Tag: Fault Zone

2021 Final Roundup2021 Final Roundup

I promised a post on my so-called accomplishments of the past year. It’s a decent exercise, especially when the year ahead looks so daunting. I’ve had to slap some provisional titles on works in progress, but that’s part of the fun. So, without further ado:

Fabulous AccomplishmentWhat Bit of Writing It Has to Do With
One short story published in an SFF market, both digital and printParrish Blue
Finished first revision cycle with Wind and Smoke, divided the work, and completed second round revision with Volume 1.Wind and Smoke (work in progress)
Finished a two-book entry to my series, revised and submitted Book 1, nearly completed revisions on Book 2Shadows of Insurrection (submitted)
Fires of Resolution (WIP, in final revisions)
Talked a regular reader into reading the first two volumes of Lidian’s Promise, made decisions on updates needed to go to market.A Sorcerer in Levoigne (WIP)
Strangers in Almadina (WIP)
Wrote, revised, and had a short story published in an anthology, PLUS experienced having that story nominated for the Pushcart Prize.“Heart’s Delight” (anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse)
Wrote, revised, advocated for, and had published a neurodivergent short story.“Reunion” (anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse)
Wrote, revised, and had accepted a middle-grade SF novella for a shared-universe collectionThe Smugglers (planned for mid-2022)
Wrote, revised, performed, and had accepted a humorous short story for a shared-universe collection“Coke Machine” (planned for spring 2022)
Submitted multiple entries to the California Writer’s Club (CWC) SF Peninsula Chapter’s Literary Stage competition, won awards for opening chapter for a diverse-characters novel, a humorous madcap short story, a structured poem (a sestina), and a short story.A Sorcerer in Levoigne (Chapter 1), “Coke Machine,” “Trap” (poetry), “Solitary Dances”
Note: the contest does not involve publication, but awards are listed on the SF Peninsula Chapter website.
Launched a newsletter and published the first eleven monthly issues (Twelfth issue came out in January 2022.)Tales from the Oort Cloud
What do you mean? You haven’t subscribed yet? EZ box on this page. Pop-up roaming the page. Link in the title and right here. Go for it. You won’t be sorry.
Attended the Nebula Awards Conference online(I’ve volunteered to help at the 2022 conference.)
Served on four panels at Octocon, the Irish National Science Fiction ConventionModerated a panel on the isekai subgenre in anime, and another on global optimistic futures, took part in an improv panel (Orbital Tidy Town Committee), and a science panel on energy futures
Volunteered a full schedule at WorldCon virtualHosted Kaffeklatsches, monitored panels, teched a publishing workshop.
Performed a reading with Strong Women, Strange WorldsAll That Was Asked
No video, but similar to a reading on Fairy Princess Lolly‘s livestream program last year.
Performed a reading on Fairy Princess Lolly’s livestream series, Author Reads“Parrish Blue”
Part of a longer program. You’ll find this reading at T= 53:47 in the video.
Became board-adjacent on SF-Pen chapter of CWC as runner of open micsFourth Tuesday open mics
Provided a second year of tech support for the South Bay Writers chapter of CWCOpen mics on First and third Fridays
Updated my website, with a proper landing page, the blog in its own territory, and space for appearances.Cometary Tales (you are here!)
Increased my vast followership on Twitter (hahaha)Up to 241 for Cometary Tales and
204 for Pixel Gravity
Sold some copies of my book!“Some” is as close as you’re going to get to a number, here.
Also: racked up several agent rejections, practiced pitches and studied statistics of twitter pitch contests, and wrote four (count ’em! FOUR!) blog posts!Tally Ho!

I should note that at each of the open mics I manage, I also take part, sharing excerpts from works in progress as well as poetry and related works.

I’ve also been diligent at showing up for my critique partners and my non-critique writing group, even if I can’t be there in person. That boils down to 10-12 hours a week of reviewing colleagues’ work, accepting notes on my work, and discussing craft and our work together in online meetings.

Learning to ThreadLearning to Thread

A screen grab from a twitter posting:  text is within blog post.

For my New Year’s Day new learning, I worked out how to create a thread (properly) in Twitter, in order to post my very first awards eligibility thread.

I know, I know, none of these are going to win any awards, though one has already been nominated (by the editor of the anthology) for a majorly major award. Nominations count; just being nominated is a huge, huge thrill.

But not everyone likes to hang out on social media. Facebook is broken. Twitter has deep wells of toxicity, Instagram is all about being pretty (and owned by Facebook), and Tik-Tok is … out of my league.

So in this blog post, I’ll try to recreate the Twitter post. I have two 2021 stories that are Hugos-eligible (the science-fiction ones). What awards do you know about that you’re eligible to nominate for? You might be surprised!

Let’s jump ahead now, and make this Not About Me. It’s readers who nominate for Hugos, and readers don’t care if the author is famous, made a bucket of money, or only managed to sell one story. Sure, the list of finalists is short, but consider–what did you read last year? What moved you? If you’re a 2021 or 2022 WorldCon member, you can nominate the things you liked. You can nominate up to five things in EVERY category. They don’t have to be the movies, stories, novels, or magazines that your friends liked, that your social-media leaders went on and on about. You can voice your own preferences.

So, pitch made. GO forth, write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, nominate all your favorites for awards, and then enjoy all the new (and not-so-new) stories out there in 2022.

Here, then, is my Twitter thread. Do ya love or hate my cartoony profile pic? I’ll only put it in for the opening tweet; otherwise, it gets annoying in blog format.

Cartoon image of woman with reddish hair in silly ponytails and grees streaks in the hair. She's holding a teacup and wearing glasses.

The official awards-eligibility thread. In 2021, I had three short stories published:

1. a #scifi story about stolen land

2. a light #scifi #romance featuring a favorite 20th-century artist

3. an upbeat piece of literary fiction grown from #autism, #depression, and #optimism.

2/7 “Heart’s Delight,” anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse, edited by @LaurelAnneHill and published by Sand Hill Review Press. An intelligent ecosystem repels those whose ancestors took the land unjustly, returning custody to its true caretakers. #SFF

3/7 For the record, I live on Tamien Nation Territory, bordering Popeloutchum (Amah Mutsun) land, connected to the territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. These people are all, right now, working to protect this land, e.g.: http://amahmutsun.org/history

4/7 “Parrish Blue,” published by Water Dragon Publishing (Dragon Gems short fiction). In an elite restaurant on a climate-ravaged Earth, under the glow of a recreated artwork, a young woman rediscovers a dream of life immersed in wonder—and finds one who shares that dream. #SFF

5/7 I’m dropping in an image of the piece of art these two fall in love under (Romance, by Maxfield Parrish). Just because.

A fairy-tale castle stands on a hill, with peaks risin gin the distance, and people in old-time fantasy clothes gazing on the scene from a collonade
(Note: on Twitter, alt-text includes artist attribution: this is a photograph of a public-domain artwork. The photograph came from Plum Leaves at Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eoskins/5841870848).

6/7 “Reunion,” anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse, edited by @LaurelAnneHill and published by Sand Hill Review Press. Two young people, separated in childhood by separate traumatic events, renew a friendship forged through shared suffering.

8/7 These are all findable via my linktree.

Glowy orange sunset clouds float over  a cluster of treetops at lower left. With text linktr.ee @Vanessa_MacLarenWray | Linktree. Character-drive literary speculative fiction. Science-y stuff. Cats. Ponies.

7/7 If this story resonates for you, consider further research at https://autisticadvocacy.org or connect with mental-health resources in your community. Also, remember to reconnect with friends in 2022.

Image of text screen: Rainbow-colored octagonal logo. ASAN Autistic Self Advocacy Network. autisticadvocacy.org. Home. Nothing About Us Without Us

It’s surprising hard to recreate a Twitter posting in a blog! Go follow me on Twitter, OK?