About Smoky

Smoky Zeidel is an author without a country–or, more accurately, a publishing company. Recently, she terminated her relationship with the publisher of her three novels: The Storyteller’s Bracelet,  The Cabin, and Redeeming Grace; and her collection of short stories. Gone, too are her Observations of an Earth Mage, a collection of prose, poetry, and photographs celebrating the beauty of the natural world; Trails, a similar collection co-authored by her husband Scott; and Smoky’s Writer’s Workshop Combo Set.

But don’t worry–she isn’t going to be an author without a country for long. More details to follow at a later date, but rest assured, her books will be back in print soon.

Smoky taught fiction writing and creativity workshops at community colleges and other venues in the Midwest for many years before packing up her daughter, dog, two cats, and guinea pig and moving to California. She met her husband Scott shortly thereafter. They now live with a menagerie of animals, both domestic and wild, in a ramshackle cottage in the woods overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and Mountains beyond. When she isn’t writing, they spend their time hiking in the mountains and deserts, splashing in tide pools, and resisting the urge to speak in haiku.

Smoky is, metaphorically speaking, the salmon who swims downstream, not up. When the invitation says “black tie,” she’ll more likely show up in tie-dye. If there’s a tree, she’ll climb it. A rock, she’ll scramble up  it. A creek, she’ll splash in it.  When the neighborhood coyotes howl, she tends to howl back.  Her husband calls her “eccentric.” She prefers the term “quirky.” But then, she’s a writer, an artist. What else would you expect?