It's a Jumble

  This cold February I offer you a mix of stories from the old year and the new. Some are dark; some speak of loss and disaster and warn of terrible futures. But there are also stories that speak of warmth and comfort, coziness and love. And there are stories that mix dark and light in various ways, finding hope and beauty among loss.     Published in 2024 “Stranger Seas Than These” by L. Chan in Clarkesworld It is two days since our original projected mission end date. We are running out of oxygen and we are trapped in the throat of a god. Technology and a prudent safety review panel have kept casualties on deep dives low, but abyssal layer dives have always been risky. Still, there hasn’t been a fatality in years and none, to the best of my knowledge, within the trachea of one of Pelagia’s Godwhales. Perhaps they will name a safety rule after us.   A submersible crew trapped in the body of a giant, dying tentacled “Godwhale.” A scientist who seeks to...

  My latest story, “The Path She Sings, ” is now up and free to read at The Deadlands! It’s a weird little bit of dark fantasy/horror, and it’s just over flash-length at only a little over a thousand words. And with this, I cross out one of the squares on my writer’s bingo card—The Deadlands has been a dream market of mine for years. I’m honored to finally appear in their pages, alongside beautiful fiction, poetry, and essays from talented writers. Go read the whole issue if you can!

Have you been writing any poems recently? If you're not writing poetry, how are you getting through these dreary days? A person can only be happy when he finds something to put his heart into. Some people put their hearts into chess, some into beautiful women, some into a particular skill or craft, some into writing.     --Excerpt, translation by Stephen Owens in his book, An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911

  It’s that liminal week between Christmas and the start of the first Monday after New Year’s Day. That time before the work or school week begins again, before a schedule resumes; this formless time when the hours dissolve. . . into what? I’m not sure; it all melts away.   But it’s still a good time to reflect on the past year, even though most people posted their year-in-reading round-ups before the clock struck twelve on Jan 1. I did a lot of reading last year, including the entire set of volumes encompassing Dream of the Red Chamber. I wrote some stories I really liked, including my favorite thing I’ve written yet. (And I’ve sold them all!) There are some things in my personal life that have disappointed and saddened me, but c’est la vie.   Below are some books that have stood out to me. That I feel have changed me, however subtly. I feel about them as Emily Bronte wrote of the quality of some dreams: “. . . they’ve gone though and through me, like wine throu...