November news

So much going on this month!

Little Blue Marble has reprinted my Far North Queensland epidemiology adventure story, “Trivalent,” originally published in Ecopunk (Ticonderoga Publications). I still love my grumpy virologist and I’m glad this story is free to read now.

And Strange Horizons has published my very personal dybbuk story, “Whom My Soul Loves.” It’s not only queer and Jewish, but is set in the community that brought my parents together, making my existence possible. (Meta!) This one is also free to read and there’s an excellent podcast version, so I hope you’ll check it out.

I mentioned this in my last post, but to reiterate: GenreCon is coming up on 22 November. I’m on two panels (“Love in Strange Worlds” and “Overcoming the Monster”) and I’m running a seminar, “Writes and Rituals”, about religion and ritual in fiction, and how ritual can be useful to writers in their own practice.

Recently, and soon

Re-interred convict and early white settler graves in the Jewish section of Cornelian Bay Cemetery, Hobart; many of the stars represent child and infant deaths.

I’ve had a busy few months year, editing Mother of Invention (it’s with the printer now!), writing, and taking on the gothest side gig ever: doing admin and proofreading gravestones for a monumental stonemason.

Belated writing news… My Ecopunk story, “Trivalent”, was shortlisted for a Ditmar Award, and my Defying Doomsday short, “Two Somebodies Go Hunting”, has been shortlisted for a Norma K. Hemming Award.

I just got back from the US, where among other things, I pre-launched Mother of Invention at WisCon (my livetweets are here; I had a fantastic time on the two panels I was on, plus the others I attended and elsewhere). While I was there, Strange Horizons interviewed me about my writing and editing work, and it was great fun to chat to them about what keeps me writing. Continue reading