The Innkeeper Part II
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Talia Franks
About Talia Franks
Posts by Talia Franks:
The Garden: A Mediation
The garden is overgrown. Slate had been laid across the dirt to create the patio, but weeds have grown up, died, and grown again between the slabs. I remember when I was a child I would get on my hands and knees and pull on the weeds, the hot summer sun beating down on my […]
Some Thoughts About Writing Things Down
Work continues to be overwhelming in the extreme, so I took another dip into my archives and pulled out some material from one of the other periods in my life when I was incredibly overwhelmed; grad school. Here are a few musings from November 2018 about why I write things down, with a side of […]
Sometimes You Just Have to Start Writing
In this endless game of choose-your-own-apocalypse, its easy to forget that the world was a struggle before 2020. As I was wading through the waters of my Google Drive I found these notes from October 2019, and was reminded. I’ve decided to share them, both as an opportunity to explore this as a time capsule […]
Words are Weapons: Nonbinary Trans Thoughts About J K Rowling
At this point, it is a cliche to say that I am unsurprised by the actions and ideology of J.K. Rowling when it comes to trans individuals and their identities. I have lost much of my hope regarding whether or not she will come to see us as we see ourselves, and not as the grotesque caricatures that she writes about in her novels.
Announcement Regarding September Posts
Dear Wandering Troupe, These past few weeks have been particularly hard-hitting for me, and I realized that I need to take a step back in posting exclusive content. As such, while I will be continuing to post regular content on Word-for-Sense and Other Stories, exclusive patron posts are on hiatus until October. Since patrons have […]
Percy Jackson Project: The Sea of Monsters Part II
Welcome to The Percy Jackson Project! Today is the long-awaited part two of my discussion of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.
Pain of Passion
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while now have surely realized my love for Sor Juana and translating her work. Recently I read a translation of hers at a virtual poetry reading, which I referenced in last week’s post. The reading was ‘30 Years/ 30 Poems’ which was put together […]
Once Upon a Now
The following is an original poem that I wrote. I read it recently at a virtual poetry reading called ‘30 Years/ 30 Poems’ which was put together to celebrate the birthday of Olivia Dolphin, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wizards in Space Magazine. My reading of the first poem starts at about 1:12:50. I’m also going […]
In the Eyes of Suzanne B. McKenzie
Slice of life. First person. Child narrator. 1420 words. _______________________________________________________________________ “You just landed on boardwalk, while I have four houses. That’s $1700.” Robbie’s doing his stupid smirk thing again. (I just learned that word last week!) Robbie is my older brother. He is a whole ten years older than me, and he don’t like playing […]
Book Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
I am late to the Red, White & Royal Blue train — the book came out last year, and that is when many of my friends read and gushed over the book. I resisted because I thought the book was too pink, but eventually I bought a copy and let it sit on my shelf […]
Book Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
As I closed this book, just having read the final words of the last paragraph, I was struck by the sheer range of this text. In many ways, The Vanishing Half feels like a book I have been yearning for and a book I did not know that I needed, and every book I read […]
Better for the Horse: A Medieval Welsh Meet-Cute
I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with the story of Rhiannon, who is one of my favorite figures in Welsh lore. The following is a retelling of a small section of The Mabinogi (part of the core of the ancient Welsh mythological cycle) and is a retelling of how Rhiannon first encounters her husband […]
Book Review: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Every time I read a book it changes, and I am changed by it. A year passed between my two readings of Migrations and what a year it has been. One of the central themes of this book is the death of almost all wildlife on Earth and the destruction that humanity is wrecking upon […]
2020 and the Nature of Expertise
We’ve all seen the memes: 2020 is canceled, person throws garbage labeled 2020 in a dumpster, etc. So much about 2020 has been so strange, the wildfires, the pandemic, the fact that it took so many people this long to realize what life is like for those of us who are Black and the fact […]