Today I am sharing two illustrations I commissioned from my youngest son, Paul F.S. Bauer, for The Dire Deeds of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits. There is a scene in the book where the Elves teach divination using the Elder Futhark runes, and I wanted the results illustrated. Paul added the additional design elements based…
July 2020 Progress
I am back firmly in fantasy novelist mode! This past weekend I put some character and plot development changes in place and continued the final edit on Dire Deeds. I revised the list of 29 genders of the Elf world; and sorted and organized files of character "faces" (a form of fantasy "casting" that helps…
From “A” to Ze
This is a coming out post. Even as a child I never liked my first name, preferring often to simply use the letter "A." I used to think it was because "Amy" seemed too wimpy and I also resented being named after a character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (yes, my parents did that).…
QQ Excerpt: More Lucky LaFey
Artwork via HeroForge.com Excerpt from The Queerest Quest of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits: To hear Lucky tell it, he’d spent a chunk of time hobnobbing with the poshest Sonoma county growers (grapes, not cannabis) and had known Ginger’s parents as well as Ginger. He’d lived on this property as a sort of unofficial caretaker, off…
Transphobia Not Tolerated at PantheaCon
[Note: This is similar to the original post at one of my other blogs.] A handful of activists have ensured that Max Dashu, now known as someone who holds certain transphobic views, has been disinvited as a PantheaCon presenter. As a mother, as a sexologist, as a writer, as a neopagan, as a person--I'm glad. As…
“The Queerest Quest” Has Begun!
November 1st (my birthday) is also the start of each year's National Novel Writing Month, fondly known as NaNoWriMo. In NaNoWriMo 2016, I launched my fantasy novel, The Dire Deeds of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits, and continued to write all year. In NaNoWriMo 2017, I continued work on Dire Deeds and then revised and completed…
QQ Excerpt: Lucky LaFey: Character Sketch
Lucky LaFey is a new main character who appears in the third volume of The Guild of Ornamental Hermits series, The Queerest Quest of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits. This third book takes place in Lake County, CA. Lucky LaFey is a drifter. He wears his mileage lightly though he's travelled the roughest of roads. However his…
Mourning Ahalanui Warm Pond
Photo of Ahalanui Warm Pond, Puna District, Hawai'i Island. Photo by A.R. Marsh. Park next to Ahalanui Warm Pond. Lifeguard tower at Ahalanui Warm Pond. Photos by A.R. Marsh. Yesterday, July 12, 2018, Tutu Pele covered the Ahalanui Warm Pond and park with lava, along with the neighboring Kua O Ka La Hawaiian language charter school.…
You Need a Scorecard to Keep Track…
Joe Hillstrom Sidley Croom Joe and Sidley are on again, off again lovers. Artwork via HeroForge.com. Oyster Olson Babe Bump Tomma Bedlam Three of the main characters. Artwork via HeroForge.com. Here is a list of some of the relationship configurations involving the characters in The Guild of Ornamental Hermits fantasy series. Check out our characters…
Disaster Prep in “Hermitville,” Puna District
A lava flow moves on Makamae Street in Leilani Estates at 09:32 am HST on May 6, 2018. USGS map, Public Domain. The opening scene of The Dire Deeds of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits is a light-hearted disaster prep drill performed by some of the "hermits" of my fictitious Hermitville Farm and Arts Collective, an…
The Guild of Ornamental Hermits 