Tag: writing

Sale: Little Loves, to Dark Matter Magazine

Thrilled to be able to announce that I have sold Little Loves, my space wasps, to Dark Matter Magazine for publication in 2021!

It’s a little piece of flash fiction that explores my healthy fear and respect of nature. Little Loves stems piece of research I read about predatory wasps suggested their brain chemistry is manipulated by the egg-laying sting of the wasp, and this then forces the poor creature that plays host to do what is best for the wasp larvae.

It also draws on a particularly gross hoax from my uni days about breast cancer and creepy crawlies that started to circulate, documented by Snopes here. Content warning, it’s a gross image and possibly NSFW. If you are grossed out, you might be a trypophobic like me – meaning fear or disgust of closely-packed or irregular holes. (Do yourselves a favour and don’t go looking at mango worm infestations). The idea of something implanted beneath your skin has been a gross-out for me since the era of the original Goosebumps.

These come together into a little body horror that you will be able to read next year over at Dark Matter Magazine. Their first issue is publishing one of my faves, OJ Cade and a host of other wonderful authors. Fresh off their Kickstarter, the team have discounts coming for early subscribers and it would be great to have another mag in genre.

Head on over to https://darkmattermagazine.com/ to check them out and I will let you know when my piece is available for purchase, if any of the above is of interest to you.

Good books: a power beyond measure

Late last year, when at a writing retreat, I picked up some second-hand books at a little bookshop cafe called Brunch Cafe. (Side note: a lovely place to stop in The Dandenongs, breathe in the books, browse with delight for your bookshelf and palate.)

My holiday plans included lofty ideas of reading them all, and I lugged them with me to every part of my meandering holiday.

Last week, I finally started on The Stonor Eagles by William Horwood. I’m a big fan of his Duncton Woods books, and I honestly cannot rave enough about the spectacular yet horrifying reflection they hold up to society and religion (think Animal Farm, but about trials of heretics across the history of Europe).

To my delight, I discovered a sweet little love note between the books pages, its writer and receiver forever a mystery.

The Stonor Eagles simultaneously reminds me why I want to be a writer and how far I have to go (Hi imposter. Thanks for stopping by; there’s the door!). With one page and one scene, Horwood riled my misanthropic heart with the merest description of the human desecration of the sea eagles of Skye.

How these symbols on the thinnest, pulped slice of a dead tree can transport you half way across the globe in an instant, have you weep for beings that exist only in the hearts and imaginations of the writer and readers.

This is what great writing does. And it’s a power beyond measure.

2018 Round-Up

This post will be short as I don’t feel like I achieved much, but I recognise the imposter’s rancid breath in my ear in this.

So, to acknowledge all the good in 2018, there was:

  • First professional sale and publication, thanks to Jeff Wheeler and the Deep Magic team
  • Publication of my oldest and most treasured story, Sleepers
  • Nomination by the publisher for the Pushcart Prize, a prize specifically for indie and small publishers and their work, again thanks to the Deep Magic team
  • Prioritising my writing for the first time in almost a decade, wherein I began learning to revise
  • Getting to attend two awesome writing retreats, where I had a marvellous time with good friends
  • My new local crit group who are awesome and helped me with one of my newest short works, now out on sub
  • Meeting so many wonderful writers at different community events and conferences
  • I’ve been tremendously lucky and acknowledge the sheer privilege of having the resources to prioritise my writing this year.

As for 2019, I want to continue to improve my craft through more writing, critiques and practice.

And read more. I really miss reading.

And time with the fluff. And the husband.

So, the wishes from me to you are for the time to dedicate to the pursuits you love, and more cuddles with furry loved ones.

That’s my 2019 plan after all.2018

Literal depiction of NYE at our house.