Author of Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Science Fiction
Hi!
Did you miss our celebration of storytelling and joy yesterday? Or did you enjoy it so much that you want to experience it again? (You might!)
Then watch the recorded Atthis Arts reading here!
LS and I start reading around 1:18:50, but if you have the time, I absolutely recommend watching the whole video. And if you want to read a background story for E.D.E. Bell’s own reading, check out this hilarious Twitter thread.
Enjoy!
Minerva
Hi!
Just a quick reminder that LS Reinholt and I will be reading a fragment from “Dragon in the Cove” at the Atthis Arts Author Reading on Sunday September 11 – that’s tomorrow, or perhaps even today depending on when and where you are reading this!*
Register for free HERE to attend the event, which will take about 90 minutes, starting at 2:00 PM EDT or 8:00 PM CEST (= 20:00 for the people in and around Belgium, for example).
Aside from our fragment, there will be lots of cool authors presenting their stories the way they sound in their own mind, AND Gregory A. Wilson will be reading the intro to The Gray Assassin Book TWO: Renegade, AND there will be a special announcement at the end! Not a moment you want to miss, is it?
See you then, hopefully!
Minerva
*If you are reading this later than September 11, don’t be absolutely devastated that you missed it! Do check my blog again soon, as I will post the recorded YouTube link when it’s up.
Queer horror anthology Skulls & Spells is out now from Artemisia’s Axe!
Order it directly from the publisher in Hardcover or Ebook format, and add it to your to-read list on The StoryGraph!
Here’s a Tiktok video from the publishers, showing off the gorgeous full-colour hardcover edition:
Aside from lots of other great stories, poems, and beautiful art, this book contains short story “The Bound Heart”, written by LS Reinholt and me. It’s a fantasy horror story with a witch main character, xyr snake familiar, and horrible things happening in the woods. If you’re into creepy and bloody stories, it’s a pretty cool one, if I say so myself. Mind the content warnings in the book’s table of contents!
This is the teaser art we did to promote the successful Kickstarter (illustration by LS, colouring by me):
And if you’d like to hear another co-written story from LS and me (no horror, only fantasy!), remember to attend our reading on September 11! Read all info here, or reserve a spot for free right away.
P.S. Happy September 1st! Here’s the 337th edition of Paranatellonta, freshly posted.
Hello!
On September 11, 2022, you can attend the first Atthis Arts Author Reading, live at 2:00 PM EDT or 8:00 PM CEST. In other words, it’s at 20:00 that Sunday evening in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the rest of the Central European timezone. And for my frequent Australian reader (hi Nala!), I’m afraid it’ll be 3:30 AM for you, but there will be a recording afterwards!
This will be the first time LS Reinholt and I are doing an author reading together and I think it will be so much fun! We’ll pick a fragment from our short story “Dragon in the Cove” from Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove. Every author (or, in our case, author team) will have 5 minutes to read, making the whole event last 90 minutes. And there’ll be a lot you’ll want to hear: the authors include E.D.E. Bell emself, Ava Kelly, Ether Nepenthes, Gigi Ganguly, Gregory A. Wilson… I’m excited about every single name on the list, but I suggest you check the link here to find out which part of the Atthis family you’re about to meet! With 14 authors from 3 continents, you’re bound to discover some great new writing.
See you there!
Better put the tea and the towels ready.
Love,
Minerva
Hi!
Good news: my flash story “Secundum Artem” will be part of the Clarity anthology! That is the book resulting from this year’s Queer Sci Fi flash fiction contest, and I’m very proud to say it’s the fourth year in a row my story made it into the anthology. The book will contain 120 stories of 300 words or less, and is set to release on October 5, 2022.
You can see the full list of included stories in this Facebook post.
If you can’t wait to read a book of speculative flash fiction, find all the info about the previous editions Migration, Innovation, and Ink here on my website!
In other flash news (pardon my bad jokes), there will be an update about Skulls & Spells soon, and as on every 1st and 15th day of the month, Fie and I posted a new edition of Paranatellonta yesterday. The 335th already! I realise now that I’m writing this that we started the project in August, so we’ve been going for a whole 9 years – happy birthday, Para!
Enjoy the summer and stay hydrated!
Minerva
Hi!
The Ink anthology is out today and let me start by boasting about my awesome friends! Ink is the collection of 121 stories selected from Queer Sci Fi’s yearly flash fiction contest, and the first and second place went to no other than Ava Kelly and LS Reinholt, respectively! I’m so proud of them – and believe me, both these stories are brilliant. It was a well-deserved win for them both, so I’m glad the jury agreed! I’d also like to congratulate Emilia Agrafojo, who got the bronze medal with “Mixology”. I haven’t read this story yet, but I certainly look forward to it!
You can read all the announcements here: honorable mentions – judges’ choices – winners. Congratulations to all!
This also means that the anthology is now available for sale. There is even a hardcover available of this edition, aside from the ebook and paperback editions.
Here are some links where you can buy Ink: Amazon US – Amazon Deutschland – iBooks – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – Scribd – Thalia – Vivlio
You can also add this book to your shelves: Goodreads – The StoryGraph
And in this post you can read Queer Sci Fi’s own release announcement, with the full list of included stories as well as some story fragments (and a giveaway to celebrate the release): click.
And I’d almost forget to say: my story “Not Alone” is in this book too. Enjoy!
INK (NOUN)
Five definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell:
1) A colored fluid used for writing
2) The action of signing a deal
3) A black liquid ejected by squid
4) Publicity in the written media
5) A slang word for tattoos
Ink features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
Hi!
Great news: my genderfluid flash piece “Not Alone” will be part of Queer Sci Fi’s Ink anthology! This story was my 300-word entry for the yearly flash fiction contest that also gave us 2019’s Migration and 2020’s Innovation anthology. The release of Ink is planned on August 10, 2021, and by that time, Queer Sci Fi will be announcing honorable mentions (still proud of getting one last year!), judge’s picks, and three winners. Check out the full list of stories that will be published in the new anthology here – notice the names of friends L.S. Reinholt and Ava Kelly. Congratulations to these 120 writers!
While I’m here, an update on the Skulls & Spells Kickstarter. They took a great start and are now 58% funded. Let’s hope this keeps going! Their latest update talked about a secret stretch goal, so I can’t wait to see what Jinx and Jonas have in store. And, of course, I’m extra invested, as L.S. Reinholt and I have our story “The Bound Heart” in this book. If you like magical horror from queer creators, I’ll ask you once again to please consider supporting this Kickstarter.
Two more things on the topic of Kickstarters:
Love,
Minerva
Hello everyone!
The awesome cover above this text is that of the queer horror anthology Skulls & Spells, which will be published by Artemisia’s Axe and the Corpse’s Tongue later this year and which will contain the short story “The Bound Heart” written by L.S. Reinholt and me!
Today, the Kickstarter has launched to make this wonderful project happen. So if you’re into bright and thrilling horror stories with LGBTQI2SA+ representation, I definitely recommend checking out this link. There are ‘early bird’ rewards at a lower price, including patches, stickers, art prints and even an exclusive plushie! And of course you can pre-order the book itself, 150+ pages and in full colour – physical copies as well as pdf files. You can also use the Kickstarter to order your copy of Artemisia’s Axe’s previous anthology, Neon Horror, which ALSO includes a story by L.S. Reinholt and me! More details are, of course, found on the Kickstarter page itself.
To promote the anthology, L.S. Reinholt made the illustration below as a teaser for “The Bound Heart”, with colouring done by me. (CW: snake, human heart.)
And on the topic of Kickstarters, I’d also like to direct your attention to the fact that there are only 52 hours to go in the Alia Terra Kickstarter! (To spare you the maths if you’re reading this message later, it will end on June 25 at 2:00 AM CEST.) This beautifully illustrated queer book of fairy tales WITH DRAGONS hasn’t quite reached the funding goal yet that is necessary to become a fully illustrated book, so every coin that’s added to their campaign helps!
I’m also having a lot of fun seeing all the wonderful comments to the blog tour for The Dragon of Ynys! Remember you can check this post to see where we are today; the posts marked with “guest post” contain little interviews with me, if you like that sort of thing!
Sending lots of love, good vibes, and magic!
Minerva
’tis the season…
I haven’t made an awards eligibility post before, but as I see them going around on social media, I thought it couldn’t harm to list my publications of 2020.
My novella The Dragon of Ynys came out in September 2020 with Atthis Arts. Mind that it is a re-publication after revising the story I published in May 2018 with Less Than Three Press, so it may not be eligible for some awards, as it’s not a first edition. (Both editions were published in the US.) However, aside from many smaller revisions, the 2020 edition has a brand new epilogue and afterword, and the 2018 edition had only appeared as an ebook, not in print. The new edition is available both as ebook and in print, and the new cover was designed by Ulla Thynell.
The Dragon of Ynys (24,000 words) is a fairy tale with an aromantic asexual main character, trans and lesbian supporting characters—and, of course, a dragon. The genre is fantasy, and it is suitable for all ages. You can read all about it here.
Also, if you’re looking for an editor to nominate: E.D.E. Bell is the amazing editor of The Dragon of Ynys as well as the anthology Community of Magic Pens (see below).
I had 4 short stories published in 2020. There are no reprints among these.
1: Stars from the Stars in the anthology Space Opera Libretti, edited by Jennifer Lee Rossman and Brian McNett. (Published in the US, 4600 words.)
Simon is a siren who lives alone on a rock in space, until he’s picked up by the Stars from the Stars ship to compete in the universally beloved talent show. Even though he’s completely confident in his abilities, he might learn a thing or two on the way…
This story is inspired by shows like America’s Got Talent… in space!
2: Memory Malfunction in the anthology Community of Magic Pens, published by Atthis Arts and edited by E.D.E. Bell. (Published in the US, 2100 words.)
“Memory Malfuction” is about an android applying for a job as an intergalactic antiques salesman. The company bosses, however, have their doubts…
3: The Lost, co-written with L.S. Reinholt, in the anthology Neon Horror, published by The Haunted Bouncy Castle. (Published in the UK, 3000 words.)
The Lost is a science fiction horror story about two travellers in space whose logs and maps have been erased. When they encounter another ship, they hope they’ve found a solution, but instead lose even more.
4: The Emperor’s New Helmet, in the anthology Innovation, published by Other Worlds Ink. This flash piece of 300 words received an honourable mention in the 2020 Queer Sci Fi Contest. (Published in the US.)
Ever since August 2013, I write ten-sentence stories based on photos made by my friend Fie. This project is called Paranatellonta. Every edition (294 at the moment of writing this post!) is published online on Tumblr and available for free, so even though I’m not sure this would fit into any awards, feel free to take a look at the newest stories or find yourself a random story from sometime in the past 7+ years. The stories from 2020 are editions 273 to 296.
Paranatellonta updates on the 1st and 15th of every month. Fie and I celebrate every tenth edition by switching roles: in those editions I take a picture and Fie writes a story.
We first discovered this concept when we enjoyed Erin Morgenstern and Carey Farrell’s Flax-golden Tales and became inspired.
Edit 20/11/20: Atthis Arts also has an awards eligibility post up now, which you can find here.
The Innovation anthology is out today!
It contains 120 pieces of flash fiction with a speculative element and queer representation, including my story “The Emperor’s New Helmet”, which I’m proud to say received an honorable mention in the contest. There are also stories by my friends E.D.E. Bell, Ava Kelly, Ether Nepenthes, and L.S. Reinholt. The judges’ choices were announced here and we also know the winners now: third place went to “Antlers” by K.A. Masters, second place to “Dragonslayer” by E.M. Hamill, and first place to “The Fleshsmith and the Metalsmith” by Devon Widmer. Click on the names to read more about the winning stories on the Queer Sci Fi website.
Congratulations to the winners, judges’ choices, fellow honorable mentions and everyone who made it into the book!
You can buy Innovation on Amazon US, Amazon Deutschland (and of course all the other Amazons), iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo—and add it to you to-read shelf on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
Queer Sci Fi is also hosting a giveaway that runs until August 21, and on the same page you can read some excerpts from the book and see the full list of authors.
IN-NO-VA-TION (Noun)
1) A new idea, method, or device.
2) The introduction of something new.
3) The application of better solutions to meet unarticulated needs.
Three definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell. Here are 120 of our favorites.
Innovation features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
Keep your eyes peeled for some draconically big news next week!
Love,
Minerva
Minerva Cerridwen 