Yesterday was a great monsoon day: in the morning a light drizzle fell on my shoulders while I was out walking Paul, then the sky opened up a few minutes after we got back home, allowing me to enjoy grey sky + coffee, which is a great luxury for a Seattle girl in Arizona.

The real show was at night though: we left for dinner under reasonably cloudless skies, and partway through eating, the lights went out in the restaurant. Turned out a storm had blown in, and the lightning (shocking, bright, everywhere) lasted for hours. We went home and sat in the dark, watching it rip through the sky. We found one of our neighbor’s lawn chairs in our yard this morning.

Book news: book is out! Book is good! Keep buying book and recommending book to others! Love to you from book heart. Also:

– Remember last week when I mentioned the Lit Hub? Well, here’s my final Badass Woman of Polish Mythology, the rusalka, along with an essay about the place of mythology in our culture. (Hint: permeating, dangerous, excellent, everywhere.)

– The Daughters is in great company on this Ploughshares list of must-read late summer titles.

– Want to hear me read from the opening of my book? Check out this episode of Catapult Reads, also featuring Jason Diamond.

– Ever wonder what a book would be if it was not a book? I was invited to play a fun, weird game called If My Book for MonkeyBicycle.

– Deborah Kalb interviewed me about The Daughters for her blog, and it was great. You can check out the Q&A here.

Also, if you happen to be in the Tempe/Phoenix area, I’ll be reading at Changing Hands (Tempe) next Wednesday the 19th at 7pm. Come see me! Bring strangers! Let’s hang out! News soon about a Seattle tour stop!