The ways in which 2025 did not suck (for me)

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

The world continues to be a terrible place. And it is also a beautiful place. People continue to be awful. And they are also lovely. I am unlucky but also lucky. Listen, it’s a matter of perspective – at least for those of us privileged enough to have a safe home and enough food to eat. So on this new year’s eve, I wanted to make a list of some of the ways in which 2025 did not suck. For me. Personally. Continue reading →

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The Teleporting Disaster Fairy

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

December, and I have managed to sneak in a third publication before the end of the year, yay! Yes, it is story day, my favorite. The Teleporting Disaster Fairy was published in the Nov/Dec issue of Uncanny Magazine and is now free to read online. Or you can listen to the podcast if you prefer audio. This is one of my more absurd stories. The character has very little agency but tries, despite the universe, to do her best. Which I guess sums me up as well, hah. Continue reading →

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Interview with writer Vanessa Fogg

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

Today I am delighted to welcome writer Vanessa Fogg to my blog. Vanessa is one of my favorite short fiction SFF writers and her collection The House of Illusionists has just been released: wonderful news for her readers and for lovers of haunting, bittersweet, and darkly beautiful stories. Continue reading →

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Vínculo de traición

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

Lovely news! The Spanish translation of my book Night of the Raven Dawn of the Dove has been released and it is is GORGEOUS. Vínculo de traición literally translates to “Bond of Betrayal” in English, and it is an apt title, considering that betrayal and revenge are the major themes of the book. It is a beautiful hardcover book with painted edges. Just look at it! I have included an image below, but you can see more at the publishers’ Instagram. I can’t wait to receive my author copies! Continue reading →

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The Library of the Apocalypse

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

Happy May Day! Happy short story day! Hah. Yes, I have a new story out today and it is a truly special one for many reasons, which I will lovingly detail below. The Library of the Apocalypse is a science fantasy story set in a future dystopian Toronto, and is free to read online in Issue 224 of Clarkesworld Magazine. It’s a very Canadian story, and one I could not have imagined writing a year ago. If you like my work at all, you should read this one. And if you have never read my work, why then, this is an excellent place to start. Continue reading →

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Men with Tails

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Rati Mehrotra

New story day! My short story Men with Tails is now live at Uncanny Magazine and free to read online. This story was both tremendous fun to write and a catharsis of sorts. It is the first time I have written a character with the same long COVID symptoms that I have. I feel seen! By myself, lol. Seriously, though, I hope my fellow sufferers in the world of short speculative fiction do feel seen. Long COVID is not a homogenous disease. It presents differently in different people. No matter what your symptoms, I wish for you the same things that I wish for myself: that your periods of remission get longer, your symptoms milder, your life a little closer to ‘normal’ with every passing year. Continue reading →

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In Loving Memory of my Grandmother

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Rati Mehrotra

My maternal grandmother Bimla Tandon has passed away at age 92. She leaves behind a younger brother and sister, three daughters, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren, whom she loved unconditionally, the way only a grandmother can. I feel many things, not all of which I can currently parse, but above all I feel gratitude that I had her in my life for so long. I was her eldest grandchild and she called me “the first flower in my garden.” She was a deeply loving, generous, wise, energetic and supportive person and the spiritual pillar of my maternal family. With her gone, a vital part of my childhood is gone too. Continue reading →

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Winter Journey

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Rati Mehrotra

Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert lived for only 31 years, but left behind a vast body of work, including the song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey), a setting of 24 poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. The poet also died young, of a heart attack at 32. As for Franz Schubert, there is no conclusive cause of death. He possibly suffered from syphilis, and some of his symptoms resembled mercury poisoning. But it could have been typhoid, salmonella or even leukemia. Days before his death, gripped by illness and deteriorating fast, he was still correcting the proofs of the second set of Winterreise. Continue reading →

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Markets of the Otherworld

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Rati Mehrotra

If there’s no one to read them, do my words truly exist?

This angst-laden question is posed by the narrator of my latest short story Markets of the Otherworld now live at Uncanny Magazine. But it could be mine – in the spirit of the famous question “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Continue reading →

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Goodbye (and good riddance) 2023

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Rati Mehrotra

Hello, hello. It’s been a while since I posted. Some quick writerly news first. Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove is getting both a Russian and a Spanish translation. I’m delighted, because I’m a firm believer in cross cultural pollination. The more translations that exist, the more bridges people can choose to walk across and meet each other. Continue reading →

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