Sarah O'Connor

Writer – Playwright – Cannot Save You From The Robot Apocalypse

A few weeks ago I bought a notebook at a local witch store. I’d admired it online for awhile but could never bring myself to buy it because the shop is in the U.K. which meant I’d have to deal with exchange rates and shipping. The cover of the notebook shows a brown rabbit circled with stars with it’s paw on an open pomegranate, “The Empress” written below it. It was part of the company, Fable England’s, Tarot Tales collection which was illustrated by Jessica Roux, an artist I admire and who’s oracle deck I already own. So when the witch store near me got it in stock I naturally bought it, convincing myself that I was saving money because I didn’t have to pay an exchange rate or shipping.

I don’t really know what drew me to the notebook. Roux’s illustrations are always stunning, but when it comes to the Major Arcana I’ve always felt more drawn to the Strength card than any other. Roux had even illustrated a Strength design, but it didn’t hold my attention like The Empress did. While I’m happy to see rabbits hopping along on lawns, munching on grass now that the weather is getting nicer I don’t have a kinship to them. I like drinking pomegranate juice and the symbolism it has to Persephone, but otherwise I can’t think of any reason I’d be drawn to it this time when I never have before. When I bought the notebook I also bought a mystery pack, and in the mystery pack I received a tarot pin, also of the Empress.

Read the full post on my Substack.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“To grieve is to rot from the inside out,” (Pedersen).

Estranged from his family for twenty-years, Nick Morrow returns to Stag Crossing, his family’s farmhouse in rural Nebraska, after receiving a call from his abusive father telling him he’s dying. But Nick isn’t the only one invited back, his older brother Joshua and wife Emilia are also welcome back after Joshua was exiled out of the family for marrying an Asian woman. But tensions are high between the Morrows as they return to their homestead, and as Nick comes to term with his past he also becomes familiar with Emilia in dangerously frightening ways. Continue reading

I received this book from Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

“Now I’m coming to think that I don’t want anything to do with heroes, ever again,” (Beagle 162).

Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (or Robert, as he prefers to be called) has taken over his recently deceased’s father’s dragon extermination business. In the kingdom of Bellemontagne, dragons are equivalent to pests ranging from mouse-sized to monstrous. But Robert hates his job, he feels a love and kinship to the dragons he is hired to kill and wishes he could be a valet to a prince instead of the exterminator he is. But he must keep with his duties when the Princess Cerise hires him to clean out her parent’s castle of dragons in order to impress Prince Reginald of Corvinia, whom she hopes to marry, while Prince Reginald hopes to do something heroic that will (finally) make his father proud of him. As Robert, Cerise, and Reginald’s stories intertwine, questions of duty, fate, and heroism pop-up as they wonder if their lives are as predetermined as they once thought. Continue reading

A lot of exciting writing stuff has happened with me recently, but I haven’t talked about it on here. I thought about it, but I tend to get a little suspicious about overpromoting things. The last time a lot of exciting writing things were happening in my life I promoted them1 like crazy, partly out of pride, partly because I was afraid no one would attend any of the events, which as it turned out happened to be true. All of this happened in 2020, many of these events were slated for March and so were understandably cancelled as people isolated and adjusted to living their lives on Zoom.

Fast-forward to 2024, and I start noticing some similarities. Coincidences, obviously, but enough of them to make me nervous. Some of the more spiritually inclined on TikTok noticed weird parallels in their own lives and believed that it was a sign of the world righting itself after the pandemic, and maybe the eclipse is helping. I just think it’s weird, and the logical part of my brain tells me it’s all just a coincidence, that life is full of them. But the nervous part of me is on edge.

Read the full post on my Substack.

“You can never win at playing the cis game. You can win on so much, but you will never win that…I hate that they make me choose. I hate it like I hate almost nothing else,” (Plett 125).

Thirty-year-old Wendy Reimer’s Mennonite grandmother has just died. After an awkward funeral service, Wendy ends up learning that her late grandfather might have also been transgender. But Wendy has more important things to think about as she and her friends struggle through the challenges of living as out transwomen in Winnipeg. But after struggling with alcoholism, sex work, and the death of a dear friend, Wendy continues to be drawn to her grandfather’s life, and she decides that she wants answers. Continue reading

I’m very exciting to be joining Neil Smith, Christina Brooks, and Murgatroyd Monoghan to read excerpts of our stories, answer questions, and discuss them. It’s going to be a fun event happening on Wednesday April 17th at 8:30pm for the low low price of FREE, which is always nice. You do need to reserve a spot and “purchase” a ticket, but then you’ll get a link to the Zoom call!

RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE!

In The Book of Séances, Claire Goodchild examines the history of speaking with the dead and our fascination with the afterlife while also detailing the different ways in which a person can build a connection and communicate with spirits from beyond.

I’m a bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to ghosts, so me purchasing this book was a shock even to myself. Despite warning myself about not being drawn in by beautifully illustrated books, I was, but luckily this time it paid off! If you aren’t interested in séances or connecting with spirits the book itself is gorgeous enough to be its own coffee table book or just to admire the beautiful pictures that Goodchild has created. Continue reading

I am honoured and overwhelmed to announce that my short story “Peach Baby” won gritLIT’s 2024 Writing Contest! I will be reading an excerpt of my story with the other winners on the contest virtually for gritLIT on April 17th at 8:30pm for anyone interested in attending!

Read “Peach Baby”

Attend the virtual Writing Contest Winners event

2024 Writing Contest winners

“My scared voice also asks if it’s truly possible to have a chosen family when, for me at least, almost everyone in it is tied romantically to another, or will be, their sense of family closing in on itself as they couple up and have kids. I feel frustrated with myself for wanting to be someone’s number one. To be their person,” (Key 65).

Amy Key’s debut memoir examines how she spent most of her life imagining a great, romantic love story for herself that by her mid-forties never did unfold. Using Joni Mitchel’s Blue album, Key looks back at her expectations on love, on being single, and how to live a life without romantic love when it is so often seen as the only thing worth living for. Continue reading