Nina Munteanu
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Nina Munteanu
@aliennextdoor.bsky.social
550 followers 430 following 1.2K posts
I'm an eco-fiction author, limnologist/aquatic ecologist, photographer, instructor at UofT. I explore and celebrate the fractal Natural World from microscopic diatoms and miniature lichens and fungi to the giant cedars and pines of old-growth forests
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aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Just got my copy of Nova 37, German anthology of speculative fiction with my short story "The Way of Water" (Der Weg des Wassers), translated into German. The anthology is gorgeous, with illustrations for each story and a beautiful cover! #shortstories #anthologies #German #speculativefiction
November 23, 2025 at 9:44 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
My drive across #Canada: Part 3, the Prairies... #travel #Prairies #Manitoba #Saskatchewan ninamunteanu.me/2025/11/23/m...
My Drive Across Canada: Part 3—The Prairies
I emerged from the Lake of the Woods boreal forest into Manitoba’s true flatlands as I neared Winnipeg. Though, the eastern part of Manitoba was similar to the boreal hills of Ontario, it soon leve…
ninamunteanu.me
November 23, 2025 at 9:33 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
My drive across Canada: Part 4, Rockies and beyond... #Canada #CanadianRockies #RockyMountains #RockyMountainTrench themeaningofwater.com/2025/11/23/m...
My Drive Across Canada: Part 4—The Rockies & Beyond
Rocky Mountains, Alberta (photo by Nina Munteanu) . From the rolling Prairies I ascended up the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. As I neared the mountains, they seemed to cut the sky wi…
themeaningofwater.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
The Lichen at the end of the world... #lichen #ecology #NaturePhotography #extremophile #environment themeaningofwater.com/2025/07/27/t...
The Lichen At the End of the World
Lichens are badass shapeshifters. These unruly organisms that thrive in extreme environments and changing conditions grow everywhere. And most of us don’t even notice them. Lichens can be found all…
themeaningofwater.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:17 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
#Boletes are SO COOL! These are Zeller's Boletes (Xerocomellus zelleri) start with grey caps and reddish stems... I found them this fall in my Douglas fir forest in #BritishColumbia: young ones on left and older ones on right. Cool how they change over time... #fungi #mushrooms #NaturePhotography
November 21, 2025 at 12:15 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
More fungi on fungi! I found these gorgeous white coral fungi (Clavulina coralloides) on the forest floor with the mosses; then I noticed that some were turning blue-gray from their base: this is the parasitic Ascomycete Helminthosphaeria clavariarum... #fungi #mushrooms #ecology #NaturePhotography
November 18, 2025 at 5:50 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
#BookReview of A Diary in the Age of Water: "Munteanu transmutes a harrowing dystopia into a transcendentalist origin myth…A sobering and original cautionary tale that combines a family drama with an environmental treatise.” #ecofiction themeaningofwater.com/2020/12/27/a...
“A Diary in the Age of Water” Reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, The Winnipeg Free Press and The Miramichi Reader
Nina Munteanu’s cli-fi eco-novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” just released in summer of 2020 received several favourable reviews from Kirkus Reviews, The Winnipeg Free Press, and The Miramichi Re…
themeaningofwater.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:03 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
My drive across Canada ... the Boreal Forest of Ontario ... #Canada #Ontario #borealforest ninamunteanu.me/2025/11/16/m...
My Drive Across Canada: Part 2—Boreal Forest
The second leg of my drive west from Peterborough, took me past Thunder Bay, northwest from Lake Superior and into the heart of the boreal forest. Named after Boreas, the Greek god of the Northwind…
ninamunteanu.me
November 18, 2025 at 4:34 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
A walk in Watershed Park ... #forests #forestwalk #walking #BritishColumbia #WatershedPark #Delta #beauty #NaturePhotography themeaningofwater.com/2025/11/16/a...
A Walk in Watershed Park, British Columbia
Since moving back to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia after living for a while in Ontario, I’ve been reacquainting myself with the local forests. My son reminded me that I used to drive him t…
themeaningofwater.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:51 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
I'll be guesting at the CONnections mini-con tomorrow (all day Saturday November 15) at BCIT! I'm on one panel and will attend others. Come join us discussions on writing, games and more! #SFconvention #sciencefiction #speculativefiction
November 15, 2025 at 4:48 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
I saw this white polypore on a Douglas fir undergoing guttation: when the mushroom's metabolic byproducts ooze out because they often produce more water than they can hold. Think of it as a mushroom "sweating"... #fungi #mushrooms #guttation #NaturePhotography
November 14, 2025 at 9:30 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Tricholoma terreum ... when a #mushroom looks like a rock... #fungi #NaturePhotography ... themeaningofwater.com/2023/12/17/t...
Tricholoma terreum: When a Mushroom Looks Like a Rock…
A pair of Tricholoma terreum mushrooms amid the litter of a pine cedar forest, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) My daily walks often take me through the forests on a small path along the river. The narr…
themeaningofwater.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:11 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
When a mushroom hunt finds a deadly beauty ... #fungus #poisonous #mushrooms #photography themeaningofwater.com/2022/10/23/w...
When A Mushroom Hunt Finds a Deadly Beauty
Mark S. Burnham old-growth forest, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) . In mid-October, I went on a guided mushroom hike with the Peterborough Field Naturalists in Mark S. Burnham Provincial Park. The par…
themeaningofwater.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Chasing the blue forest sprite... ninamunteanu.me/2021/03/21/c...
Chasing the Blue Forest Sprite
Cedar forest and extensive roots amid glacial erratics flank Jackson Creek on the right, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) . It was a cold November day, after a light snow, as I wandered the Jackson Cree…
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November 11, 2025 at 5:48 PM
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Why I write... #onwriting #WritingCommunity #creating #inspiration ninamunteanu.me/about/why-i-...
Why I Write
Writing is the breath and light of my soul and the well-spring of my very essence. When I am writing, I am living “in the moment”. I am in the moment of creation, connected to my divine self, embra…
ninamunteanu.me
November 11, 2025 at 5:43 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Walking helps me think and imagine... #onwriting #WritingCommunity #writing #ideas #imagination #walking #inspiration ninamunteanu.me/2014/12/25/w...
Walking Helps Me Think and Imagine
I’ve written many articles and over a dozen books and readers often remark on my imagination with something akin to awe and incredulity. I often get asked where I get my ideas. Let me tell yo…
ninamunteanu.me
November 11, 2025 at 5:39 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Women heroes in literature, movies and pop culture... #writing #women #onwriting #herosjourney ninamunteanu.me/2014/11/02/w...
Women Heroes in Literature, Movies and Pop Culture
Some time ago on my birthday, I watched the popular — and somewhat controversial — Hunger Games. Well, controversial among some critics and followers of critics, anyway. I came across a particularl…
ninamunteanu.me
November 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
My drive across #Canada: Part 1--Lake Superior ... #lakes #LakeSuperior #limnology #travel ninamunteanu.me/2025/11/09/m...
My Drive Across Canada: Part 1—Lake Superior
It was time to go back out west for me. So, I packed up my car Benny with my precious treasures—including all my plants—and drove west from Peterborough, Ontario (where I’d been living for a decade…
ninamunteanu.me
November 10, 2025 at 12:48 AM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
#Hopepit ... Listen to an excerpt of my #ecofiction #clifi novel "A Diary in the Age of Water" here ... #solarpunk #hopepunk #climatefiction @hopepit.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=64XW...
Nina Munteanu reads from "A Diary in the Age of Water" (1)
YouTube video by Inanna Publications
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November 8, 2025 at 6:06 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
When Art Helps Story #ecofiction #art #coverart #storytelling #hopepit ninamunteanu.me/2024/06/02/w...
When Art Helps Story
No writer works alone. Sure, we may work alone when writing, but all other aspects of getting our writing out to you, the reader, involves a team of other people. Like all good things, writing is a…
ninamunteanu.me
November 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
The use of character-coupling in #ecoliterature to give voice to the Other, Part 1 of 2 essays #ecofiction #TheOther ninamunteanu.me/2024/02/18/t...
The Use of Character-Coupling in Eco-Literature to Give Voice to the Other, Part 1: Introduction
A trickster wind stirs up clouds of drifting snow, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) Not long ago, I was driving through a short tunnel that I typically take to go to work and, glanc…
ninamunteanu.me
November 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Examples in novels of how Character-coupling in #ecofiction gives voice to the Other... #Hopepit ninamunteanu.me/2024/02/25/t...
The Use of Character-Coupling in Eco-Literature to Give Voice to the Other, Part 2: Types of Character-Coupling in Seven Examples of Eco-Literature
Trickster wind kicks up clouds of snow, ghosting trees (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) In Part 1, I introduced and described the concept of giving voice to the Other in eco-literature throug…
ninamunteanu.me
November 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
#Hopepit Eco-fiction books that make you care and give you hope ... #solarpunk #hopepunk #clifi #ecofiction #books ninamunteanu.me/2025/01/05/e...
Eco-Fiction Books that Make You Care and Give You Hope
. Some time ago, Shepherd invited me to share some of my favourite stories and why I picked them. I decided to feature novels that moved me greatly and inspired me to action. I chose five works of …
ninamunteanu.me
November 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
The word is a powerful tool. And the stories that carry them are vehicles of change...
November 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
aliennextdoor.bsky.social
Confessions of a teenage eco-warrior ... #ecology #environmental #activism #ecowarrior #ecoactivist ninamunteanu.me/2025/02/23/c...
Confessions of a Teenage Eco-Warrior
When I was little, I wanted to be a storyteller, a cartoonist specifically. I was reading graphic novels before I could read. That didn’t stop me from understanding what was going on. Being a virtu…
ninamunteanu.me
November 7, 2025 at 5:58 PM