For one, I’ve got a new workshop coming to both Zoom AND real-life in October. I’m co-teaching with Gordon B. White a class about writing horror! It’s a 3-hour, in-depth workshop on the genre, and you know it’s going to be a great time. For more information, check out the Cascade Writers’ website.
I have a new story coming out this season: “No God of Bread or Debts.” If you like fiction about obsession and unhappiness, this anthology is for you! It’s called Morbidologies, and my story in it is set in the 1950s in the bowels of a science building on the University of Oregon campus. I’m really excited to share it.
And here’s something else that’s fun! A few months ago, I adapted my novella The Secret Skin into a screenplay. For fun, I entered it into the screenplay contest for the H.P. Lovecraft Festival. And guess what???? MY SCREENPLAY IS A FINALIST!!!! I couldn’t be prouder. I also can’t wait for award ceremony on October 8th. My fingers will be crossed!
It’s hard to believe, but my story “Halogen Sky” has been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award for Best Short Fiction! It’s up against some amazing work, including a story I edited at Nightmare Magazine (“Dick Pig,” by the incredibly talented Ian Muneshwar). The Shirley Jackson Awards recognize fantasy and horror operating in the realm of the weird — my very favorite kind of fiction! — so I COULD NOT be happier about this nomination. I am also stunned, grateful, and overwhelmed!
Is it really December already? Much like it has for everyone, 2021 has been an absolute whirlwind for me. There was some bad stuff (like it hitting nearly 120 degrees in my neighborhood) and some good stuff (my husband taught the dog to sit!), but on a professional level, this was a VERY exciting year.
Here’s a list of everything I published this year and what it’s eligible for, award-wise:
• “The Suburbs Are Delicious,” 99 Tiny Terrors, edited by Jennifer Brozek (October 2021). This was my only piece of short fiction! It’s a fun flash piece, so I don’t think it’s eligible for anything. But if you know anybody who’s really scared of spiders, they should avoid this one.
• “Telling Stories of Ghosts,” Apex Magazine. (Spring 2021) This little piece of nonfiction is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Short Nonfiction category. It’s about way American practices about death can deeply scar children.
• The Deer Kings, JournalStone Press (August 2021). This horror novel is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Novel category. If you like books that pit children against terrible evil or about communities secretly sheltering evil cults, this one is for you!
• The Secret Skin, Neon Hemlock (October 2021). This gothic novella with dark fantasy elements is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Long Fiction category. It’s also eligible for the Nebula award, Novella category, and the Hugo award, Novella category!
I also have a super-gloomy essay about cemeteries coming out in the December issue of The Deadlands, but it’s not out yet.
Editorial stuff:
I started editing Nightmare Magazine this February, and it’s been a great experience! We’ve published a terrific mix of horror and dark fantasy. All of those stories are eligible for the Bram Stoker fiction awards. We published a few novelettes that qualify for the Long Fiction award: “Darkness Metastatic,” by Sam J. Miller, “Rotten Little Town: An Oral History (Abridged),” by Adam-Troy Castro, and “We, the Girls Who Did Not Make It,” by E.A. Petricone, but the rest are all Short Fiction. All of our H Word columns are eligible for the Bram Stoker award for Short Nonfiction, too!
Because Nightmare contains a mix of horror and fantasy content–and because I’m also the Senior Editor at Lightspeed–I think I’m probably eligible for the Hugo Award, Short Form Editor.
Other awesome stuff:
It’s been a terrific year for the horror genre! It’s been so wonderful to see up-and-coming indie writers like Hailey Piper and Eric LaRocca get so much critical recognition, and I was so happy to see Zin E. Rocklyn‘s novella Flowers for the Sea make so many year’s best lists. These three writers are really pushing the genre needle into weird and wonderful places, so I hope you get a chance to check them out!
Thanks to everyone who made 2021 such a terrific year–and here’s hoping next year is filled with joy!
Every year the James Tiptree, Jr Award announces its winners, its honor books, and its long list of recommended reading. While the Tiptree award isn’t as famous as, say, the Hugo, it’s been my dream to make the long list–it’s always a great collection of literature digging into what makes gender tick.
Needless to say, I’m delighted to see last year’s editorial project, Nightmare‘s Queers Destroy Horror! special issue, get a shout-out. I’m so proud of all the writers, staff, and volunteers who worked so hard to put the book together!
Hi, it’s Me! I’m writing at age thirty-six. Yes, that is old. No, you don’t have an awesome motorcycle. Or a sword. No, no trench coat, either. Trust me, you’ll actually stop wanting to dress like Connor MacCleod someday, as impossible as that might sound right now.
Anyway, I thought I’d just make a list of some of the good stuff that’s happened the last couple of years, because it’s going to blow your mind. And because sometimes there will be kind of lousy days and you’ll want to have a list of your accomplishments. (That’s just a normal part of being a grown-up.) So here goes.
Remember how last summer you decided you wanted to be just like Margaret Weis and write those Dungeons and Dragons novels? Well, guess what? That totally happened! I mean, it’s a slightly different game, but it was born from D&D and it’s still all magical and stuff, and your heroine is super tough and has a sword and everything. No, her eyes aren’t purple. That trend died in the ’90s.
Oh, and I know you’re still thinking about Powell’s Books. Aren’t you glad your sister took you there last year? Anyway, your book is on their shelves, and you’ll be part of a big signing there in November. And that big yellow column with all the signatures? Yours is up there now, too. You should probably work on your penmanship.
I know that ever since you started reading that Fairy Tale series that you’ve wanted to be an editor like Terri Windling. No, I’m sorry. You don’t work in New York at a big publishing company. But you are an editor, and you got to work with Terri Windling last year! And you know what? She’s just as awesome as you thought she’d be. (Oh, and word to the wise? You should start reviewing the rules about using commas now, because they can be pretty confusing. Don’t worry about semi-colons, though; you’ve got those.)
And remember how you wrote down in your journal that someday you want to win a Nebula or a Hugo award, even though you’re not really sure what they are, but you know Anne McCaffery won them and she’s even cooler than Margaret Weis? Well, brace yourself, because this happened this weekend:
Hugo for Best Semiprozine: LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE
Just one more thing, little Me. I want to thank you for dreaming big. I don’t think there are a lot of kids out there who know what an editor is or want to write gaming tie-in fiction or would sit down and write “I want to win a Hugo award.” You’re kind of big weirdo, and I love that about you. I’m so glad I got to make your dreams come true.
Now I have to get back to work, because I didn’t stop dreaming when I was 12, and dreams don’t keep coming true if you don’t keep fighting for them. And don’t forget: you’re destroying science fiction, and that’s pretty great.
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