Yes, it’s cold, wet, and windy outside. But I feel full of (perhaps misguided?) optimism today, this first day of November. I have a short story publication to report, a new short story sale, and I’m working on yet another story – a happy state of affairs. Best of all, in two days, our southern neighbor may not re-elect a petty, vindictive, dishonest tyrant! Fingers and toes crossed, friends.

On to my writerly news. My short story Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality (about a universe-protecting cat!) has been published in Issue 126 of Lightspeed Magazine. It will be free to read on the magazine website on 26 November. Meanwhile, it can be read along with a whole host of wonderful stories in the ebook edition of the issue.

A while ago, I blogged about The Severed Head in Indian Mythology. Remember Barbarik/Barbareek? He who cut off his own head at Krishna’s request? I couldn’t stop thinking about him. So I wrote a story about the Kurukshetra war from his perspective. It’s the first time I’ve written a Mahabharata story, and I did wonder if it was meant for a Western audience at all. But never self-reject! Because to my delight, I sold this story to Uncanny Magazine, long one of my dream markets for short fiction. This weird story couldn’t have found a better home! It will be published some time in 2021, and I’ll post here when it’s available to read.

What else? I finished a round of edits of my fantasy novel that I’ve been working on since February. I kind of love it. I’m hoping I get to share it with others one day.

And I’m writing a new story, also about a cat. We can never have enough of those, in fiction and in real life. 🙂