Gods, Monsters, and Aliens
In many ways, my 2026 has been about the exploration of myths and monsters in various forms from Sinners to Frankenstein to The Odyssey (see also Dangerous Gifts and Demons, Monsters, and Death). This pursuit may have been inevitable because I suspect most writing is seated in our fears whether we want to admit those fears or not, but three instigating inputs within a 24-hour period conspired to inspire me. Perhaps they will work their will on you as well…
- George Ella Lyon was the opening keynote for the inaugural Appalachian Literary Arts Festival (Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026) held in Morehead, Kentucky. She has inspired me as both a writer and teacher for most of my Kentucky life, but I was unprepared for how her discussion of Don’t You Remember would shake me. This combination of mystery and memoir explores identity in such challenging ways I may never think of it the same again. I have long relied on Where I’m From for inspiration for myself as well as other writers, but Don’t You Remember pushes that question to another plane of existence.
- The Slow Read substack writing group is currently reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. I have read it multiple times before (just as I did our first book: Stephen King’s The Stand), but as I argue in Celebrating the Slow Read) reading a book slowly – and in community – is a much different experience. In Part 1 of the book we visit Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness in two different time periods (because time travel!). Both co-host Sarah Stewart Holland and myself visited this location while in college and found them effecting, but later in the conversation she discussed how visiting various locations in the British Isles felt familiar in her bones. I don’t believe she made an argument for past lives or ancestral memory, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t willing to write it off either. I do know that when I visited the Netherlands (at the conclusion of my study abroad semester in London) that I was very interested by my visits to Rotterdam and Amsterdam, but it was in Zeeland that I felt that resonance that struck Sarah. I felt at home. I knew the land. I recognized the people. I have always explained this connection with the fact that I grew up in a community that was primarily settled by Dutch immigrants so of course the people look Dutch and why wouldn’t they settle in a place that looked like home? But this Slow Read conversation came within hours of listening to GEL’s talk about past lives and now I’m wondering if there is more to my experience than I ever thought before?
- I was still reeling from this conversation when I plugged into a Gray Area podcast conversation with Adam Kirsch about his book: We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters. This conversation made me think about all the ways that humans seek to make order out of the chaos of our universe from myths (looking at you Odyssey) to science (hello Frankenstein) to aliens (hey Project Hail Mary). We are always looking for someone or something else to take the blame, solve our problems, and/or chart our path to safety.
Humans have always needed gods and monsters to help us cope with the chaos lottery that is life, but George Ella Lyon reminds us that we have only ourselves and the people and places (and lives?) that formed us. I leave you with this final quote from George Ella Lyon: “We live in mystery.”
I could write about these ideas for the rest of my life and I hope that you also find some inspiration in here too. Have you ever been inexplicably drawn to a place? Have you visited the places where your ancestors lived? Do you believe in ancestral memories or past lives? Why do you think we humans want so badly to believe in gods, monsters, and aliens? What mysteries do you live in?
