FICTIONISTA
The intrepid Miss Ruby Lamb will be adding her rendition of my short story “A Peripheral Vision Sort of Friend” to tonight’s virtual edition of Campfire Queer Storytime, which in a less bepandemicked era was hosted at the Vortex Theater in Austin, Texas. Instead the event will be broadcast & archived on YouTube. Sunday, October 11, 2020 from 7-8pm CDT.
Shine on, beautiful distant diamonds.
“Short fiction writers, of all genres, for any number of reasons, surely must universally dread the question: What are your stories about? The smart thing to do (a path one sadly rarely chooses, amiright?) would be to not overthink the business and toss off a quick, “I tend to write crime fiction” (or “historical” or “westerns”—or even “historical crime westerns with hot time-traveling feminist werewolves”*). But such limited answers feel so ungenuine, so inadequate, so lacking the scope of what you write, right?”
*Sadly, there is no story like this in the works, but you can read my personal essay “The Moment Expectations Change” in its entirety over at the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine blog, where I reminisce (drinks with writer pals in a Portlandian bordello bar! barstool fiddlefaddle and coffee shop philosophizing!) and talk about the joy of seeing short fiction translate to the screen. This one’s in celebration of my sweet petty criminal story “Killer Biznez.”
A lovely little bumble-crime story of mine in the current issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: “Killer Biznez.” This one’s about weed trays, family bonds, a fictitous fashion app, and an online realtime crime-tip hotline.
Now online: “Elephant Teeth,” a quiet little eco-rage story about animal saboteurs, elephant cults, and new beginnings. Free in audio, as read by the author.
Very pleased to note my short story “The Dead Man’s Dog” is shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award, awarded yearly for excellence in Canadian crime fiction.
Crime fiction! Both available online.
“I’ve been bitter a long time. It’s like sucking a wedge of lemon on and on and on, pulp disintegrating, everything dissolving until the flavor turns mellow and mild, almost sweet… “
read “Random Blonde“
“Huck is a gooddog. Huck is suchagooddog. Have his people forgotten whatagooddog Huck is?”
read “Is a Goodboy”
My Vancouver noir tale “Lovely Young Losers” is out in the Urban Crime volume of the Flame Tree Gothic series. These are gorgeous books. Hardcover, soft pages, gilded and embossed…serious artifact porn.
Flame Tree has posted a couple mini interviews with contributors about the story and the genre, in which I mention the different flavours of cities, and confess to loving a good Murder Squad.
Urban Crime author Q&A part 1
Urban Crime author Q&A part 2
Very happy to say the January/February 2019 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine includes my story “The Dead Man’s Dog.”
This one features an underworld crime scene cleaner who has trouble connecting with her fellow humans but finds her world changed the day a dead man’s dog unexpectedly follows her home from a job.
Full table of contents here.
The tail end of 2018 wriggled away from me like a tail off one of countless chameleons my sister and I spent hours chasing through our sweaty Austin childhood. I finally got a moment to listen to the Asimov’s magazine October podcast double issue, which opens with a sweet short piece by William Ledbetter, then (at precisely 8 minutes in) has my listicle story “Because Reasons” — as read by me. Relatively Texas-twang free!
permalink: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/asimovs/episodes/2018-10-30T06_49_55-07_00
Earlier this month, my out-of-time Hawai’i elder deity + i-heart-dogs story “The Eyes of Kaha’i” appeared in the official H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival program book and as a perk of their stunningly successful crowdfunding campaign launched from sunny Portland, Oregon (my other other home). This week I’m in Austin, Texas for the Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference. With the city’s current water boil warnings in effect, all bets are off as to which bar you can find me in. Do come find me though, if you’re around. Really. Do.
