After a couple years’ dry spell on the fiction front, I am happy and relieved to share some news. Over the last few weeks I’ve had three pieces of my own writing accepted for publication. I’m not sure yet when these things will appear, but appear they shall, and I shall write proud excited blog posts about them when they do. For now, I’ll keep things brief.
First, Asimov’s has accepted my short story “Island History”.
Second, Nature magazine runs an online short fiction series called “Futures,” which will include my flash piece titled “Better Get Hit in Your Soul” (a title for which I am obviously endebted to Charles Mingus).
Third, Escape Pod has agreed to produce a podcast version of “Rena in the Desert,” which originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of Asimov’s.
What else is going on? Isn’t that enough? Well, there’s some translation news coming in the near future, but I’m keeping it under wraps until everything’s official.
In the meantime, be placated with this picture of my new dog. This is Jolie. The story is, Jolie escaped a (hypothetical) mean person who hauled her around by the collar a lot, and ended up pregnant and wandering the streets of Jasper, Alabama. Somebody brought her into a shelter, where she produced a single puppy. She ended up at a rescue organization here in Minnesota, where she did some mothering before sending the pup off to college and coming to live with us. As with my old dog Romeo (who was a stray from Brooklyn, NY), I like a dog with an interesting past, even if, in this case, we’ve got some training to do.
Likes: Peanut butter, belly rubs, fetch.
Dislikes: Leashes, kennels, collar-grabbers.
More news soon, I hope.
Lia Swope Mitchell 