gwynnega

Today's mail brought my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #82, featuring my story "Still Life" (partly inspired by a dreadful former neighbor of mine, though really he was so much worse than the character in my story), as well as work by Francesca Forrest, Jennifer Crow, Sam Derby, Gretchen Tessmer, Rachel Cordasco, Jordan Hirsch, Sophia D. Merow, David Kloss, Ed Ahern (and art by John and Flo Stanton).

This magazine is an enduring bright spot amid the current terribleness.

My collection of short fiction, Sinking, Singing, came out in October. Writing-wise, the year was mostly taken up by revising my novel Thank You for Sending Me an Angel, working on a sequel, and doing yet more revision of Thank You! (Fortunately, I really enjoy spending time with these characters.)


fiction

Sinking, Singing (Aqueduct Press)
Includes four original stories ("The Discography of Theodore Grayson," "A Good Cast Is Worth Repeating," "Resolution," and "De Bergerac Duels His Dragon") as well as seven reprints ("We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "Emily and the What-if Imp," "Sinking, Singing," "Beyond and Back," "The Clockwork Cat's Escape," "The Two Mrs. Mansfields," and "A Wild Patience").


poetry

"Universals" in Dreams & Nightmares #126 (January 2024)

poetry reprint

"midas" in FUMPTRUCK: Open Letters, Essays, Fiction, Poetry, Artwork & Other Creations for & Inspired by the 47th President of the Divided States of America, edited by Anonymous (Written Backwards Press)

It has been a trying several days since I got home from Readercon, but today's mail brought a lovely surprise: copies of my new collection of short fiction, Singing, Singing, forthcoming from Aqueduct Press this autumn. I am so happy with the cover, in all its purple finery!



[click to embiggen]

Last night I watched Harold and Maude for the zillionth time (on TCM), and now I am thinking many thoughts about Ruth Gordon, Maude, and Minnie Castevet.

I am delighted to announce that my collection of short fiction, Sinking, Singing, will be published by Aqueduct Press as a volume in the Conversation Pieces series. It will include previously published work (such as my novelette "A Wild Patience," originally published by GigaNotoSaurus), as well as four new stories. I love working with Aqueduct, and many of the Conversation Pieces volumes are huge favorites of mine.

I'm so sad to hear of the passing of Suzy McKee Charnas. She was such a wonderful writer. The first book of hers I read was Motherlines, back in the eighties. Later I enjoyed The Vampire Tapestry, Dorothea Dreams, and her brilliant werewolf story "Boobs." It was always great to see her at WisCon. I admired her so much, and her praise of my novel Can't Find My Way Home meant the world to me.

This morning I was pleased to discover that Asimov's has reviewed my novel Can't Find My Way Home. Peter Heck says: "Garfinkle has caught the feeling of 1970's New York with impressive accuracy. She also gives a convincing look behind the scenes of daytime television, with characters who'll be familiar to anyone who's ever been around a theatrical production. A real page-turner, especially recommended to anyone who remembers the era." Heck also reviews Aqueduct Press books by L. Timmel Duchamp and Nancy Jane Moore.

I was amazed that today's mail brought my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #70, just one day after the east coast folks received their copies. (Take that, Louis DeJoy!) The domestic issue includes my punk-rock time travel story "Beyond and Back" (the title comes from a song on my favorite album by X, Wild Gift), along with work by Sonya Taaffe, Alexandra Seidel, Lorraine Schein, and others. I am always so pleased to have my work in this wonderful magazine.

This has been a very difficult week, which makes me even prouder that I managed to finish the first draft of Thank You for Sending Me an Angel last night. Today I fiddled with the last chapter, and now the book is 156,490 words long (almost exactly what it was last night!). Next I will tackle the literal pile of post-it notes about the novel that have accumulated. After that, I will try to take a few weeks off from the book (and work on poems and/or short fiction) so I can come at it with fresh eyes. I'm hoping I can make this novel a little less massive in rewrites, though I'm sure there are things I'll need to add too.

I've been obsessed lately about the new novel I'm writing. But I have a novel coming out next month! Can't Find My Way Home will be available in paperback and ebook formats on January 15th. It's available now for preorder in the Kindle format. The novel features an intense, messy female friendship, a 1970s New York soap opera, political activism, and alternate realities. Publishers Weekly called it "a fascinating, disorienting ghost story set in the 1970s."

(OMG my debut novel is coming out next month...)

Part 2 of my novelette "A Wild Patience" (originally published by GigaNotoSaurus last year), is up at Escape Pod, hosted by S.B. Divya, with narration by Alethea Kontis. The third part will go up on March 4th.

Meanwhile, the song from last week's WandaVision has been ear worming me for nearly a week now. (Fortunately I really like that song.)