Posted on by JenniferShelby

Book Review: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

This week I’m reviewing Seanan McGuire’s Come Tumbling Down (2020, Tor), the fifth in the Wayward Children series which began with the award-winning Every Heart A Doorway. I am a huge fan of this series and I look forward to each new installment every January on tenterhooks.

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In Come Tumbling Down, we return to the lives of the Wolcott twins: scientist Jack and vampire-in-training Jill. We first met the twins in Every Heart a Doorway and visited their Moors world in Down Among the Sticks and Bones (book 2 in the series). All of the books in this series revolve around the students and teachers of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, a sanctuary for youth who once entered a portal into a magical world but were not allowed to stay. They are safe to suffer their broken-hearted longing for their magical worlds at the Home, and to spend their time searching for the Door that will take them to their worlds again.

After Jack’s girlfriend Alexis arrives at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children with a Wolcott in her arms, we learn that Jill has exacted a terrible revenge upon Jack. Because Jack had murdered and resurrected her (Book 1), Jill is no longer able to become a vampire as her precious “father” intended to make her. To circumvent her dashed dreams, she has switched bodies with germaphobic Jack via Moor science. Jack, now trapped in Jill’s vampire-nibbled body, has arrived at the Home for Wayward Children to seek help. She must regain her old body before Jill is reborn as a vampire and Jack is trapped in Jill’s body forever. With Jack’s severe cleanliness issues, she knows her mind will break within months. Wild and sugary Sumi, mermaid Cora, skeleton Christopher, and stoic Kade follow Jack and Alexis into the monstrous Moors.

In this story, McGuire reveals more of the Moors, the gods and monsters of the sea, and offers hints of the creatures who live beyond the dark valley. She gives us more of the mythology behind the vampire-scientist duology, though admittedly it didn’t play out the way I expected with the twins. Yet.

This book, unlike the first four in the series, doesn’t open with the rich storyteller voice I’ve come to associate with the series. It works for the story as a small hint that we will be deviating from the usual rules, but I will say that I dearly missed the opening feast of words I found in the other books. I give it 4/5 stars and eagerly await book six.

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submit Your Stories Sunday: liquid imagination

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Liquid Imagination and we’re reading My Little Monster by Iseult Murphy from Liquid Imagination‘s November 2019 issue.

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Liquid Imagination

Eligibility: intense and emotional speculative (or literary) fiction up to 8, 000 words.

Take Note: this market has format guidelines that differ from Standard Manuscript Format, please read guidelines carefully at the link below.

Submit by: open today, March 1st, 2020 until 6-8 weeks before the May issue’s release date (please note this is not specified, so get your submissions in early)

Payment offered: $8 for short stories, $3 for flash (below 1K words), with $2 bonus if payment allowed by paypal

Click here to go to the original call for full details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo

Iseult Murphy’s My Little Monster was published in Liquid Imagination‘s November 2019 issue and is available to read online by clicking here.

This cautionary fable tells of a blacksmith, Jonathon, who purchases a creature called a Diae from a fairy market. He is given specific care instructions and told to share what wealth his beautiful monster brought him when the fairy market returns in the next year. At first all is well, but Jonathon grows jealous of the children who come to play with his Diae, of the people who come to admire it, leaving small gifts in return. Jonathon retreats in a paranoid state of forced reclusion, taking his Diae with him, but the creature suffers in this state, its beauty fading into ferocity.

It’s a familiar story, but there’s also lesson here about sharing one’s gifts. I’m not sure I agree with the lesson one hundred percent, but I don’t fault it’s delivery. Murphy hits Liquid Imagination‘s desired notes, intensity (the drama in Jonathon’s house as the Diae changes) and emotion (the delirious joy of meeting the Diae, Jonathon’s jealousy, and finally, his fear). Now it’s your turn to hit those notes and send your story off to Liquid Imagination before they close.

Happy writing!

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby · 2 Comments

book review: Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

When I picked up Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (Tor, 2019) I warned myself, “don’t get too excited, it might not be as good as it sounds.” It was, though. I finished it the day I started and happily give it 4.5/5 stars.

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This magical novella follows the story of a Green Man (of pagan lore), happy in his woodland home with his dryad friends, who befriends his flirtatious new landowner, the handsome Silver. Silver is a folklorist fascinated by Green Hallow’s history whose giddiness over his subject matter is both familiar and endearing. Our 400-year-old Green Man can no more resist the nerdy sweetness of Silver than he can act upon the lad’s flirtations. Our pagan friend, it turns out, has something of a curse upon himself and his past is about to threaten his new love interest. I’ll stop there before I spoil it for you.

I’m a sucker for the Old Ways and Tesh writes about the woods like someone who’s spent a childhood or two under trees. That’s rare. But they also bring in Silver’s mother and manage to make her one of the more intriguing characters in the story. That’s doubly rare. I am delighted by to see the overbearing, demonized mother trope flipped on it’s proverbial head. Now let’s kick into a Nixie’s pond and leave it there forever, hmm?

If you’re looking for a passionate love story, this slow burn Victorian affection isn’t it, but if you’d like a story that leaves you as refreshed and bright as a walk in the woods, choose this one. It’s lovely.

Posted on by JenniferShelby · 1 Comment

Submit Your Stories Sunday: future gender

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Hybrid‘s Future//Tense: Gender anthology and we’re reading Merc Fenn Wolfmoor’s The Frequency of Compassion in Uncanny.

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Hybrid’s Future//Tense Gender anthology

Eligibility: the Future//Tense anthologies focus on identity in the future, this one specifically on gender identity. 5K to 15K words preferred.

Take Note: Hybrid has no restrictions on gender or orientation. #ownvoices encouraged.

Submit By: open to submissions until April 1st, 2020

Payment Offered: $0.025 per word, to a maximum of $100

Click here to go to the original call for full details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

For this call we’re reading one of my favorite short stories, The Frequency of Compassion by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. You can read this story online at Uncanny magazine by clicking here.

The Frequency of Compassion follows an autistic, agender protagonist, Kaityn Falk, into deep space, accompanied by their AI, Horatio. Extremely introverted, their solo expeditions suit Kaityn well, though their memories follow and haunt them in the darkness. When Kaityn and Horatio stumble into an unusual distress call, Kaityn’s gender identity is what gives them the tools to understand and survive First Contact.

What I like about this story is it’s emphasis on compassion and that it tackles the question of gender representation head-on within the story. In a flashback we hear Kaityn’s ex argue that Kaityn’s gender identity would only confuse any alien species they might encounter in deep space. The story itself acts as rebuttal to the ex’s argument.

Happy writing!

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby · 1 Comment

In Darker Corners of Your Favorite Band, Which Cannot Save You.

I’m trying to write more book reviews, the reason being that I’ve never been comfortable writing them. Imposter syndrome and all that. But I’m never going to get comfortable writing reviews if I don’t write more of them. Towards that end, here are two books I enjoyed this week.

In Darker Corners

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5/5 Stars – Indie

I was excited to receive my copy of Peter Gillet’s second collection of short works, In Darker Corners,  as I enjoyed his first, Mind Full of Prose. This collection has a blend of narrative nonfiction, album reviews, and dark fantasy stories.

Finding a sequel to the Beards and Bearability story, Tests and Testimonies, deep into the book was a delight. Fans of the original will not disappointed. Marked by Death, an essay about a tombstone that fell on the author as a child gave me the best kind of chills. No wonder Gillet’s horror works well, in particular the creepy Dimensions of Mediocrity and Viral. In Darker Corners is a wonderful collection to dip into for a story before falling asleep.

Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You

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4/5 stars – Tor Books

Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore follows a music blogger who comes across a transcendent new band that quickly becomes an obsession. The music starts controlling people’s emotions and soon sacrifices some listeners to open interdimensional portals. Alien monsters tumble into Earth. The protagonist denies all evidence in front of him and keeps plunging deeper into the music-caused danger like a hapless teenager in a horror movie, pulling the reader along for the ride.

Moore perfectly captures the annoying aloof quality of your music snob friend and then blows it into another dimension. This book is like the movie Almost Famous collided with the crack in Amelia Pond’s wall (Doctor Who) during a Sharknado and Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You climbed out of the wreckage fully formed. It’s a fun, campy read and I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it. I’m hopeful for a sequel. Let’s take this ride off-world.

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submit Your Stories Sunday: halloween in springtime

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Cast of Wonder’s Halloween special and we’re reading Natalia Theodoridou’s Of Pumpkin Soup and other Demons and Austin H. Gilkeson’s The Ghost of Granny Goneril from Cast of Wonder’s 2014 Halloween special.

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Cast of Wonders: Halloween

Eligibility: speculative stories written for a young adult audience up to 6, 000 words, on theme of Halloween.

Take Note: writers can check out the Cast Wonders’ staff wish list by checking #ShortStoryWL on twitter

Submit by: this opening runs from March 1st to March 7th, 2020

Payment Offered: $0.08 per word

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A Story (or two) to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

This week we’re heading back to CoW’s2014 Halloween special, where not one, but two eerie and delightful tales await: Natalia Theodoridou’s Of Pumpkin Soup and other Demons and Austin H. Gilkeson’s The Ghost of Granny Goneril. Click here to go read or listen to those now.

Theodoridou’s story captures the eerie essence of Halloween, the thinned veil and the who-knows-what-may-come-knocking quality to the year’s spookiest night. We don’t get all the answer, either, leaving us to wonder who that boy’s father might be, and how a storm could have a child of it’s own, after all. It’s eeriness, unexplained, stays with the reader like a good ghost story should. Just enough reality to settle into your bones and too much supernatural mystery to probe too deeply for the truth.

Gilkeson’s story, coming second, is lighter fare, capturing the fun of Halloween horrors. That opening line “Dead grandparents give the worst candy” sets the tone right away. This will be more fun than creepy, it promises. And it delivers. This story is cheeky, delightful, and solidly YA. It hits many notes of a teenager’s life and shifting experience of Halloween, while tying in more traditional Halloween tropes and staples in an engaging way.

What kind of Halloween story do you want to write? Will yours be a trick or a treat?

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Photo by Alexandro David on Pexels.com
Happy writing!
Posted on by JenniferShelby · 2 Comments

parachutes, grappling hooks, and pulpiest scifi

Engen Books has announced me as one of the authors in the upcoming anthology Pulp SciFi From the Rock with my story Parachutes and Grappling Hooks. Whew. That’s one less secret under my hat. But… THERE ARE MORE *bursts with excitement*

In the meantime, you can read Engen’s official announcement and check out some of the other authors by clicking here.

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Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com
Posted on by JenniferShelby · 4 Comments

Submit Your Stories Sunday: unidentified funny objects 8

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re getting ready to sub to Unidentified Funny Objects in April, and we’re reading Alex Shvartsman’s You Bet.

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Unidentified Funny Objects

Eligibility: humourous speculative fiction stories from 500-5,000 words.

Take Note: as markets go, this one’s tough. UFO has published big names like Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin. Keep that in mind when you sub, send your best, and don’t take it personally if your story is rejected. If you are able to read the forewords written by editor Alex Shvartsman of any of the previous UFOs, he happily drops a dozen hints of what he likes and what he’s looking for. Maybe amazon’s ‘look inside’ feature will help you read those if your local library is short on copies.

Submit by: UFO is open from April 1st to April 30th, 2020.  We have time to write and polish and polish again. Let’s do this.

Payment offered: $0.10 per word plus contributor’s copy

Click here to go to the original call for full details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

UFO’s website offers no less than seven free stories to give you a feel for their preferred humour – click here to go directly there. If you’re financially able to obtain a copy of the past volumes or lucky enough to have a library that stocks them, one of my favourite UFO stories is Chad vs the Rebel Alliance by Shane Halbach in UFO7. Yes, I am a Star Wars fan, and yes, this story carefully skirts any copyright infringement, but between us it’s Stormtroopers as dude-bros and it is DELIGHTFUL.

However, since most of us are starving writers and our libraries may not carry UFO7 (but you should ask them to), we’re going to dip inside Alex Shvartsman’s You Bet. Click here to go read that now.

Shvartsman is the editor of the UFO series and wrote this story as a Kickstarter campaign prize. I think it’s a good choice for our purposes because it shows us what the editor himself finds funny. Rather than puns, cleverness is the way to go if you want to get into UFO. In You Bet, Shvartsman introduces us to poker game where the players are tropes. They’re playing for their own relevance, and they only leave the game when they disappear from the larger culture. The story’s humour revolves around the trope characters themselves and how they see the world, so while it makes us chuckle, the jokes also serve to deepen its own themes. That’s impressive.

Now it’s your turn. How do you make your friends and coworkers laugh? Have you tried translating that to paper before? You’ve got nothing to lose but a bit of ink and a little time. Let’s get writing.

Happy writing!
Posted on by JenniferShelby · 3 Comments

IWSG and the power of a picture

Hello and welcome to my February IWSG post. IWSG, or the insecure writer’s support group, is a monthly meet up where insecure writers all over the world can share their thoughts and encourage each other. Click here to check out the many other writers participating.

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This month’s IWSG question asked us if there were any images that inspired us and hoo boy I have so many folders of images that whisper stories into my subconscious, but one does stand out. I’ll share it as the screenshot I took of it when I first found it, which isn’t pretty enough for stealing, and please click hereto check out Paolo Cirmia’s other work if you like this image.

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When I first saw this picture, it shot a story directly into my imagination. This story ended up being fairly significant because it was the first story where I entered the realm of space fantasy, which is slowly becoming more and more ‘my thing.’ The story I wrote did very well in a handful of contests, being both a finalist in one and placing in another. It nabbed a bit of feedback that thrilled me to my toes and I printed off and tucked inside my “anti-discouragement files” for bad days. And I LOVE this story. I can’t explain why it means so much to me, beyond the world it opened up in my imagination, but it does. It hasn’t found its home yet, and remains unpublished, gathering almost twenty rejections thus far. Sometimes I think I should give up on it but then I read it over and fall in love with it again. Some day I’ll find the right market for it, and until then when it receives a new rejection I remember the advice from Richard Thomas

never

and I dust it off and send it out again.

Happy IWSG day everybody! I can’t wait to check out your posts.

Posted on by JenniferShelby · 3 Comments

Submit Your Stories Sunday: Dinovember

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re getting ready to submit to Cast of Wonder‘s Dinovember: intelligent dinosaurs call, and at their behest, we’re reading Ann Leckie’s The Endangered Camp as published by Escape Pod.

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Cast of Wonders: Dinovember

Eligibility: stories featuring intelligent dinosaurs up to 6k words

Take Note: Cast of Wonders requires anonymous submissions and will reject your story if your name is found anywhere on your submission. So don’t miss your last name in the header of your standard manuscript format like I did that one time. Ugh.

Submit By: opening is from March 15-31st, 2020, so get plotting!

Payment Offered: $0.08 per word

Click here to go to the original call for full details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

Cast of Wonders has made it easy on me this week, offering their own example of a story that meets their call’s criteria. That story is none other than The Endangered Camp by Ann Leckie, and you can read or listen to it at Escape Pod by clicking here.

One of the elements that stands out in Leckie’s story (for our purposes) is the perspective of the dinosaurs. They aren’t human, but dinosaurs filtered through a human gaze. Their worldview, culture, mannerisms, and motivations are (dino)saurian. Often referred to as ‘furry fiction’, the reader is pulled into a strong, non-human point-of-view. This requires a deep understanding of the animal in question and strong world-building skills.

For this call, you need to pick your favorite dino, get into their heads, and take them on an adventure. We really do have the best job, don’t we? Good luck, or rather, GRRRRAAARRRRRR!

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Photo by José Luis Photographer on Pexels.com
Happy writing!