Do You Believe in Destiny?

Do You Believe in Destiny?

“Do you believe in destiny?” Nicolás Serrano, up to his elbows in apple mash, asks halfway through my first book Destiny at Dolphin Bay. His friend Melissa has questioned his self-identification as a Chiloé islander, knowing he grew up a city boy. As she watches him make cider in an antique press, she sees him…

The World’s Last Witch Trials

The World’s Last Witch Trials

“It’s just another old story,” Nicolás Serrano insists to Melissa Travis in my first book Destiny at Dolphin Bay, as they debate the existence of a legendary Chilean ghost ship. His grandmother would beg to differ—her grandparents were caught up in the chilling drama of probably the world’s last (and completely nonfictional) witch trials in…

The Tinder Box

The Tinder Box

Today’s story opens with the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, depicted on a series of Danish shortbread cookie tins in my collection. Sure, you know these classics: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling… I have three of these eight special editions, and one is called…