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Good morning!
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Welcome to all the new readers. And to the rest, sorry about the cobwebs. This newsletter was designed to be a place for news and updates and mini essays. I'm overdue for one of those random, free-flow, word splurges I tend to do and have just the cure.
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Have you ever had a word cross your mind and wondered where it came from? It happens to me constantly. All. The. Time.
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This week's wonder word was PENULTIMATE. I used it in a conversation without any effort or thought, and then later found myself pondering its purpose. It means "second to last" but the word itself feels so big, so important. Why would we give the second to last of anything such bravado? So of course, I had to look up the etymology of the word.
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One of my favorite books—which I've had for a million years, before we carried dictionaries in our pockets—is a word origins book. I used to aimlessly flip through and learn where a random word came from and how it changed over time.
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Okay. I may be a bit of a word nerd.
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But this gem, penultimate, came with a surprise I was not expecting. First, for those who are curious. Penultimate comes from late 17th century, from the latin "paene" (almost) and "ultimus" (last). So originally it meant "almost last" rather than specifically "second from last," but that is where it has landed as it shifted and settled through three hundred years of use.
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The surprise? That's my favorite part. Did you know there is a word that means THIRD from last? I did not. I was completely unaware and now I'm wondering even more why we give such wonderful importance to positions close to but not quite the end. Third from last is antepenultimate. Ante- so it's attached and connected, if not simply a sidestep away. BUT then I found out there is a fifth from last! Follow this insanity. A hundred or so years after penultimate was coined and ante- was then added to our vernacular, someone decided we needed more steps and the birth of propreantepenultimate happened (see that "pre" before the "ante," start there and it's fourth from the end). Now, to be fair, antepenultimate was originally used for the third from the last syllable in a word, rather than a human in a race or a chapter in a book. But there is, generally speaking, an acceptable listing of first through third places, and apparently, second through fifth "to last" places.
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Some people go down internet rabbit holes about conspiracy theories or the current social media personality crisis. Me? I'm over here wondering where words came from.
And who was the first person to decide to eat an artichoke? Was it in full thistle-style bloom?
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Speaking of words, my next appearance is an online live reading...
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Story Hour
Next Wednesday, August 28th at 7pm you can find me on Story Hour — a weekly livestream of speculative fiction readings. I'll be sharing the hour with Nicole M. Wolverton. As I'm collecting and editing the bits and pieces for my second* collection, I've decided to read a short story from the new table of contents. A story I've always loved for the fresh idea at its core. It also ties to other stories in my universe, which is a fun bonus.
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Strong Women Strange Worlds
Thank you to everyone who came to the Strong Women, Strange Worlds "First Friday QuickReads" on August 2nd and heard me (and five others) read our brief clips. It was fun and I look forward to doing it again.
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And a big congrats to the two drawing winners for free books, Liza and Kay!
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As I removed Strong Women Strange World, I ended up doing a surprise event this past weekend and had no time to share, but have also added another to the end of October, included below.
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Oct 27 — Sinister Sunday, a one-day event at Trigger's Table & Taproom in Waynesboro, PA
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You can now leave comments on the bottom of the Newsletter page
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Thanks for reading and remember, a current inventory of personalized, signed books available to ship (direct from me and shipped to you) is available.
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