Nudity is Only Skin-Deep - Dreamwidth Studios
In late 2019, a friend came down with a mysterious sickness. Her breathing was badly affected, and she was hospitalized for a time. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with her. It almost killed her, and left her changed. By late 2020, we figured it was probably COVID. Around that same time, I was going through menopause. The symptoms of menopause are kinda similar with some of the aftereffects…
The most exciting news is the official announcement of my debut short story collection Land's Sake ! The announcement is on the Inked in Gray website. They also did a fun interview with me. So many thanks to The Waterloo Arts Fund and The Ontario Arts Council Literary Creation Fund for their generous support. And also a big thanks to The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for giving me space and…
I want to share a couple of stories with you that I've read recently and which stick in my head. The first is Boys and Girls by Alice Munro. She did an unforgiveable thing to her daughter, but her stories remain treasures to me. "Boys and Girls" feels like it could have been written about me. It encapsulates moments and feelings from my childhood. I've read this story many times. I just re-read it…
Not sure why everything is ripening all at once, but I have a crop of new publications out right now, with more to come in the next few weeks. God's Cruel Joke has published two bleak horror poems of mine: Unnamed . ( Content note: death of a baby ) White Sheets Rust . Necksnap Magazine reprinted my weird floral slipstream story "All That Came From Our Lips Were Lilies." It first appeared in Silk…
Hey, you! I have newly-published stories: Thank You For Calling the Thoughts and Prayers Hotline is up at FlashFlood. "The Bird Husband" is in Volume 6 of If There's Anyone Left . "Thumbing to Sugar Daddy Oberon" is part of Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy: Volume Five My story "If You Go Into the North Today" is coming out soon in the anthology Why Aren't You Dead Yet? . ARCs are available at Book…
I just deleted Pokemon Go because I found out it's being used specifically to train war drones. Pokemon Go Scans Quietly Trained The Navigation Tech Now Headed Into Military Drones . It makes me sick that a game I played for fun and to discover parks and landmarks and such has been used for something so fucking evil. comments
My poem Death of the Emperor's Nightingale is now live at Strange Horizons . In other news, I've applied for residencies/fellowships in Iceland and Scotland . comments
I've been procrasti-writing. I held off on a paperwork task for over a week, filling the time with writing new stories. I wrote a bank robbery story and a weird time travel story when I should've been doing the paperwork. When I finally sat down to do the paperwork, it took all of five minutes. But now I have two more stories, too. Sometimes executive dysfunction comes with fringe benefits. In…
A couple pieces of mine were published today: Eclipse at Roses & Wildflowers Magazine. "The Sick Fuck" at Monsterfck . And I found out that I'm not shortlisted for just one fiction contest, but two! "Rich-People Houses" is shortlisted for PRISM International's Jacob Zilber Short Fiction Prize. And "Ethel's Bones," my stoner horror comedy story is shortlisted for The Temz Review's London Literary…
It's rare that I read a short story and feel a deep need to study it intently. Ecdysis by Jess Koch is one of those stories. I love everything about this horror story. I love the pacing, the creeping dread, and the dawning realization that happens in this one. And the language, too. Delicious. In case you're wondering where I lurk these days, it's mostly on BlueSky . A lot of authors hang out…
Two new poems of mine went live today. You can read "Cyanotype of a Burning World" and "Weeds" at ALOCASIA . The remarkable long essay The Cuddled Little Vice , an interrogation of Neil Gaiman and Sandman is up for a Hugo award. I binge-read it yesterday. I was a huge fan of Gaiman's works for years, and for a time in the 90s-00s, considered him a friend. I used to lament that we'd never met in…
I haven't done a link dump in years. My open tabs have taken over my computer. Time for a cull. I'll share them with you, because you too may find them interesting. Queer Horror with David Demchuk : An interesting talk about the history of queer horror. Cut and Shuffle Exercise : A tutorial on poem generation. Inuit Myth : a listing of Inuit gods and goddesses. Rachel Attituq Qitsualik : A…
Oops! I didn't update anything last month. That was not because I wasn't getting published. I was. It's because I was recovering from a followup to the colposcopy that left me very low in energy. I'm finally on the mend. I hope I never ever ever require another LEEP . Two more colposcopies to go over the next year and a half, though. BAH! (For what it's worth, BlueSky censored my link to the LEEP…
What a week. On Sunday, I woke up to the news that a publisher wants my short story collection Land's Sake . It is scheduled for publication in December of 2027. More details when everything is ironed out. And this morning, I found out I've received a second creation grant for my new short story collection, Every Tear From Their Eyes . Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their funding, and…
I have a plethora of publications this year. Here's what came out so far! Things No One Ever Told Me About the Change of Life . Breath & Shadow. February 17, 2026 Sibyl Has a Heart of Gold . Rat Bag. February 14, 2026 "We, Medusa" and "Prayer to Dorn Ridge." The Malahat Review: INHALE/EXHALE: Contemporary Indigenous Storytelling . February 9, 2026. I Am Pretty Sure Those are the Same Cops I Saw…
Not sure how this happened, but I'm enrolled in several writing classes/workshops at the same time. Almost all my time is spent reading/writing. Here's what I'm taking: The McCormack Writing Center Winter Workshop . I'm workshopping an excerpt from my memoirs tentatively titled Leaving Armageddon . It's about my childhood as a Jehovah's Witness kid. GrubStreet's Short Story Collection Builder :…
I only started recording my writing submission rejections partway through last year. There was a time when I aimed for 100 rejections a year. In my six recorded months, I logged 283 rejections. I didn't record my submissions or acceptances, but have started doing that as of today. Last year, I had 29 publications. How many of each will I get this year? Place your bets as to whether or not someone…
Can you believe we're almost 25% through this century? Time flies when we're under duress! I have a new story out. This one was a departure for me: outer space sci-fi cowritten with four other authors ( Terri Bruce , Joyce Reynolds-Ward , Jessica Turnbull , and Anne Keck . Our story is "The Guidance of Pigeons." The anthology is free , and it was published by Strong Women Strange Worlds . I have…
On Saturday, Strong Women Strange Worlds is hosting a day of writerly festivities. I'll be running a MadLibs session with one of my stories at 10:00 EST. It's free and fun. Come and play! Saturday is also the launch date of the story “The Guidance of Pigeons.” I co-wrote that with Terri Bruce, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Jessica Turnbull, and Anne Keck. It was my first time creating a story with so many…
Thank goodness for queer publishers. They buy the stories that I think are too strange for anyone to want to print. So far this month, I have one new publication. My flash fiction "Before the Flood" has been published by The Storms in issue 5. You can also listen to me read it on their podcast: Eat the Storms . Everyone's work is well worth listening to. My narration begins at the 54-minute mark.…
I'm busy, as usual. My drabble The Bison Return with the Prairie Grass is a winner of Augur Magazine's microfiction contest. My story "The Grave of Robert Kirk," a folkloric tale of what happens when the aforementioned grave is robbed, is forthcoming in Once Upon a Moonless Night . The Kickstarter is live . My story "The Menopause Chrysalis," a weird tale of an ageing two-spirit person dealing…
I've had two publications this week: My poem "Stillborn" has been published by Nightmare Magazine as well as their podcast. You can read it or listen to it . My poem "Angakkuq," which was an Aurora finalist, has been published in Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three . If you patronize the A-Hole (my pet name for Amazon), you can follow my author page to find out what is…
I've been trying to read at least one short story a day. It's better for the brain than doomscrolling, that's for sure. Here's some of what I've read lately: The Faery Handbag by Kelly Link is a story about a bag of holding, and who or what might be within it. Breaking Water by Indramit Das. After Krishna finds a woman's body in the river, the world changes forever. On the Sidewalk Bleeding by…
If you want to hear me read some of my new, unpublished work, you'll have an opportunity this Friday. I'm one of the readers for Flights of Foundry . This is a 100% free online speculative fiction convention with writers and readers from all over the world. My reading is on Friday at 1:00 EST. I'm also on a panel about Indigenous Horror on Sunday at 5:00 with Shane Hawk and Johnnie Jae . There are…
Kwe! That's one of the few Mi'kmaq words I know. It means "hello." I just started taking language lessons this week. It's gonna be a long road, but any word I learn is a huge level-up, considering I only knew two or three words to begin with. I had a couple of acceptances yesterday, but I'm not going to count them because their acceptance letters were shady AF. Most of the letter was promotional…