Welcome back to the far too infrequently updated Taverenbooks blog. I keep telling myself to post more, and as much as I do like to talk about myself, I like to write stories more. So my word count goes to Word instead of WordPress. But I’m here now, so let’s do this.

Since my last post, I received an acceptance for a short piece in The Avalon Literary Review, and just yesterday I got my copies in the mail. The piece, et tu Jesus, came from an exercise in my MFA point of view class this past spring and has loose parallels to my own summers in North Dakota when I was a kid. It’s a quick read, but one that’ll make you chuckle and put a smile on your face.

Last week I heard back from an anthology I submitted to, Space Brides, Inc, and they’ve accepted my story for that as well. I’ve always enjoyed reading sci-fi and it was fun combining things I’ve always had interest in (the moon Europa and extremophiles) with the scariest thing known to mankind… relationships. The anthology should be coming out later this fall, so something else to look forward to.

I just sent in a short story that takes place in the early 1500s in France and am currently working on a middle grade short about an eleven-year-old girl who, even though she just saved the world, can’t figure out what’s happening at her grandma’s house. I’ve read some of it to Westley (my five-year-old son) and he’s enjoying it so far. Though to be fair, magic and light potty humor are always golden with him.

Speaking of Westley, one of the reasons I’ve had less time to write this summer is because kids require a lot of attention and energy. In particular, he’s been super into science and we’ve been doing experiments and watching all sorts of videos. Some of the things we’ve done are a marble run, elephant toothpaste, creating S’mores “molecules”, and later today we’re going to combine baking soda and vinegar in different amounts to see what changes.

Driving some of that interest are some videos we’ve been watching. On YouTube we’ve been watching Science Max and Mark Rober, and on Netflix it’s been Emily’s Wonderlab. Science Max and Mark Rober are really good about explaining the science and presenting the results in fun, eye-popping ways. Emily’s Wonderlab is really good about including kids in the actual experiments, so it seems to him something he can do.

I’ll try to keep this next section short because as my wife can attest, I can ramble and ramble on the subject. Growing up near Seattle, I’ve always had a passion for the Seattle Mariners. The last few years have been great with their ever-improving record, and with reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2001 last fall. Since most of the games are on the west coast I don’t get to start watching until 9pm in Minnesota, which in turn makes for many late nights. So when they come to town to play the Twins, it’s especially exciting given how few chances I have to see them in person.

This year when they came I took Westley to his first Mariners game and made sure to get seats close enough to engage and entertain him, as much as can be expected for a five-year-old anyway. Of course it ended up being 95 degrees that day, so that sucked, but it was still a fun experience, even if his favorite part ended up being the Dippin’ Dots. By the way, if any Mariners person ends up reading this, I’ve got a great idea for a collaboration. Call me. 🙂

I keep saying I’ll try to post more often, and I keep meaning it. Hopefully it won’t take two months for the next post.