Registration just opened yesterday for the 2024 Willamette Writers Conference, and I’ll be participating as a panelist. This was the first writing conference I ever attended, and it was a huge, eye-opening experience for me. I’m thrilled to be speaking there this year.
In other news, I have a poem called “Ode to Hot Chocolate” in the Coffee, Tea, Cocoa issue of Still Point Arts Quarterly. By total coincidence, this is my first of two pieces coming out this month that mention hot chocolate. The other will be quite different, a fantasy story due out in Wyld Flash.
Mark your calendars for this Sunday—in fact, mark them for every Sunday in March! Look at this lineup for Women’s History Month:
Akua Lezli Hope hosts this free online reading series, and on Sunday, March 3rd, I’ll share a bunch of my speculative poems and then have some time for conversation and Q&A. I’ll include a poem or two from The Inca Weaver’s Tales.
This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Looky what arrived in the mail for me this weekend—the New Cosmologies series! The awesome team at Sword & Kettle Press have been busy filling preorders, and soon these mini-chapbooks will available for new orders from their website. You better believe I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops when they’re ready for purchase. You can order a single book in the series or multiple (I couldn’t resist buying all of them). There will also be ebook versions.
The latest issue of Exist Otherwise has reprinted my poem “Backward Compatibility (Quinceañera on a Generation Ship),” originally published in Apparition Literary Magazine. This issue is loosely themed around the following quotation from Claude Cahun: “I love you. That should be enough for the whole solar system.” A lovely sentiment, and I’m glad to have my poem included.
I want to start with the thing that lights me up the most: I received more fan mail! There’s nothing quite like finding out someone out there gets my art, gets me, someone I’ve never met before but have been able to commune with, in some small way, through words, images, and everything that goes unsaid but bubbles just under the surface. Seriously, this is why I work so hard to get my writing out there.
And what does it take to do so? Looking at my 2023 submission data, I received 188 rejections this year. And 19 acceptances. Including reprints. One of those rejections nearly broke my heart, I got so close to getting into a dream publication. But there’s always next year, and other dream markets. In fact, I’m waiting on a contract from one place before I can announce the sale, and it’s one I’m very, very excited about…
This year also marked my third year in a row of receiving a Pushcart nomination, and my second for a Rhysling nomination. And my first for an O. Henry nomination. These were all, by the way, for works of horror, or at least on the dark side of things. On the other hand, I also had a story selected for the inaugural Best of Utopian Speculative Fiction anthology and another story get a shout-out in Tor.com’s list of “Nine (Very) Short Fantasy Stories With Happy Endings.” Lightness and darkness. Have I mentioned that balance turned up as one of my core personal values when I did an exercise to identify them in grad school?
I don’t always nail that balance. I started off 2023 aiming to dial back my number of writing presentations and workshops, because I’d done a lot of them in 2022 and didn’t want to eat into too much of my writing time this year, even though I really enjoy doing these events. Well, sure enough, I still ended up saying yes to a bunch of opportunities this year.
Can you blame me? I got to fulfill a longtime goal of being a panelist at OryCon, my local con and the place that really helped me level up over the years. I got to read two short stories for Story Hour, which has a prestigious list of guests, and Hugo House reached out to ask Elizabeth Beechwood and me to teach our workshop for them again, which is always so much fun for us. I got to share my passion for speculative poetry with the Oregon Poetry Association and serve as a judge for this year’s HWA Poetry Showcase. And I got to perform some of my works to live accompaniment by Katie Bennett, in the gorgeous Sanctuary Hall. What a dream come true!
Thank you to Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito for this photo
Aah, my bookshelf is getting way more bulging, and it’s not even Christmas yet… I have contributor copies on the way of 2022 Best of Utopian Speculative Fiction, which includes my story “Song of the Balsa Wood Bird” from Fireside Magazine.
And Apparition Literary Magazine has released paperback versions of their issues, which are on sale this month for only $4, so don’t delay in ordering! I’ve always loved their covers and am so happy to have physical copies.
And some of my friends have recent releases! I went to the launch party for the anthology Winding Paths, which is themed around games and includes a choose-your-own-adventure narrative option. I know several of the contributors, and getting their work in one place is such a treat.
Also, my friend and frequent workshop co-teacher Elizabeth Beechwood has released a collection called Strange Memories. As soon as it’s back in stock, you bet I’ll be getting myself a copy.
And finally, earlier this year when I took the train home from the AWP Conference in Seattle back to Portland, I was seated next to a remarkable young woman named Mariia Kharytonova. We spent the whole four or so hours talking, and it felt like we’d known each other for much longer than that. She’s from Ukraine and has co-published an anthology with Sofia Vasylenko called 24, available through Impact Ukraine. This anthology includes interviews with twenty-four people whose lives have been upended by war, along with some of Mariia’s stunning artwork.
On that note, I’m wishing you all a holiday season of peace, health, and never taking things for granted in life.
The HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. X is officially available! Inside you’ll find all manner of delightfully dark verse from members of the Horror Writers Association. As I’ve stated elsewhere, it was so difficult to narrow the selections down with the other judges and our editor, Angela Yuriko Smith, from all the submissions we received. A good problem to have.
I’m excited for OryCon this weekend! Here’s where you can find me:
Getting Past Imposter Syndrome panel on Fri., Nov. 10 at 3pm, with Laura Anne Gilman and Kat Richardson – Many promising writers don’t enjoy interacting with publishers and other writers and dislike attending conventions because, despite modest success, they experience something called imposter syndrome. What is it? Can you avoid it? If you—or your writer friends—experience it, what should you do? Come discuss with our panel.
Dayjob or the Dream panel on Fri., Nov. 10 at 9pm, with Eric Distad and Manny Frishberg, moderated by Mousewrites – Whether you’re fresh out of school and wondering whether to invest in creating or continuing education, or reevaluating your mundane life and debating taking time off to create, how do you balance the need for money with the spark in your soul?
Katherine Quevedo Reading on Sun., Nov. 12 at 2:30pm – I’ll read a selection of my short fiction and poetry. I’m planning to focus on fantasy and science fiction for this one, since I just read a bunch of my horror poems last weekend.
One final reminder that Haunted Tales and Eerie Melodies is taking place in Portland, for free, tomorrow afternoon! Here’s the lineup:
Remy Nakamura, with accompaniment by Matt Brislawn
Katherine Quevedo, with accompaniment by Katie Bennett
Elle Mitchell, with accompaniment by Julian Kosanovic
Sarah Walker, with accompaniment by Obadiah Baird
Nathan Carson, with accompaniment by Erin Jane Laroue
…and Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito will be our MC
If you’re local or in town this weekend for the Portland Book Festival, I hope you can make it! We’ll be in the beautiful Sanctuary Hall from 2-4pm. (Also, I’ll be giving another reading a week later at OryCon.)
I just heard from Russ López, editor of LatineLit, that he’s selected my story “The Galapagos Widows” as one of his nominees this year for the Pushcart Prize, as well as the O. Henry Award! I’m honored and so grateful he gave my story a home, especially among so many other works focusing on this traditionally underrepresented part of the world. (My story centers on Ecuador, which sadly is experiencing a lot of turmoil these days.) Please go peruse the other works on LatineLit, too.
If you’re in the mood for more dark fiction, I hope you’ll check out the recording of the reading that Steve Toase and I did this month with the awesome folks over at Story Hour. Seriously, Steve’s writing is lovely and haunting, so go give it a listen. You can stick around and see how terrible the lighting is in my office at night, ha! I read “Until It Has Your Reflection” from Nightmare Magazine and “Tree Eyes” from Frost Zone Zine.
If that still isn’t enough horror for you, and you’ll be in the Portland area for the Portland Book Festival, mark your calendars for Haunted Tales and Eerie Melodies. I’ll be reading along with four other authors, each of us accompanied by the live stylings of some fantastic local musicians. For my portion, I’ll have the multitalented Katie Bennett accompanying me on piano! This free event will be hosted by the Oregon Chapter of the Horror Writers Association.
