Yes, it is almost MAY 2024 but I am making a renewed effort to update this blog. And one of the few things I like to use it for is keeping track of what books I read. Included in this list is a mix of novels, non-fiction, plays, poetry , and short story collections.

Jan., 2023

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop by Felicia Rose Chavez

The Gentleman’s Book of Vices by Jess Everlee

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Horrible Dance by Avery Lake

Feb., 2023

Hide by Kiersten White

2:22 A Ghost Story by Danny Robins

Linghua by Ai Jiang (you can read my review of this novella here at Strange Horizons)

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol.4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

An Unauthorized Fan Treaty by Lauren James

March 2023

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric Laroche

Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo

Titan by Mado Nozaki

Who Killed My Daughter? by Lois Duncan

April 2023

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn

(Friend’s WIP)

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

Carrie by Stephen King

Burning Sugar by Cicely Bella Blain

May 2023

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo

Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural by Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej, Anna Katz

June 2023

Ymir by Rich Larson

Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

(Summer was a crazy time as I was both dealing with a big ol’ writers block and also planning my wedding so I did not finish reading a single book in either July or August)

Sept., 2023

The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa (read my review of it here on Strange Horizons)

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

Oct., 2023

FOUND by various authors (read my review of it here on Strange Horizons)

(In November I vainly attempted NaNoWriMo and my reading suffered for it)

Dec., 2023

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

Dawn by Selahattin Demirtas

This year I was more about doing research for my novel set in the 1920s, so I didn’t have as much time for fiction. But here is what I did manage to squeeze in:

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Hi all! I wanted to start doing some posts where I link to recipes that I make. I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between food and finances, substance and the work we do to sustain ourselves. This soup relies on the most basic of ingredients: dried red lentils, carrots, celery, broth. The most expensive item involved is probably the bay leaves or the lemon. It may be cheap, but it’s delicious and especially nice on cold autumn days.

My partner and I recently bought our first house. I love it. Right now I’m writing this blog post in my writing nook, a small room with a bookshelf full of notebooks and wallpaper with blue stars (they glow in the dark). I love this house so much, but with it comes a fear of ever loosing it.

I think writers often have money on the mind. Book advance often come in one or two lumps, and it might be awhile before you see royalties (if you do). Short story sales are often few and far between, and what’s known as ‘professional rates’ rarely nets you enough to buy lunch. So I’m often on the lookout for meals like this, ones that actually taste good but use items that might already be in your fridge, or won’t cost you a ton at the grocery store.

If you like soup, visit the link below and give it a try yourself:

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-red-lentil-soup-recipes-from-the-kitchn-212392

Hello all! It’s Clarion West time again! This year, my goal of the six week write-a-thon is to write every day AND to seriously outline a new novel idea. I’ll try to update my progress here, but you know what would really motivate me? If you kicked a couple of dollars to Clarion West. You can do so through my write-a-thon participation page here:

https://secure.qgiv.com/event/clarionwestwriteathon/account/1298063/

My review of Sinopticon 2021: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction is up at Strange Horizons. I liked this anthology and also like my write-up about it, so please check out my review here:

http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/sinopticon-2021-a-celebration-of-chinese-science-fiction-edited-and-translated-by-xueting-christine-ni/

Earlier in the month I did an interview with Matthew LeDrew at Engen Books for his show, The Write Project! It goes live today!

Aside from novel stuff, I also wrote a bunch about six new short stories:

Word of Mouth

Flake

Cold Hands

Thirst Trap

Burn Beside Me

Table for One (this one has already sold!)

Newfoundland Gothic (working title)

All these were pieces of flash fiction–it’s all I can really fit in around writing novels, and honestly, I really enjoy writing micro-fics. In 2022 my goal is to write even more of them; I have a challenge going on with my old Clarion West classmates where we write a short story every month based on the Flame Tree Press newsletter prompt (Jan.,2022’s prompt is ‘bioengineering’ and I feel like I’ve already had my fill of that topic thanks to the panini, but hopefully I can think of something new).

In 2021 I had a handful of short stories published (all at Daily Science Fiction):

March 2021, ‘Murky Waters‘

A mermaid/angler fish parable.

 

July 2021, ‘Eat You Up’

The longest story on this list (by which I mean it’s a whopping 1,500 words rather than 250-350 like the other stories). It’s also the one I’m most proud of. A sci-fi story about a young woman going to her job and then eating a meal with her family.

 

August 2021, ‘Meat Off the Bone’

Uhh, yet another mermaid story. I swear I don’t usually write about mermaids all that much.

 

November 2021, The Red Queen

A revenge story featuring a queen and her unicorn friend.

 

I promise I will someday soon update the recent works widget to include these stories…and update the general works tab…and post about the books I read in 2021.

 

 

 

 

Hello all! I have a scheduled post coming up recapping my short stories published in 2021, but I need to preempt that by trumpeting more recent news.

On Monday, my story ‘Flesh of My Fin’ went live at Daily Science Fiction. It is yet another mermaid story, but it’s also a story about family secrets and  reconciliation (it’s also a story about sexuality and finding common ground with your parent).

Flesh of My Fin

Also this week, my story ‘Fight for the Stars’ was reprinted over at Bullet Points. It’s a story I really like, and Bullet Points is a really cool market, publishing spec stories that focus on war but shies away from rah-rah military sci-fi. I’m really happy to see this story getting a second life.

Fight for the Stars

 

As far as writing goes, this has been a pretty stellar year for me, but I have failed in one of the things authors are supposed to do: keep one’s website at least somewhat up-to-date. Sorry folks! Every year I say I will post more on here, and every year I post less and less. I don’t think that’s going to change, but I will try and note milestones, if only so I have a digital record for myself.

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You don’t need to hear me recap what kind of year 2020 was for the world at large. I  was very fortunate in that my job wasn’t affected, my family is all safe and healthy, and that the part of the world I live in has managed to keep our covid numbers low to the point that it’s possible to meet up with a small number of friends and family. It’s still been a huge shake-up of a year, and it’s so disconcerting to think that it’s ‘over.’ I feel relieved even though I know changing the calendar year doesn’t really do anything besides create the illusion of a blank slate.

But as humans we need some way to measure time or we go crazy. So, even if it’s somewhat arbitrary, here’s a list of some of the books/movies I read/watched in 2020:

2020 Books and movies in review

Fiction

Witchmark – C.L. Polk

The Monster of Elendhaven – Jennifer Giesbrecht

Washington Black – Esi Edugyan

Supernova Era – Cixin Liu

The Dead Girls Club – Angelica Walters

The Mirror and the Light – Hilary Mantel

A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab

Big Girl – Meg Elison

Homesick – Nino Cipri

The Poppy War – R.F. Kuang

The Luminous Dead – Caitlin Starling

An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon

Afterland – Lauren Beukes

The Grip of It – Jac Jemac

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Dragon Republic – R.F. Kuang

Catherine House – Elisabeth Thomas

Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

The Burning God – R.F. Kuang

Films directed by women:

Little Women – Greta Gerwig

Josie and the Pussycats – Deborah Kaplan (and Harry Elfont)

Birds of Prey – Cathy Yan

Emma – Autumn de Wilde

Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma

The Farewell – Lulu Wang

The Spy Who Dumped Me – Susanna Fogel

Late Night – Nisha Ganatra

The Fits – Anna Rose Holmer

Booksmart – Olivia Wilde

Pitch Perfect 3 – Trish Sie

Satanic Panic – Chelsea Stardust

Saving Face – Alice Wu

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness – Mami Sunada

Deadcon – Caryn Waechter

Marie Antoinette – Sofia Coppola

The Old Guard – gina Price-Bythewood

The Lodge – Veronika Franz (with Severin Fiala)

The Turning – Floria Sigismond

Tigers Are Not Afraid – Issa López

 

I also had several short stories published this year:

Eyespots (Daily Science Fiction) – A 300-word or so story about two university girls figuring out their feelings for each other (oh, and one of them might be an alien)
https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/aliens/shannon-fay/eyespots

Familiar Ground (Daily Science Fiction) – A young woman visits her family home. Again, about 300 words.
https://dailysciencefiction.com/hither-and-yon/magic-realism/shannon-fay/familiar-ground?display=votingReturn

Just Another Day (Daily Science Fiction) – An immortal goes about her day.
https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/science-fiction/shannon-fay/just-another-day

As you can can see, all the stories of mine that were published this year were incredibly short. I’ve been working hard on editing my historical fantasy novel (and writing its sequel) so I really only have time to write short flash. If you want to learn more about writing microfiction, please check out the Clarion West class I am offering on the subject:

Keep It Short: Writing Microfiction with Shannon Fay

Oh, I’ve also started a patreon where I post about writing and solo table-top role-playing games! I do actually post there several times a month, unlike this blog.
https://www.patreon.com/shannonfay

Best wishes to you all in the new year.