Charlotte Dune's Lagoon

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In this episode, I sit down with artist and executive coach Rochonda Ferrelli , creator of the mesmerizing Magnetic Geodes , to unravel the trap of future tripping : the exhausting swirl of overanalyzing, comparing, and projecting ourselves into “what’s next.” *If you caught us live, you can skip this replay, or send this to a friend who might appreciate it. We also explore: * Why chasing the futu...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlottedune.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlottedune.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlottedune.substack.com

Join me for my next live video in the app This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlottedune.substack.com

In this episode, authors Caitlin Avery and Charlotte Dune discuss how Avery outed and publicly shamed her rapist. She explains why and how she did it, what happened, the public's reaction, social media activism, and her novel Life of Cyn , inspired by the experience. She also reads from her latest book, The Last Con . Finally, we discuss the aftermath of the #metoo movement. Connect with Caitlin A...

In today's episode of Charlotte Dune’s Lagoon, we're winding into the world of "ticking clocks" in literature and how they're not just gripping plot devices, but also mirrors to our real-life motivations. Counting down to my own book launch, I share thoughts on these suspense-building tools. I also reveal and tease about the literary devices and hidden clocks in my own books: Cactus Friends , Mush...

In this episode, I speak with Lauren Richardson, Recovery Yoga Expert, Artist’s Way Creative Cluster Host , and founder of Source Recovery Yoga about her practices and philosophy. Recovery in this context means recovery from addiction, though Lauren is also a survivor of child sexual abuse. Charlotte Dune's Lagoon is a reader-supported publication with text, audio, and video. To receive new episod...

In this episode of Charlotte Dune’s Lagoon , I speak with American expat and trailing spouse, Melanie Duhon about her years living in Beijing, including her time during the Covid-19 pandemic and her experience of WeChat, and “The Brickening,” plus, a lot of amazing food, travel, and culture. Listen here, on your favorite podcast platform, or watch the video version on Youtube, which offers caption...

Happy Bicycle Day folks! Today is the day we celebrate the discovery of LSD, and I’ve got a brief message for you about the secret Black history of LSD and MK-Ultra, the torture of Black men by the CIA, and the value of civil disobedience. For more on this topic, check out this article by journalist Kali Holloway: The Secret Black History of LSD. Charlotte Dune's Lagoon is a psy-fi publication and...

Nicholas Powers, author, teacher, and psychedelic activist, discusses the future of psychedelic therapy, his release from PTSD, and his vampire political novel, Thirst : The Rich are Vampires. Read the interview below, or if you prefer to watch the interviews, please subscribe to my new YouTube channel! Thanks for splashing in Charlotte Dune's Lagoon! Subscribe for free to receive new posts about...

Folks, I hope you enjoy this episode with psychedelic fiction author Violet De Luna. My apologies for the sub-par audio quality. We had some technical/microphone/zoom issues and I’m working on improving this for next time. Or, watch a video version with captions and visit my new Youtube channel . Or you can read the transcript below. While the audio and video episode is unedited, the transcript is...

It’s Labor Day in the U.S. today, and so, I offer you a poem and a writing prompt about work — creative, paid, unpaid, hard, easy, etc. This is also the first installment in a series I’ll present on what I call, la vie midi , AKA middle-age. Remember that Bjork song — “Army of Me” ? In the music video, young Bjork is madly driving a mega metal truck through the night, à la Scarlett Johansson in Un...

This doesn’t read like non-fiction, but everything is true. (I think.) A Monkey Dream My father, Fred, had a pet monkey named Peaches growing up that his father, Zane, won in a poker game. Though this story is apparently not quite true. According to my own mother, Carol — Zane did not win Peaches, rather a banana trader kept Peaches on his boat in the late 1950’s. Zane was buying bananas at the Ba...

In science, there is a phenomenon known as “simultaneous invention,” or “ multiple discovery .” This occurs in rapid-fire frequency these days, but in the past, sans Internet, it was stranger and more noticeable. Simultaneous discovery is just as it sounds— people in different places who don’t know each other invent or discover the same thing at the same time. For example, several people invented...

“[Writing] is a psychological quirk developed in response to personal failings.” — Zadie Smith Read Part One. Read Part Two. Do I even have original ideas? Why do I write? Why do you? Haven’t all the stories already been told? If there are 1,000 types of bananas can we make infinite kinds of banana bread? In the essay, “Something To Do,” Zadie Smith explores the question: Why do we write? Her favo...

Listen to part one here. I don’t know what Zadie Smith looks like. I’ve never googled her, and I don’t want to know the truth. Instead, I see my own stereotype of the “Black Woman Writer,” one equally composed of the visuals Smith’s writing generates and my own preconceived notions of intellectual women of color in New York City. She is a grown-up Amanda Gorman with a colorful headwrap and tortois...

*All quotes are from the essay “Peonies” from Intimations , by Zadie Smith, unless otherwise noted. All views are my own and do not reflect the views of Zadie Smith unless quoted directly. “Talking to yourself can be useful. And writing means being overheard.” - Zadie Smith In this piece, I’ll share my takeaways from Zadie Smith’s first essay in the book, Intimations , entitled “Peonies.” Readers...

Introduction: Have you ever experienced the repercussions of a lie that amplified in your own mind? Let’s call this lie a nocebo . A nocebo has a negative psychogenic (mind-to-body) impact. With the nocebo effect, your negative beliefs and thoughts cause physical harm to your body. The nocebo could be a lie someone else told you, or maybe it was a story you told yourself, which later proved false,...

Humans are hardwired to be storytellers, story consumers, testers and builders, listeners, learners, communicators, and designers. Since the dawn of humankind, we’ve relied on stories to unite and separate communities and to spread lies and truths. The metaverse will expand our capacity to create and experience stories and worlds. As author Lisa Chron wrote in her book, Story Genius , “Story was t...

“ The Botapocalypse ” refers to the proliferation of “bots” on social media and the internet and the tipping point we’ve reached where there are more bots online than humans. But what will we call bots in the metaverse? Louis Rosenberg, Ph. D., the founder of a company called  Unanimous. Ai , calls metaverse bots “ Elves .” His company aims to create a program to “amplify the intelligence of human...

Sometimes we think we’ve seen it all, done it all, but technology is constantly evolving; there are always new things to do and understand. For example, we may be living through The Botapocalypse . What do I mean by this? The Botapocalypse is the end of the living internet, the transition into an era where fake users and chatbots outnumber living humans online. In 2013, data analysts at Youtube wo...

Hello fantastic folks and wonderful listeners, learners, dreamers, and readers! Welcome to Charlotte Dune’s Lagoon. I’m Charlotte Dune and I’m a writer. More specifically, I write fiction books, like The Psychedelic Love Series , and creative non-fiction, as well as short stories and the occasional poem. In the past, I’ve done many things, from working as a U.S. Diplomat, to producing documentary...