Let’s celebrate The Universe Box‘s February 3rd release by Tachyon Press! I have opened the universe box that is my life, and will be sharing a piece of it every Monday.

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By Michael Swanwick: Every autumn, I go writing on leaves. Wandering through cemeteries and parks, I choose bright and dark examples of the fallen tree harvest, and write a Halloween story on them, one word per leaf. Which I then photograph and leave where they were found.

Sometimes I wonder, do people ever find these leaves with WITCHES or GHOULS or ORGY written on them and wonder in turn who wrote them and why? The mischievous part of me hopes they do and lie awake at night worrying about Satanic cultists closing in around them. The decent fraction of me trusts that they do not. Far more offensive graffiti, after all, is to be found everywhere around us.

The photographs are posted on my blog in sequential order, every day in October starting on the first and ending on Halloween. The story is a gift to my readers… and whoever else chances upon it.

This is a lot of work. distinctive leaves of varied colors and shapes have to be found and then snapped in distinctive locales. The photos have to be processed before posting them online. A single paragraph can eat up hours. 

All this began on a long-ago and blustery day when Marianne commented, “Weather like this makes me want to write ‘Death’ on all the leaves.”

Half of being a writer consists of recognizing a good idea when you come across it. The other half is being ruthless enough to claim it for your own.