All of These Things are Not Like the Other . . .

Exhibit A: corals, herbarium, clockwork automata, Scythian lamb, stuffed alligator, unicorn horn

Exhibit B: Clash of Kings; Mad, Bad, and Sad; Russian Winter; clock, 1940s photo, and an African statue

Exhibit C: contacts, Facebook, messages, games, MyNetDiary, yoga, Twitter

Exhibit D:  1: "As Josh backed up, the beetlebum stepped forward. It rattled its carapace, rubbing its wings like a lion licking his lips before he pounced on his prey."
                  2: "See the sparks like birds turning into stars--like souls flying to heaven."
                  3: "Kings are true believers--in themselves. And true believers are always dangerous."
                  4: "Don't pick it," Molly said. "If you bleed, sharks will eat you up."
                  5: "You can see who I was, or you can see who I am now. I'm not good," he said, piercing me with eyes that absorbed all light but reflected none, "but I was worse."

Challenge: Find the thread in each exhibit that ties it together.

Finished?

Although I imagine there are multiple ways to tie each exhibit together, I will give you mine (since I am the one writing this post.)

Exhibit A: typical contents of an historical Kuntskammer or Wonderkammer--known more generally in English as a Cabinet of Curiosities

Exhibit B: items on my nightstand

Exhibit C: home screen of my iPhone

Exhibit D: favorite lines of the five friends, writers, and founding members of the new blog Cabinet of Curiosities

Laura Andersen, Ginger Churchill, Pat Esden, Becca Fitzpatrick, and Suzanne Warr write (have written, are writing, will write) everything from picture books to short stories to mid-grade fantasy to historical fiction to YA paranormal. Despite that variety--and like the typical exhibits of a historical Cabinet of Curiosities--we are tied together not only by friendship but by a certain sensibility that sees wonder in every aspect of the world.

To learn more about us, click on a name at the top of the blog page to read our bios. We will also be introducing ourselves in many and varied ways as we post here, but the one thing we want everyone to know is this: We love stories. Across genres and styles and forms, we value complicated characters, twisty plots, and compelling tensions and stories that make us remember that we are all human.

We're delighted to come together to share stories with all of you--but this is one story we haven't outlined to the end. It will change along the way, and we hope our readers will contribute to those changes by sharing your stories with us.

Now widen your eyes, open your mind, and welcome to our Cabinet of Curiosities.