Updates in a Nutshell: Publishing, Reading, and Writing

Well, enough has been going on in the last few weeks that I thought it might be helpful to make a fancy wee bullet list for organization’s sake!

• First up is a reading that I’ll be doing on December 10th with Jeff VanderMeer and Mur Lafferty at Chapel Hill Comics (which is both thrilling and awe-inspiring, since I get to read, um, my stuff next to their stuff!). Jeff was kind enough to invite me along. Following the readings will be a freeform storytelling session where we’ll work together on a story all live and junk! Makes me glad for all those years of improv and, also, quite thankful for being rather outgoing. Details are here: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: Readings & Death-Defying Spontaneous Storytelling

• Now: publication. I am pleased to announce that I will be in two upcoming publications. First, in Issue #4 of Steampunk Tales, wherein you’ll be able to find my short story “The Brass Pedestal”–it’s a steampunk/weird west piece about brain-altering clockwork earwigs and one woman’s revenge for the death of her friend. I’ll let you know when it’s available, for a paltry $1.99 at the App Store (and also, I’m told, in other mobile formats).

• Secondly in the publication realm, I received word yesterday that my short story “The Monastery of the Seven Hands” will be appearing in Jason Sizemore‘s (of Apex Book Company, etc.) Dark Futures anthology. In a nutshell, the piece is about body-snatching monks in a dystopian future, living beneath a city called Abbassus. Very dark, very weird, and very fun to write. It’s one of my husband’s favorites, so he says, and I’m really excited to be included in this anthology. More details to come on that front!

• Moving on. You’re right: I didn’t do NaNoWriMo. But that doesn’t mean I’m not working on writing, on editing, and on getting my general writing shit together. With four books neither sold nor represented, I decided that, honestly, the last thing I needed was 50K of hastily written YA when I could be spending that time, well, seeking representation and publication. Maybe that sounds snotty to put it that way, but truly I don’t mean it to be. NaNo was just at the wrong time for me this year. I am going to start drowning in novels if I keep this up.

• On the fourth matter, connected to the third; I am, in fact, working on a project related to one of the aforementioned books, but not the one you’re thinking of likely. I actually decided to continue my Arthurian cycle with a second book, which could either stand alone or work as part of the group in sequence, starting off approximately where Queen of None ended. Having recently gone back to Queen of None it is, in my personal opinion, one of the best things I’ve written, not to mention one of my favorite settings (think: Arthur without Christianity, beef up the fantasy elements, and draw it like the Pre-Raphaelites, and you’re getting there). My pace is the usual: 1K a day. I did it all year last year, and churned out 3 books and finished a 4th. I’d say that’s a pace I’m comfortable with, and I’m stickin’ to it. Holidays nothwithstanding… (More posts on my Arthurian take and some of the history behind the project starting in December.)

In a nutty nutshell, that’s what’s going on these days…