It's a Jumble

  I have a new story out today! “Support Forum for the Care and Feeding of Your Personal Spirit-angel ” is a dark little piece about Internet forums, cult dynamics, and angels who promise to heal every wound in your soul. It’s my second publication in Uncharted Magazine, a wonderful venue for literary speculative and genre fiction. 

  My latest story is out! “ That Small, Hard Thing on the Back of Your Neck” appears in this month’s issue of The Future Fire, alongside a great lineup of writers and artists. It’s a weird little bit of body horror, and a story about the masks/skins we wear.

  Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park, Washington state. Ten days in the Pacific Northwest, among mountains, sea, and moss-draped forests. And while I was there, I had two new stories come out and two new stories accepted.   “The Red Queen’s Heart,” at Lightspeed is a story about a magical night market. It’s also about a conquering queen, and what we give up to survive. I go into some detail about inspirations for the story in the accompanying author spotlight, and there’s a fabulous narration by Stefan Rudnicki in the podcast.   My second story of the month is “Remembering Day” at Uncharted Magazine, and this one is particularly dear to my heart. It’s a far-future story about mind-uploading, but it’s really an ode to the bodies and minds that we have right now. Finally, I have a weird little dark fantasy/horror piece out this October in The Future Fire , and another weird fantasy/horror piece coming out in The Deadlands at some unspecified date. Story publi...

I have a new story that’s out and free to read today! “The Cold Inside”   is published at the lovely Metaphorosis Magazine as part of a special issue of returning authors (check out the other writers in the Winter Issue of 2024 !)  “The Cold Inside” is about grief and cold and a ghost in white. It’s set in the woods of northern Michigan, in an unnamed town but based on a region I know and love. The artwork that Candra Hope c reated for my story is perfect , and I’m so pleased to be part of this magazine. 

The year is drawing to its close, and it’s that time when writers make posts about their award eligibilities for the year. I had three pieces published in 2023. I would be honored if you took a look at any of them.   Nonfiction essay “Hungry Ghosts in America, ” published in the anthology Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror , edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith.  This is my first published foray into the personal essay form, and in truth it was one of the hardest, most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever written. Still, I am honored to be published alongside this group of brilliant, brilliant women. Unquiet Spirits revolves around myths, monsters, and spirits of Asian culture, and the personal meaning that these spirits have for their contributors. These pieces are fearless, heartbreaking, brilliant, and moving. The final product is gorgeous, and I’m so proud to be part of this unquiet sisterhood Review from   Horror World:   “ Unquiet ...

    I have a new story out today! “How to Travel Safely in Faerieland” appears in a special all-novelette issue of Fusion Fragment. It’s one of my favorite pieces so far, and dear to my heart. It’s about modern tourists in a modern-day Faerieland, in way over their heads. It’s also about the distance within families, Asian diaspora feels, and what it means (what does it mean?) to fall in love with a culture and world that’s not your own.   “How to Travel Safely In Faerieland” appears alongside beautiful stories by Angela Liu and Octavia Cade. You can download it for free or pay what you like by going to the link above.

  January 1. A new year. Time to look forward. . . and on this day, a day of quietness and family for me, also a day to look back at the year before.   In terms of professional writing and publishing, 2022 was perhaps my most outwardly successful so far. I published in high-profile, dream markets. I had my first stories narrated in podcasts! I sold a collection of stories. I tried new things that scared me—including my first foray into the personal essay form. Along the way, I made new friends and contacts and had fun.   Some things that happened in 2022, to remind me when I’m feeling down: Published “An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words”  in Lightspeed Magazine, January 2022 (3357 words).  “Before We Drown”  in The Future Fire, January 2022 (flash fiction, ~1000 words). “Once on a Midsummer’s Night”  In GigaNotoSaurus, February 2022 (~7500 words). “The Bones Beneath”  in Podcastle Magazine, June 2022 (5659 word...

  The year is drawing to its close, and it’s that time when writers make posts about their award eligibilities for the year. I had four stories published in 2022, and my first poetry publication as well. I would be honored if you took a look at any of them.   Eligible Stories “An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words” in Lightspeed Magazine, January 2022 (3357 words).   A story about a magical language that can say all things. About the power and limits of words. And it’s also almost all I want to say about writing. Stefan Rudnicki gives a marvelous narration (his voice is an exact match for my character’s!) on the accompanying podcast, so give that a listen if you can.   “Before We Drown” in The Future Fire, January 2022 (flash fiction, ~1000 words). A little flash piece about memory and the light between storms.  “Once on a Midsummer’s Night” In GigaNotoSaurus, February 2022 (~7500 words). An epic fairy tale fantasy about a dead ...

Light in the sky when the kids get up for school now. The song of birds outside the window. It’s still cold, but the signs of spring are here. The earth is thawing. There are horrors on my news feed, and amid that there are small beauties in the world. Some things I’ve published and other news, if you care to hear:   New stories In case you missed it. . .  “An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words”  was published in Lightspeed Magazine at the start of the new year, and became free to read on Jan 20. It's a story about a magical language that can say all things. It's about the power and limits of words. And it's almost all I want to say about writing. Stefan Rudnicki gives a marvelous narration (his voice is an exact match for my character’s!) on the accompanying podcast. “Before We Drown”  was published January 30 in The Future Fire . It’s a little flash story about memory and the light between storms. “Once on a Midsummer’s Night”  was pu...

  I have a new story out today! Actually, it came out earlier this month behind a paywall, but it’s now available to read for free. “An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words” is published at Lightspeed Magazine ! This story is about a magical language that can say all things. It’s about the power and limits of words. And it’s almost everything that I want to say about writing. I hope you give it a read. For more of my thoughts on this story, you can check out my Author Spotlight/Interview on the Lightspeed site. There’s also a podcast of the story available at the site. I haven’t finished listening to the whole thing yet, but narrator Stefan Rudnicki’s voice is a perfect match for my character, and I’m delighted by his narration.

I have a new story out today! “A Vial of Electric Blue” appears in Issue #5 of Fusion Fragment Magazine, a lovely new journal that publishes science fiction and science fiction-tinged stories, often with a surreal bent. My story is most definitely on the strange and surreal side. It’s about isolation and imprisonment, the rage of women and girls, and strange lakes of electric-blue fire. The accompanying illustration is by KiTT St. Joans, and they’ve done a stunning job; I’m in love with their art. You can see more of ST. Joans’ art here .    And by following the link on my story title above, you can download the entire issue to read (for free, or pay what you like).   Fusion Fragment is unusual among new SFF journals in that it offers print copies of their magazine as well as digital! I got my contributor’s copy last week, and it’s the first time I’ve ever held a print journal with my work in it! And I’ve already read and loved some of the stories in this issue, whi...

  (Note: updated on 3/07/2021) "Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe" is my latest story, now out at the wonderful Translunar Travelers Lounge . This story is about exactly what the title says, and it came about in early 2020 when I was spending too much time on the fanfiction site, Archive of Our Own. As I read fanfics in the early days of our global pandemic, I thought about how the grimmest, darkest of media have the fluffiest, cutest, softest of fanfics. I thought of how we consume and process dark stories. Of how some fans rewrite endings and scenarios, placing their beloved characters into more lighthearted worlds, while others lean into the darkness.   As I wrote this story, it also became about other things. About stories in general, about we look to stories to tell the meaning of our lives, of how we find inspiration—and perhaps even courage--in stories. A reader, the writer Rajiv Mote, on Twitter actually describes my story more eloquently than I ever could. As h...

  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...

    I have a new story out this week! “Winter’s Heart” appears in the latest issue (Issue 3) of Hexagon Magazine. It’s a story about a Snow Queen’s acolyte, frozen hearts and apples, and of what returns in the spring. You can read it for free by downloading the issue here ! The entire issue is made up of gorgeous and thoughtful stories, and I urge you to read the whole thing through. Hexagon is new on the speculative fiction scene this year, but they’ve already distinguished themselves with a fine curation of stories (no, I’m just not saying that because they’ve published me!) I look forward to seeing where they go in the future. And as for the picture above? You may remember the news stories last year after the image above went viral. It’s a picture of a “ghost apple,” taken in an orchard not far from my home. And yes, it’s one of the inspirations for my wintry fairy tale.  

I have a new story out today! "The Shadow Catchers" is a dark fantasy about a lake full of shadows, and the children who catch them. It marks my fifth appearance in The Future Fire , and this month's lineup is filled with wonderful writers I know. I'm very pleased to appear alongside them. You can find my story  here      And the full issue  here 

Well, it’s that time of year when writers make posts about their award eligibility for the year. I had four new stories published in 2019. I admit that “The Message” and “The Red Cloak” are particularly dear to my heart, but I’d be honored if you took a look at any of them.  “The Bone Lands”  (fantasy, 3821 words).  Kaleidotrope , January 2019. I sought you on a plain of whistling bones. I walked through towers made of giants’ femurs, and under the great curved arches of a leviathan’s ribs. A journey to the underworld. A story about what love can and cannot do. Reviewed by SFRevu: “A beautiful tale about the power of love.”  “The Message”  (science fiction, 4236 words).  The Future Fire , February 2019. They say I’m too young to remember what this country once was. They say I don’t remember that brief period of hope and freedom, which bloomed just briefly between dark ages. When it seemed like the world might actually come togeth...

In celebration of fall, yesterday I put up my autumnal fae tale, "Wild Ones," on my author page at Curious Fiction. Curious Fictions is a site that gathers a wide range of stories and posts from authors of different genres. . . and also allows readers to directly tip/donate to authors! Anyway, Curious Fictions has now made my story one of their featured stories! “Wild Ones” is about mothers and daughters, growing up and growing old, autumn, a faerie queen, and the Wild Hunt. And about the wildness in us all. It's one of my favorite stories that I've written, and was first published in 2018 in Bracken Magazine. You can read it there, and now you can also read it at Curious Fictions here  .

It’s a new story day for me! “The Red Cloak,” my retelling of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, is out now in Truancy Magazine. Truancy is a lovely journal devoted to publishing " revised folktales, legends, myth and other traditional narratives that have been made new by your retelling" or original fiction that makes use of these mythic/folkloric elements. I'm proud to be appearing for the first time in this journal, alongside other lovely stories and poems. At the end of the published story, I talk a little about inspirations/intentions. Let's just say this is a dark story. Then again, the tale of Red Riding Hood, and the Grimms' fairy tales in general, has always been dark.  

Very happy to say that I have a new story out this week! “Wings ” is something of a variation on the Tam Lin myth; it’s a story of shape-shifting lovers. It’s also a story about the gift of stories and language, and of what transcends words. “Wings” appears in the debut issue of a wonderful new magazine,  Translunar Travelers Lounge.   This first issue contains the work of a number of writers I admire, and of writers I don’t yet know but whom I’m looking forward to reading. Check it out if you can!

It’s been busy—hosting family from out of town, little cousins running shrieking through the house while their big cousins (my daughters) try to keep up. Fights and tears and laughter. Bubbles and water gun fights and Fourth of July sparklers in the driveway. A beach trip and dim sum and cakes and talking talking talking around the dining table. In the midst of it all, this book came out: Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4. My story, “Traces of Us,” first published in the online magazine GigaNotoSaurus, is reprinted in this anthology. It’s an honor I never would have dreamed of. Jeff Somers at the Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog listed this anthology as one of the best science fiction and fantasy books of July 2019. He had this to say: “ If you’re going to trust one editor to pick the best science fiction and fantasy stories of the year, Neil Clarke is a good bet—in addition to his shepherding of award-winning magazine Clarkesworld,...