Nudity is Only Skin-Deep

My writing continues to blot the pages of magazines.

My poem "The Selkie" has been published by Welsh speculative magazine Gwyllion Magazine. This magazine is about Wales-related stories, and is by people with ties to Wales. My paternal great-grandfather was a Welsh lord, but I don't speak the language at all. You will find an echo of his terminology in the poem, though, with my use of the word "landwash" in place of "beach."

My poem "Doctrine of Prosperity" has been published by Rainy Weather Days, a defiant literary magazine. I took some cues from OuLiPo to write this one. I don't recall what my first rendition of this poem was, other than underwhelming. However, when I replaced nouns with words pulled randomly from the Book of Enoch, all of a sudden, my poem had much more oomph.

A few pieces were supposed to be published already, but due to who knows what, still have not made it to print. One anthology is awaiting cover art before it goes to print. Other magazines have had editors going through a variety of challenges. To paraphrase a certain chaos scientist from Jurassic Park, life finds a way ... to make things chaotic.

Speaking of which, although I meant to work on The Development (described by a recent workshopper as "beige gothic"), I ended up drafting a new personal essay about oral history, colonialism, and the extinction of the Great Auk. It's still a bit of a mess, but I think it is going to polish out into something interesting and thought-provoking. At the very least, it is provoking some thoughts in me. I'm dusting off recollections of things I overheard as a little kid while living on the Rock. It also inspired me to look for more writing about witchcraft in Newfoundland, and I ended up buying a copy of Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and Counterspells by Barbara Rieti. I've been reading a chapter on "Indian Witches," which discusses settlers' superstitious beliefs about Mi'kmaq. It seems similar to settler beliefs about Mi'kmaq on the mainland.

All of this is fodder for the historical writing I've been doing incorporating Maritime traditions.

I was recently a storyteller on a horror writers' reading, sponsored by author/editor Mae Murray. There was a good turnout and I think we all had fun. I read my as-yet-unpublished story "Ethel's Bones," which introduces some characters I plan on featuring in a novel I have not yet started to write. I need to finished The Development, first, and then I can get started on a new giant project.

In the meantime, I continue to write short stories. I recently completed a second draft of a new short story tentatively called "Rosalyn and the End of Everything." It's the most heavy-metal story I've ever written. I'm awaiting feedback from an editor before I start sending it off to different places.

I also recently completed a flash fiction about the Dungarvon Whooper, a ghost/cryptid from the Miramichi region of New Brunswick. I sent that story off to a couple of places already. It incorporates Chiac (NB French/English dialect) and Maritimes English vernacular.

So here I am at the first Banff Horror Writing Residency. It's absolutely gorgeous here and reminds me of when I lived in Valemount, BC as a kid. The big difference is that I lived in a travel trailer then, in campgrounds or squatting in someone's woodlot. Now I'm staying in a nice hotel room and hanging out with incredible writers from all over Turtle Island. My mentor is Jessica Johns.

My first day was a whirlwind. While I was getting a tour of the library, a fellow writer by the name of Rebecca asked me if I was the Shantell with a shortlisted story in Brave New Weird.

"Uh, I don't think so?" I remembered submitting something to Brave New Weird about a year ago, but it was rejected.

But then I looked it up, and yes, my story The Snow Hath No Queen is indeed on the Brave New Weird shortlist.

Cool!

Later on that day, I received another email notifying me that I'd been shortlisted for another prize. I'm not allowed to say which one (for now), but I'll announce it as soon as I can.

I had a difficult time sleeping that night.

Yesterday, my poem Pyrocene went live on Emerge Literary Journal. This is my fourth publication for the year.

So far at my residency, I've worked on my novella "The Development." I hope to finish the first draft here. I'm so close.

But I'm also working on other projects, so who knows? I put together a weird western called "He'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When He Comes." It comes from my novel "The Everwhen."

There are a lot of folks here writing about cannibals, and they inspired me to write another short story about man-eaters. I started work on that this afternoon. It features a group of wine moms. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

In other news, I was recently part of a women of horror panel. Here's The Villain Edition, Feminine Rage and Beyond, and Real-Life Horrors and Beyond.

And today, my poem "Stillborn" was accepted by Nightmare Magazine for publication.

My personal essay The Ghosts of Forests Past has been reprinted in ALOCASIA.

My poem Nuliajuk and the Birds has been published by Strange Horizons.

My flash fiction "The Qalupalik" will soon be viewable at Flash Fiction Online. You can purchase a copy of the magazine here.

My short story "All That Came From Our Lips Were Lilies" has been accepted by Hedone Books and will be published in the Silk and Foxglove - A BIPOC Erotic Eco-Horror Anthology edited by Z. K. Abraham. I'm unsure of the publication date.

January has started with a bang.

My poem "Pony" has come in third place in ZO Magazine's Decennalia Contest.

And, for the first time ever, I was awarded a Literary Creation Grant by the Ontario Arts Council. This grant money will be used for the development of a collection of short stories tentatively titled Breath Sea Earth Flesh.

Part of that is allocated towards travel, and I have already booked a trip to Newfoundland. I lived there as a little kid and haven't been back since 1981. I've written quite a bit about my life in Newfoundland, so it will be interesting to see how the rock has changed, and how well my memories match up. I didn't realize how homesick I was for Newfoundland until I realized I am now able to finance a trip.

I hope to use more of the grant money for trips back to the Maritimes as well as some research trips within Ontario. I'm so grateful for this cash infusion. It lets me realize my work is valued by more than just my tiny circle of readers and friends.

I'm finishing up my stint at GrubStreet. The LGBTQ+ Novel Immersive has been very work-intensive. I sometimes have over 100 pages of close reading to do in a week for this course alone, let alone what I'm also doing for my other writing circles. I had applied for a speculative fiction novel workshop through Clarion West, but I didn't get in. This rejection is a merry-go-sorrow. Yes, I was looking forward to it, but not being in another intensive right away means I get some breathing space. And I need that.

I just went through the first round of edits for a couple of poems which are being anthologized this year. More information on that when I get publication details.

Next week, I am back to horror-writing school with Alex Davis Events. It runs on Tuesdays for six weeks, and you can still sign up, if you're interested. I recommend his workshops, classes, and seminars. They're top-notch with a lot of terrific guest speakers/instructors.

I'm continuing to revise my novel The Everwhen, but my work on the novella The Development has stalled. Hopefully, I'll be able to resume work on it by the end of February, when my work with GrubStreet finally wraps.

Life gave me mouldy lemons to go with all this delicious lemonade, though. I was recently diagnosed with frozen shoulder, and have a year and a half or so of a new disability to contend with. I'm hoping it won't interfere with my writing, though it definitely interferes with pretty much everything else. Today I realized I can no longer put underarm deoderant on, so I guess I'm gonna stink for a while. Yay.

I'm gonna share a bunch of my writing resources with you. These are things I check frequently, and have helped me with my publications.

The Submission Grinder: I find this one a little tricky to use, but it's very helpful for looking up magazines by pay rate, genre, etc.

Submittable: Invaluable resource. I track my submissions here. Membership is free, and you can find all sorts of calls for submissions, contests, fellowships, and more. The downside is there is no way to search for paying magazines only, and there are no ways to filter out magazines you don't want to see.

Chill Subs: A lot of people swear by this resource, and the folks running it seem like good people doing this as a passion project. They also have a mailing list which includes special calls for submissions as well as writing workshops.

Authortunities: You can sign up for the mailing list to get a curated list of magazines/anthologies seeking submissions. The free version is all you need. The paid version shows a bit more stuff from the next month, but that will show up in the next free email. Friendly community, too.

Moksha: A list of magazines and anthologies seeking submissions. Primarily speculative fiction/poetry. I've had several pieces published through this.

The Horror Tree: Not just horror. Covers speculative fiction in general. Has craft essays, calls for submissions, writing prompts, book reviews, and more.

Write, Publish, Shine: Run by the wonderful, super-supportive editor Rachel Thompson, this is a writing community and publishing school. I took her Lit Mag Love course, and it's what really got me organized and turned into a publishing machine.

Submission Roundup: This hasn't been updated since the summer, but I keep checking back because it's a great list of speculative publishers in search of stories.

Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Calls for Submissions: A bit of a pig in a poke, really. I've found a few good things here, but it also includes magazines which charge you money in order for you to submit work, and it doesn't say if this is the case in the listings. A bit of a pain in the arse, in that regard.

Canadian Authors Awards and Competitions: Not just for Canadian authors. Listing is by deadline, and entry fees and prize amounts are shown prominently.

Publishing... and Other Forms of Insanity: Terrific resource with lists of paying markets, free competitions, residencies, and more.

Science Fiction Poetry Association: Lists paying magazines which do not charge you money to submit your speculative poetry.

Literary Outlets for Environmental Writing: Some of the places listed are no longer around, but still is the best (and only) list I've seen for this genre.

Aswiebe's Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Market Listings Online: A spreadsheet of speculative magazines listing word counts, pay rates, etc.

The Short List: Places which publish flash and micro fiction.

Not writing related, per se, but if you're sick of trying to read a story only to find it's behind a paywall, Paywall Reader will help you get around that.

My personal essay "Monsters" has been published by Ex-Puritan. It is a heavy read. An early version of this was shortlisted (but not published) for the Dreaming into Collective Futures contest by Textile Magazine.

My story "Wolf Mother," previously published by Augur Magazine, will be getting its first reprint through Inner Worlds next month.

My novel "The Everwhen" was up for consideration for a mentorship, but that did not happen. However, I have applied for Clarion West's Novel Writing Workshop in the hopes of polishing the manuscript up.

My writing has slowed a lot these past few weeks due to chronic pain issues. It's hard to write when my bones feel like they're made of rusty barbed wire. I'm hoping that the weather will settle down so that barometric pressure stops beathing the shit out of me. I did, however, manage to write a few new poems as well as get a little more done on my story "The Development."

And now I'm off to do some critiques for my writing groups.

I won't say which of the ten flash fictions listed here is mine because anonymous judging is ongoing, but rest assured, I wrote one of these stories: 2024 Forge Flash Fiction Longlist.

"In a future where the continents are gone, the oceans are dead, and humanity survives atop the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a man goes on a dreamquest to rediscover cold and snow." My story The Snow Hath No Queen has been reprinted by MetaStellar. I wish they hadn't used AI art to illustrate it, but I didn't have any say in the matter.

A collection of my poetry is currently going through the second round of consideration at Goose Lane Editions.

In other news, I am applying for yet another residency: Horror Writing Residency at Banff Centre For Arts and Creativity. That brings me to four separate residencies I'll have applied for in 2025. Eeek.

More publishing news! I've sold two more stories: "Scarred" (about intergenerational war trauma) and "If You Listen" (a cautionary tale about colonization and Inuit cosmology).

I've also had a couple of poems published by Eavesdrop Magazine. You can even listen to me read them there. "Saved" (about how I got baptized before I was born) and "Wrassling's Object Lesson" (about my childhood favourite wrestler: The Cuban Assassin). Check out my dulcet tones.

I'm getting closer to the next step for revising my novel, "The Everwhen." I finished the first draft in January, and I've been letting it sit for a while so I can revisit it with a fresh brain. I think my first task is to go through the entire thing and write a chapter-by-chapter outline.

Every week I meet with a horror critique group, and we've been going through my novella about the runaway girls. I love how invested in the story the other folks are--I must be doing something right. I look forward to them reading the next bit. I get great feedback from them, and it helps me make my writing even stronger.

My #LandBack vengeance story "The Tupilaq" is a finalist for the Iridescence Awards and will be published in an anthology later this year by Kinsman Quarterly.

My poetry collection "Poemuit" was shortlisted for the QTBIPOC Prize at Kelsey Street Press. I've revised the collection and entered it into another competition. Maybe it'll win this time. One can hope.

I am now a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association and the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

I've been taking horror writing classes and meet with fellow horror writers weekly for a critique group. I'm vibing well with them, and it is very motivating. I'm about 16,000 words into a novella (maybe even a short novel?) about runaway girls and their dog in 1970s rural New Brunswick. It's been a fun ride, and this story never wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the encouragement of my mentor, Gurjinder Basran.

It's invigorating to have a writing community. I find it hard to keep disciplined in my practice without having someone to share my work with, and it's also great to be able to return that favour.

My story "Words Unspoken" didn't make the cut, but I sold three poems to EVENT Magazine. They should be coming out soon.

I have two short stories coming out in the Mihko Kiskisiwin / Blood Memory anthology in January.

My micro fiction "The Redcoats are Coming" has been published in the Done in One Hundred Anthology. You can purchase the softcover book at the link, or read the entire thing through the preview online.

This is not something I wrote, but I've been contemplating it for weeks now. If you want to read a compelling horror short story with no characters, check out Hippocampus by Adam L. G. Nevill. I aspire to write environments this well.