AUTHOR
"Her friends used to make fun of her for even thinking she could smell power, but she could, and she smelled it on him." - from "The Monk's Knife," a Cake & Pewter story My new cozy fantasy serial is here! "The Monk's Knife" will publish in two parts on Substack starting today. It will... Continue Reading →
“Sometimes it helped to put herself in a crowd. Even if the people were mostly strangers, she still liked having someone close by. But not this close.” – from “The Interruption” I never know what will come from sitting down with a friend, let alone from encountering a stranger. People invariably surprise me. Any given moment... Continue Reading →
How much effort is enough? How much attention? How much “success”? Leading up to the publication of my recent novel, Kohelette, I couldn’t help but be aware of all the publishing professionals said a successful author should do to launch a book. The pitches, the marketing, and the business of it all stayed in my mind well... Continue Reading →
Kohelette: A Novel came out this past Wednesday. I'm beyond thrilled! Advance readers may have had the novel for a while already, but I've still relished sending it out into the world more broadly, first with a recent excerpt appearing in The Polk Street Review 2026 and now with this past week's publication. There may... Continue Reading →
What we are to each other doesn’t go away. Our people don’t go away. And that changes everything.
"For better or for worse, she’d never given any hint of discomfort when her dreams had to face reality." - from "Wicherek Way," a short story from the world of the forthcoming novel Kohelette I wouldn't say my fiction is autobiographical, but I do find myself drawing on bits of real-life experience to ground my... Continue Reading →
Callie J. Smith 