A License to Quill

Writer ~ Reviewer ~ Editor ~ Foodie ~ Earthmomma ~ Crazy Cat Lady

  • About
    • About Lori
    • Contact Lori
    • Privacy Policy
  • Book Reviews
    • Request A Review
  • Editing Services
    • The Little Red Pen
    • Services and Rates
    • Second Life Editing
    • About My Logo
  • CowTown Cooking
  • HodgePodge
    • Living Simply
    • Seattle Stories
    • The Aether Salon Archives
    • Aether Chrononauts Calendar
    • Edmund Dulac Portal Index
  • This Writer’s Life
    • About My Books
    • Writer’s Resources
    • Why Should I Pre-Order A Book?
    • Fun Lorem Ipsum Generators
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Lori
    • Contact Lori
    • Privacy Policy
  • Book Reviews
    • Request A Review
  • Editing Services
    • The Little Red Pen
    • Services and Rates
    • Second Life Editing
    • About My Logo
  • CowTown Cooking
  • HodgePodge
    • Living Simply
    • Seattle Stories
    • The Aether Salon Archives
    • Aether Chrononauts Calendar
    • Edmund Dulac Portal Index
  • This Writer’s Life
    • About My Books
    • Writer’s Resources
    • Why Should I Pre-Order A Book?
    • Fun Lorem Ipsum Generators
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Lori
    • Contact Lori
    • Privacy Policy
  • Book Reviews
    • Request A Review
  • Editing Services
    • The Little Red Pen
    • Services and Rates
    • Second Life Editing
    • About My Logo
  • CowTown Cooking
  • HodgePodge
    • Living Simply
    • Seattle Stories
    • The Aether Salon Archives
    • Aether Chrononauts Calendar
    • Edmund Dulac Portal Index
  • This Writer’s Life
    • About My Books
    • Writer’s Resources
    • Why Should I Pre-Order A Book?
    • Fun Lorem Ipsum Generators
  • Blog
  • This Writer's Life

    NaNoWriMo’s Stance on AI – and AI’s Stance on NaNoWriMo

    Lori Alden Holuta / September 3, 2024 / 0 Comments

    A friend alerted me to changes at NaNoWriMo that are are, to be un-delicate, causing a complete and utter shitstorm among the writing community on X, and I'm sure plenty of other places,…

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  • Book Reviews,  Science Fiction,  Short Stories,  Speculative Fiction

    Book Review: Flawless

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 31, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Another reviewer called this short story "The Expanse meets Drag Race", and they aren't wrong. I'm just mad I didn't think of that first. :)

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  • Book Reviews,  Humor,  Magical Realm,  Middle Grade

    Book Review: Bad Boy Wizard #1: The Astral Gatecrashers

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 29, 2024 / 2 Comments

    Charlie's just your average kid living in a boring village (there's no way a village called Upper Bottom could be exciting), struggling with school and putting up with the most insufferable mom on…

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  • Action and Adventure,  Book Reviews,  Fantasy,  Humor,  Magical Realm,  Speculative Fiction

    Book Review: Midnight Blue-Light Special

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 29, 2024 / 0 Comments

    What a ride! (Or should I say, what a run across the rooftops?) I loved InCryptid #1, Discount Armageddon, so I cracked into Midnight Blue-Light Special with high hopes.

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  • Second Life,  This Writer's Life

    The Second Life Book Club – Drax and Ceejay, Together Again!

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 27, 2024 / 0 Comments

    For my second visit with Drax, we will talk about my new cookbook, Shredding It: A Cabbage Cookbook and whatever else comes to mind! Update: Drax decided to bring his show to my book shop.…

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  • Book Reviews,  Cozy,  Detective and Mystery,  Humor

    Book Review: Designer Dirty Laundry

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 22, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I needed a change from heavier fantasy and sci-fi novels, and Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere (aka DiVa) was just the thing. The story is sassy, breezy, a little silly, but with…

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  • Book Reviews,  History,  Memoir,  Non-Fiction

    Book Review: We Can Change the World

    Lori Alden Holuta / August 19, 2024 / 0 Comments

    We Can Change the World offers a deeply personal yet comprehensive account of life in Eugene, Oregon, in the early 1970s, blending memoir and social history through the eyes of an artist and…

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  • Action and Adventure,  Book Reviews,  Coming of Age,  Fantasy,  LGBTQ+,  Steampunk

    Book Review: Beetle Shiny, Beetle Blue

    Lori Alden Holuta / July 15, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I've been reading Steampunk novels ever since the genre arrived. Over the years, steampunk authors have had a tendency to evolve towards writing in a hybrid genre - such as mysteries with a…

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  • Book Reviews,  Cookbooks,  Middle Grade

    Book Review: How To Cook Everything Kids

    Lori Alden Holuta / July 5, 2024 / 0 Comments

    This well thought out cookbook goes beyond recipes, taking deep dives into food preparation, kitchen tools and gadgets, and contemplation of what sort of foods your budding chef would be happiest making.

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  • Action and Adventure,  Book Reviews,  Dystopian,  LGBTQ+,  Science Fiction,  Speculative Fiction

    Book Review: The Games We’ve Played

    Lori Alden Holuta / July 4, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Having moved around a lot in my life, I’m familiar with the wistful feeling that can hit as one carries their last box out of a familiar home.

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  • Book Reviews,  Cozy,  Humor,  Steampunk

    Book Review: Uncle Hugo’s Crisis: A Twits Short Story

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 30, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I loved this short story. It appealed to my sense of humor and love of wordplay.

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  • Biographies and Autobiographies,  Book Reviews,  History

    Book Review: The Real Bogie & Bacall

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 27, 2024 / 0 Comments

    While I loved Lauren Bacall's 1978 autobiography, written from her own point of view, to my surprise I found this account of my favorite love story of all time to be much more…

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  • This Writer's Life

    Shredding It – Sightings in the Wild

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 26, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I'm starting to see sightings of Shredding It here and there!

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  • Book Reviews,  Dystopian,  Speculative Fiction

    Book Review: Ship of Theseus

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 23, 2024 / 0 Comments

    The author has not just written a book, he's crafted a transmedia storytelling experience. "Transmedia storytelling" can be defined as 'a technique of telling a story across multiple platforms and formats using current…

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  • Book Reviews,  History,  Non-Fiction

    Book Review: The Cure for Women

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 22, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was an extensive reference guide that shed a massive amount of light on the plight of women wishing to…

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  • Book Reviews,  Fantasy,  Humor,  Magical Realm

    Book Review: Death and the Taxman

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 22, 2024 / 0 Comments

    As a fan of Terry Pratchett's version of Death, I was easily pulled into this story by the blurb's promise of death cheating hijinks and hilarity. And as a former cubicle dweller and…

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  • Book Reviews,  Coming of Age,  Fantasy,  LGBTQ+,  Magical Realm

    Book Review: The Gauntlet Runner

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 17, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Picking up right where The Dragon Eater left off, J. Scott Coatsworth’s The Gauntlet Runner continues the story of Raven, Aik, Silya, and Spin.

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  • CocoaJava,  Recipe Box

    The True Origins of Irish Coffee

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 10, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Who invented that delicious, warming, soothing drink called Irish Coffee, and where? For many years, various San Francisco establishments claimed that honor. But the truth is that the true home of Irish Coffee…

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  • Book Reviews,  Children's Picture Books

    Book Review: My Favorite Season is Spring

    Lori Alden Holuta / June 9, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I hope children reading this book feel a sense of acceptance and self-worth after spending time with such approachable characters.

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  • Action and Adventure,  Book Reviews,  Detective and Mystery,  Steampunk

    Book Review: Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents

    Lori Alden Holuta / May 16, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Fun True Fact: When looking at a coat of arms, the right side is the Dexter, and the left side is the Sinister. The Dexter side is considered to be more honorable than…

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  • Second Life,  This Writer's Life

    Fantasy Faire Chat Transcript: The AI-lephant In The Room

    Lori Alden Holuta / May 3, 2024 / 0 Comments

    There’s no denying that AI is here, probably to stay. How can a writer ethically make use of this technology to get tasks done, and still sleep well at night? My co-host for…

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  • Book Reviews,  Historical Fiction,  Womens Literature

    Book Review: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 27, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I noticed other reviewers expected a lighthearted romp, based on the book's cover. This is a fine lesson in NOT judging a book by its cover. Our Ill-Mannered ladies, while quite prim and…

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  • Second Life,  This Writer's Life

    Writer’s Workshop with Ceejay Writer: Getting Down To It – The Reality of Fiction Writing

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 25, 2024 / 0 Comments

    This is the transcript of a workshop held in the virtual world of Second Life. About 30 avatars attended. There's lots of chatter and brainstorming going on (as often happens in SL) as…

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  • Book Reviews,  Cookbooks,  Graphic Novels

    Book Review: Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 20, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I enjoy learning about cultures beyond my own, and cooking food from other countries to enjoy and share. I've just finished savoring my very first comic cookbook, and what a delight it is!

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  • Second Life,  This Writer's Life

    Second Life’s Fantasy Faire Literary Festival 2024 Begins

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 19, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Fantasy Faire is open! Check the Literary Festival calendar for my events, which I will be running as my avatar, Ceejay Writer.

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  • Contests and Giveaways,  This Writer's Life

    Break A Spell Contest

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 10, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Break a spell and share it for a collection of magical short stories and the chance to hear your story read by a voiceover artist!

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  • Book Reviews,  Magical Realm,  Short Stories

    Book Review: Spellbreakers

    Lori Alden Holuta / April 8, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Author August Niehaus launches her new series, "The Library Attic Collection Presents" with Spellbreakers, a collection of a half-dozen stories. This collection reminded me a little of a Tardis, as it's much bigger…

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  • Action and Adventure,  Book Reviews,  Coming of Age,  Dystopian,  Historical Fiction,  Realist Fiction,  Suspense and Thriller

    Book Review: Strawberry Fields

    Lori Alden Holuta / March 22, 2024 / 0 Comments

    Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 1968, I was a bookwormish fourteen-year-old whose biggest worry was finishing my math homework. In those insular, pre-internet times in…

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  • Book Reviews,  Fantasy,  Humor,  Literary Fiction,  Magical Realm,  Romance,  Womens Literature

    Book Review: The Husbands

    Lori Alden Holuta / March 19, 2024 / 0 Comments

    I'm a sucker for a good book blurb. I know how hard it can be to write one that's short while also compelling. "Do you take this man? No? What about this one?"…

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  • Second Life

    Just a Ceejay Girl, in a Barbie World

    Lori Alden Holuta / March 14, 2024 / 2 Comments

    Today my Second Life avatar, Ceejay Writer, took a vacation from the Real World and visited Barbie Land.

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