Three new talks from the Vermont Humanities Council Speakers Bureau
September 21, 2026 § Leave a comment
Very excited to be offering three new one-hour illustrated talks for the Vermont Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. I’ve had a lot of fun putting these together, using my own experiences as a writer, a travel guide, and as a featured lecturer for National Geographic Expeditions to inform the research. If you’re associated with any Vermont nonprofit, you can request any of these talks on an ongoing basis beginning in January, 2027, with at least six weeks’ advance notice. Links below. Booking form is here. I guarantee all of these talks are fun, well-illustrated, and thought-provoking. Take me up on it!
Hemingway Reconsidered: Novelist, Expatriate, Antifascist, Spy
Some of Ernest Hemingway’s novels and short stories are considered among the greatest ever written. He’s also remembered as an international man of letters, a famous expatriate and macho outdoorsman spending all the right seasons in all the right places: Paris, Pamplona, Key West, Havana, Sun Valley, on safari in Africa. But Hemingway’s life was more complicated than the glamorous image that lives in the popular imagination.
Close Neighbors, Worlds Apart: Cuba & the USA in Historical Perspective
Tracing Cuba’s long struggle for sovereignty, from the Spanish-American war of 1898 to the 1959 Cuban Revolution and up to the present day, this illustrated talk offers a larger historical perspective on the conflictual relationship between these two geographically close but politically distant western hemisphere neighbors, with an eye toward developing a better understanding of the current situation and what the future might hold.
A Profoundly Momentous Journey: Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle
On December 27, 1831, after Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy shared a final lunch of mutton chops and champagne ashore, the Beagle got underway. Darwin’s firsthand account of the journey, The Voyage of the Beagle, is one of history’s greatest true adventure stories. The voyage was supposed to last two years, but it ended up stretching out to five.
Book club discussion prompts for THE GATEPOST & THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT
August 26, 2026 § 3 Comments
If you’re in a book club or a book group that is reading or wants to read either THE GATEPOST or THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, here are some links I hope you will find useful:
discussion prompts for THE GATEPOST
discussion prompts for THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT
I’m a big fan of book clubs, and I’d be happy to join your group remotely if the timing is right, or possibly even in person if you’re close enough. Just send me a message here and we can set something up!
Two new interviews about THE GATEPOST
July 5, 2026 § Leave a comment
This video interview is unique in that it’s just me on video responding to written questions. But the questions were good, and the format allowed me to go more in-depth than usual on topics like my creative inspirations and writing process. Watch the full episode here. My thanks to Sean Murphy of 1455 for the opportunity.
Also very much enjoyed this exclusive interview with Paul Semel, in part because it gave me an excuse to think about influences, and to imagine the casting for the limited TV series of THE GATEPOST! Now all I need is a producer . . .
Below are some of the highlights; click on the thumbnails to read them, or you can read the full interview here. My thanks to Paul Semel for the fun questions!
“What is Speculative Fiction?” Libby Life spotlights THE GATEPOST
June 10, 2026 § 2 Comments
This one comes as a very pleasant surprise. OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for libraries and schools (my agent calls it “one of the hidden behemoths of publishing”), has featured THE GATEPOST on their Libby Life blog, in a post titled “What is Speculative Fiction? Here’s what it means (and what to read first).”
The Libby app allows users to borrow e-books, audiobooks, and magazines for free using a valid library card. Because it offers many of the same audiobooks found on commercial platforms like Audible, it has become a favored, budget-friendly alternative for avid readers. It is a highly popular digital portal, serving more than 22,000 public libraries and thousands of educational and corporate institutions worldwide.
And they love THE GATEPOST!
Three new radio interviews celebrating the release of THE GATEPOST
May 20, 2026 § Leave a comment
I love talking about books, literature, and related topics, so I’m very grateful to these generous radio show/podcast hosts for bringing me on to talk about them in the context of my new novel, The Gatepost. Each of these shows was converted to the podcast format after airing, which means that you can listen to the recordings at any time by clicking on the links or images below!
Writer’s Voice with Francesca Rheannon, a multi-syndicated public radio show that airs on public radio stations around the country. Francesca is a brilliant interviewer and I found our conversation particularly fascinating because it took us to some unexpected and personally revealing places.
We talked about The Gatepost, new mythology, the challenges and prospects for shifting the current paradigm about humanity’s relationship to the rest of nature, the history and uses of psychedelic or entheogenic drugs, archaeology, quantum theory, Mesoamerican stelae & glyphs, the role of modern storytelling, grief, consciousness, and much more.
The Inner Game with Gwen Garcelon on KDNK radio. This delightful conversation covered topics of spirituality and nature including awe, rhe miracle of life on this planet, humanity’s need to reclaim a spiritual relationship with the natural world, and one particular scarlet tanager.
I was particularly honored by Gwen’s takeaways about the book, including this one:
“The Gatepost is a really moving novel about human development and love and what may be possible in other realms of consciousness.” — Gwen Garcelon
Write on Four Corners with DelSheree Spinner on KSJE radio. In this fascinatingly in-depth conversation that may be of particular interest to writers we talked about The Gatepost and how it straddles several genres, grief, the power of fiction to help us figure out our own lives, and how fictional protagonists allow us to use our compassion to explore the experience of being human.
We also talked about why novels are an antidote to loneliness, the work of bringing literature to the new generation, character relatability, the power of place and how good descriptive writing is a mechanism for fictional transportation, hallucinogens, geological time, the Eleusinian mysteries, and more!
Order THE GATEPOST at your FAVORITE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE or:
ORDER A SIGNED COPY from New Hampshire’s The Toadstool Bookshop. Just use this link to complete your preorder; the signature will be added before shipping or pickup.
Vermont Public Radio Interview
May 14, 2026 § Leave a comment
Such a fun conversation recently with Mikaela Lefrak, the host of Vermont Edition, up at Vermont Public’s headquarters in Colchester! We talked about my novel THE GATEPOST, its Vermont setting, the origin of its characters, psilocybin, dreams and hallucinations in fiction, and much more. My gratitude to Mikaela and the show’s producer, Jon Ehrens, for their hospitality and professionalism. You can listen to the whole twenty minute interview here.
Library Journal Reviews THE GATEPOST
May 7, 2026 § Leave a comment
Very pleased to note this new review from Library Journal! Here’s an excerpt:
“This suspenseful story explores fascinating ideas about reality and perception using an intriguing format that will keep readers turning pages; highly recommended for fans of Carlos Castaneda and the science fiction of psychedelia.” — Library Journal
Here’s a link to the full review if you’re a Library Journal subscriber; it’s behind a paywall, but there’s also a screenshot pasted below if you’re curious.
THE GATEPOST is available as of 5.26.26 in paperback, audiobook and ebook. Read more & order your copy here!
New on Substack
May 5, 2026 § 1 Comment
One of my resolutions this year has been to launch a periodic column on Substack: topics will mostly be travel, the writing craft, publishing insights, ancient wisdom, modern science, and thoughts on fiction & mythology—but we’ll see how it evolves. If you want to come along for the ride, you can subscribe for free here. I have no plans to try to monetize this, so full subscriptions will always be free. Join me!
Publishers Weekly reviews THE GATEPOST
March 17, 2026 § Leave a comment
Publishers Weekly is widely regarded as the most influential trade magazine for the book industry, read by publishers, librarians, booksellers, newspaper and magazine editors, and even (ahem!) film industry types. PW reviews have a great deal of influence on which books get noticed, bought, and promoted in the media. Needless to say, I’m on cloud nine to have this new Publisher’s Weekly review of my forthcoming novel The Gatepost, arriving to bookstores near you (or your mailbox if you preorder) on May 26, 2026! Here’s an excerpt:
“Twenty years before the start of this spellbinder from Weed (The Afterlife Project), Professor Gregory Weatherhead, an expert in Mesoamerican shamanism, disappeared from his home in Vermont. Now, his daughter, Esme, is struggling to write a book about him. Convinced the disappearance is connected to a cave Weatherhead discovered on his property, she hires geologist Lucas St. Pierre to find the site. An old field journal also reveals that just before he vanished, Weatherhead had been experimenting with psilocybin mushrooms . . . Weed does a nice job interposing the present mystery with Weatherhead’s research in both Vermont and Oaxaca, and balances esoteric mysticism with touching contemporary detail. This well-researched tale is sure to entertain.”
You can read the full review here. Preordering from your local bookstore or via one of the links here is helpful and very much appreciated!
The Colorado Sun kicks off early media coverage for THE GATEPOST with excerpt, podcast, & print interview
February 3, 2026 § Leave a comment
My sincere gratitude to Kevin Simpson and The Colorado Sun for their early interest in THE GATEPOST, launching May 26, 2026!
In addition to the podcast, The Sun published an excerpt of the novel’s first chapter and a wide-ranging print interview in which we talked about Oaxaca and the inspiration for the novel, the writing process, Mesoamerican shamanism, hallucinogenic mushrooms, the multiverse, and more.
