Mari Ness spent much of her life wandering the world and reading. This, naturally, trained her to do just one thing: write. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous print and online publications, including Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Fireside, Apex Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and Fantasy. Tor.com has featured several of her essay series, including On Fairy Tales, The Disney Read-Watch (short listed for a Stabby Award) The Pixar Rewatch, and Travels Through Fairyland (a reread/study of all 40 of the original Oz books, plus related material.) Her poetry has been nominated for the Rhysling, Dwarf Stars and Elgin Awards.
She lives in central Florida, with a scraggly rose garden and large trees harboring demented squirrels.
She can be contacted at mari_ness at hotmail.com.
Blogging with dragons 
Mari! This was a great read! Thank you! –Clint
I’m pretty sure all the squirrels in Florida are demented. It’s a side effect of rodent sunstroke.
I used to spend all my summers and Christmases in Central Florida. I think my last childhood sunburn might still be peeling.