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BrightFlame is a Priestex of Words
I write to help people imagine a just, regenerating world and bright futures. I write to help people find their connection to the Earth, to feel its sacredness. I write to spur imagination and creative problem-solving for our futures. I write to empower people to act.
It’s award season. Please consider my two eligible sci-fi fantasy works: The Working (novel) and “Thank Geo” (short story) in Solarpunk Creatures from World Weaver Press.
Fiction
In my speculative novel, The Working, modern day Witches must thwart the force ripping apart our planet’s life-sustaining web and find the key to the bright futures we need. Find The Working here: Water Dragon Publishing with links to purchase print and digital. Consider supporting Independent bookstores or shop at Bookshop.org.
I greatly appreciate your help getting The Working out to the world. Reviews, especially on the major sites, help. Even a sentence. You might also request my book from your local bookshops and libraries so they’ll acquire it.
Backcover copy:
A modern coven must thwart a looming eco-cataclysm and find the key to the bright future we need.
Betsy’s a modern-day Witch with an ageless problem: she’s worried about screwing up her coven’s ritual. Again. But the coven has a bigger issue to face—the destruction of their home thanks to a fracked gas pipeline. And then an even bigger problem—a greed-fueled entity will soon obliterate Earth’s ability to support life.
Tarot cards indicate the coven must sort among allies and threats, human and ethereal.
Follow Betsy, Sail, Fire, Mari, and Tal as they disentangle the truth and seek the magic to avert the cataclysm.
Fans of The Once and Future Witches and The City We Became will love The Working for its feminist, justice-seeking, ensemble cast. Readers hail The Working for its diverse characters, real magical practice, and tilt towards hope.
“In The Working, BrightFlame shows us why she’s a master of climate fiction and lunarpunk. Her novel is a compelling narrative following five witches seeking to repair what’s wrong with the world. I was left wanting to have a meeting with this coven. Highly recommended!”
—Renan Bernardo, Nebula and Ignyte finalist author of Different Kinds of Defiance “BrightFlame’s writing is a joy and a gift. The Working stays grounded in actionable solutions to the existential threats of corporate greed and climate change, with the characters fighting for better futures on both the physical and metaphysical planes.” —Sarena Ulibarri, author of Another Life “All the witches are very different people, but they treat each other like sisters, which was nice to see. They felt like real people to me.” —Alina Leonova, author of Wild Flowers, Electric Beasts “A heady mix of magic and environmental activism, written by a real Witch who knows her stuff and has a gift for embedding knowledge of trance and ritual into fiction.” —Starhawk, author of The Fifth Sacred Thing |
A growing number of my short climate fiction stories are published:
- “Thank Geo” in Solarpunk Creatures (World Weaver Press, 2024) edited by Sarena Ulibarri et al.;
- “When the Web Went Down” alongside stories by Starhawk, Sarena Ulibarri, Neil Gaiman, and others in Bioluminescent: a lunarpunk anthology (January 2023)—see the glowing Publishers Weekly review;
- “Myco Macro” in Issue 5 of Optopia; and
- “Maybe We Are All Witches” in Issue 6 (November 2022) of Solarpunk Magazine
I plan to collect my solarpunk stories into a volume or novella.
I also have a sequel in mind for The Working.
I was recently accepted as a member of the awesome Climate Fictions Writers League among stellar authors. And I’m part of Broad Universe.
I’m a member of SFWA, the professional organization for Sci Fi and Fantasy writers. Thank you to Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers (BSFW), Mid-May writers, and the NYC nano critique groups for your support.
Nonfiction
I’m working on a nonfiction book related to Witchcraft and magical activism.
Following praise for my article published by the Center for Sustainable Futures at Columbia University, “On Being the Earth,” I added “Towards Solarpunk Futures” and “Writing for the Future.” My essay “Weaving Magic in the Mundane” is included in Honoring the Wild (February 2023).