I have a new story up at Apex! “The State Street Robot Factory” was initially written as dystopic near-future science fiction, but between the time I first drafted it and the time it was published, at least three of the science fiction elements have become reality. The dystopia was real all along. The last few years have been an exercise in resilience for far too many of us. I’m proud of us for hanging in there and even finding joy sometimes, and at the same time I deeply wish this resilience wasn’t so required, and ache for the people who aren’t as resilient, who have crumpled under the immense weight of these times. Resilience is a fascinating trait to me. It’s a skill, yes, but the only way to develop it is to experience unexpected, painful and traumatic things, and I can’t wish that on anyone. What resilience I have came at a high price, as I think it always does. It is not a choice, either: it’s often simply the only way forward through darkness. This story is about a small business owner dealing with an unforgiving marketplace and a tough season; it’s also about the dystopia of a […]
2017 in Stories
It’s that writerly tradition: the year-end post! I don’t always make one, but I usually wish I had. This year I received the gift of an unexpected day off from work and I’m going to make the most of it! 2017 short fiction from me, which I hope you’ll kindly consider when making your award nominations: “Wooden Boxes Lined with the Tongues of Doves”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies: a bleak and difficult start to the year, even more than usual for my work. This story doesn’t make it easy for the reader. “Dinners in Wartime”, Liminal: this one’s also quite bleak, inspired by the suicide of someone I cared about. Trigger warning, friends; I don’t know if this story’s emotional payload will hit you the way it hit me to write, but please take care of yourselves. “Yellowcat”, Grain Magazine: not actually available to read online so you’ll have to trust me on how fantastic it is! “Le lundi de la matraque (Nightstick Monday)”, Strange Horizons: Immortal screwup Gus Hillyard returns in this story of a violent moment in Canadian history. Gus is always willing to take up someone else’s fight, and not always able to tease out who’s right or […]
Two years since I saw my book’s face!
A lot has happened since I last posted! Most recently, Spells of Blood and Kin, whose cover reveal was two years ago, has now been in the world for a full year and was recently shortlisted for a Sunburst Award! As a debut novelist who works in the book business, I had two hopes for this book: earn out my advance in the first year (kind of arbitrary, but a generally accepted hallmark of good-enough sales), and get nominated for something. Neither of these things were very much within my control, of course–you write the best book you can, and you promote it as well as you know how, but there’s a huge amount of randomness in the market. I’m lucky to have had a successful tour, some friends in my corner, and some good reviews! It’s pretty great to have checked both boxes! Other cool things happening right now: The Sum of Us is officially out! This anthology focuses on caregivers in a speculative fiction context, with a portion of profits going to the Canadian Mental Health Association. It includes my story “Number One Draft Pick” (why YES, it IS about hockey, funny you should ask). […]
#FictionFightsBack: the Civil Liberties Edition
Today you can read a new Gus story: Le lundi de la matraque (Nightstick Monday), now at Strange Horizons. There is also a podcast of it, read by Anaea Lay, and a fantastic cover illustration by Matthew Filipkowski: If you don’t already know Gus Hillyard, she is a recurring character in my work. She’s semi-immortal and hungry for violence. She walks the tightrope of her own nature, trying to do good with all the wrong tools. It drives her to drink, and wreck things a lot. This story, like most of the stories Gus appears in, is about choosing ideals over people, choosing people over ideals, and paying a price either way. It’s about an era of Canadian history that a lot of us don’t learn much about: when I started the research I was surprised at how much violence I didn’t learn about in history class. Many people who lived through that history are still around. And like most history, it isn’t past: it’s still unfolding around us, or beneath us, or through us. I wrote this story well before the recent US election and the wave of massive protests that followed; I was thinking of the setting as […]
Story birthday + #FictionFightsBack
Today you can read my latest short story, “Wooden Boxes Lined with the Tongues of Doves”, at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. You can also listen to the audio version read by the awesome Michael J. DeLuca. This story’s a dark one (I know: shocker). The title was a gift from a friend of a friend: I don’t even know the name of the person who thought of it, but that person told it to my BFF who gave it to me, and I wrote it on a scrap of napkin (as you do) and carried it around for years before turning it into this. If the person who thought up this title ever reads this, I hope you like what you set in motion! There’s a fantastic initiative happening right now called #FictionFightsBack. It was started by S.L. Huang as a way to combat authoritarianism and bigotry in the wake of the recent US election. Huang writes: The nutshell is simple: write stories that push back against bigotry, oppression, or authoritarianism in some way, and donate the proceeds to an organization that does the same. “Wooden Boxes Lined with the Tongues of Doves” is about people being silenced, constrained and betrayed […]
Daughters of Frankenstein sweepstakes!
Tor.com is holding a sweepstakes–you could win one of three copies of Daughters of Frankenstein by entering here! Read Brit Mandelo’s generous review also. My story “Eldritch Brown Houses” appears in this anthology–my first, and likely last, engagement with Lovecraft, all mashed up with analog photography, loneliness, and witchcraft. Enjoy! […]
Awards Season Roundup
Are you in need of a few reading suggestions to help fill out your short fiction ballot for the Nebulas, Hugos or any other upcoming awards? Then this post is for you! Here are all my eligible stories published in 2014: “The Witch of Tarup”, Long HiddenWhile I am super proud of my story, I have to stress that Long Hidden is jam-packed with others that eclipse mine in so many amazing ways. Each one matters. It would be entirely just and right if Long Hidden were to sweep all the awards for everything. Here is editor Rose Fox’s eligibility post to help you fit lots of Long Hidden onto all of your ballots. “Four Steps to the Perfect Smoky Eye”, Strange Horizons (also available as a podcast)This one got a lot of attention! Niall Harrison rounded up all the reviews on the Strange Horizons blog. “A Brief Light”, Interzone, issue 252About ghosts, suicide, a chilly marriage and an open window. “The End of the World in Five Dates”, Apex MagazineThis issue also included an interview with me in which I talked about cancer, fate, and the dinner date that gave me the idea for this story. “Lilac Season”, Handsome […]
Readercon and all things Long Hidden!
Readercon is all about Long Hidden for me this year! Wondering where to find me, editors Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, and many of the other authors? Here are a whole bunch of places you can meet us, get books signed, ask questions and celebrate: Friday, 3pm, Embrace Room: Group ReadingRose Fox (leader), Claire Humphrey, Michael Janairo, Ken Liu, Sunny Moraine, Daniel José Older, Sarah Pinsker, Sofia Samatar, Sabrina VourvouliasCome and watch me read from “The Witch of Tarup”, which begins, “Every town has its witch, or so the Midsummer Ballad says, but I had only lived in Tarup a fortnight and I did not know who the witch might be.” Saturday, 3pm, Enliven Room: Editors Rose Fox and Daniel José Older will delve into their work editing the Long Hidden anthology. Saturday, 9pm, Envision Room: Long Hidden Party! Open to everyone, and there will be food, including vegan and gluten-free snacks. Where else you can find me: catching up with all the amazing people at this amazing con. It’s become one of the high points of my year for as many reasons as there are attendees. […]
Writer Blog Hop
Fellow writer Nicole Winters tagged me in this blog hop–the idea is to have a chain of writers all answering questions about our process and tagging other writers we know to do the same. Nicole’s post is here–thanks for tagging me, Nicole! 1) What am I working on/writing? I always have some short fiction on the go. At the moment, I’m revising two stories, which are both very dark–one is about magicians who cut the tongues out of doves, and the other is about a dishonourably discharged soldier waiting out the war and anticipating her army’s defeat. I’m also putting the finishing touches on my second novel, which has been through several drafts; it’s so close to being done that I’m now planning my third novel, which will either be the one about lesbian railway gunners, or the one about the immortal alcoholic badass Gus Hillyard. 2) How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre? I have a foot on each side of the mainstream/genre line: I almost always include an element of magic or the fantastical, but I don’t focus on it as fully as some other speculative writers, choosing instead to centre on the emotional journeys […]
Release day for Long Hidden!
Long Hidden is one of the most amazing projects I’ve had the pleasure to participate in. I’m honoured to be in the company of such great writers–and so excited that the book is finally available to purchase. I can’t be at the launch party in New York tonight, but maybe you can–it’s at Alice’s Arbor, from 4-6 pm, and a number of the other writers will be there! Check out this gorgeous Julie Dillon cover: My story is called “The Witch of Tarup”. It’s set in Denmark in 1886. I was lucky to have a fantastic primary source: a memoir written by my great-great-grandmother, and translated by one of her sons. (Disclaimer: none of my family are witches, as far as I know!) Here’s how it begins:Every town has its witch, or so the Midsummer Ballad says, but I had only lived in Tarup a fortnight and I did not know who the witch might be. […]