The Germans have a word for making things worse by trying to fix them

Dispatches from Fourteen Light-Years Away No. 2 · The Untranslatable Word · May 20, 2026 I collect words that don’t translate into English. I have a list in my phone that’s long enough to be a problem. But I’ve always been fascinated by language, so here we are. Today’s word: verschlimmbessern. It’s German and means […]

Hi, I write books about women who accidentally marry aliens

Dispatches from Fourteen Light-Years Away No. 1 · The Arrival · May 18, 2026 Hey, You signed up for this list, which means one of two things happened: either someone told you about a book where a woman signs a research contract and accidentally gets married to a seven-foot alien, or you found me on […]