Category: story behind the story

New Story Alert: Android Press’s Cyberpunk Solarpunk Anthology

I am so pleased to announce I’ll have a story in the forthcoming anthology Fighting for the Future: Cyberpunk and Solarpunk Tales, which is edited by Phoebe Wagner and published by Android Press.

When I first saw the call for the anthology, I knew I needed to submit a story since they were specifically looking for stories at the intersection of Cyberpunk and Solarpunk, and of course, that is exactly the same energy I brought to my debut novel Implanted.

How it started:

How it’s going:

“Root Cause,” my story for the anthology, is set in the very same world of Implanted: that of a high-tech society rewilidng the land outside a domed city, their refuge from the changes wrought by climate change. While it introduces new characters, the story’s blend of hyperconnectivity, environmentalism, and rebellion will be familiar to readers of the book and hopefully entice new readers to check it out as well.

I am very grateful to the people in my writing group (you know who you are!) who helped me get this story ready for submission. I am also glad to be working with the people at Android Press, given their mission to showcase environmentally-focused speculative fiction.

The full table of contents is a banger, and I’m thrilled to have my work alongside everyone:

Introduction by Andrew Sage

“Nano-Vibration” by Brent Lambert

“Property of PAUSE Ltd.” by Ai Jiang

“The Galaxy’s Cube” by Jeremy Szal

“Do Anarchists Dream of Collective Sheep?” by Izzy Wasserstein

“Tomorrow Is Another Day” by Louis Evans

“The Promise” by Rona Fernandez

“Root Cause” by Lauren C. Teffeau

“Broken Threads” by Kevin Wabaunsee

“The Robot Whisperer” by Holly Schofield

“The Strength of the Willow” by Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio

“Solarpunks” by J. D. Harlock

“Materiality” by Cory Doctorow

“The Scent of Green” by Ana Sun

“Cloud 9” by Christopher R. Muscato

“The Holiness of Light” by Cynthia Zhang 

There will be a cover reveal in the weeks to come, along with a pre-order campaign, so stay tuned for more about this project!

Release Day for After the Gold Rush!

It’s release day for After the Gold Rush, the latest installment in Third Flatiron‘s anthology series, and it features my short story “The Front of the Pack.”

From the back jacket copy:

Twenty-two authors explore themes related to complications of booms and bubbles, including effects of accelerated culture; ecological consequences caused by human over-expansion, such as climate disasters; and economics (for example, monopolies on resources and commodities). 

Table of Contents:

  • Past the Projections by James Tager
  • Down on the Klondike by David Cleden
  • Sunrunner by Robert Bagnall
  • Moving On by Andrew Wright
  • To Vanquish Other Blooms by Tim Borella
  • Showdown at Sueño Hueco by Wulf Moon
  • Reassessed Value by David Hankins
  • Amphibios by Julie Biegner
  • Earth’s Last Immortals by Erin Cullen
  • Last Light in the Dark by Shannon Fox
  • Live from the Troll Factory by Edward Barnfield
  • The Front of the Pack by Lauren C. Teffeau
  • Last Bite at the Klondike by Liam Hogan
  • All Our Signs Align by Eve Morton
  • Facing Reality by Yelena Crane
  • Unwinding the Clock by Brandon Case
  • The Last of the Gen Xers by Angelique Fawns
  • Currency Change Announcement by Elizabeth Davis
  • Amore for Life by Cray Dimensional
  • Genie in a PET Bottle by Daniel M. Cojocaru
  • Goldberry by Tom Easton and Jeff Hecht

I wrote “The Front of the Pack” for a flash challenge a couple years back and could never quite figure out what to do with a story depicting a tense exchange between a government agent and a man running a clearinghouse for illegal research that the political climate has all but condemned, to society’s detriment. This was around the same time I was writing Implanted, so the story is flavored with espionage tropes as well as some of my hang-ups from working as an academic researcher for a number of years. Let’s just say it’s a story that could only be at home in this collection, and I’m so glad that editor Juliana Rew and the rest of the team at Third Flatiron agreed as well!

Be sure to check out my Pinterest board for more of my story inspiration.

You can purchase the whole anthology from Amazon.

https://pin.it/2KbPCKH

Happy New Year to Me!

Welcome to 2020, and already, we’re off to a great start.

I spent New Year’s day basking in the news that my story “Sing! And Remember” made Tangent Online’s 2019 Recommended Reading List. This is my first appearance on the list, and I’m so happy this story earned their notice. I talked a bit about how important the story was to me in my year-end round-up, and this just underscores all the complicated emotions that come from seeing your work in print: elation and accomplishment, yes, but also that prickly sensation of having your inner life on display for others. But to have my work noticed amongst all the other stories published in professional SF/F magazines in 2019 makes all that angst worth it.

Be sure to check out all the wonderful stories that Tangent Online recognized.

To celebrate, DreamForge Magazine, who originally published “Sing! And Remember”, is making it available to read FREE online along with the other stories they published that were recognized by Tangent’s 2019 recap.

Sing-and-Remember

They are also extending their Writers & Friends $5 subscription discount to everyone until 1/15/20, so please check this great magazine out if you haven’t already!

Wishing you and yours a very happy 2020!

New Story in Shohola Press’s Abandoned Places anthology!

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I’m happy to announce my short story “Glitch” can be found in Shohola Press’s first anthology Abandoned Places, edited by George Galuchak and Christopher Cornell.

AbadonedPlaces_cover

The anthology comes out March 9th, and if you live in the Bay Area, there are some fun launch events coming up.

I recently had the opportunity to talk about the story on the Unreliable Narrators podcast with editor Chris Cornell. Other contributors are also interviewed about their stories and creative process, and the Unreliable Narrators crew always creates an entertaining podcast.

UnreliableNarratorsPodcast

So give it a listen, and as a bonus you’ll get a sneak peek at a special announcement from me!

And be sure to check out the anthology when it’s released. I had a blast writing my story. “Glitch” is about abandoned code bases, video games, and murder birds, and you can get a bit of a sense for the story’s aesthetic based on the related Pinterest page.

New Story “The Dim Rank Dark” Now Available!

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Happy to announce my short story “The Dim Rank Dark” is now available in Incarceration, an anthology about the future of prisons from SFF micropress WolfSinger Publishing.

IncarcerationCover

From the jacket copy:

INCARCERATION

The word conjures up images of jail cells, steel bars, guards, chain gangs, prison stripes and more.

In this anthology seventeen authors tell tales of possible future incarceration methods: Genetic Engineering to create a new breed of prison guards. Viral Engineering to create a medically induced coma that can be programmed for a specific length of time. Prisoners who volunteer to be human Guinea Pigs to receive early releases – if they survive. A “Fun House” that helps people to move past their prejudices and pre-conceived ideas of others.

These and other forms of imprisonment are available for you to explore – from a safe distance – in these pages. Some are indictments of the system, with those who are not-guilty punished for something they didn’t do. Some offer harsh punishments for what seems like only a minor infraction and others explore the human side of imprisonment in unique ways. Join us – we promise you’ll be released at the end of each story.

The anthology also includes stories from: Rebecca McFarland Kyle, David Boop, Melodie Bolt, Dean Anthony Brink, Dawn M. Sooy, A. L. Sirois, David B. Riley, Andrew M. Seddon, Cheryl Toner, S. D. Matley, Catrin Sian Rutland, Frank Montellano, Gerry Griffiths, Liam Hogan, Lyn Godfrey, and R. Joseph Maas.

“The Dim Rank Dark” deals with issues of penal labor, rehabilitation, and the idea of prisoners as second-class citizens. In a high-tech but physically-constrained domed city, prisoners are forced to maintain the city’s sewers. As a politician moves to strip them of their rights, a group of prisoners fights back the only way they can.

Copies of the anthology are available in ebook and in print through CreateSpace and Smashwords, so please check it out!