Shel Graves' Sensorium

One thing I don't talk about enough is my volunteer gig as an editor for Luna Station Quarterly, an online speculative fiction magazine dedicated to women's writing. I help read and select submissions and proofread stories that make it into the magazine. LSQ is a labor of love small publication which pays authors a token amount, but it gets some fine stories and offers writers some encouragement on their path to publication. Currently, the LSQ story “The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change,” by Virginia M. Mohlere, is a finalist for a WSFA Small Press Award. Read submissions — that's great writing advice. Reading for LSQ has definitely helped me get a better feel for what works and doesn't in the story craft and what makes a story stand out. It can be difficult to be objective about one's own story ideas and writing. Seeing them from an editor's point of view helps. LSQ, started by founding editor Jennifer Lyn Parsons , recently celebrated 10 years...

Taste: tofish and chips Sound: groundlings; Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide by Maura Dooley; dubhlinn -- black pool; CyberDog; buskers; snuffle Smell:  ginger Sight: Valentina by Evelyne Axell; swans; mandala Touch: slick - cyberdog Extra: "Be true to your soul."; lived experience; an inspirational object; living whale hunt; creating a circle and then widening it; Lim Jambert; world's end; drinking pints at 4 am in the airport; babies bundled up in carriages in the cold outside cafes in Iceland Grateful for: dancing science fiction enthusiasts and authors

Taste: Matcha in Paradise -- whiskey, matcha, pineapple, lime, coconut; vegan Irish coffee; the full English, Irish, Scottish breakfast; roasted tomatoes and baked beans Sound: It's alive! Smell:  breakfast tea Sight: turmeric plant; cemetery cafes; incoming storms; umbrellas; alleyways and undergrounds Touch:  walking up stairs Extra: Greyfriars Bobby; a writer treasure-hunter with a gothic monument--Sir Walter Scott Grateful for: Scottish tiki bars; castles; women in the enlightenment; beautiful baked goods; bookstores--transreal fiction

Taste: Floret, Seattle; Purezza, London;Young Vegan Pie, Camden; Soya Vegan Butcher, Dublin; Naked Bakery, Edinburgh; Lucky Pig, Edinburgh Sound: Dublin's WorldCon Orchestra Smell:  curry Sight: favorite transcription error at the Hugo Awards: "dog magicians" Touch: spongy hillside; climbing cliffs and crags Extra:  Favorites from Fringe: Thrones! The Musical Parody; Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist; Simply Bowie; Viva Las Vegans Grateful for:  food, music, friends

Taste:  vegan salami -- Purezza Sound: "Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide" by Maura Dooley on the London Underground; railways Smell:  woodfire; black cat candle Sight: gravestones: Arthur's Seat; Valentine 1966 by Evelyne Axell; tea rooms Touch: rainwalking and rainstanding; a warm room Extra: time balls; fairy gates Grateful for: climate activists; theatre; comedy; art; symphonies

Taste: ginger; gin; Guinness Sound:  audiorotic; harp Smell: cooking pancakes; peanut butter; opening a new bag of chocolate chips Sight: mother's handwriting Touch: a paper letter - a handwritten note Extra: time traveling slowly; teleportation slowly; dog magicians Grateful for: science fiction and friends; Lord Edward; anniversaries and birthdays