Karen Carlson
@sloopie72.bsky.social
And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not something else. - Walt Whitman
I read a lot. Then I blog about it so I don't forget.
https://sloopie72.wordpress.com/
I read a lot. Then I blog about it so I don't forget.
https://sloopie72.wordpress.com/
Reposted by Karen Carlson
January 19, 2026 at 1:07 PM
why is Youtube so determined to sell me horse food? And not just horse food - show-horse food.
January 17, 2026 at 7:39 PM
why is Youtube so determined to sell me horse food? And not just horse food - show-horse food.
Look what came in the mail today....😀
January 10, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Look what came in the mail today....😀
My blogging buddy, Jake Weber, has published his novel - I'm very excited to finally get to read it!
workshopheretic.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-n...
workshopheretic.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-n...
My novel based on my career at the National Security Agency is now available--guaranteed to be one of the two best NSA novels by a former employee ever!
A blog about writing fiction and whether it's good for you.
workshopheretic.blogspot.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:18 PM
My blogging buddy, Jake Weber, has published his novel - I'm very excited to finally get to read it!
workshopheretic.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-n...
workshopheretic.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-n...
"Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time."
Thoughts on reading Herodotus, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (it's way more fun than it sounds!)
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/h...
Thoughts on reading Herodotus, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (it's way more fun than it sounds!)
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/h...
Herodotus: The Histories (IBR2026) – More fun than you might think
Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time. May the great and wonderful deeds – some brought forth by the Hellenes, others by the barbarians – …
sloopie72.wordpress.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:05 PM
"Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time."
Thoughts on reading Herodotus, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (it's way more fun than it sounds!)
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/h...
Thoughts on reading Herodotus, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (it's way more fun than it sounds!)
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/h...
Beautiful Wolf Moon
January 2, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Beautiful Wolf Moon
Shaking Things Up A Little: My reading plan for the next few months
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/i...
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/i...
In-Between Reading 2026: Shaking Things Up a Little (IBR2026)
Happy New Year! This is the time of year I usually start reading Pushcart. I have the 2026 volume on my Next Read Table (the TBR shelf got overloaded so I had to expand) but I’m going to do things …
sloopie72.wordpress.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Shaking Things Up A Little: My reading plan for the next few months
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/i...
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/i...
Picture of the staff who operate my account.
January 1, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Picture of the staff who operate my account.
It's just a cheap discount store, and it's only been there 15 years, but it's the only downtown place to sell inexpensive housewares (and clothes and off-brand snacks and holiday decorations and basic garden supplies in Spring). I'll miss it.
December 31, 2025 at 1:49 PM
It's just a cheap discount store, and it's only been there 15 years, but it's the only downtown place to sell inexpensive housewares (and clothes and off-brand snacks and holiday decorations and basic garden supplies in Spring). I'll miss it.
BASS 2025 Wrap-up: Finding the Funny, And Much More
Closing out #BestAmericanShortStories2025 – with thanks to editors @nicolealamy.bsky.social , @pronounced-ing.bsky.social , and the twenty writers who put themselves on the page.
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/b...
Closing out #BestAmericanShortStories2025 – with thanks to editors @nicolealamy.bsky.social , @pronounced-ing.bsky.social , and the twenty writers who put themselves on the page.
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/b...
BASS 2025 Wrap-up: Finding the Funny, and Much More
Book Art by Su Blackwell (detail) During my first year as series editor of The Best American Short Stories, every day has felt like library book sale day…. Even if they have led me to ignore my fam…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:15 PM
BASS 2025 Wrap-up: Finding the Funny, And Much More
Closing out #BestAmericanShortStories2025 – with thanks to editors @nicolealamy.bsky.social , @pronounced-ing.bsky.social , and the twenty writers who put themselves on the page.
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/b...
Closing out #BestAmericanShortStories2025 – with thanks to editors @nicolealamy.bsky.social , @pronounced-ing.bsky.social , and the twenty writers who put themselves on the page.
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/b...
"I can't deny it made me feel special, to have been summoned. "
Thoughts on reading Jessica Treadway's short story, "An Early Departure" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/b...
Thoughts on reading Jessica Treadway's short story, "An Early Departure" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/b...
BASS 2025: Jessica Treadway, “An Early Departure” from Five Points #23.2
When I start writing a story, I usually know what it’s about but not what will happen in it. I begin with a relationship, situation, or memory that holds emotional resonance for me, because a…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:05 PM
"I can't deny it made me feel special, to have been summoned. "
Thoughts on reading Jessica Treadway's short story, "An Early Departure" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/b...
Thoughts on reading Jessica Treadway's short story, "An Early Departure" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/b...
Oh my - Jeopardy (spoiler) just told me something alarming about one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas":
𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 “𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕”, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚"
Thank you, Judy!
𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 “𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕”, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚"
Thank you, Judy!
Some daye soon we all will be togethir
Yf the fates allowe
Til that tyme we have to muddle thrugh somehowe
Yf the fates allowe
Til that tyme we have to muddle thrugh somehowe
December 25, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Oh my - Jeopardy (spoiler) just told me something alarming about one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas":
𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 “𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕”, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚"
Thank you, Judy!
𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 “𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕”, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚"
Thank you, Judy!
"They were very good at fighting – they always said things that were mean and true."
Thoughts on reading Sanjana Thakur's short story, “Aishwarya Rai” from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/b...
Thoughts on reading Sanjana Thakur's short story, “Aishwarya Rai” from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/b...
BASS 2025: Sanjana Thakur, “Aishwarya Rai” from Granta, May 28, 2024
Granta art: Photograph © Keerthana Kunnath I do think that this story, with all its different mothers, allowed me the space to explore how variable and complex mother-daughter relationships are, an…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:03 PM
"They were very good at fighting – they always said things that were mean and true."
Thoughts on reading Sanjana Thakur's short story, “Aishwarya Rai” from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/b...
Thoughts on reading Sanjana Thakur's short story, “Aishwarya Rai” from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/b...
"I am nowhere near running out of road."
Thoughts on reading Justin Taylor's short story, "What About This," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/b...
Thoughts on reading Justin Taylor's short story, "What About This," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/b...
December 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
"I am nowhere near running out of road."
Thoughts on reading Justin Taylor's short story, "What About This," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/b...
Thoughts on reading Justin Taylor's short story, "What About This," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/b...
Reposted by Karen Carlson
December 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
"There is music in silence."
Thoughts on reading William Pei Shih's short story, "The Masterclass" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/b...
Thoughts on reading William Pei Shih's short story, "The Masterclass" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/b...
BASS 2025: William Pei Shih, “The Masterclass” from Los Angeles Review, September 2024
“The Masterclass” originated as a cut from a novel that I was working on, but over a summer in Paris, evolved into a piece of its own, encapsulating themes of mentorship, the struggles within artis…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:38 PM
"There is music in silence."
Thoughts on reading William Pei Shih's short story, "The Masterclass" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/b...
Thoughts on reading William Pei Shih's short story, "The Masterclass" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/b...
Reposted by Karen Carlson
if you are not subscribed to @colindickey.com newsletter "glacial errata" you are missing out. it's weird, it's interesting, it's informative and just good reading, even when he just posts beautiful photos of mountains, like today glacialerrata.beehiiv.com/p/glacial-er...
Glacial Errata, No. 48
Five Mountains for the Week of December 8, 2025.
glacialerrata.beehiiv.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:41 PM
if you are not subscribed to @colindickey.com newsletter "glacial errata" you are missing out. it's weird, it's interesting, it's informative and just good reading, even when he just posts beautiful photos of mountains, like today glacialerrata.beehiiv.com/p/glacial-er...
"For the first time since the man’s arrival I felt happy for him. Had this been what he’d sought all along?"
Thoughts on reading Julian Robles' tantalizing short story, "Third Room," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/b...
Thoughts on reading Julian Robles' tantalizing short story, "Third Room," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/b...
BASS 2025: Julian Robles, “Third Room” from The Drift #12
The Drift art by Brooke Bourgeois This story holds and hides a Mexico I fled from, incomplete. Names, titles, birdsong – the word for things: I relinquish these to the man in the third room. Julian…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
"For the first time since the man’s arrival I felt happy for him. Had this been what he’d sought all along?"
Thoughts on reading Julian Robles' tantalizing short story, "Third Room," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/b...
Thoughts on reading Julian Robles' tantalizing short story, "Third Room," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/b...
"He was delivering a homily, that much was obvious. But what mystical old-man wisdom was he trying to impart?"
Thoughts on reading Nathan Curtis Roberts' short story, "Yellow Tulips" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
@bannedinutah.bsky.social
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/b...
Thoughts on reading Nathan Curtis Roberts' short story, "Yellow Tulips" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
@bannedinutah.bsky.social
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/b...
BASS 2025: Nathan Curtis Roberts, “Yellow Tulips” from Harvard Review #61
Material for a story was all laid out for me, but I started off with some foolish ideas. I felt like such an outsider in suburban Utah, I couldn’t imagine myself in the place where I really d…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
"He was delivering a homily, that much was obvious. But what mystical old-man wisdom was he trying to impart?"
Thoughts on reading Nathan Curtis Roberts' short story, "Yellow Tulips" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
@bannedinutah.bsky.social
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/b...
Thoughts on reading Nathan Curtis Roberts' short story, "Yellow Tulips" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
@bannedinutah.bsky.social
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/b...
"Did I fall in love with Angelo that summer? It’s hard to say. "
Thoughts on reading Andrew Porter's short story, "Angelo," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/b...
Thoughts on reading Andrew Porter's short story, "Angelo," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/b...
BASS 2025: Andrew Porter, “Angelo” from Ploughshares #50.1
At its heart, “Angelo” is a love story, but it’s also about that period in one’s life when so much seems both possible and impossible, when your vision of your own future changes daily.…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM
"Did I fall in love with Angelo that summer? It’s hard to say. "
Thoughts on reading Andrew Porter's short story, "Angelo," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/b...
Thoughts on reading Andrew Porter's short story, "Angelo," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/b...
20, I finally win at one of these newfangled interweb things
December 5, 2025 at 2:47 PM
20, I finally win at one of these newfangled interweb things
"It’s long enough to remember how eternal a love she had once."
Thoughts on reading Carrie R. Moore's literary cli-fic story, "Till It and Keep It" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/b...
Thoughts on reading Carrie R. Moore's literary cli-fic story, "Till It and Keep It" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/b...
BASS 2025: Carrie R. Moore, “Till It and Keep It” from Sewanee Review, Spring 2024
“The Garden of Eden”: British Textile, 16th C I kept thinking about household structures, how we join our lives to others. As a practicing Christian, I’ve thought of the book of G…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:05 PM
"It’s long enough to remember how eternal a love she had once."
Thoughts on reading Carrie R. Moore's literary cli-fic story, "Till It and Keep It" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/b...
Thoughts on reading Carrie R. Moore's literary cli-fic story, "Till It and Keep It" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/b...
Beautiful Cold Moon tonight
December 4, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Beautiful Cold Moon tonight
"Immediately, the parlor game was 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦?"
Thoughts on reading Elizabeth McCracken's short story, "Seven Stories about Tammy" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/b...
Thoughts on reading Elizabeth McCracken's short story, "Seven Stories about Tammy" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/b...
BASS 2025: Elizabeth McCracken, “Seven Stories about Tammy” from Zoetrope #28.1
Lady with a Fan: Gustav Klimt, 1917 My grandmother was a dogged fabulist when it came to her age, and so were her sisters. Two of the Bernstein sisters – there were six – performed as folk da…
sloopie72.wordpress.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:43 PM
"Immediately, the parlor game was 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦?"
Thoughts on reading Elizabeth McCracken's short story, "Seven Stories about Tammy" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/b...
Thoughts on reading Elizabeth McCracken's short story, "Seven Stories about Tammy" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025
sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/b...