Theodora Goss

You do you, but I don't want anything in my house, other than my laptop and phone, connected to the internet. Not my refrigerator, not my microwave, not my vacuum cleaner, certainly not a garage door.

I'm at about 84,000 words on the novel. In the midst of all the stuff going on with academia nowadays, I'm so grateful get away and spend a chapter with trolls.

For academic friends researching fantasy and mythic/folkloric literature:

Time to repeat my observation that in my undergrad program they taught us engineering was "the application of science for the good of mankind", but then used all the classroom time on the application science, and none on "good" or "mankind".

Madeleine in the Bois d’Amour Madeleine in the Bois d’Amour (Émile Bernard, 1892) by Theodora Goss The girl is picking a flower from the pink tree. Her hat is lying on the grass because it is springtime — the sun is…

Poem for today: "Madeleine in the Bois d’Amour"

The girl is picking a flower
from the pink tree.
Her hat is lying on the grass
because it is springtime —
the sun is shining, the forest behind her
is golden with promise.

theodoragosspoems.com/2020/02/17/m...

I think part of What's Going On with billionaires is that the daily friction of interacting with normal people is part of what anchors people to the real world, and once you have enough money to buy your way out of the friction you can knock down a load-bearing column propping up your sanity.

Useful to note given the cries that AI is “inevitable” and “revolutionary” that maybe tech bros aren’t the best at understanding the future beyond their myopia.
Meanwhile, bikes still in use and even transformative as more cities adopt true bike paths.

I’m so glad. :)

Head of Aphrodite Head of Aphrodite Cyprus, 510 B.C. by Theodora Goss All the beautiful figures rising from the waves, long toes gripping foam, arms raised to accept garlands of flowers, covered by their own golden …

Poem for the day. :)

All the beautiful figures
rising from the waves, long toes
gripping foam, arms raised
to accept garlands of flowers,

theodoragosspoems.com/2020/02/23/h...

Grey Robin with bright scarlet/orange bib perched on a lichen covered rock, photo.

Robin of the Day:
Snow Mountain Robin
📷 Jonas Landolt

A male White-winged crossbill in a frosty and snowy spruce tree with a spruce cone in his beak. He has a red head and a mottled brown body with a white wing stripe. He will use his crossed bill to extract the spruce seeds from the cone.

#ArtAdventCalendar
Dec.1
A male white-winged crossbill with his spruce cone on a frosty winter day.
#Birds #photography #wildlife

George Szirtes: I saw myself as a Budapest tenement block in an English suburb | hlo.hu - Hungarian Literature Online George Szirtes, T. S. Eliot Prize-winning poet and recipient of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry, is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary English literature and a committed translator of ...

In March we got the rare chance to sit down with the poet, writer and literary translator George Szirtes in his own home for an interview...

We talked about the role of the poet in England and Hungary, translation, and living life at an angle to both languages. And finally, here it is!

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 867:
Your authorial voice is the product of your background, your education, your experiences, all the books you have read. It may change with time, and depending on the narrative voice you adopt, but will keep the same range and register. Celebrate it. It's unique.

"Dead Leaves" by Remedios Varo presents a surreal scene where a woman with red hair sits calmly, holding a cup from which emerges an ethereal, mannequin-like figure whose chest appears mechanized. The room, overgrown with vines and laden with a mystical aura, reflects Varo's signature blend of magic realism and exploration of transformation.

Dead Leaves
https://botfrens.com/collections/69/contents/19457

The hardest thing about being a writer is just doing your thing, whether anyone cares about it or not.

Guinevere and Lancelot Guinevere and Lancelot by Theodora Goss I did not know a love like this was possible, said Guinevere to Lancelot. It will bring down the kingdom and the king, it will consume everything. Lancelot r…

Poem for today: Guinevere and Lancelot

I did not know
a love like this was possible,
said Guinevere to Lancelot.

theodoragosspoems.com/2020/06/07/g...

WOVEN: Telling the Heroine's Journey First Edition Newsletter: December 10, 2023

Thank you, @katefarrell.bsky.social, for this lovely review of Letters from an Imaginary Country. :) (Scroll down for Kate's review of three fantastical books . . .) farrellk.substack.com/p/woven-tell...

100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025 The idea of 100 Notable Small Press Books was born November 2024, after The New York Times’s annual 100 Notable Books list featured eighty-two books from the Big Five publishing houses (Pengu…

I'm thrilled that Letters from an Imaginary Country is on the LitHub 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025. Thank you so much for choosing it, @nancyjane.bsky.social :)

lithub.com/100-notable-...

Literally buying one copy of a book at your local indie bookstore can mean the difference in whether they buy future books from that author.

My very best wishes to her, and I'm so sorry things are so difficult right now. :(

I’m so glad. :) And I hope things get better. This is a hard year in so many ways for so many people . . .

Typical writer problem: I need new names for my trolls.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 287287:
You have the same words at your disposal as any other writer. It's what you choose to do with them that makes you unique and interesting...

the cat—
yes, pats
but not those pats
#haiku #senryu

I've been seeing the idea that "For most of human history, people lived and died within 50 miles of where they were born" making the rounds. That ignores the long history of nomadic tribes, trade routes, and part-time agriculture. Ancient peoples moved around a lot.

I Miss the Operator Recently, I was reading a book of essays by E.B. White (author of Charlotte’s Web and other children’s books, as well as an excellent essayist). In one essay, he lamented that in his sm…

New blog post. :)

"I don’t know about you, but the speed at which our society is moving gives me a sense of nausea, like motion sickness, and a fear of being permanently behind. I will literally never catch up on my emails."

theodoragoss.com/2025/11/29/i...

Technology should exist to solve problems. Writing a novel isn't a problem. It's joy.

The Wind in the Willows illustration by Inga Moore

Ships a-sailing by tanaudel | Redbubble Sailing ships and sea monsters.

Ships a-sailing! Available on phone cases, and other things...
www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/3783...

Instead of Black Friday, make it Book Friday.