Category: Uncategorized

2022 Year-End Post

I wasn’t going to write an end-of-year post this year, partly because I usually focus on new stories I’ve published… and this is a gap year for me with nothing new coming out. But despite that it was a good year for me, writing-wise:

  • “Colors of the Immortal Palette” was a Hugo, Nebula, Ignyte, and Eugie Award finalist, and was included in Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022. I am so very proud of that novelette, and I’m deeply grateful for all the honors and attention it got this year.
  • The science fiction awards database has (among …

    Continue reading

Worldcon Schedule!

If you will be at Chicon next month, come see me! Here’s my schedule:

Friday, Sept 2
10am – The Writing Workshop (Michigan 3)

Saturday, Sept 3
10am – Reading (Dusable)
1pm – Let Me Tell You About the Very Alien: They Are Different From You and Me (Grand Hall K)
4pm – Table Talk (Crystal Foyer)

Sunday, Sept 4
10am – Autographing

Continue reading

Almond Cream Pie

I often post pictures of almond cream pie when I make it for Thanksgiving, and people sometimes ask for the recipe. So here it is! This is basically a recipe for the filling, because I use a store bought pie crust to save myself a little time :)

Ingredients:

1 pre-baked pie crust, cooled

Filling:

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

1.5 cup milk

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 …

Continue reading

2021 Award Eligibility

I had one novelette out in 2021: “Colors of the Immortal Palette” (12,900 words) appeared in issue 39 of Uncanny Magazine.

“Colors of the Immortal Palette” combines so many things that I love–Sondheim musicals, impressionist art, and ukiyo-e prints, to name just a few of the inspirations. It is also deeply personal, an exploration of navigating the world of art from a marginalized perspective. Plus I realized that I’d never written a vampire story, and wanted to play with ideas about immortality, legacy, and time.

Here is a short excerpt from the beginning:

LEAD WHITE

I will always remember …

Continue reading

New Fiction: “Colors of the Immortal Palette”

I have a new novelette out in Uncanny Magazine! “Colors of the Immortal Palette” is a story of art and identity, history and truth. It was a difficult story to write, and I’m really proud of how it came out. A short excerpt:

LEAD WHITE

I will always remember the view of Paris from his window. Snow, pure and untouched, softens the outline of the buildings and covers the grime of the streets. White, the color of beginnings. His canvas is primed and ready to be painted, and stark winter sunlight glows bright on his undead skin.

The studio …

Continue reading

2020 Award Eligibility

I had one new novelette out in 2020: “Shadow Prisons,” which originally appeared in three parts in The Dystopia Triptych (eds. John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant).

The novelette is available online (serialized in three parts) at Lightspeed Magazine:

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/series/shadow-prisons/

Here’s an excerpt from Part 1: The Shadow Prison Experiment

The shopping district was crowded on a Sunday afternoon, and Vivian Watanabe was out running errands with her sixteen-year-old, Cass. Together they wove through throngs of shoppers wearing customized skins or the generic default. Vivian wasn’t fond of Generics—they fell into that uncanny valley between a …

Continue reading

2019 Awards Eligibility

I’ve been spending most of my time on longer projects, so this has been a somewhat slower year for short fiction. I do have a novelette out in Lightspeed that I’m particularly proud of:

The Archronology of Love (Lightspeed Magazine, 8900 words) – A love story, a mystery, AND I got to invent an entire academic field! Here is an excerpt from the opening of the story:

This is a love story, the last of a series of moments when we meet.

Saki Jones leaned into the viewport window until her nose nearly touched the glass, staring …

Continue reading

Norwescon!

I will be at Norwescon next weekend! Come hear me read from my new Lightspeed story “The Archronology of Love,” or talk about worldbuilding, fictional religions, what drives a story, and more! Here’s my schedule:

Thursday

Worldbuilding in a SF Universe (4:00pm – 5:00pm @ Cascade 12)

Are there elements of SF worldbuilding that are unique to science fiction? Are there elements that need to be in any science fiction story? Technology, medicine, economics, government, religion, history, types of characters, clothes, languages, and food. What elements might be unique to SF? How much detail is enough?

Friday

Reading: “ Continue reading

“The Archronology of Love” at Lightspeed Magazine

I have a new story out this month! My novelette “The Archronology of Love,” is the cover story for the April issue of Lightspeed Magazine. The gorgeous illustration is by Reiko Murakami.

There is also an Author Spotlight interview where I talk about the origins and inspirations of the story, and how my writing has changed over time.

Here is an excerpt from the story:

This is a love story, the last of a series of moments when we meet.

Saki Jones leaned into the viewport window until her nose nearly …

Continue reading

Stories in 2018

I had two stories out this year:

Midnight at the Fountains of Bellagio (Daily Science Fiction, October 2018)

The Clockwork Penguin Dreamed of Stars (Mechanical Animals, November 2018)

Overall, my 2018 feels like a year of work-in-progress. I drafted a novella, a novelette, and a handful of short stories… but nearly all of them are still waiting on revisions, so I did not send a lot of stories out on submission. Next year, I hope, will be a year of finishing.

Continue reading