Towards the end of March, the characters related to the *Good Bones* saga began talking to me—no, lecturing me. More specifically, Brooke Morningstar’s grandparents, Anastazia and Józef, both Holocaust survivors, sat me down one evening and began telling me their harrowing story. From Auschwitz-Birkenau, to their struggle for survival and eventual reunion in Prague, their journey is one of resilience and love. Not to mention their history has some parallels to current events today.
In the realm of Carl Jung’s psychology, shadow work has become a popular term, often conjuring images of exploring one’s darker impulses and repressed flaws. It’s a practice of looking within, facing those aspects of ourselves we’d rather deny—our anger, jealousy, or selfishness. While this journey is undoubtedly transformative, there’s another, equally vital side to the shadow that often goes unnoticed. What if, instead of only confronting what we fear in ourselves, we also asked: What good have we buried in the shadow?
I’m having to do revisions on Unseen, part one of The Dreams that Carried Us. (The full trilogy consists of Unseen, Unbroken, and Unbound.)
These three stories tell the
I try to keep a lot of my political views off of this sight (and off of my writing social media accounts. I don’t always succeed.) I do have a place where I put that kind of stuff, if you mght be interested in what a left-leaning transgender lesbian moght […]
The grandparents of the protagonist of the novel I’m writing were survivors of the Shoah – although Brooke’s grandmother is technically also a survivor of it and the samudaripen, which is one of many terms the Roma people call the same time, as she herself is Romani.
I have spent much time recently reading about the Roma camps, especially the “Gypsy family camp” (German: Zigeunerfamilienlager) was Section B-IIe of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp, where Romani families deported to the camp were held together, instead of being separated as was typical at Auschwitz. (Yes, I am very much aware that word -G*** – is a slur, it’s the title of the Wikipedia article.)
Research takes you down many a strange rabbit Warren, and this one been no exception.
Just when you think the conversation is done, and you start to walk away, they tug on your coat, saying “Just one more thing…”
A Folk-Tale of Love, War, and the Waiting Heart Copyright 2025 Ashleigh McSidhe There was a time, long ago, when the hills of Connemara still whispered in the old tongue, and the stones remembered every footstep. In a cottage of whitewashed stone and thatch, nestled where the green hills met […]
Looking through the books listed on the Queer Crime Writers website, I spotted Darrel Grizzle’s I never Meant to Star a Murder Cult.” With a title like that, I had to go take a look at it. It was on Kindle Unlimited, so I grabbed a copy. Laughed my way through the Forward, by the time I finished the first story, I went back and bought it for keeps.
What? It’s already April? Life has been somewhat chaotic and challenging for me over the past several months, especially after the US elections. I won’t say I was surprised by the outcome, but I was disappointed. On a brighter note, I was recently diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, and after starting medication, I can finally concentrate and complete tasks! I’m back at work on my murder mystery, *Good Bones*, and I’m excited to share some new short stories featuring beloved characters. Plus, I’ve been writing songfics and poetry again. How is your year going?