Nonnecromancer
@nonnecromancer.bsky.social
PhD in English, reader, writer, ailurophile, violinist, SF fan, author of Postcard Poems and After Kenyon, reviews poetry and fiction at necromancyneverpays.com
small things necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/l...
Last of the Travis McGee Novels
After taking a break from the series, I finished reading the rest of John D. MacDonald’s novels about Travis McGee. The Empty Copper Sea was the one I resumed with, and I found it reassuringly like…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:03 PM
small things necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/l...
books you value because of where they came from necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/b...
Book Provenance
After another book blogger–I think it was Paula Bardell-Hedley’s feature “Winding up the Week”–pointed me to an article about the “provenance” of books, I started thinking about the boo…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:34 PM
books you value because of where they came from necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/b...
we're all less mysterious than we think we are necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/t...
The Unmaking of June Farrow
The Unmaking of June Farrow, by Adrienne Young, is a needlessly confusing time travel mystery/romance. I say needlessly confusing because it’s set up to gradually reveal a mystery that makes me thi…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:47 PM
we're all less mysterious than we think we are necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/t...
Monday morning under the hill necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/a...
A Fae in Finance
A Fae in Finance, by Juliet Brooks, was sent to me by a friend who went to Kenyon College with the author and was in a writing group they called Kenyon Writing Center Writing Table, because they me…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Monday morning under the hill necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/a...
what we're allowing necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/t...
The Black Wolf, Louise Penny
My Canadian friend who originally introduced me to Louise Penny novels says he isn’t sure he wants to read her newest one, The Black Wolf, because it’s likely to be too upsetting. After finishing i…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:11 PM
what we're allowing necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/t...
a novel that turns into a self-help book necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/t...
Tilda is Visible
I can’t tell you what I expected when I checked out Jane Tara’s novel Tilda is Visible, but I didn’t get it. Perhaps the description on the inside cover made me think it was going to be funny: “unt…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:27 PM
a novel that turns into a self-help book necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/t...
open your letters, people! necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/a...
A Beautiful Family, The Bright Years, The Lost Book of First Loves
Three library books, and all of them good enough for pleasantly whiling away an hour or two on a dark fall day: A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan, The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff, and The L…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
open your letters, people! necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/a...
"Too often summer days appear
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront" Larkin necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/e...
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront" Larkin necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/e...
Elegy at summer’s end
The baby looks up and makes a round O with his mouth when he sees yellow leaves fluttering down from the walnut trees in his back yard. We walk around his yard and mine to admire the last of the su…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM
"Too often summer days appear
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront" Larkin necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/e...
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront" Larkin necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/e...
descent into... grad school necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/r...
R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis
I was third on the list at the library to get to read R.F. Kuang’s newest novel, Katabasis (fun fact about living in a small town; I found out who was first on the list at symphony practice one Mon…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:04 PM
descent into... grad school necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/r...
the nicest thing you can do is write a review necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/a...
After Kenyon publication day
Today is the day my publisher, Broadstone Books, scheduled After Kenyon for publication, so it’s now available everywhere, including Amazon. I hope you’ll read it and maybe even write a…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:09 PM
the nicest thing you can do is write a review necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/a...
Reposted by Nonnecromancer
Thanks to Jeanne Griggs for this guest blog post about "after" poems. "Writing an after poem is an attempt to arouse the memory of that previous poem in order to reveal another perspective on it or even to twist and turn it into something quite different."
What is an “after” poem? – guest post by Jeanne Griggs
A poem with “after” and another poet’s name underneath the title is an “after” poem. A good example is Jane Zwart’s “All my Life I was a Bride married to Amazement,” after Mary Oliver’s “When Death…
trishhopkinson.com
September 28, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Thanks to Jeanne Griggs for this guest blog post about "after" poems. "Writing an after poem is an attempt to arouse the memory of that previous poem in order to reveal another perspective on it or even to twist and turn it into something quite different."
my new book is out! necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/a...
After Kenyon
My new volume of poetry, After Kenyon, is now available from Broadstone Books. (It will soon be available at local bookstores and Amazon, but not yet; I’ll let you know when it is.) The volum…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
September 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
my new book is out! necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/a...
Boston hijinks necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/c...
Charlotte MacLeod’s Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn Mysteries
A while ago, when I was planning a trip to Boston, a friend of mine recommended Charlotte MacLeod’s Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn mysteries, because most of them are set in Boston. I read the fi…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Boston hijinks necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/c...
making music and being seen necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/t...
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
I found an audiobook of Jennifer Weiner’s newest novel, The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, on the shelf at the library and started listening to it while I was driving around town. Then the CD play…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
September 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
making music and being seen necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/t...
exciting adventures necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/06/j...
Joan Aiken’s Wolves of Willoughby Chase series
I’ve been reading my way through all the children’s books in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, by Joan Aiken, and thoroughly enjoying them. I was sad to finish the last one; they were fun for …
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
September 6, 2025 at 11:12 AM
exciting adventures necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/06/j...
Ferris Beuller says "life moves pretty fast" and so does this novel necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/m...
Minds in Transit
Joan Slonczewski’s newest science fiction adventure, Minds in Transit, goes further in exploring the implications of the discovery of the brain microbes introduced in her previous novel Brain Plagu…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Ferris Beuller says "life moves pretty fast" and so does this novel necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/m...
shelving books with the spine in and other bad ideas necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/b...
Book stack: Backman, Espach, Hazelwood, Monaghan, King
Here’s the latest stack of books I’ve found time to read around entertaining and taking care of my six-month-old grandson. He takes one or two short naps (usually half an hour) while I’m there from…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
August 25, 2025 at 11:26 AM
shelving books with the spine in and other bad ideas necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/b...
Toronto adventure necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/w...
War and Peace and The Great Comet
On Saturday my son and I drove to Toronto to see The Great Comet, because we love the soundtrack and wanted to see it on stage. We met some friends for dinner and went with them to the show—they’d …
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
August 18, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Toronto adventure necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/w...
romance of the imbeciles necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/15/t...
The Echo of Old Books
My daughter gave me Barbara Davis’ novel The Echo of Old Books for my birthday, and I was delighted, partly because it’s the last one on the list of books about books that I hadn’t yet read. It was…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
August 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM
romance of the imbeciles necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/15/t...
After Kenyon, my volume of poems about its people and places, will be published by Broadstone Books on October 15, 2025. Ask me if you're wondering if you are mentioned!
August 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
After Kenyon, my volume of poems about its people and places, will be published by Broadstone Books on October 15, 2025. Ask me if you're wondering if you are mentioned!
I enjoy reading books and writing ironic titles necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/u...
Undocumented Reading
I’ve been reading a lot but not finding time to write about it, and this may continue for the next few months as my babysitting gig continues. I’m taking care of my grandson, who is now six months …
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
August 9, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I enjoy reading books and writing ironic titles necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/u...
a love letter to female readers necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/t...
The Lost Bookshop
The Lost Bookshop, by Evie Woods, is a book about books, this one set in Ireland and featuring three alternating narrators: Opaline, who lived in the aftermath of the first world war, and Martha an…
necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com
August 1, 2025 at 11:33 AM
a love letter to female readers necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/t...