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Many of you may have already seen my FaceBook post a few days ago. For those who may have missed it, I’ve decided to share by way of a special news bulletin. This past weekend (April 17-18-19), 2026, I attended the 2025 Chanticleer Book Awards in Bellingham, WA. My latest novel, ‘Tsarina’s Jewels’, was in the running for a Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Goethe Award for Post-1750s Historical Fiction. My book was already a finalist in each category. T

I see that declaration everywhere, and I’ve met with other poets gathered to celebrate that acknowledgement. But why? I don’t recall a month ever being set aside to celebrate fiction or non-fiction work; or romance, historical, fantasy, articles, essays, documentaries and so on. Why poetry? What makes it different? © 2026 Jerena Tobiasen I write historical fiction. I’ve spent hours, days, weeks, even months researching historical facts to ensure that my creations are accura

Floaters. Have you experienced them? Small, distracting spots caused by debris in the vitreous humor of the eye. They seem to float with whimsy across the field of vision. Myodesopsia is the medical term. Recently, a cloudy film began to obscure my vision, a side-effect of cataract surgery. Laser surgery removed the film and cleared my vision. Sigh of relief. However, within twenty-four hours, odd-shaped floaty things began cruising across, around, up and down, my field of vi

TRAVEL PLANS My husband and I had already booked a Trafalgar tour of Spain, Morocco and Portugal, when I started writing my current manuscript The Tsarina’s Crown . Although the story occurs during World War I, it is not connected to my earlier works: The Prophecy Saga . As The Tsarina’s Crown developed, the need for extensive research became apparent and my research-assistant/husband was on it. A few days into the research and development, he suggested that we should leave