Climactic

When I was wee, I was told that this was a story: You struggle toward a goal, and it’s hard, but then you make it. And boy, it’s exciting! Then you lounge peacefully in the realm of Happily Ever After. I absorbed this shape. And not just because I write. I...

American Field Guide to Australian Animals

It has come to my attention that I was, during the formative years of childhood, grotesquely misinformed about the size and danger of Australian wildlife. I’ve been in Victoria for a few months now, and I have not once, not once, been accosted by any sort of giant,...

Day 9 in Hotel Quarantine

For the past nine days, I’ve been in a hotel room with windows that don’t open. I can’t leave. I don’t even have a room key. Three times a day, someone knocks on my door with a paper bag of food. It’s weird. But I’m very glad to be...