she/her
Kelsey is a queer speculative fiction author known for her dark humor, wildly inappropriate ideas, and occasional foul mouth. She earned her Master of Fine Art in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction at Oregon State University because she’s an overambitious sillyhead who didn’t realize how unwieldy a multigenre thesis is. Thankfully she survived, though not without countless paper cuts, one concussion, the loss of her beloved Spock necklace, and her partner nearly declaring her missing. Nothing excites her more than a well-written line, and she spends the bulk of her days agonizing over the lines she writes. When she’s not buried in her projects, she casts spells under a bright moon, teaches literature and composition, and tries to keep up with her ever-mounting to-be-read list.
Before focusing on her writing, Kelsey dabbled in law enforcement and teaching, finding both simultaneously rewarding and devastating, and she continues to be passionate about both. In addition to her MFA, she’s got a Master of Art in teaching and a BS in psychology with a minor in history. She keeps playing with the idea of getting her Ph.D. in literature but is still recovering from her last bout of formal education.
Follow her: Via Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
Kelsey always looks for authors to work with and support on her blog. She’d love to feature your creative writing or writing tips!
Current Projects:
Kelsey is querying her novel, Sabiak’s Creed, an adventurous space opera featuring two big-hearted soldiers partnered to solve a dispute on a distant planet. Between the baggage they bring and the opposition they face, they can’t quite seem to find a rhythm. If they can’t find a way to trust each other and work together, their failure will result in untold suffering and the loss of thousands of lives. It’s a novel about what happens when we listen too much to the narratives others tell about us. It’s also about overcoming trauma and prejudice and learning to trust and be vulnerable. She’s written two more novels featuring these characters and is working on revising those.
In addition to Sabiak’s Creed, she is working on fleshing out the skeleton drafts for three other novels, which she aims to complete by the year’s end. The first is a quasi-dystopian set on Earth, Mars, and Venus several thousand years in the future. The story is a mix of Romeo and Juliette, Outbreak, and The Expanse. When she finishes that, she will focus on a cozy mystery with a parallel universe and fairy-tale elements. The story is set in a fictionalized version of her sister’s bookstore and is a blend of Alice In Wonderland meets Double Booked for Death meets A Thousand Pieces of You. Finally, she aims to flesh out the draft of another futuristic novel inspired by Easter Island, which incorporates generational ships and the idea of discovering an abandoned colony on a distant planet, weaving together several narratives and timelines.
Beyond that, she is seeking homes for several poems, a few short stories, and three essays. She also keeps toying with the idea of relaunching her podcast, Read. Write. Repeat. Eventually, she will get to the epic fantasy that’s been bumping around in her head.
A bit more about Kelsey:
- Favorites include: good whiskey, spicy gin, wild friends, smoked oysters, trash panda nights, and crazy ideas.
- Abhors the following: splinters, anything that requires coordination (ask her about the last time she tried to ski), stink beetles, and those who refuse to open their eyes or minds.
- Current obsessions: Ducks (she’s got 5 that live in her backyard), Charlize Theron (especially in The Old Guard), aquariums (she’s got 3), her bee garden, Chris Cornell’s voice, spoiling her cat rotten, caring for far too many houseplants, and Robert Pattinson (especially in The Batman).
- Favorite reads: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers; Night Sky With Exit Wound, Ocean Vuong; Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel; Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay; and Swann’s Way Marcel Proust.
Wild Moontides 