This is how it happens, always at night: Shadows and shapes grow limbs and teeth and become ideas. They ensnare my ankles in penumbral bramble and briar, etching words upon my legs, my arms, my hands, my face. They brand me with the ink in my veins and tangle in my hair; I am their parchment marionette until I tell their myths and histories. It’s in this alchemical transformation– in the dark spaces between– that my stories come to life.

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J. Koyanagi is a writer specializing in speculative fiction. Born in Ohio, she moved to the South where she earned a degree from the University of Georgia in anthropology with a minor in religion. Although not the most lucrative fields, they nourished her insatiable curiosity about human nature.

After falling in love with the idea of living under the watchful eye of the Rocky Mountains, she settled down with her husband in Colorado, where she goes on nighttime walks and looks skyward. She has a dog, a gecko and an unreasonable love of books and sushi, preferably consumed at the same time.

Photo by Laura Vasilion.