Iris Kain

I brought home a new work of art, and now I need to find her a place of honor.

She’s larger than she looks here—about a foot tall—so she needs room to spread those magnificent wings. Where would you put her? And what would you move to make room?

Yes, I have been standing here holding her against various patches of wall like this is a perfectly normal way to spend an evening.

Today was... a lot. Thank you to everyone who came out to the Full Moon Art Fest—and to the organizers and vendors who hung in there through Alabama weather doing what Alabama weather does. I’m glad I got to spend the day with you.

At Full Moon Art Fest in Scottsboro today!

I know I’ve been slacking on posting lately. Life has had me ridiculously busy, exhausted, and running around like the proverbial headless chicken. I haven’t even sat down to write in almost two weeks—which, for me, says a lot.

But tonight I finally got back to Moonshine & Magnolias, spent a little time with these fine folks, and… I CROSSED 42,000 WORDS! 🎉

So here’s a peek at the dinner party currently happening in my head. There are academics. There are ci******es. Spirited conversation (quite literally) combined with spirits of the liquid sort. And at 11 p.m., a medium will knock on the door.

I’m sure everything will be fine.

Death could’ve saved himself a trip. We both know “one more chapter” means three.

If this is a way to dodge death, I think many of us will easily be reading well past our expiration date

Reason #1,006 I want writing to become my full-time job:

My son and I stayed up way too late tonight just talking. About life. About everything. And I kept thinking how much I want the freedom to let nights like this happen whenever they happen—not have part of my brain calculating how many hours are left before the alarm goes off.

I want more room in my life for conversations that run long. For writing when the words are there. For staying up until 1 a.m. simply because nobody is ready for the night to end.

Also, apparently my house looks like this at 1 a.m. Cinder understood the assignment.

The fact that I may or may not have had a couple of Moscow Mules is irrelevant.

A touch of Alice Hoffman.
A dash of Jim Butcher.
A whole helluva lot of Southern charm... literally.

In this world, witches deal with complicated family drama, old grudges, and dark covens wielding all sorts of supernatural trouble. But that's OK. These women are discovering they might be far stranger and more powerful than they realized. (And they sure as hell aren't waiting around to be rescued.)

If Practical Magic has you craving more magic lately, welcome to Gryphon.

The Murphy Blackwell Chronicles by Iris Kain

Send this to the friend who would already be packing her bags.

(link in bio)

Last night, I went into Practical Magic 2 with high hopes, and boy did it deliver. A whole new story, but the original Owens sisters and aunties are there, and there are exactly enough reminders of the first movie woven in.

The house, the costumes, the dialogue—it's clear whoever made this knew exactly what we wanted to see. I laughed, I got teary more than once, and I left the theater with a happy heart.

Going back to something you've loved for this long is always a gamble. To me, this one paid off. It felt like coming home to the Owens women, and I already want to see it again.

To the Practical Magic fans out there, have you seen it yet? What did you think?

(No spoilers in the comments, please!)

Please remain calm. They’ve been trained, briefed, and given explicit instructions regarding mosquitoes. The bats are now free to commence their autumn shenanigans.

A black cat browsing a paranormal author’s home library. What could possibly go wrong?

Cinder has been studying the bookshelves for several minutes now, and I’m beginning to suspect she’s searching for:

A. a spellbook
B. instructions for summoning something OR
C. the book in which the cat finally inherits everything

What do you think she’s looking for?