announcement

Award Eligibility 2016

Published on by Sara Norja

Award nomination season is upon us and I’ve had things published this year that I’m really proud of. I’d be honoured if anyone were to consider my work for nomination. I am also in my first year of elibigility for the Campbell Award.

So, with less self-deprecation than in the past couple of years, here are my award-eligible works for 2016:

Short story:

(eligible for the Hugos, Nebulas and World Fantasy)

“The City Beneath the Sea” (c. 1,100 words)
     Published in the anthology An Alphabet of Embers, edited by Rose Lemberg. This is a story on the borders of dream and waking. “They say it appears when the stars shift up right, shuffle into a straight line in their slow dance. And here we are, waiting.”

“Water, Birch, and Blood” (c. 4,100 words)
     Published in Strange Horizons, the special issue Our Queer Planet. This was inspired by summers spent in Finnish summer cottages, and wondering what happens to the children who save magical worlds and get sent back home. “Crows, their granite grey and black wings beating victory into the air, the flash of an unknown face like a fir tree–”

“Creation” (c. 1,000 words)
     Published in the August 2016 issue of Flash Fiction Online. Faerie is grim, but hope can be born even amid despair. “When the Queen of Faerie orders you to do something, you don’t refuse.”

(I’m very proud of all three stories, but especially since An Alphabet of Embers is not freely available, I’d like to recommend “Water, Birch, and Blood”.)

Poetry (short poem):

(eligible for the Rhysling Award)

An Alphabet of Embers update!

Published on by Sara Norja

Aaasdgjhsdg I got my pre-release contributor ebook copy of Alphabet of Embers (ed. by Rose Lemberg)! The official print and ebook launch will be on the Nebula awards weekend, 12-15 May. The book has a Goodreads page already!

I just. Incoherence and happiness, right now. I reread my story (it’s in an actual book! along with contributions from some amazing authors who I really look up to! and the art is so amazing!) and felt a bit astonished that I’d written something that beautiful.

An Alphabet of Embers was my first professional fiction sale (and so far, my only; but I certainly hope it won’t remain my last!). And what a first! I feel so awed to be part of something this cool. This book jumped up to the top of my TBR pile – I can’t wait to get to read everyone else’s stories.

I’ll tell you more about my story once the anthology is officially out.

Poem sale to Strange Horizons

Published on by Sara Norja

“Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” she chortled in her joy.

So yeah, I’ve sold a poem to Strange Horizons! Huzzah! “Taboo” will appear this summer. It’s got a fox in it.

I’m intensely happy about this, my first poetry sale of 2016. I love SH so much. This will be my third poem appearing in the magazine (the previous ones being Wolf Daughter and Raw Honey). Funnily enough, although I didn’t initially intend it to, “Taboo” fits in quite well with the Finnish-tinged fantasy/fairytale world of the other two poems.

Finnish story “Vierain silmin” in Usva!

Published on by Sara Norja

I just noticed that the Finnish ezine Usva has published its folklore issue, which includes my story “Vierain silmin” (‘With Strange Eyes’). You can read the whole issue here – well, if you can read Finnish, that is. (I recommend downloading the PDF – it’s got pretty pictures and the text is formatted more nicely.) I can’t wait to read the rest of the stories, they look great!

“Vierain silmin” is set in the Finnish city of Turku, and is a weird urban fantasy thing about the otherworldly perils that may befall a person wandering into a park at night.

Anyway yaaay! I’m just so pleased to have another story out in Finnish. I feel more confident with my Finnish-language creative writing these days; I still write more in English, but I feel that I can write in Finnish too (even poetry!), which makes all the difference.

Some story notes in Finnish, because well, you have to know Finnish to read this story:

Eli suomeksi (en tiedä olenko ennen kirjoittanut suomeksi tässä blogissa, oudon tuntuista!): kirjoitin novellin alun perin kilpailua varten, jossa etsittiin Turkuun sijoittuvia spefinovelleja. Olin hurjan iloinen, että uskalsin myöhemmin lähettää sen Usvaan. Sain Usvan toimittajalta Anne Leinoselta todella hyviä kommentteja, joiden perusteella muokkasin novellin sen lopulliseen muotoon. Käyn Turussa säännöllisesti jatko-opintojeni takia, mutta kaupunki on kuitenkin aina jollain tapaa vieras, ei koti – eli oli mielenkiintoista kirjoittaa sinne sijoittuva novelli. Siinä näkyy jonkin verran “minun Turkuani”. Tosin itse en ole (vielä?) törmännyt kummallisiin rituaaleihin Kupittaan puistossa. 😉

Poetry sale to Polu Texni

Published on by Sara Norja

I’ve sold a poem to Polu Texni – “Witch’s Lens”, due to appear around the Spring Equinox next year. Yay!

I’ve been lax with posting lately, alas, for the busyness has continued. I haven’t been writing as much after Nanowrimo, which is sad, but I have been tinkering a bit with my poetry collection. I really need to get that revised by the end of the year.

I should also probably make an awards post, but doing that is pretty daunting because my impostor syndrome keeps telling me it’s preposterous for me to do such a thing. Silly brain.

An Alphabet of Embers cover reveal!

Published on by Sara Norja

Squee! Cover reveal day for An Alphabet of Embers, an anthology of unclassifiables, edited by Rose Lemberg and including a story by yours truly!

Look at the pretty!

And here is Sofia Samatar’s blurb for the book:

“An Alphabet of Embers pulses with passionate lyricism. These tales burn, rage, comfort, and light the night. Each piece gives off its own particular glow; together, they illuminate a startling new landscape of speculative fiction, of world literature, of language.” -Sofia Samatar, World Fantasy Award winner

This is going to be an amazing thing, and I’m not just saying that because I’ve got my own cow in the ditch (as we say in Finnish). Really happy to be part of this project. Publication in early 2016!

Flash fiction sale to The Flash Fiction Press

Published on by Sara Norja

My flash fiction piece “Memory” (fantasy, of sorts) will be appearing in The Flash Fiction Press on 21 September. I’ll post a link when it’s up!

After a bit of a fallow period during my all-too-busy summer, I’ve been increasing my fiction & poetry submission volume during the past couple of weeks. I’ve also got a lot of new – and some old – stories brewing, including a sequel to Moss. In fact, since I just spent the past hour and a half trawling through my notebooks and typing down ideas into a file for later consultation, I actually feel a bit overwhelmed by ideas. 😀 Always more ideas than time to write! And so many projects I’m working on/want to work on! (I really need to revise my poetry collection and actually send it out. I’ve been sitting on it for far too long…)

However, now out for a walk to brainstorm one of those story ideas.

Coming up later today: Sunday recs! I’ve been reading SO MUCH good stuff this week.

Watching the City origami chapbook!

Published on by Sara Norja

Yay! My mini-chapbook for the Origami Poetry Project is out!

Well, it’s been out since last week, but since I was away and internetless at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival,(*) I only found out about this last night when I got back.

My chapbook Watching the City is on the home page right now, but you can also print it from my poet page. After printing, fold it according to the instructions here and ta-da, you have a mini-chapbook! Tiny poetry!

As I mentioned in my previous post about this: consider this mini-chapbook a prelude to a longer Helsinki-inspired chapbook/collection that I’ve got in the works. So much in the works that it’s basically already done, all that’s left is sending it out to potential publishers. That’s required enough energy that I’ve had the project on hold for quite a while. Will do my best to get it sent out this summer!

(*) After a series of ridiculously unfortunate events, my folk dance group finally got to perform. And we danced well!

Poems, poems! (inkscrawl & origami)

Published on by Sara Norja

The June issue of inkscrawl is out! (Well, it came out last week already, but I was busy travelling so didn’t have the chance to post about it.) Huzzah! It looks wonderful and I can’t wait to read the rest of the poems. So happy to be a contributor – I’ve loved inkscrawl for years.

Here’s my own contribution: “Betweening”

This poem was first born years ago, back in the summer of 2009. That first version was much longer, and it took me eight edits – the eighth happening after a four-year break from the poem – to pare it down to what it is now. It’s quite rare for me to have so many versions of a poem. But I’m really happy with the version now published! Eight lines is much better than the original 20-line version. The last three lines are the only ones that have remained virtually unchanged throughout the process.

*

And then some forthcoming poetry news: the Origami Poems Project will be publishing a micro-collection of my poetry! I love their concept and am so glad to have a small collection coming out. It’s called Watching the City, and contains six Helsinki-inspired poems. Consider it a prelude of sorts to my still-in-the-works “proper” chapbook. The origami collection will be free to print from the website. Open-access pocket poetry!

Tweet tweet: @suchwanderings

Published on by Sara Norja

Aaand a wee announcement: I am finally on Twitter now as suchwanderings.

I’ve procrastinated over getting a Twitter account for well over a year because I’ve been afraid it’ll swallow up all my time… but the writing conversations over there are so interesting, and it seems like a great way to keep up with all that. I’m going to have to be strict about how much time I spend there. Anyway, 2am last night I was just like “OK LET’S DO THIS” because clearly past midnight is the best time to start figuring out a new social media platform! I am currently very confused by the format and etiquette and everything, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.

Which is to say, follow me if you wish but expect a lot of beginner-level “I am so confuse” action!