I'm Mary Paliescheskey, and I write magical realism and myth-inspired speculative fiction rooted in my Slavic heritage. I've been telling stories for as long as I can remember, turning backyards into frontier towns, piloting lawn-chair spaceships around shrub planets, and inventing worlds where magic lingered beyond the edges of the ordinary. That sense of wonder has stayed with me, and it threads through everything I write. You can read an early chapter of my novel, The Stone's Healer, on The Write Launch.
A few years ago, a course assignment asked me to research a pantheon of gods. I decided to return to my own roots and found myself drawn deeply into Slavic mythology. With access to university libraries, I discovered a wealth of folklore, ancestral stories, and forgotten deities that sparked my imagination. Those old tales now shape my current novel-in-progress and the essays I share about myth and ancients gods and goddesses.
Before turning to fiction, I wrote personal essays and creative nonfiction. My work appears in Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Sons, Cup of Comfort for Teachers, Birthing Choices You Have to Create the Best Birth Experience for You and Your Child, and in regional parenting magazines. Earlier in my career, I published scientific research in peer-reviewed journals including Infection and Immunity, Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, and Journal of Infectious Diseases.
I work full time at the University of California, Irvine. When I'm not reading or writing, I find joy in ceramics, knitting, and chalk pastels. I live in Southern California with my husband and sons, where we spend our days enjoying the sun, the pool, and long bike rides along beach trails.