Liz Pierce

While updating the site recently, I appear to have broken something. I apologize if some of the links go nowhere or images fail to load. Thanks for your patience while we track down the the gremlins and send them on their way…
– Liz

We’re all familiar with “urban fantasy” – the gritty, often violent intersection of the real world with creatures from our darkest imaginings. And as entertaining as urban fantasy can be both to read and to write, I thought it was time to throw something new into the mix. I’ve coined the term “suburban fantasy” for my work – stories that blur the boundaries between the real world and the fantastical, but are lighter and less edgy than their urban cousins. And, hopefully, a little more fun.

Whether it’s the exploits of the teenage offspring of the Gods walking the halls of Olympus High, or Faerie Folk moving to the Real World and trying to cope with jobs, neighbors, and mortgages, I hope you enjoy the glimpse into the lighter side of life as I see it.

Because really, we never do know who – or what – is our neighbor!

I’m excited to announce a new Olympus High short story – Imuji.

Tim’s would-be girlfriend has snakes in her hair.
His best friend appears to be incombustible.
And during the night, a dragon tattoo has appeared
on Tim’s arm, a symbol of his half-Korean heritage.

Tim MacLaren was an ordinary student at Olympus High,
until the day after his seventeenth birthday when he discovered
that, like most of his friends, he was anything but “ordinary.”

 

Imuji is part of the Fantasy in the City bundle – an exciting collection of twenty short urban fantasy stories, offered through BundleRabbit.

What’s BundleRabbit? I’m glad you asked! BundleRabbit is a cool new way you can get collections of stories, by authors you know and authors new to you. The Fantasy in the City bundle is only available for a limited time, so you’ll want to “hop” on over right away!

 

 

— Liz

Sitting by my window, drinking my morning coffee and watching this crazy spring weather, I couldn’t help but think just how magical the rain really is. I love the rain and a good thunder storm, I love how it can truly go with every mood/emotion. It gives life, washes away the dirt, and brings beauty to the scary things in life.

Too often, we let ourselves be distracted by the busy-ness of our everyday lives, and miss the beauty of something as simple as a raindrop.

Whether it’s a gentle spring shower or a full-blown thunderstorm, or simply the scent of raindrops pattering in the dust on a hot summer day, I hope you’ll take a moment to find the magic in the little things.

I’ve written several short stories about the characters in Just Another Day in Suburbia, and writing for this anthology gave me the opportunity to tell you a little more about Muzak’s friend, Grace Hewlett.

In Dead Fred, which takes place about three years before the events in Just Another Day in Suburbia, Grace is still in high school – and trying to figure out what she thinks about the school’s new janitor, a zombie named Fred. Her father makes an appearance, together with the dreaded Mrs. Simpson, as do Mrs. McMurtree and her cat, Marley.

I had a wonderful time writing Dead Fred, and was delighted that my editor, Rebecca Moesta, chose to include it in this collection with so many other wonderful stories. I hope you enjoy it, too!

Fiction River: Sparks is available in electronic and paper formats from WMG Publishing, or your favorite electronic bookstore.

Enjoy!

A magical, inspiring video of a large xylophone winding through the forest of Kyushu, Japan, made me think of walking through Faerie and hearing this beautiful music playing in the distance. And imagine,  if while you were listening it started to lightly rain – not just any rain, but a warm rain, glistening with all the colors of the forest.

It’s so peaceful – the beautiful sounds of nature together with the clicking of the ball dropping down the wood is simply magnificent, and magnificently simple! It constantly amazes me, the things that people create. It shows us that there is still plenty of magic to be shared here in the Real World.

To experience this beautiful video for yourself, follow this link: “Touch Wood in a Japanese Forest with Bach.”

I’m sort of Goblin-like when it comes to hot air balloons – no matter how many times I watch them take off, I still love the variety of colors and patterns different balloonists come up with. So when I have the opportunity to go to a balloon festival, I’ll happily get up early and go with my friends to watch the huge, colorful creations fill and rise just after sunrise.

(And because I’m Goblin-like when it comes to hot-air balloons, I thought I’d also link to this cool video of Hot Air Balloons on YouTube.)

Enjoy!

 

There’s a row of poplars along the back fence. They’re probably too close to the fence – the original owners of the house planted them, not us – but they’re an excellent screen between us and the neighbors.

Sadly, one of the trees took some serious damage over the winter, and didn’t survive. It was, of course, the one that was perfectly positioned to shade the back porch from both the afternoon sun and the neighbor’s yard. Much as we regret doing so, we’ve had to take it out to prevent the dead, dying, and drying branches from breaking off and landing on something (or someone).

I’m going to miss that tree – both for the shade it provided, and the sound of the wind blowing through the branches and rustling the leaves.

Bye-bye big tree.

A spider web appeared in the corner of the back porch doorframe during the night – complete with spider! Unfortunately, my little “Charlotte” isn’t a writer – or at least, I can’t make out any inspiring words in her web. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have stories to tell.

Guess I’ll just have to do the writing for both of us!

The original Charlotte’s Web (by E.B. White) was a childhood favorite, and a favorite of my children’s. Of course, that rapscallion, Templeton (the Rat, in case you don’t remember) was *my* favorite character!

Anyway, no pigs or rats or other barnyard critters around here. Just a spider, sharing the morning with us, inviting us to read what we will in her web.

I live in a place that doesn’t usually get a lot of rain in the summer, and has cold, snowy winters. As a result, I primarily plant drought- and cold-tolerant plants, like the Ice Plant and Sedum in this photo.

This year, we’ve had a particularly wet spring. What that means is that a lot of other plants – the kind we usually call “weeds” – have had the opportunity to really get a foothold. You can’t see them well, but bordering the back of this small garden plot, there are a bunch of green plants with purple flowers. I have no idea what they are – I didn’t plant them. They simply took advantage of the abundant water (and the fact that I’m not the sort of gardener to go out and dig up weeds in the rain) to populate, spread, and thrive.

Oddly enough, I sort of like them. So for the moment, I’m going to leave them where they are. Once the flowers start to die-off, I’ll dig them up and replace them with something intentional. With any luck, I’ll have them out before they set seed for next spring’s crop.

But for now, the ice plant is thriving, the sedum is spreading, and I’ve got something purple growing in my garden.

As the seasons change, I wanted to share a favorite haiku with my friends here:

 

Leaf on my windshield –

Ticket for parking

Too close to the end of summer.

It’s a long way from Philadelphia to Reno – especially when you’re squeezed into a Mini with a Zombie, a Dwarf, a Goblin, and a Troll – so I’m not going to be attending WorldCon (aka: the World Science Fiction Convention) this year.

But I did want to invite you to hang out with Masaman and friends, and pick up your own copy of  JUST ANOTHER DAY IN SUBURBIA at the special, WorldCon-weekend price of $2.99 (with coupon code WG54G) – after all, another ebook isn’t going to crowd your luggage out of the car!

Enjoy!

Mini-Cooper photo courtesy of www.Copyright-free-photos.org.uk

Ever walk down the road or through the park and do a double-take because you thought you saw something unusual out of the corner of your eye? Maybe it really was a bit of sunlight reflecting on an unusual patch of moss growing on a tree – or maybe it was a tree sprite, a leprechaun, an enchanted toad, or a goblin. Who knows?

I like to think that there’s magic all around us. Sometimes we’re too caught up in the day-to-day business of living in the Real World to notice it, but there are those moments when the magic just sneaks up from behind and catches us by surprise. Those are the moments that I’ve decided to focus on in my stories. Stories of magical people living in the Real World. Sometimes, as is the case with the Trolls, Goblins, Zombies, and Dwarves in Just Another Day in Suburbia, the magical people will be very obvious to everyone around them, and part of the story will be about how everyone learns to play nicely with one another…or not. Other times, as with the Junior Deities in the Olympus High stories, the magical folk will know each other’s real identities, but they’ll all be doing their best to blend in with the rest of us mere mortals.

I hope you enjoy your visits to my version of the Real World… and frequently find yourself at the point where the Real World and the Magical intersect…