White desk with pink notebook, roses, keyboard, and gold paperclips that Francesca Varela uses to write environmental fiction

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  • The Owl and the Maples

    1–2 minutes

    The owl waits on the branch of a cedar tree. I drift closer. He looks at me. I pause, there, among the ferns, and atop the old, creek-sweetened leaves. I cross my arms over my chest. I stand still. The owl raises and lowers his wings. This is not a threat, but a stretch. Our

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  • The Earth Itself

    1–2 minutes

    After everyone has gone to bed, I sit on the sand. The lake pulls quietly inward, lapping against the velvet rocks. Above me, and above the purple lake, Ursa Major appears, star upon star, from the blue-lit ether. It pulls on me — the lake, and the deep-time silence that writhes in the wind, and

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  • The Seas of Distant Stars

    1–2 minutes

    My new book comes out August 7th! When I tell people about The Seas of Distant Stars, I say it’s about a human girl who’s kidnapped by aliens. Which is true, but here’s the official description: Agapanthus was kidnapped when she was only two years old, but she doesn’t remember it. In fact, she doesn’t remember

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  • Slow Moon

    1–2 minutes

    You stare through a telescope. There, the craters, and the old seas, like bruises. You stare a bit longer. You see the moon revolve, inch by inch– the slow moon tilting, an avalanche off an edge that is neither light nor darkness. A chill rises on your arms. It’s not just the moon that’s moving.

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Learn more about Francesca Varela's novels