Happy Pride everyone! BrainwyrmsBy Alison Rumfitt(2023) When a TERF bombs Frankie’s workplace in a terror attack, Frankie finds her life is turned upside down, falling into an intense and toxic … Continue reading LIST: 10 Queer Horror Books for Pride Month
Let’s take a look at my reading stats for this year!
So, how has this year been? #1 – Expansion I have written lots of new stories this year! Some long, some short–all incredibly fun. I’ve also had the opportunity to … Continue reading Looking back at 2024…
My strange little story about the cycles of life, death, and love is now available to purchase in the Metamorphosis anthology!
So happy to be back again with another story in the Aberystwyth MA Anthology. One of the editors called my piece ‘confusingly comforting,’ which I’m pretty happy with!
As I said in my acceptance post, Necrobiome Love Affair is inspired by my current obsession of flies, maggots, and decay. It’s written from the perspective of a dead body and follows the decomposition of the corpse and its relationship to the lifecycles of flies as a metaphor for failed romances. I think people with literary gothic sensibilities will enjoy it: it’s got death, rot, and weird sexual undertones.
Metamorphosis was a great pick for the theme by the editors–there’s just so many ways you can explore it! My pre-ordered copy arrived recently I have flicked through and looked at some of the pieces. So far my favourites are DIY by Fresno Thomas and Ruina by Anna Kosik. But there’s plenty more inside, so there’s sure to be something for everyone!
Metamorphosis is available to purchase from Broken Sleep Books.
Click the link here: https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/metamorphosis
“Step into the shadowy realm where the Tarot’s Suit of Swords takes on a chilling twist.” With eleven short stories surrounding the theme of blades, this anthology has plenty talent … Continue reading OUT NOW! Year of the Tarot: Blades
For the fourth year in a row, I’ve been accepted into Aberystwyth University’s MA Anthology!
This year’s theme was ‘metamorphosis’–I always like to take the themes of these anthologies and turn them into something dark, and this was a particularly fun one.
Inspired by my current obsession of flies, maggots, and decay, Necrobiome Love Affair is a short story with gothic vibes and sexual undertones.
Written from the perspective of a dead body, the story follows the decomposition of the corpse and its relationship to the lifecycles of flies as a metaphor for failed romances.
So happy my streak hasn’t been broken and very excited to see all the other pieces!
Read it or I’ll drag you down to a watery grave!
As you know, I was an editorial assistant for this issue of Divinations Magazine–you can spot my name under the acknowledgements in the front!
I had so much fun working on this issue and helping edit one of the pieces. I think the final product turned out great and there’s some wonderful stories and poems in it. There are a variety of different takes on the theme, so there is hopefully something for everyone. We’ve got plenty of eeriness and dread, some body horror and blood, and even a little bit of sweet wholesomeness for those less fear-inclined. Some of my personal favourites include ‘Mixtapes for Mermaids’ by Faith Allington, ‘Lumps’ by Maggie Koons, and ‘Drift’ by Ash Morelock.
I hope you enjoy this issue! Feel free to comment your favourite piece below.
“Sea” you for Issue 4! 😉
Pleased to say that I’m back working at Divinations Magazine, this time as a volunteer fiction editor!
When the opportunity came up to work with the magazine again, I jumped at the chance. The editorial assistant job was so fun and went so well that I was delighted to return.
I won’t say much as of right now, but I’m really looking forward to helping with the next issue. No spoilers, but the vibes for the theme are impeccable and should generate some interesting stories.
Let’s get this party started!
My volunteer editorial assistant job at Divinations Magazine has come to an end! Here’s how it went…
For the first stage, I was assigned a couple of pieces to read and assess their suitability for the upcoming issue. The magazine kindly provided a document detailing what sort of things to look out for while reading which helped the process along. Having read the previous issues also made things easier, as I knew what sort of tone and style the magazine was already looking for.
I enjoyed picking apart the pieces and writing the feedback for them, but it was tough to reject something. As an author, turning another person’s piece away felt like I was shooting myself in the gut, but it was unavoidable. The piece in question had a great concept and some beautiful description but lacked focus–hopefully the author will refine it and find a home for it in the future.
The magazine agreed with my feedback and conclusions, and we were able to move onto the next stage: editing.
I was given a very short story–100 words–to edit for the magazine. Again, a handy document on what to look for was provided by the magazine. Nonetheless, this was a tricky job because the author (unsurprisingly) hadn’t made a whole lot of obvious errors in such a short piece. However, when I sat down and really combed through it, I was able to make some style and clarity suggestions that I think made the piece flow better overall.
Luckily, the magazine once again agreed with my ideas and the edits were sent back to the author for approval. (They even agreed with my suggestion of using a semi-colon, a piece of punctuation I am only 85% sure that I know how to use correctly…)
Now, we wait for publication! I’m really looking forward to seeing the final product and getting to read all the other pieces that got accepted. This was such a fun and informative experience and Divinations were great to work for–polite, prompt, and encouraging.
I loved the whole thing, and I am so happy I got to do this.
I’m really bad at keeping resolutions, but it can’t hurt to try, right?
Bringing out the big guns for the first resolution…sort of.
I got plenty of ideas for novellas, but between writing and submitting all the short stories last year, I never really focussed on any of them. This year, I would like to at least try to write some part of a larger narrative–nothing too long, but definitely longer than what I usually write.
I’m not putting pressure on myself to finish it. If I do, then great, but just starting at this stage will make me happy. Taking the first few steps is good enough for me for now.
This is a bit vague. It could either mean write a whole new comic script, or maybe even edit and submit the one I wrote for my MA to somewhere?* Either way, I would like to get back into comics, as I truly adored studying them and focussing on them for my Master’s.
Writing a comic script is quite different to writing prose. One thing I like a lot is that when I describe an appearance or a setting to the artist, I can have them hide things for the keen-eyed reader to find! You can tuck things away in backgrounds or use a character’s appearance to imply a backstory and there’s no guarantee a reader will catch it on their first read–the trouble with prose is that I point out the scar on the cheek or the suspicious crack in a glass, then you have to pay attention to it because I’ve wrote it and you’ve read it! But putting things in the script that can be hidden in the art is just so mischievous and fun and something I love about writing comics.
(*Post about that story in the future maybe?)
I’m not actually totally sure about this one, but I’ve written it now so…I guess I got to try?
I’ve never been a poetry person, but I’ve been considering doing the occasional bit of verse for fun. Back in university I had to do poetry for a couple of modules and I got some good feedback on a few bits and pieces, so I reckon it wouldn’t hurt to try. My mum has always been good at poetry, so maybe she can help me!
As I said in the ‘Looking back at 2023’ post, the rejections can get a bit dejecting. But I want to keep on going! If nothing else, the practice will be good.
I hope to achieve at least all of these goals, but if I don’t then I would not be too mad at simply keeping the same pace as I set in 2023 and only fulfilling resolution number five. I have to remember that I’ve only really just started properly focussing on my stories and that things won’t happen over night. As long as I keep writing, keep submitting, and keep trying, then I have nothing to be ashamed of. Putting myself out there is scary and getting rejections is difficult, but patience and persistence are key!
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