonders of BayCon. This year’s amazing spectacle had so much going on I wanted to be in at least two different places in every time slot. Here are the highlights of one of the better con weekends I’ve enjoyed.
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How diverse is diversity?
Gregg Castro (Salinan T’rowt’raahl) (M), Dr. yvonne white (Hayward High School), Lillian Csernica (Sense of Wonder Press), Jean Battiato
I added another layer to the definition of diversity by speaking for those who have disabilities, whether physical or psychological. While some physical disabilities are obvious and others are not, most psychological problems are not immediately apparent. Thanks to the expanding realm of neurodiversity, more and more people are aware of the prevalence of autism, of clinical depression, of chronic pain, and other conditions that create daily challenges on several levels.
John wanted to attend this event. He’s been drawing for years and has taken at least two ceramics classes in school. Now he’s interested in learning how to tell a good story to go along with his illustrations and sculptures. Margaret did a wonderful job of explaining the techniques of oral storytelling. There was a young lady present as well. Margaret encouraged both John and this young lady to use their own original characters as part of practicing the techniques she discussed. I am delighted to say I learned quite a lot also! Margaret’s techniques came in very handy for the Spontaneous Storytelling panel on Sunday.
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Altered Beast
Werewolves and other shapeshifters in mythology and literature.
Kevin Andrew Murphy (M), Lillian Csernica (Sense of Wonder Press), Pat MacEwen
I have written and published three stories with Kevin and one (so far) with Pat. We all have extensive libraries on folklore and shapeshifters, so we took the audience on a round-the-world tour of the beliefs and manifestations of the “werewolf” tradition.When we three are together, you will hear some of the weirdest facts and fancies you could imagine!
Spontaneous Storytelling
Panelists developing a story developed by multiple choice suggestions from audience members.
Jeff Warwick (M), David Brin, Lillian Csernica (Sense of Wonder Press), Mark Gelineau (Gelineau and King)
Jeff is brilliant. Get somebody who was in the audience for this panel to tell you about the illustrations he drew while the story evolved, most notably The Harmonicat. This critter has now entered into the annals of A Shot Rang Out folklore right up there with Darth Tetra. I found a way for our protagonist to speak Japanese to the cat. David Brin picked right up on that and easily blew my tourist doors off with his accent and much better grammar. Mark Gelineau caught some of the stranger audience suggestions and turned them to his advantage. A good time was had by all!
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The Ink That Rushes From Your Heart
Dorothy Parker wrote “Never never dip your quill/In ink that rushes from your heart.” Being willing to do exactly that is what will bring the deepest meaning to our writing. How do we bring ourselves to be that honest and vulnerable in our stories?
Lillian Csernica (Sense of Wonder Press) (M), Jay Hartlove (JayWrites Productions), Ms. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff (Book View Café)
It’s not easy to talk about one’s creative process, but the three of us gave it a solid try. Jay described how the combination of his acting training and his directing skills help him render authentic emotion on the page. Maya gave us some very personal insights into how she transforms personal pain into dynamic action in her stories. Me? I keep digging deeper and deeper into the hearts of my characters to find the pain that drives them onward, that won’t let them sleep, that gives them strength in the face of crushing opposition. Pain is supposed to be Nature’s way of telling us to stop doing something. For writers, it’s what keeps us writing.
I am delighted to announce the release of Next Stop on the #13, the fourth steampunk anthology featuring stories by the authors of Clockwork Alchemy.
MoonBase Prints
In The Badger Epidemic, Dr. Harrington is forced to ride a train bound for Osaka through a region afflicted by a cholera epidemic. The Japanese workers needed for building the railways and telegraph lines believe the cholera is spread by the new technology from the West. The British officials insist Dr. Harrington ride the train and prove the superstition is nonsense.
What awaits Dr. Harrington out in the darkness on those lonely train tracks is a danger even greater than the threat of cholera itself.
It’s time to clean up the NaNoWriMo novel. I have several intense scenes, some good action, and two or three potential plotlines. How do I clean this up? Where do I start?
First, I have to finish typing in all the handwritten material created during my coffeehouse marathons. That allows me a certain amount of editing, but mostly I just want to get all of the manuscript on disk. It’s comforting, really. I hadn’t realized just how much I did write and from so many different characters’ points of view.
Second, I need to figure out who the hero of my story is. Since this is meant to be a Kyoto Steampunk novel, the obvious choice would be Dr. William Harrington, main character of all but two of the seven short stories in the series. Who changes the most over the course of the story? Is it Dr. Harrington, or is it his daughter Madelaine?
(Yes, I did say seven. The latest Kyoto Steampunk short story, The Badger Epidemic, will appear in Next Stop on the #13, available at Clockwork Alchemy 2019!)
At the Night of Writing Dangerously, we all received tote bags which included a copy of Save The Cat! Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody. This book is God’s gift to the novel writer, thanks to Ms. Brody’s skill at breaking down and explaining in detail the fifteen story beats that are essential to a strong, successful story. Given what Ms. Brody demonstrates, I know I face crucial questions in sifting through my roughdraft to find the moments that match some or all of those fifteen story beats.
Having done a bit of flailing around while I did my best to achieve my daily word quota, I’ve written a lot of material that could take the story in at least half a dozen directions. Lining up the scenes I’ve written in something approximating chronological order should point the way toward further complications and rising action. While I often work from plot outlines, this time I’ve been extrapolating from the events occurring in the Kyoto steampunk short stories. The consequences of some of those events are now catching up with Dr. Harrington, Madelaine, Constance, and Nurse Danforth.
The novel length has allowed me to introduce new characters, three human and three non-human. The humans are members of the British expatriate society in Kyoto, all of whom have some degree of power to affect the course of Dr. Harrington’s stay. Of the three non-human characters, two are earthly gods while the third is a monster of uncertain provenance. There are few things I enjoy more than squeezing poor Dr. Harrington between the pressures of Victorian social etiquette and the unfamiliar rules that govern the gods and monsters of Japan.
Third? I don’t know what will happen next. I’m just as excited to find out as I hope my readers will be!
Two of my stories have found new homes which are now available.
In The Power Behind The Throne, Ti Song, Celestial Lady, First Daughter of the Emperor, longs for more than tea, embroidery, and a secluded life. When she discovers the secret of her brother’s success in battle, she knows it’s the key to her freedom.
The Wheel of Misfortune has suddenly appeared on the streets of Kyoto, chasing Dr. William Harrington with lethal intent. With the help of the Abbot of Kiyomizudera, Dr. Harrington must go back to the early days of his career as a physician and right a wrong that has haunted him for ten long years.
I'm a professional writer living in Northern California with my husband and two sons. Fantasy in various forms is my reading and writing pleasure. I'm a history buff, a Japanophile, and I love to learn about language(s). I enjoy making jewelry, using natural materials such as wood, bone, semiprecious stones, and seashells. I collect bookmarks and wind chimes.
It’s time to clean up the 
At the
Hopes & Dreams: My Writing and My Sons