My story “Birch Daughter“, which appeared in Fireside in 2018, is going to appear as a reprint in the wonderful queer SFF podcast GlitterShip.
I’m really looking forward to having this story in audio format! This is my first reprint sale, so it’s a milestone, too. Yay!
Lackington’s Issue 20 is now free to read online! If you didn’t buy this double anniversary issue when it came out last autumn, now’s your chance to read all these bird stories!
You can read my story “City of Wings and Song” here.
I remain very proud of this story of songbirds, rebellion, and a poet changing the world.
Ever since King Reia (blessed-chime-their-name) declared their passion for birdsong, Mereveh has become a haven for all who desire a pretty creature in a cage to sit on their balcony and proclaim to the city their loyalty to the undying king. The people of the city—the rich, the honey-lipped, the gold-bangled, at least—have never been happier.
But what of the birds?
The other stories in Issue 20 are also fantastic. I love what a diverse combination of stories this issue is! Lackington’s truly has some of the best editing in this field. The editor Ranylt Richildis’s vision is glorious.
Some particular favourites include Heavy Reprises of a Dark Berceuse, by Priya Sridhar; Shaman, by Damien Mckeating; and ” A Map to a Future Unlike Any Past“, by Karolina Fedyk. I got to beta read Karolina’s story: it’s so beautiful.
My story “City of Wings and Song” is out in the newest issue of Lackington’s — Issue 20, a double anniversary issue on the theme of Birds.
The issue is currently available for purchase in ebook form, and I definitely recommend getting it — Lackington’s is impeccably edited and their stories always work in conversation with each other, so it’s a treat reading the entire issue. The stories will all be available online eventually, though!
“A whir of wings, a stir of song. The market is waking.”
In a queernorm world, Talirr enters a city of captive birds; rebellion and the dangerous magic of poetry ensue. I’m really proud of this story, and am especially pleased with my poet protagonist (and that I included poetry within the prose!). I hope you enjoy these birbs.
I’m looking forward to reading all the other stories in this issue! I can already recommend one of them to you: I beta-read Karolina Fedyk‘s story ” A Map to a Future Unlike Any Past”. What a beautiful and melancholy meditation on that fairy tale with the swan brothers.
I’m giddy with happiness to be able to announce that my story “City of Wings and Song” will appear in Lackington’s, one of my dream markets. Lackington’s is an amazing magazine with ever-luminous prose, and I’m honoured to be included among their authors!
My story will be part of the Birds issue, coming out this autumn. Birds aplenty appear in “City of Wings and Song”, a story about freedom and rebellion and poetry.
I’m especially happy about making this sale to a dream market because this is the first story I wrote, this summer, after a long creative drought caused by exhaustion. I hand-wrote the first draft of this baby, and enjoyed it, but I love what it became in revision even more. I hope you enjoy it too, later this autumn! I look forward to seeing what the issue is like as a whole — Lackington’s issues are always wonderfully put together.
I had one piece out in 2018. My short story “Birch Daughter”, appeared in Fireside Magazine in November (and was included in the October issue of Fireside Quarterly): it’s eligible for your consideration.
My father told me that the spell was too strong to break, that I should never trust the forest-folk. But the thought of my mother trapped within a gnarled birch tree in the far north was too much for me to bear. I had to go, even just to see her.
This story is inspired by Finnish folklore; it features forests, bears, and queer women. It’s the only thing I had published this year, and I’m very proud of it.
* * *
This is also a good time to reflect a bit on 2018 in terms of my writing. I used to do rather detailed year-in-review posts, outlining writing goals for the next year, &c. I think, this time, I’ll keep the writing goals within my bullet journal and just reflect more generally on this year.
My main goal for 2018 was to finish novel revisions and to start querying agents. Well: I did that, although due to mental health issues, I was not able to get properly into querying. A lot of my other goals, I did not really succeed at — but the problem was, my goals were too ambitious and I also didn’t realise, at the end of 2017, how rough 2018 was going to be.
But all in all, the main thing is: I kept writing. I took a bit of a break in the summer, when I was healing my poor brain, but I returned to writing again when it felt good. (Writing longhand in a nice notebook, outside in the warmth of the summer sun. I wrote a whole story longhand for the first time in years.) And after that, writing has felt good. After my healing beak, I’ve written a couple of short stories and a Nanowrimo novel draft, and am finding joy in writing. Really, that’s what matters.
In 2019, I hope above all to be more gentle to myself in terms of writing goals and ambitions. I’m working on a PhD; I have anxiety issues; I need to look after myself and stay clear of too much perfectionism and achieverism.
I’ll end with by quoting myself from last year’s year-in-review post:
No matter what, I will keep writing words of hope and kindness in the face of hardship.
I received my contributor copy of Fireside Quarterly already a couple of weeks ago, but life has been so busy I’m only blogging about this now. But isn’t this magazine beautiful! Such great design. Some stories, including mine, have a fold-out of the illustration, which is super cool.
Of course, Fireside Quarterly is also full of excellent stories and nonfiction. I’m so proud I have a story in this gorgeous print magazine in addition to the online version! And how amazing is it that Satu Kettunen’s illustration for my story is on the cover <3
***
In other news: I was quiet about it, but I did Nanowrimo again this year, and completed the zero draft of a new space opera novel. I’m excited to start revising the novel sometime next spring when it’s had enough time to rest!
Tuesday was a happy day — my story “Birch Daughter” appeared in the wondrous Fireside Magazine.
You can read “Birch Daughter” here!
If you like Finnish-inspired folklore, forests, bears, and queer women, this one’s for you. Fireside describes it as “a magical short story about where the search for heart and home takes us”.
My father told me that the spell was too strong to break, that I should never trust the forest-folk. But the thought of my mother trapped within a gnarled birch tree in the far north was too much for me to bear.
“Birch Daughter” is set in the same ‘verse as my poems Raw Honey and Wolf Daughter (both published in Strange Horizons). I get a very specific pleasure from spinning my Finnish heritage into stories in English.
Also, isn’t the illustration amazing? It’s by the Finnish artist Satu Kettunen; I love it so much. Satu really managed to capture the atmosphere of my story and incorporated lovely details in the artwork. Having such amazing art for my story is a dizzying thing!
I didn’t have much published this year, but here are my award-eligible works from 2017, one short story and four poems:
Short story:
07/2017 “Don’t Look a Wish Horse in the Mouth” in Cosmos Pen, the English special issue of Finnish SFF magazine Kosmoskynä. Short story, 2065 words.
— This is a bit hard to get hold of since it’s in a Finnish print magazine, but I’m happy to provide anyone who asks with a digital copy of my story.
Poetry:
01/2017 “The Queen, After” in Through the Gate.
08/2017 “Sunharvest Triptych” in the anthology Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk & Eco-Speculation, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Brontë Wieland.
10/2017 “Artemis–” in Issue 1 of Blossomry.
10/2017 “When They Belittle Your Nature” in Issue 1 of Blossomry.
The poems are all eligible for the short poem category of the Rhysling Award.
***
YEAR IN REVIEW
My writing goals for 2017 were:
Well. Ambitious goals, considering I’m also working on a PhD, and this year was difficult in many other ways too. I obviously didn’t succeed with all of my writing goals, thus.
However: the novel is almost entirely revised to be the best I can make it. I’ve worked on it a lot this year: most of my writing hours were spent on it, which is partly why I’ve not succeeded so well at the other goals. Writing a novel is a long slog, and takes a lot of energy and time. But the time I’ve spent on the novel has paid off: the novel is at the polishing stage, and – importantly – I still love it. I’m looking forward to finishing it in early 2018.
I did not have the energy/time to start submitting the novel to agents, or even to properly start doing my agent research. But that is something that I don’t want to rush: the novel has to be good first.
Re the poetry collection mentioned in my goals: I did basically nothing to it because the novel gobbled up my time/energy. I will eventually try to do stuff to it, though.
I didn’t write many short stories – again, because of the novel. BUT I did complete one new short story, wrote part of another (should get back to it!), and am almost done with a third.
I did not get back into the poetry habit, sadly. I wrote 13 poems, most of which are just short things and not too many of them good. I’d like to get more poetry written: should do some poetry exercises in the new year.
I didn’t submit that much stuff in 2017. 17 poetry subs (14 rejections, 2 acceptances, 1 pending), and 12 story subs (11 rejections, 1 joyous acceptance to Fireside). I have no stories out on sub right now: should try to fix that soon. And also write more stories!
I did not have time to do anything about my previous Nanowrimo novels – but I wrote a new one instead in November. It’s not very good, but it’s proof that I can still plonk out 50,000 words in a month.
As for my final goals for 2017: I haven’t played around as much with writing as I’d have wanted, mostly – again – because I’ve been busy with the novel. But I have managed to compare myself less with other writers. I’ve been so damn busy with work and other life things that it’s a wonder I managed to get through 2017.
Every creative word written is a win, especially when you’re working on a PhD. Really, I’ve done a lot this year even though the brainweasels tell me it’s not enough. My novel is almost submittable – I’ve done some other creative writing on the side – and even though I haven’t submitted much stuff, I submitted something. I kept going, kept writing.
***
My writing goals for 2018, then:
Happy New Year, dear readers. I hope it’s a better year, a happier year, a more hopeful year. No matter what, I will keep writing words of hope and kindness in the face of hardship.
This news is a couple of weeks old, but it’s wonderful news despite that: my story “Birch Daughter” has sold to the amazing magazine Fireside. I’ve loved the stories in Fireside for a long time and am super excited that my story will appear there in 2018!
I should write my award eligibility post soon (it will probably be after Christmas at this point): I’ve been procrastinating doing it because of busyness and brain weasels. Things have been super hectic and stressful after getting home from my two-month visit to the UK, alas. But it’s all finally quieting down a bit: I’m on holiday, and hope to have the energy to write a lot. In any case, getting the Fireside news has buoyed me up in this dark season. And we’re already past Midwinter Day. I can do this. We can do this.