Nudity is Only Skin-Deep

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.

Writing & Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns: Various writing resources for novels and short stories. Also includes interviews with authors and a curated monthly list of upcoming calls for submissions--mostly speculative.

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

Query Tracker: A place to track literary agent queries and to find which agents are open to submissions.

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.

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.

Eric J. Guignard: Personal blog which includes calls for submission for dark fiction.

Alex Davis Events: Alex puts together workshops, festivals, and other events which feature excellent authors and scholars on speculative fiction. Specialties include folk horror, body horror, ghost stories, and the uncanny, but there are also courses on science fiction. Good stuff. I've gotten a lot out of these courses over the past few years.

The Fairytale Sessions: An excellent and inexpensive series of generative writing workshops hosted by Saraswathi Sukumar. These focus on fairytales, especially the works of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. I've written many stories based on writing prompts here.

Weird West Fiction: Do you write weird westerns? This is where to find resources for this cross-genre.

Authors Publish: Website and mailing list with lots of upcoming calls. Great for authors, not so hot for publishers, as being on that list results in a lot of authors sending things which don't match up with the submission calls. For example, if someone is publishing only military thrillers, they might be sent high fantasy instead. Always make sure you're sending a publisher the sort of stuff they are looking for.

Weekday Night Bites has a heap of videos about horror writing and the history of horror.

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.

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 to Augur Society for recommending my work.

I am so grateful that people are seeing worth in what I do.

I've had over one hundred rejections so far this year, but including the grants, I've had fifteen acceptances. My hard work in the word mines is paying off.

Yesterday, I wrote a flash memoir piece about my first kiss called "Kissing-Tag." I've already sent it out to a publisher. Let's see if they like it.

This morning, I went over revisions with the editor of Sad Ghost Ink. I have a short story called "Ghost Honey" coming out in the SolarPunk Conflicts anthology.

I also okayed the proofs for my story "The Old Woman Who Became a Bear." It will be published in The Fiddlehead this summer.

Now I want to get back to work on the newest story for Every Tear From Their Eyes: a story tentatively called "Blood God."

On the not-so-great side, I've been going through a few excruciating medical procedures lately. The last one was awful, and I mined my pain to write an article on what it is like to endure a colposcopy (not to be confused with a colonoscopy). I'm still looking for a place to publish that personal essay. I think it's a good one. Will I write something after my next invasive procedure? We shall see. Writing about it helped me deal with the physical pain.

I am Rumplestiltskin. I weave pain into gold.

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 will make me an offer for one of my full-length manuscripts currently on submission. Oh yes, and are there any literary agents out there who would like to represent me? I sure could use the help.

My most recent publications of the year are a sound recording of -ocide in Eavesdrop Magazine and a reprint of "The Silent Madness of Whales" in Heathentide Orphans 2025.

A short story I've enjoyed recently is Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death by Anonymous. It's a modern-day followup to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.

In non-writing news, I've been dealing with and recovering from frozen shoulder for the past year and a bit. My fitness goal for last year was to be able to do a dead hang from rings or a pull-up bar. I went from not being able to reach the bar at all to being able to hang for a total of ten seconds. For a one-time aerialist and competitive athlete, this is awful. But for someone recovering from adhesive capsulitis, it's fantastic. I can finally hold a shitty side plank on that side, too, which is a huge improvement from not being able to put any weight on that arm without agony.

I have never been one for New Year's resolutions, but I do try to set goals for myself. This year, I hope to recover enough to be able to do pull-ups and push-ups again. I also want to be able to open jars again, and to be able to put on and take off my bra without needing to twist it around to the front. My right arm/shoulder is the weakest it has ever been after a year of minimal use, but that will change.

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 other authors, and I think it's also my first foray into space sci-fi. It will also be launched at the Strong Women Strange Worlds holiday extravaganza.

But wait. There's more!

My gore-tastic story "The Butcher of Mazdin" has been published in the first issue of Slugger. Set in a Conan-style sword-and-sorcery world, it features a disabled and impoverished protagonist who's determined to make a difference.

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 with the medical system and the dream world, is forthcoming in Yay! Free and Queer All Queer. The Kickstarter is live.

I'm continuing to work on a story tentatively called "We All Fall Down." It was supposed to be a short story, but so far, it's a novelette and may end up a novella. Oops. It's about a nonbinary tween in a small, desert town, and is set in the early 1980s. It's a puberty horror story, and I'm having fun writing a ritual scene, most recently.

I'm also making good headway on revisions of my novel The Everwhen. I hope a publisher jumps on this. I'm proud of it.

Happy September, everyone.

I've got a few pieces coming out this month, and there's even a fancy video trailer for one:



Silk and Foxglove: A BIPOC Eco-Erotic Horror Anthology drops on September 9. It includes my story "All That Came From Our Lips Were Lilies," one of the most experimental and lyrical stories I've ever written. It does not follow a traditional story structure, but something of a circular structure, and I'm proud of it. It's sexy, creepy, and draws upon fairytales, pagan goddesses, and witch trial history.

Tenebrous Press, publisher of Brave New Weird, is running a promotion right now. You can get all three Brave New Weird anthologies for cheap. My award-winning story "The Snow Hath No Queen" is in the third book, which makes me a certifiable weirdo.

Moonlit Getaway's anthology drops on September 23. My story "Sirens Don't Sing Underwater" is included. It's my take on one of Odysseus's side adventures. The anthology is called Harvest Moon: Volume One and you can pre-order it now.

My poems "Honey in the End Times" and "Raspberry Elegy" have been published by ALOCASIA in their special Indigenous authors' issue: Plantcestors. I wrote both of those poems while I was attending the Horror Writers Residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in April.

I also want to share a couple of memoirs with you written by a beloved friend. Ms. Nova North wrote two short ebooks about her life as a gutterpunk and sex worker, and they are harrowing, quick reads. Larry: My Life on Autodestruct Book One and Meth Monsters: My Life on Autodestruct Book Two. I am sad that there will be no more, but Ms. Nova North has passed on, leaving these as her literary legacy. She will be missed.

I'm taking writing classes again this month. I'm currently taking How To Write Fairy Tale Retellings with Alicia King Anderson, Ph.D. Dr. Anderson's courses are always good, and I recommend them. You can check out her website: The Healing Power of Story.

On Saturday, I'll be attending the Writing the Occult: Belief virtual conference. Tickets are still available if you'd like to join me.

Next week, I'm back at horror-writing school with Autumn Frights. Each week, there will be lectures and workshops by different horror writers.

The week after, I begin with a short course on Historical Horror with Ally Wilkes. Looking forward to this. I've been writing a fair bit of historical horror lately, inspired by Inuit stories collected by Inuk ethnographer Knud Rasmussen.

And after several years of applying, I'm finally attending BIPOC Writers Connect in October based on the short story collection I've been developing. That collection is currently out on submission with a couple of different publishers. My goal for this year has been to get a full-length book published. Will I get a contract? We shall see.

In the meantime, I continue my revisions of my novel The Everwhen. I'm pleased with how it is turning out. Sometimes I read it and think it's brilliant, and then I remember that I'm the one who wrote it, and it kinda blows me away. I did that? Yes, I did. Go me.

The Aurora award ceremony is this weekend, and I'm a first-time finalist. I know a wack of other writers on the finalist list, too. Won't you celebrate speculative writing/art with us? 17:00 EST Sunday.



It's only the seventh day of the month, and I've submitted 18 pieces, had 10 rejections, and three acceptances.

This morning I had a Zoom meeting with the editor for an anthology I'll be published in early next year.

I had the loveliest rejection letter from a big lit mag. My personal essay "The Centaur Effect" doesn't work for their theme, but here is what they wrote:

"We appreciated reading your work. We are inspired by passages that were frankly, fearless and deeply wrought, as well as by the evocation of rural geography that we've rarely found in literary non fiction. To be sure, the entanglement of family and animal life, ecology and social history is impressive."

Personalized rejections are rare. To receive one this complimentary is almost unheard of.

Someone will want to print this essay eventually.

The reading at the Waterloo Bookfest was not my best. It was a cool and blustery day, and I read The Qalupalik from a printout on a single piece of paper. Normally, this would not have been a problem, but I was getting a lot of feedback from the microphone and had to grab the mic in one hand and hold the flapping piece of paper in the other while I moved further away from the stage monitor to get clear, unscreechy sound. Because I couldn't hold the paper in both hands, I got lost a few times during my reading. To top it off, there was a group of 12-year-old boys behind me being little shits. I was a little 12-year-old shit, once, too. It's a rite of passage, I think. They were roughhousing and once I finished my reading, one of them came up to the mic and made a big show of thanking everyone for clapping for him. All the while, he kept shooting looks at his friends to make sure they knew how cool he was. Oh, cringey tweens. You're only cool to one another. Hahah!

I have another reading coming up. I'm a featured performer at the Huron Multicultural Festival in Goderich, Ontario on June 28. I'll be taking the stage at 12:15 and this time, I will be prepared for cringey 12-year-olds, screechy feedback, and noisome gusts of wind. Prepare yourself for some spooky tales!

In other news, I've received dozens and dozens of rejections. For all the publications I get, folks are mostly unaware of how many things do NOT get published. I haven't done a specific count for a year, but I did count in May. I sent out 61 submissions. I had I had 23 rejections. I had three acceptances. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of years to hear back from any particular magazine/anthology. Sometimes they never respond at all. And sometimes, things will be accepted, and then they never get around to sending a contract or responding to any further communications. Publishing can be a very frustrating endeavour.

All that being said, I've had three rejections since last night, and a couple of publications so far this month.

Flash Flood published my tiny tale of terror Overdrawn.

Terrain.org has published my short story If You Listen, a cautionary tale from the POV of Sedna, mother of the sea.

As I mentioned before, my poem "Angakkuq," as published by On Spec Magazine, is a finalist for the Aurora Awards. Voting is now open to members of the CSFFA (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. You do not need to be an author to be a member. Membership is only ten bucks, and for that low price, you get a voters' package which includes all of the finalists for the year. This includes full-length novels, short stories, poetry, illustrations, and more. You don't have to vote for me (although I won't complain if you do), but I'd love to have you read my poem as well as check out the amazing work by Canadian writers and illustrators. The money supports speculative fiction in Canada.

Tenebrous Press has shared a mini interview with me. My story "The Snow Hath No Queen" is a winner of their Brave New Weird award, and will be published later this month in their anthology. It looks fantastic! You can order it here.

Now that it's up on their page, I can officially announce it now. My poem "Angakkuq" is a finalist for the Aurora Awards. This is my first time as a finalist there. I've been sitting on this knowledge for over a week. I'm so excited I could barf.

In other news, my interview with Moonlit Getaway went live today, too.

I'm still in Banff, still writing daily. I don't know that I'll finish the first draft of my novella while I'm here, but it is possible. I'm making headway.

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.