My poem “I Write a Rite of Pyrite” is part of the Cursed issue of Emerald City Ghosts. This poem first appeared in HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. XII.
They also included interviews with each of the contributors. In mine, I talk about writing in a flow state, how my career as an analyst plays into my process, and what I’m currently working on.
We’re finishing up Oregon’s spring break, and while I worked for most of the days, I took yesterday off to go with my family to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center an hour and a half north in Washington. My older relatives recall the ash from the 1980 eruption landing in yards and gutters here in Beaverton. We can see the flattened peak on clear days from Portland, but this was the closest I’d ever gotten to it. We got gorgeous weather for our visit. In the gift shop, they had glass ornaments handmade in Ecuador, so I had to bring one home with me.
This morning we stuck closer to home and went to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. We lucked into more great weather. My older son commented as we walked about how peaceful it was, and then he shared with me how he thinks there are various types of “Oregon peaceful”: beach peaceful, forest peaceful, desert peaceful, mountain peaceful, cave peaceful. (I was very tempted to tell him he has the makings of a great poem in that insight, but that doesn’t seem to be his thing.) When we got home, I realized that a lot of my novella, Thrice Petrified, is about restoring some of those types of peacefulness to the landscape and the creatures (fantastical and otherwise) inhabiting them.
We interspersed additional types of fun into the other weekend and evenings of spring break, such as basketball games and a couple of movies. I also received the proof of the Clocks anthology to review, plus I just got an acceptance for a poetry reprint. And I’m making slow but steady progress on my current writing project. All in all, a great week.
The Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming Clocks anthology has officially launched! This is your chance to get early bird rates and directly support the authors and artists contributing to this themed exploration of clocks and what they can represent, as shown through speculative fiction. The book comes out later this year from Little Key Press and includes work by the following:
Chantell May Saunders, Charlotte Van Ryswyk, Courtney Raines, Elizabeth Jaffari, Erin Hall, J.S. Mercer, James Carraghan, Katherine Quevedo, Katrina Jax, Madi Haab, Mia Dalia, Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq, Raymond Brunell, Reign Reeves Pearson, Rose Wilde Hall, Sarah Walker, and Susan E. Rogers.
I’ll have a new story, “Gearheart,” in the upcoming anthology Clocks, from the press that brought you Claw Machine. What can you expect this “time” around? According to the editor, “As you move from one narrative to the next, you’ll find yourself lost in fog, grasping at a young love, risking it all to save a dying world. Pages will swallow you whole as you slip through time, challenge what it means to live, and create an automaton.”
We’ve got a Kickstarter campaign launching later this month. You can sign up to be notified when that happens (I’ll also post about it, of course).
I’m also involved in another exciting project that will have a Kickstarter later on. More to come on that.
My story “Venom in the Cloud Forest” (first published in the anthology Myriad Lands Vol. 2) is this week’s featured story over at After Dinner Conversation. They’ve included a video of philosopher Nalini Jacob-Roussety discussing a core concept of my story: the risk of bringing to light a hidden, uncomfortable truth. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m simultaneously pleased and dismayed that “Venom in the Cloud Forest” continues to be relevant.
If you’re interested in more info. about this story, I discussed it with Michelle Murray on her podcast Pages on the Tongue. If you want more of my rainforest settings, check out “Ree in the Domain of Scavengers” (Flame Tree Publishing’s Sun Rising Short Stories) and “Discount Night at the Haunted Eco Lodge” (Triangulation: Habitats and the podcast Scary Stories Whispered in the Rain).
Some very nice person out there has nominated my poem “The Emerald Tapestry” for the Rhysling Award. Many thanks for lifting up a narrative fantasy ballad that doesn’t shy away from end rhyme! This is my first time being nominated in the long poem category.
For those unfamiliar with this award process, members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) can nominate one short poem and one long poem. These nominees are then verified, longlisted, and later reviewed by a committee. They determine which poems become finalists and appear in the annual Rhysling anthology. Then SFPA members vote for the winners.
You can see the full longlist of this year’s nominated poems. And if anyone’s looking for poems to nominate for the Nebula and/or Hugo awards, may I suggest perusing this list for ideas? There are so many poets whose work I adore on this list!
Each February, you can hear recordings of members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) reading their speculative love poems. It’s a delightful take on what can sometimes seem like a well-trodden topic for verse. This year’s selections, curated by Jessica Lucci, include my poem “The Poison Dart Frog Prince” from SpecPoVerse. Yes, this is also the same recording that SpecPoVerse first posted on their website. You don’t get quite the same effect as the visual—my poem is in the shape of a frog—but it was really fun for me to read aloud and give it a life of its own.
There are lots of delightful readings to listen to, so settle in and prepare to get swept away.
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association has embraced poetry more and more in recent years, from counting poetry sales toward membership eligibility, to establishing a new Nebula Award for Best Poem. They’ve also started up an online poetry book club for SFWA members, hosted by the amazing Mary Soon Lee. I’m honored that they’ll be reading and discussing my chapbook The Inca Weaver’s Tales, winner of last year’s Elgin Award for best chapbook, at their meeting this Saturday, Feb. 7!
For anyone curious for more info. about my chapbook, I did an interview with Brittany Hause about it on the podcast Into the Looking Glass (we ended up speaking about many, many other things, too).
I have to share, this is wild to me, seeing my name in an official SFWA graphic like this. I remember 8 years ago, getting toward the end of grad school, prepping to go to my first Worldcon, telling my capstone team that I was determined to access the SFWA suite, either by 1) qualifying for membership (I failed) or 2) being someone’s guest (also failed). It would take me 2 more years to qualify for Associate membership, then 2 more years for me to get Full membership. Fast forward another 4 years, and here we are. Just wild.
My quiet (and perhaps cozy?) post-apocalyptic story “The Sauce Packet King of the West Hills” is part of this month’s issue of Small Wonders. This story first appeared in the Remnant themed issue of MYRIAD from Hexagon SF Magazine. Starting today, you can read my story for free online, but I also encourage you to purchase a digital copy of the full Issue 31 of Small Wonders. It’s an awesome lineup of flash fiction and poetry.
This story takes place on my side of the Portland metro area, focusing on how the need for denominations of currency might play out in a barter system.
Also, my husband had challenged me to write a story featuring hot sauce, and this is where my mind went. So, did “Sauce Packet King” satisfy the dare? You be the judge.
One cool thing SpecPoVerse does is gather recordings of contributors reading their work from each issue. You can hear me read my two most recent poems, “El Grotesco” and “The Poison Dart Frog Prince,” among other authors sharing their pieces from Volume 1, Issue 3.
On a different topic (but still about readings), if you’re in the Portland area, I hope you can come out to the Winter Horror Reads event at the Beaverton City Library on January 31st. I’ll be participating along with other members of the Oregon Chapter of the Horror Writers Association. Get ready for some wintry chills. Brrr!
