“Elf Houses” Accepted Again!

Tree in a park near my house. Taken by me. 22 Feb. 2020.

Today I received the welcome news that my story, “Elf Houses,” which appeared in 2015 in Between Worlds Zine, has now been accepted by Doubleback Review. Doubleback publishes pieces that have appeared in now-defunct journals. It operates under the umbrella of Sundress Publications, which is dedicated to resurrecting both journal and small-press casualties of what Doubleback calls our “churn and burn culture.”

I think this is a fantastic idea, and I am especially grateful to Fiction Editor Samantha Edmonds for seeing merit in my story, “Elf Houses,” which is based on a game I used to play of building houses for imaginary elves outside, and also on less happy aspects of my childhood. It is the first horror story I ever wrote, and I believe it should live again to chill more people.

As always, I will be familiarizing myself with the journal while waiting for my work to appear. I can’t wait to encounter all the resurrected zombies.

“Loquats in Vienna” Out at Last in Leaves of Loquat V

Photo credit: Oldie~commonswiki, Eriobotrya japonica. Wikimedia Commons. GDSL 1.2 or later.

Faithful readers of this blog may possibly remember that in 2018 I won second prize in the Loquat Literary Festival. As part of the prize, my poem, which I am particularly fond of because it is about my husband and me, was to be published in Leaves of Loquat IV with other contributors to the festival. But when the volume arrived, I found it only contained half of my poem. 

The Loquat Festival, including its literary part, is run by kind, generous, caring people who have lives and do other things, too. So when the contrite editor promised to include my entire poem in the next edition of Leaves of Loquat, I was gratified, but uncertain whether this would actually occur.

I must now apologize for underestimating Dell DeChant and all the excellent people involved with the festival. Leaves of Loquat V arrived today, and it includes not only all of my poem, “Loquats in Vienna,” but also the usual quirky mix of local contributors and  prize-winning writers from all over. I am already almost finished reading.

Copies of Leaves of Loquat V are available from Ecology Florida for, I believe, a small contribution. Pick yours up today, and, as always, please let me know what you think of my poem.

 

 

What We Talk About When We Talk About It Update

Just a quick update: the paperback edition of What We Talk About When We Talk About It, with my story, “Second Honeymoon,” in it, is now available on Amazon here. I have  been reading the first story, and am definitely intrigued by the love between a girl and her pet tornado. 

So be sure to get your copy today! And please please please leave a review.                        Photo credit: Promotional cover photo, Darkhouse Press.

“Second Honeymoon” Out in Love-Themed Anthology

                     Cover design for the volume. Darkhouse Books promotional photo.

“Second Honeymoon,” which I wrote about in this post, is now out in Volume 1 of the Darkhouse Books anthology, What We Talk About When We Talk About It: Variations on the Theme of Love, on Kindle here. Paperback and other formats to follow. 

The call for submissions asked for unusual takes on love, and I guess my tale of a middle-aged couple struggling with their marriage was unusual enough. On re-reading it, I still find the ending abrupt, but at the same time, I believe people do sometimes experience moments like the one I describe, especially when they are highly emotional.

Regardless, I look forward to reading the volume and seeing what other takes on love people came up with. It contains poems and other genres, so there is plenty of variety. 

So pick up your copy in time for Valentine’s Day! And as always, please let me know what you think.