Award eligibility/Publication roundup for 2020

 

Well, it’s that time of year when writers make posts about their award eligibility for the year. Some things are very different this season. . . but some things are the same, and we’ll take a sense of normalcy where we can.

I had three short stories published in 2020. I’d be honored if you took a look at any of them.

 

“The Breaking” in Mithila Review, March 2020 (5835 words)

 A story about angels, the breaking of the world, siblings and family, what some people see and what others refuse to see or hear. Of the stories I published this year, it’s the one that’s closest to my heart. It was written way before the pandemic of 2020, yet now has an eerie resonance with it. It’s one of the very few stories I’ve written where the characters are explicitly Thai-American (yes, I’m Thai-American). My story notes can be found here, and include a link to a recipe for khai jiao, the Thai-style omelet featured in my story.

 Some lovely things people had to say about it:

  • Recommended by writer Stephanie Burgis on her blog: “. . . Vanessa Fogg’s post-apocalyptic short story “The Breaking” is utterly heartbreaking (and I really mean that), it is also gorgeous, powerful, and cathartic.” 
  • Featured in The Best Short SFF of April 2020 on the blog The 1000 Year Plan: “Fogg’s best stories are about the always frustrating, occasionally illuminating inconstancies of communication. In “The Breaking”, she fashions her pet theme into a breathtaking cosmic horror allegory for our time.” 
  • Reviewed in Charles Payseur’s Quick Sip Reviews 
  • Featured in Maria Haskin’s April 2020 Short Fiction Roundup 
  • Featured in Jeff Xilon’s short fiction roundup 

 

“The Shadow Catchers” in The Future Fire, July 2020 (~6000 words) 

A dark fantasy about a lake full of shadows, and the children who catch them. Gods and mages and empire, and quiet resistance. My fifth (!) appearance in The Future Fire, a truly lovely venue.

  • Paul Jessup had this to say about my story in his July Short Story Roundup at Vernacular Books: “A wonderful fantasy premise that goes to interesting places, and the shadows mix with ghosts, and with knowing. In a way, they haunt the text itself, and plays with various folklore and fairy tale concepts.”

 

“Winter’s Heart”  in Hexagon Magazine, Issue 3, December 2020 (1216 words)

A story about a Snow Queen’s acolyte, frozen hearts and apples, and of what returns in the spring. If you’ve read my story about an Autumn Queen, “Wild Ones,” you’ll see the overlapping themes, and how this new story is very much in conversation with that old one.  

Inspired by, among other things, the pictures of ghost apples that went viral last winter. 



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