Some lovely news I’ve quite forgotten to share – my poem “Village Woman” is going to appear in the Winter 2015 issue of Goblin Fruit!
So happy to get that poem out, and to be included in GF again. I lovelovelove that magazine.
Fiction blog
Poem up in The Stare’s Nest
My poem “The World in Springtime” is now up in The Stare’s Nest. Yay!
Here is the direct link to the poem.
It’s still not very spring-like here – it’s rainy and grey today. I wrote this poem in late April 2013, though, so there’s always hope that in about three weeks’ time even Finland will have some proper spring action going on. I think it’s so unfair that here in Helsinki we had an unsatisfying winter with way too little snow, but now the weather isn’t even compensating with a warm, lovely early spring. Bah, I say!
The crocuses in my apartment block’s yard seem to be ready to burst into bloom though, so we may have hope yet. 🙂
Easter recs
Other people have written wiser words than me on the Hugo debacle, so I’ll leave that for now (suffice it to say I’m disgusted; here’s a pretty good summary of it).
Instead, let’s escape into beautiful words! Three poems for this Easter Sunday:
“Seeds” by M Sereno (in Strange Horizons): Oh, this poem calls to be read aloud. The words flow with such delicious force, like a drenching storm. Powerful stuff, very grounded in place.
“The Nagini’s Night Song” by Shveta Thakrar (in Mythic Delirium): More word-strength and beauty. The voice is so intriguing here and the story is achingly beautiful.
“Long Shadow” by Rose Lemberg (in Strange Horizons): A long poem utterly worth the reading. Several voices and interesting structures, word-magic and marsh-magic.
Three short poems in Snakeskin!
Three of my poems are included in April’s Short Poems issue of Snakeskin:
Read “Pomeranian”, “Lauttasaari Bridge”, and “Human Nature” here!
“Pomeranian” is part of a silly series of dog poems I’ve been writing occasionally, with an emphasis on cuteness and word-play. I really like other people’s dogs (would not have the time or inclination of one of my own). I’m glad to see this little doglet-poem see publication! Also, I absolutely adore the Pom picture that the editor George Simmers has added. 😀 SO CUTE.
“Lauttasaari Bridge” is one of my Helsinki poems, written last summer while – surprise – I was biking across Lauttasaari Bridge, near-ish my home. The sunset was incredible, and thus, I poemed.
“Human Nature” was written in January 2013. I was upset about news of some sort, desperately needed comfort that wasn’t available at that moment.
Poem to appear in The Stare’s Nest
My poem “The World in Springtime” will appear in The Stare’s Nest in about a week’s time! Huzzah!
Springtime seems very far away in Finland right now, though. We had horrendous sleety weather yesterday (which I biked through heroically); today it’s grey and rainy, and I’ve got a sore throat and a cold. Siiiigh. Come on, spring, hurry up!
Sunday recs
I probably should’ve spent this evening recovering from a busy three-day medieval studies conference and a day of active exploring. Instead, I submitted poetry to quite a few places. Not very restful, but useful – I’ve been lax with submitting poetry, or anything really, the past month.
*
My recs for tonight:
Myrrha by Mari Ness (in Through the Gate): This poem made me feel tight-throated and aching. It’s based on a fairytale that I’ve written a novelette about (currently on submission), and so it somehow hit me extra hard. The rest of the issue is wonderful too.
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (in Fantasy & Science Fiction): This is from a few years ago but I just read it a few days ago. So good, in an aching way. I love fiction about family and the challenges of immigration, and this story really delivers.
Arm’s Length by Rosemary Badcoe (in the March issue of Snakeskin that I had a poem in too): Beautiful vision of the end of the world, with an ending that touched me with its poignance.
Sunday recs: Fairytales
Three fairytale-tinged recs for you tonight.
First, two tales from Daily Science Fiction, new takes on traditional tales, from points of view forgotten in the originals:
Beans and Lies by Mari Ness: an incisive super-short piece with a proper punch at the end.
Toadwords by Nathaniel Lee: a tale that really made me think about the consequences of words turning into slimy creatures or jewels.
Finally, a story that draws from many fairytales:
Hunting Monsters by S.L. Huang (in The Book Smugglers Publishing): a beautiful, epic tale with relationships between women as its focus.
Tweet tweet: @suchwanderings
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!
Spec poetry article at Bookslut
Bookslut has an article on speculative poetry by Sessily Watt, featuring a review of Stone Telling 11. (The existence of this piece was kindly pointed out to me by Carrie Naughton. Thanks, Carrie!)
I was pretty much over the moon when I saw that the article includes a discussion of my poem “Kuura (extract from a Finnish-English dictionary)”. This is the first time someone has analysed my stuff in such depth. I feel so humbled and excited by this!
From the article:
The poem gains a different reading from being placed within a magazine of speculative poetry, in which the unreal can be real. Just as the title invokes cultural crossings and dual-interpretations, the movement between Finnish and English, the speculative allows the descriptions to be both metaphor and real at once.
Literary analysis. ABOUT MY POEM. I squeed so hard when I saw this, it was a bit embarrassing but luckily it was at 2am and I was home alone. 😀
The article is a great perspective into speculative poetry in general, too: Sessily Watt, disillusioned by fiction, stumbled into the world of spec poetry and discovered she liked it. There’s also a good discussion of Ruth Jenkins’ awesome hyperlink poem Scales, in the same issue of ST.
“Palimpsest” in March issue of Snakeskin
Nice poetry news for this grey Monday: my poem “Palimpsest” is in the March issue of Snakeskin.
I wrote “Palimpsest” in August 2013, during a poem-a-day week (which I enjoy doing occasionally, especially with my friend Kat). I do love comparing textual/manuscript things to emotions and such intangible things.