Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna

@ce-mckenna

Find my essays, short stories, and an occasional novel @ cemckenna.com

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Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 22m

Sometimes, when I’m feeling stuck, I ride my motorcycle over Swan Mountain to Breckenridge and sit in their beautiful, quiet library.

Library window with two bookcases and a laptop computer

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 1d

My second novel’s vampire is consuming my brain. Must feed her something new. Everyone I know who’s read it says that Dungeon Crawler is particularly tasty. Have at it. 🥢🧠

A photo of a book in front of the Rocky Mountains

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 8d

Just a mid-evening moose behind our house. 🫎

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 12d

My best friend told me my Substack headshot from five years ago is too old so I took this new one. Someone call Wilhelmina Models.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 26d

Last night’s sunset was pretty in pink.

Sunset over the mountains with a lake and forest in the foreground

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· 29d

I am kicking myself for not buying a #TriumphTrident660 earlier. It’s an amazing bike.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jul 18

Did the thing I’ve been dreaming about for the last year. #trident660 #tripletribute #newbikeday

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jul 10

The best place

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 28

A blood moon

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 22

ColoRADo giving up those colors on the summer solstice. I spent it hiking with friends, on a motorcycle, swimming in a mountain lake, and eating tacos. Great. Damn. Day. How was yours?

Sunset over the Indian Peaks in Colorado

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 19

Alpenglow sunrise on the last day of my thirties.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 15

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 10

Just picked up Cash and Gravity, by Perrin Pring, which I can’t wait to read because GODDAMN, I miss #Firefly. #shiny

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jun 1

Imagine working on a ghost story involving real historical figures (Baby Doe and Horace Tabor), set in Leadville, and then finding out that, for a multi-year period, they lived exactly where you grew up (4 miles north of Ward). I’m only not creeped out because it’s VERY SUNNY right now.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 16

Read a very interesting article today about #AI #chatbot-Spiraled #delusions. One of the things that researchers have found is that AI isn’t just sycophantic; it builds on its own claims and its user’s delusions. In other words, it doubles down on #hallucinations. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

A highlighted article, which reads “Interestingly, the main way delusions were sustained was not through a chatbot simply echoing a user’s ideas (often called chatbot sycophancy), but through the AI repeating and elaborating on its own delusions.

That is, the chatbot’s inherent and programmed need to remain self-consistent drove delusions in the conversations.

Once the chatbot expressed a delusion, it was compelled it to repeat it.

Bot and user became progressively stuck in a spiral-shaped trap.”

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 13

The time has finally come (since riding a Speed Twin 900 for a week) to upgrade my Husqvarna Svartpilen 401, and now the question is: do I go with the #TriumpTrident800 (or the 660?) or jump to my bike’s big sister, the #HusqvarnaSvartpilen801 Any thoughts from other riders?

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 13

Ugh, not the news I was hoping for coming out of Corporeal Writing this morning. The classes I took through them (and anytime I ever interacted with @lidiamiles.bsky.social) were truly generative and changed the way I write. I hope everyone there takes their magic and expands it outward.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 12

Received my first #MountainGazette today! What a treat to have such high-quality physical media. It’s the opposite of reading reddit (I’m an addict) on my phone. HUGE pages, wonderfully crafted pieces, gorgeous prints.

The Mountain Gazette, a physical magazine, with a photo of a hand holding a mushroom, seen through a magnifying glass, on a wooden table

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 11

While I was riding through the Outer Hebrides, I found out ON FIRE AND UNDER WATER won the inaugural Derringer Award for Best Anthology! Doing a happy dance 💃💃 #anthology #crime #climatefiction #fiction

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 10

Memento Mori. But also Memento Gaudium. And Pulchritudo. And Amicitia.

A tomb in a Scottish church on the Isle of Harris with a window shining light

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 6

Majestical Coo

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 5

This is as cool as I’m ever going to get, I think… #motorcycling through the #Scottish #Islands to #Uig on a #BMW #R1300GS, which is WAY TOO BIG FOR ME BUT I RODE IT ANYWAY.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· May 1

An epic #motorcycle ride on a gorgeous #Triumph #SpeedTwin 900 through the Scottish Highlands to Skye, and over the sea to Harris with two of my best friends. #OllyandtheRollyPolies

Two men and a woman in the Scottish highlands in front of a loch and a mountain

A castle overlooking the waters around Skye

Three people wearing Motorcycle the Isle of Sky shirts

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Apr 26

My happy place and my husband’s happy place. #Edinburgh #kebab #brownsauce

Edinburgh Castle in spring, from Princes Street Gardens

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Apr 18

Happiest of birthdays to a woman who loves #WWE so much that she took us to Vegas, made personalized #Wrestlemania pamphlets, assigned us each a persona, and gave a presentation on how WWE combines athleticism, drag, and soap operas into an epic show of pure American entertainment. Love you, Ta! 💃🏻

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Apr 3

Omg I think our dogs are related

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Apr 3

I know it’s little, but HOLY SHIT OUR BOOK IS ON THE BESTSELLER SHELF OF THE BOULDER BOOKSTORE! We’re number 8! We’re number 8! 😂🎉 @pujaguha.bsky.social @rjbrash.bsky.social @curtisippolito.bsky.social @jimvermin.bsky.social @boulderbookstore.bsky.social

A Bestsellers bookshelf at the Boulder Bookstore

On Fire and Under Water books at the Boulder Bookstore

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Mar 27

Had a wonderful event tonight at @boulderbookstore.bsky.social for ON FIRE AND UNDER WATER, a climate change crime fiction anthology. @pujaguha.bsky.social and @rjbrash.bsky.social knocked it out of the park AND we got to have Mac and cheese bites at the Pub after. Baller.

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jan 30

That’s stacked bedside table, primed for historical mysteries and ennui, methinks. #takemeapart #myyearofrestandrelaxation #cipher

Caitlin Eliza (C.E.) McKenna@ce-mckenna· Jan 26

It was so cool to have my very first live speaking event for the anthology ON FIRE AND UNDER WATER this past weekend. My friends @pujaguha.bsky.social and Raymond J. Brash joined me to chat with Douglas County readers about climate change, crime, and revisiting our favorite places through words!