Caroline M. Yoachim - Writing

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I started writing speculative fiction in September of 2005 and attended the Clarion West writers workshop in 2006. For occasional ramblings on my writing process, revisions, submissions, and other writing miscellany, take a peek at my blog. Check back here for my latest publications!

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Publications: Now Available Online


Mori Bird "Tending the Mori Birds" ~ Fantasy Magazine

A Mori bird waited for him on the railing. . .the dying light accentuated the patch of red feathers at the base of its neck, the only color on an otherwise black bird.  It was a bloody-throated Mori bird, harbinger of death.

This story was written at the Clarion West Writers Workshop. It is available online at Fantasy Magazine.


"Setting My Spider Free" ~ Electric Velocipede (Issue #17/18)
Cool air swirled in through the window and carried with it the faint tapping of claws scratching against stone.  A spiderling was climbing my tower.

This story was originally written at the Clarion West Writers Workshop. It is available in print and online at the Electric Velocipede website.


Duck "The Land of Empty Shells" ~ Beneath Ceaseless Skies (Issue #20)

Long ago when the world was young, two gods sat beside the river for a thousand years and watched the turtles.  They saw turtles hatch, saw them grow, and saw them die.  Scavengers ate the flesh of the dead turtles, and this was good.  But in all the thousand years, nothing became of the shells.

"The Land of Empty Shells" is available online at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.


"Firefly Igloo" ~ Shimmer (Issue 10)
The house next door to Marta’s had an octopus living in the hanging basket over the front porch, right where a plant should have been.

"Firefly Igloo" is available as a print issue and as a free PDF download at Shimmer.


Duck "Time to Say Goodnight" ~ Fantasy Magazine (12/31/2007)

There was something silver on top of Clara’s dresser when she woke up the next morning.  It was a metal bird about the size of a teddy bear.  She hopped out of bed for a closer look.  It was Duck.  Clara picked him up with both hands.

"Time to Say Goodnight" has been listed on the Million Writer's Award list of Notable Stories for 2007. The story was originally written at the Clarion West Writers Workshop. The story is available online at Fantasy Magazine.



Publications: In Print

"Stone Wall Truth" ~ Asimov's Science Fiction (February 2010)

Njeri sewed the woman together with hairs from a zebra tail.  Her deer-bone needle dipped under the woman’s skin and bobbed back out.  The contrast of the white seams against her dark skin was striking.

A longer excerpt from "Stone Wall Truth" is available on the Asimov's website.


"Pageant Girls" ~ Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (Issue #42)

Kat holds my hand and pulls me across the street.  Living kids ain’t supposed to cross the street by themselves, and I got appearances to keep up.  I’m six years old, always six.  I been dead about fifteen years now.  Kat’s dead too.  I call her Mama, but we don’t share blood.  She’s just some dead lady, about the right age.


"The Best Last Choice I Ever Made" ~ Talebones (Issue #38)
It started with the cereal.  Did I want Honeycrunch Corn Clusters or CinnApple Bran Flakes?  It was wrong to waste food, so whatever I chose, I had to eat it.  What if I chose wrong?




Publications: Forthcoming


"What Happens in Vegas" ~ Greatest Uncommon Denominator (forthcoming)

We can’t afford this, not on top of my medical bills.  The elevator that takes us up from the transit tube has brass railings and rosewood panels, and when Alejandro and I step out into the lobby, the first thing I see is a fish tank that stretches across the entire back wall.  There are giant chunks of coral in the bottom of the tank, and it’s teeming with honest-to-god tropical fish. 

"What Happens in Vegas" was written at the Clarion West Writers Workshop.


"The Sometimes Child" ~ Fantasy Magazine (forthcoming)

Martha killed the wolf as it belly-wiggled out from the chicken coop.  A head shot, on account of the wolf was only halfway out, and the fence blocked most everything else.  With her newfangled Winchester, she could’ve had another shot, but there was no call to waste a second bullet.  The wolf was practically dead before she shot it, nothing but fur and bones.