writing

Autumn Stories!

Happy Sunday afternoon,

We took my older dog to the Farmers’ Market earlier and browsed for a shepherd’s pot pie, and Kalamata olives, and a make-your-own flower bouquet and such things. We also bought a pretzel and candied cashews because my dog loves to share those two items and this week we received some medical news about him that, while not unexpected for a 10+ year dog, is still sad. But we weren’t sad while we sat on the bench and ate snacks and people watched.

Then, in glamorous style, we moved all the furniture out of our bedroom to hunt dust bunnies via the vacuum-then-mop approach. Luckily, I had plans with my friend Lyn so that gave me an excuse to leave after the hunt was over but before we could expand the dust bunny search to other rooms in the house. While in Lyn’s sunroom, I had the chance to share about some of my recent stories. First, I’m thrilled to have another story placed with Air and Nothingness Press. The books are absolutely beautiful works of art and my story “Interview with a Time Traveler…Again” is in wonderful company with other talented authors playing with memory and how memory is corrupted on an individual or societal level.

Purchase link.

I’m also excited to be part of a fundraiser for cat rescues by donating my story “Strangely Familiar.” Here’s the “official” description from eSpec Books:

This charity anthology of speculative fiction stories and real-life accounts has been organized and contributed to by those with a heart for these hard-luck cases. All profits from sales will 100% be donated to cat rescue organizations dedicated to finding home for these kitties, where possible, or giving them the care that they can-medical or Trap, Neuter, and Release-before returning them back into the wild.

Can you help us, help them?

Featuring stories donated by Sherri Cook Woosley, Lisanne Norman, James W. Bates, Patrick Thomas, Rigel Ailur, Amber Davis, Will McDermott, Jacob Jones-Goldstein, Sharon Lee, Marc L. Abbott, Kris Katzen, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Eric V. Hardenbrook, Charles Barouch, Brad Jurn, F.R. Michaels, Grace Bridges, Nancy Jane Moore, Christopher J. Burke, and Anton Kukal.

The continuation of A Future for Ferals! The Kindle version is available now and the print version will be available within days. Purchase link

My BIGGEST news of all? An anthology of 16 of my stories…with 8 illustrations! Many of the stories have been published in esteemed venues like Abyss & Apex, Dreamforge Magazine, and Flash Fiction Magazine. Others are brand new and this is their first release. I’m giddy to have one collection with so much of my work gathered.

What does the name mean? Well there’s a poem called “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti about two sisters who are tempted by goblins selling this forbidden fruit. The story is what happens when one sister becomes addicted to the enchantment and the other sister has to save her and the price she must pay. I read it in grad school and have never forgotten it so my first story involves the mythology of Goblin fruit and the metaphor extends through the rest of my stories.

This upcoming week is, of course, filled with commitments and dental visits and my teaching two evening exercise classes after teaching high school classes all day. But these stories are to be shared. Maybe around a campfire, maybe as a Yuletide gift, maybe just because. And when you share these stories, you will be sharing my whimsy and I hope it sparks your own.

I will have copies of these books, and more, at the Authors and Artists Sale at the Armory in Bel Air, MD on November 1st.

My last scheduled appearance this year will be Philcon in Philadelphia from November 21-23rd.

Love,
Sherri

Spring Time!

It’s been a tumultuous couple of months here in the US. The constant news headlines have made it hard to find a creative space to let my imagination wander, but I told a group of students last week that this is an important time to put our thoughts to paper, to wrestle with our characters, to emphasize through the conflict in our stories what we as humans believe is right and good and truthful. Because truth comes across in fiction — not a literal truth but a truth so deep that our souls recognize it.

I’m excited to have a new market: The Atlantic Journal. My story, “Sunday Reverie” was published and met a warm reception at the launch party.

The story begins: “When I was a child, we played hide’n’seek among the tombstones of the Southern Baptist graveyard. While our parents were inside studying the mysteries of religion, we were feral children running our hands along the rough tops of the markers and along the smooth fronts, our fingers picking out lines that formed letters and noting numbers that had no meaning, no heaviness.”

From the Launch Party at Bird in Hand, Baltimore

I was also glad to partner with my friend Jen Chandler, an educator in Harford County, who put together a Future Focus Day at a local high school. I was one of the speakers and I had an opportunity to speak to two sessions of youth who’d signed up to learn about what it means to pursue a career in writing. We talked about AI and how marketing is changing, whether readers can separate art from artist, and how to get started. Some asked specific questions about their own work and others wanted to know whether they had to live more, experience more, before they could tell a story. (Spoiler: No)

The only thing that we didn’t touch on that I’m currently obsessed with is Severance. My family (well, my oldest has watched the entire thing. She’s the one who recommended the show) is watching it together and it is really mind-bending.

I have a couple of appearances coming up. I’ll share them here because cons and festivals are always nicer when you know someone. And, if you see me, I will talk about more than Severance. Probably.

Shore Leave 2025 July 11-13th Lancaster, PA Wyndham Resort and Convention Center

Book Fair at Bel Air August 23rd Bel Air, MD Bel Air Armory (37 N. Main Street)

*I’ll be sharing a table with author Tim Baldwin

Bel Air Festival for the Arts September 14th, 2025 Bel Air, MD Shamrock Park (39 Hickory Avenue)

*I’ll be sharing a table with author Xenatine

That’s all I’ve got for now. Feel free to reach out if you’d like me to be a guest speaker for your group or activity.

Love,

Sherri

Another NEW RELEASE

August has been very exciting because I had TWO books release and they were both about cryptids, a monster from folklore.

Postcards from a City of Monsters is intended for children and their families or friends and is fully illustrated and was released by Improbable Press. Available here.

Mother’s Instinct is a different beast (I’m sorry). eSpec Books produces the books for Cryptid Crate, a quarterly subscription series that includes a t-shirt, a Challenge Coin, a stackable figure, and my book.

I had the pleasure of writing about a Dobhar Chu. Not sure what that is? I wasn’t either. Even though my Master’s Capstone was about Irish mythology, I had not heard of this “otter-alligator” that lives in both fresh and saltwater, is protective of their young, and will attack humans without fear. Once I had the setting: a mysterious island off the west coast of Ireland, and the characters: a mother researching for her dissertation and a young daughter with a special connection to animals, the plot began coming together.

I talk more about it in my interview with Paul Semel here

The book is available wherever books are sold, including from eSpec books here.

If you are local, I’m happy to sign your book. Also, I’ll be at the Bel Air Festival for the Arts on Sunday, September 15th in Shamrock Park and will have copies for sale. Thank you for the support!

Love,

Sherri

Summer 2024

Hey! I hope you are enjoying the pool, eating ice cream from a local dairy, and reading some intriguing books. I recently read The Pilgrim (thriller) by Terry Hayes and I’m about halfway through Godkiller (fantasy) by Hannah Kaner. I post my progress on both Goodreads and Storygraph like I’m a hunter and the books are my prey.

Mid-July and I’ve recovered enough optimism to start planning again! I’m excited to share that Mother’s Instinct will be released August 21st by e-Spec books and Postcards from a City of Monsters will be released August 29th by Improbable Press. Mother’s Instinct was fun to write because it was a What If? novel. Many people know that my Master’s Capstone centered on the role of women in medieval Irish and Welsh mythology. Okay, so what if I’d stayed in academia? What if I got to pursue sightings of an actual creature still haunting a remote Irish island? What if I took my daughter with me and she developed a connection with this deadly cryptid?

Postcards has been a long time coming. If you’ve followed me then you know I first started posting over two years ago. The publisher nominated this story for a Pushcart prize (yaayyyy!!) back when it was included in the anthology Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging and it represents an important part of my life….when my daughter’s cancer treatment affected everything. So this story draws on both my experience of living in Prague (I went there to be an English teacher when I was 19 years old) and being a mother of a child with cancer. But the story is about a boy who wants to escape the hospital and the gargoyle who helps him. The illustrations by Elena Moroz are fabulous. Simply breathtaking in the way she captured what was in my imagination.

Each publisher chose the date so it is a coincidence that they are releasing only a week apart. For Postcards, the publisher is timing the release to coincide with Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. This is also right as I’m starting a new school year… so I’m trying to promote the books now. What does that mean? Well, pre-orders are WONDERFUL THINGS. Preorder Here If you purchase a copy of Mother’s Instinct NOW then it pushes my book higher on the release day so that more people see it. If more people see it, then more may buy it. If more people buy it then my publisher is happy. If my publisher is happy then they may invite me to write another project for them. Then, and only then, do I get to be happy.

I’ll post again when Improbable Press has their preorder page up — should be at the end of July.

In the meantime, I’ve also put together my schedule of appearances for the rest of 2024:

Fri. July 26th/Sun. July 28th Shore Leave 44 Lancaster, PA

Sat. September 15th Bel Air Festival of the Arts Bel Air, MD

Sat/Sun September 28-29 FrightReads Millersville, MD

Sat., November 2nd Authors & Artists Bel Air, MD

Sun. November 17th Books and Brews Market Street Brewery Havre de Grace, MD

Nov 21-24 National Council of Teachers of English Boston, MA

Finally, I sold another story to Abyss & Apex and that story about kelpies will be coming out online on January 1st, 2025.

For fun: a throwback to the summer that I taught Goat Yoga.

Love,

Sherri

Summer Appearances

I had an opportunity to travel to Europe with my family this summer for three weeks and we went to Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy with our niece, Izzy. The trip was full of many adventures and memories, but we are now back to reality — newly inspired for short stories and novels.

This was a fun moment where we stopped in the middle of the Swiss Alps for expresso and chocolate during the return from Milan.

Now I’m on my way to Shore Leave 43 as an author guest and I’m looking forward to speaking on panels and seeing author friends!

On Saturday, August 26th I’ll be selling books at FaunFest in White Hall, MD.

And, on Saturday, September 30-Sunday, October 1st, I’ll be returning to sell books at FrightReads Book Festival in Millersville, MD.

If you’re local, please come out to support authors and artists!

Love,

Sherri

Balticon 56

I had a fantastic weekend at Balticon in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore (this is exactly what gets burned down in my book Walking Through Fire, by the way). It was nice to see people again, to snack on cannolis in Little Italy and enjoy a paleta, a Mexican frozen treat made from strawberries and then dipped in chocolate.

My panels (and fellow panelists) were fun and we had spirited discussions.

I moderated: Keeping Your Anitheroes Likable

I moderated: What Should I Read Next

I was a panelist for: Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean

I was a panelist for: Gods as Characters

I also had a reading and chose to read from “Swan Dive” in Musings of the Muses and then the first chapter of my upcoming novel, Ashes of Regret.

One note about reading the first chapter. I asked certain of my high school students to critique the content and I was pleased as an author to receive the feedback about what was confusing or what could be changed, but as a teacher I couldn’t have been more proud. Seriously, I’m amazed by my students and the skill and energy they bring to working with language and determining the elements of a story.

So, without further ado, here is the cover for Ashes of Regret. I will launch the novel at Shore Leave this July.

Love,

Sherri

Upcoming Events 2022

I’m excited to share that I have two new short stories coming out in anthologies soon:

“Swan Dive” is a retelling of the Zeus and Leda myth, but told from her point of view. Leda was the mother of Castor and Pollux, Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy. She FINALLY gets her own story.

“An Excuse, An Invitation Even”, a retelling of Orpheus meeting Eurydice, if he were a traveling musician in the 1850’s American Wild West and Eurydice was a rider for the Pony Express.

I also have some appearances scheduled:

Balticon 56 at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend (May 27th-30th).

Shore Leave at the Delta Hotel in Hunt Valley from July 15-17th.

FrightReads Book Festival at the Benfield Sports Center in Millersville, MD on Oct. 1st.

AND

Next week I’ll have some exciting book news!!!!

Stay healthy and keep reading and writing!

Love,

Sherri

Upcoming Stories and Events

This has been a snowy winter in Maryland and another storm is on the way. The family will be heading to the ski slopes once the storm passes!

In other exciting news, I’ve placed three stories in anthologies and they will be available for purchase soon.

“Mustangs and Colts” Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021 (Ebook and paperback in March)

“At the Night Bazaar” Black-Eyed Peas: An anthology of Hope (Ebook and paperback in March)

“My Own Skin” Once Upon a Dystopia: Twisted Fairy Tales and Fractured Folklore (Ebook and paperback in March)

Baby Yoda was crocheted by my daughter Evelyn — she and her friends opened an Etsy shop called Surprizle Crafts.

Farpoint Convention 2021 will be virtual this year and free to guests, donations appreciated.

My panels:

Writing in the New Normal Saturday, Feb 20th (12-1pm)

This Wasn’t the Dystopia I Ordered Sunday, Feb 21st (11-noon)

Balticon 55

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society will hold a free virtual convention Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31, 2021.

I’ll post my panels/readings when the schedule is out.

Nebula Conference 2021 June 4-6th, 2021. It will also be online.

That’s all for now. Drop me a comment and let me know how you are enjoying winter or if you have any exciting virtual events coming up. Stay safe!

Love,

Sherri

Tough Decisions

Some decisions are easy, right? Like, for 2021 our family switched to glass straws and corn-starch dog poop bags in one more step to cut down on trash and waste in landfills and our oceans.

I have a hard time with other decisions, though. I’ve read advice about making pro-and-con lists, about talking decisions over with friends, about throwing a coin in the air and crying ‘head’ or ‘tails’ as a way to figure out what you really want, about meditating and “finding” the answer in your uncluttered mind. But, for me, it’s often about making myself let go. I don’t have faith that something better will come. I’d rather stick with what I know, no matter how flawed, than embrace the next thing. I’ve been practicing letting go this January.

Our mini-van. It’s from 2008 and we’ve kept it going with regular trips to the car mechanic. Unfortunately, our neighbor hit it the other night. No one was hurt and that’s the most important thing, but our son was the primary driver and I liked that he couldn’t go super fast without the whole frame shuddering as if it were about to fly apart. I liked that he could drive his friends around and they weren’t leaving fast food trash in my car. And, I liked that he could drive himself to sports or the gym and the smell wouldn’t cling to my vehicle.

I think we all know that the vehicle is totaled and I have to let it go.

A more difficult decision was to put my horse up for sale. I inherited Noche (Spanish for “night” because she’s a bay) from my daughter, who is a better rider than I am but is away at an out-of-state college. There are so many wonderful things about Noche that even after I fell off and had to recover from a severe concussion, I got back on and continued taking lessons on her. We had some really great rides. I improved, but then she threw me off again this December and the fall caused a cracked rib and a herniated disk. It wasn’t her fault — she was so good in so many other ways that I wouldn’t let her go because I didn’t know if I would bond with another (lower level) horse or if I had the time and money to buy a horse for myself. If I deserved to follow this childhood dream when the world is so chaotic and the pandemic seems like it won’t end. I still don’t know those last things, but I do know that Noche deserves a better rider and I deserve to not be afraid of what my next injury will be. So, I’m letting her go to a better forever home. (Please know that the owner of the stable and I are being very careful as we meet and interview prospective buyers! Noche will stay where she is until we find the perfect home. I just won’t be riding her).

And that brings me to another difficult decision this month. The good thing is I’m finished the next book in The Misbegotten Series. Yay! I’m proud of it and excited to share. It is currently out with beta readers — those are readers who give an author feedback for another round of revisions. My work-in-progress title has been Tamaki and the Fox, but the real title will be: ASHES OF REGRET. What do you think?

Walking Through Fire, Book 1

Ashes of Regret, Book 2

Flames of New Babylon, Book 3

Stars Crash and Burn, Book 4 (Tentative)

The decision is that I’ve been trusting other people to negotiate and get the rights back to Walking Through Fire for me and I need to do it myself (with Mike’s help!). Other people don’t care as much as I do and I’ve lost a lot of time waiting. So, why did I do it?

  1. I have this feeling, often, that other people know better than I do. That they know the right way to do things and I don’t. That I’m somehow missing common sense that everyone has.
  2. I wanted someone to hold my hand through the process. I like being a teamplayer.

I’m moving forward. Humans grow their competence by doing, not by worrying about doing. I’m going to make mistakes — everyone does — but this year I’m going to meet the difficult decisions and not try to sidestep or postpone.

Let me know what you think about the titles in the comments and I’d love to hear your New Year’s Resolutions!

Love,

Sherri

Counting the Good Things

Well, folks, it looks like Maryland is about to regress to Phase 1 during this Covid Pandemic. I’m going to take a moment to focus on some positives. We can’t choose how we feel, but we can choose our words and our message.

One cool thing that happened this fall was that I was able to modify my yoga teaching by offering GOAT YOGA CLASSES! (Use the white circle to ‘slide’ between photos)

In October my co-parent and I flew down to South Carolina to check on my oldest child and left feeling really impressed at how she was stepping up to the (modified!) college experience. She dropped one class that was too difficult between virtual learning and no opportunity for study groups, but was doing well in all the others. We rode bicycles in a nearby park and took her to Walmart to stock up and then took her out to eat.

I also attended Capclave, a writers’ convention near D.C.. virtually and it was nice to “see” (Zoom) so many familiar faces and talk about books and publishing and to be around other people like me. Major shoutout to the coordinators of Capclave because it ran so smoothly.

Some other positives are that I had a story accepted for DreamForge Magazine Issue #7 (available late 2020). My story, “Monsters Beautiful and Bright,” is a twisted fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel where the house is not made of candy, but has fruit trees when the rest of the world is being taken over by rot. It’s a steampunk Lorax with a “crafty” grandma. I’ve seen the illustration for my story and it is GORGEOUS. I love the details pulled from my words.

AND

I have a story forthcoming (Feburary ’21) in the Crazy8 Press anthology, Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2. I wrote a Western (my first time!) about an angry cowgirl, a wild mustang named Woodrow, a feisty teacher, and mean horse thieves. This project is a Kickstarter. That means that money from preorders is raised BEFORE publishing and the amount of preorders determines how nice the project will be. For example, we’ve reached payment for the authors, but we need $1800 more in preorders to have enough money to include illustrations with each story. If you’re interested in supporting, click here.

Talking to Ann Hanlin, a mustang adopter, and Woodrow (SBF Mustang Eventing)

I know this is a hard time. Believe me. I encourage you to practice gratitude by making a list like I just did. Cut yourself some slack. And read a good book. I’m currently enjoying Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The cover blurb by Charles Stross reads, “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!”

Love,

Sherri