The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) has posted the longlist of Rhysling Award nominees, and my poem “Pumpkin Ash and Cypress Knees” made the list!  This poem was published in Boudin by The McNeese Review in their special Halloween issue, It Came from the Swamp.  To whoever out there nominated my poem, I really appreciate the honor! 

I’ve also sold a story to LatineLit, due out later this year, and I’ve been invited to speak at an upcoming chapter meeting of the Willamette Writers.  More info. to come.

Ah, more news to share!  Before I fall behind even further.  First up, Night to Dawn has reprinted my story “Hell-ium Balloon” from Last Girls Club.  The editor of Night to Dawn, Barbara Custer, is a huge fan of balloons.  I was delighted to be able to send her my horror story about one! 

Also, Strange Elf Press has kicked off a Kickstarter campaign for Anterior Skies, an upcoming anthology that will include one of my poems.  If you enjoy weird and cosmic short stories and poetry, I hope you’ll check it out. 

I’m looking forward to attending the 2023 AWP Conference next month in Seattle.  There are so many panels I want to go to, too many, some at the same time!  It’s a good problem to have, I suppose.  Other than that, I’m trying to finish up a stubborn new story draft, make some edits on the previous story I’d completed, and plan a poem or two for a potential chapbook manuscript.

It’s official, Sword & Kettle Press’s campaign is live on Indiegogo for the New Cosmologies series of mini-chapbooks!  You can read about the whole lineup, with works by 11 different authors representing mythologies from all around the world.  There are different bundles available.  I hope you’ll consider supporting us, whether by contributing to the fundraiser or helping spread the word. 

The Inca Weaver’s Tales will be my debut chapbook.  None of these poems have appeared anywhere else before.  I’m so excited!

This month Tor.com put out a list of “Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: 12 Works You May Have Missed in 2022,” and my story “Song of the Balsa Wood Bird” from Fireside Magazine was included!  I’m so grateful to Aigner Loren Wilson, the Fireside guest editor who helped bring my story to readers. 

Please check out the other eleven stories on the list!  There’s so much amazing short fiction out there, and this is a great way to get a strong sampling, with one story from each month.

My horror story “Until It Has Your Reflection” is available to read online at Nightmare Magazine.  Many thanks to the top-notch team at Nightmare for helping get my story polished up and shared with readers in visual and audio forms!  I’m especially grateful to Wendy N. Wagner, Melissa Hofelich, Xander Odell, and Justine Eyre.

There’s also an author interview where I talk about how the story originated, and a few other tidbits about its journey to get here. Check it out for a discussion of body horror, identity, and how I really feel about this blog.

My story “The Sauce Packet King of the West Hills” is a near-future, postapocalyptic tale in which condiments have become currency.  A huge thank you to guest editor Jordan Hirsch for including it in the latest MYRIAD anthology of speculative flash, this one all about the theme Remnant.  It’s available to subscribers of Hexagon SF Magazine (subscriptions start at $1 per month). 

My story originated as a combination of my background in economics, the accumulation in a certain kitchen drawer, over many years, of the titular sauce packets, and a personal goal to set a story in my local geography.  Speaking of which, I’m getting close to being able reveal an upcoming project that writers in my area will want to hear about…

First, though, I’ll have more info. on my horror story in Nightmare Magazine later this week.

I’m pleased to share that my poem “Lanterns at Dusk” has been reprinted in The Hyacinth Review.  This poem first appeared in Kingdoms in the Wild.  If you’re interested in more of my poetry, I have new poems due out in Asimov’s, Anterior Skies, decomp journal, and Wind Guide You.  You can also sign up for updates on the forthcoming New Cosmologies series of chapbooks from Sword & Kettle Press. 

In fiction news, I have a story coming out this Monday in the Remnant issue of MYRIAD, which is only available to subscribers of Hexagon SF Magazine.  I just read the proof of the anthology today, and holy moly, I’m honored to be accompanied by these other flash pieces!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season!  I got to see my local family, eat way too many of my mom’s Christmas cookies, watch new-to-me movies, and play familiar-to-me games.  I also did lots of research for a story I’m working on and finished up a different draft as well. 

Not to bury the lede, but my new horror story “Until It Has Your Reflection” was published in this month’s issue of Nightmare Magazine!  It’s currently available to subscribers or for purchase as an ebook.  I’ll talk more about it later this month, too, when it’s posted online. 

I’m a little behind on updating my annual writing career SWOT matrix for this year.  I’ll get to it, but for now I’ve been trying to savor the progress I made last year.  I’m proudest of two things:  1) There were stories of mine I didn’t give up on for years—in some cases, literally a decade—that I polished up and kept submitting, and finally found really great homes for them; and 2) while I don’t feel like I finished as many new drafts as I’d hoped to, I wrote several stories that I know deep down I wasn’t ready to write until last year.  They challenged me in new ways. 

Coming up later this month, I’ll have another poetry reprint in The Hyacinth Review, plus a new flash story in MYRIAD (a themed anthology available to subscribers of Hexagon SF Magazine).  I hope to have some news to share related to my debut mini-chapbook, The Inca Weaver’s Tales, part of the New Cosmologies series which you can learn about at this link.  And I’ll have some other news that should be of particular interest to authors in the Portland area. 

Finally, I want to extend hearty congratulations to Akua Lezli Hope and Mary Soon Lee, who were both named the newest Grand Masters of the SFPA!  Both of these women have made tremendous contributions to the art of speculative poetry with their rich verse and generous advocacy.  They are true inspirations.

Flame Tree Publishing has posted the second round of author Q&A for Christmas Gothic, this time with about half the responses listing other dark holiday tales the contributors enjoy, and the rest about some of our writing processes.  I admit to the inherent mess of my own process, from my chicken scratch handwriting to my disorderly, complete-the-jigsaw-no-matter-what-it-takes mental jumping around.  Hey, it gets the job done!

I’ve got a couple links to share today.  Flame Tree Publishing posted the first of two mini-interviews with contributing authors of Christmas Gothic Short Stories.  This one looks at the inspiration behind our selected stories, and I’ve certainly enjoyed seeing the variety of ways these dark holiday tales came to be.  I’ll post again when the second part comes out. 

Also, given my day job as an analyst, I really appreciate data transparency, and I wanted to give a shoutout to my editor over at Wyngraf for his breakdown of the numbers related to the latest issue of cozy fantasy stories. 

I’m totally biased, but Christmas Gothic and both issues of Wyngraf represent a range of readers’ tastes and would make great gift ideas—just sayin’.