The Snowflake Chronicles

July 2014 Letter from the Editor

Perigee Moon AKA Super Moon

How does a super moon influence your writing?


There's a supermoon rising
causing earthquakes to occur
and generating tides of stories
in the minds of sleepless authors.

There's a supermoon rising
generating perigean tides,
grounding ships with tidal surges,
and causing havoc planet wide.


Does a perigee moon influence your writing? Does it generate ideas of earthquakes, grounded ships, or tidal surges that wash away cities? Does it make you want to write love poems about getting hit in the eye by a pizza pie? Does it cause you to wax poetic about the splendor of the full moon? Does it transform your characters into werewolves, dragons, or some other mythological creature? Does it cause you to build an atomic bomb shelter because you think the world is coming to an end? Does it encourage you to research this phenomenon to find out more about it?

According to Wikipedia, the official name for a supermoon   is perigee-syzygy and it happens when a full moon occurs in the part of the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth. Because it is closer to the planet, a supermoon looks bigger and is brighter then an ordinary full moon. The last supermoon occurred on July 12, 2014. There will be two more supermoons this year, one on August 10 and another on September 9. Therefore, those of us who did not get a chance to see the last one can still witness the other two.

Native American's gave each full moon a name and each name had a meaning determined by things time of year it occurred. The Farmers' Almanac in Full Moon Names and Their Meanings   gives the Algonquin names for the full moons. The July moon is called The Full Buck Moon, while the August full moon is The Full Sturgeon Moon and September The Full Corn Moon. How are you going to use this information about the supermoon and the moon's names in your fantasy and science fiction stories?