Twitter: Sometimes Still Good!

By the way, a wonderful soul over at Short Story Memes described my piece "Frost Bloom" in, yes, short story memes:  https://twitter.com/shortstorymemes/status/1712275754330058851

Enjoy!

Come Play a Game at Clearwater Lake

Woo! "A Game at Clearwater Lake" is available for your reading pleasure at The Dark Magazine!

We were in fifth grade the February we played hockey on the lake. It was Ryan, Becky, a few other girls in our class, and I. It was my idea. Recently, I had seen curling on TV for the Winter Olympics and thought we could figure out how to do it with real stones and evergreen branches as brooms, but Ryan wasn’t interested and Becky just nodded politely. It must have sounded to them like the time I got really into Swiss Family Robinson and wanted to build a fort in the woods with the kids I babysat. When I instead said “hockey,” though, Ryan and Becky lit up. The rink in town was being used by the boys in our class that day and the snow had melted enough that we could ride our bikes to Clearwater Lake. 

 

When we looked down at it from the top of the hill, he stood on the ice. He was a black pupil in the center of a white eye.

Read the rest here! 

Story Sale: The Dark!

I just sold a short story to the horror and dark fantasy magazine, The Dark Magazine! I'm very excited about this one. It's called, "A Game at Clearwater Lake," and it involves a possible ghost and a hockey mask. (Is announcing this on June 13th a coincidence? PERHAPS. OR PERHAPS NOT.) My thanks to editor Sean Wallace!

When it publishes, you know I'll be posting about it here.

The One Girl

As a fan of genre/pulp films, I love them but they don’t always love me back. It’s genuinely frustrating to see flat characterizations of women in ensemble action films, especially when they're overly idealized and apparently free of anything resembling human flaws.

Anyway, my rant-turned-flash-fiction published with Electric Spec, “The One Girl,” is out today! Thank you to the editors for working with me on this one, particularly Lesley L. Smith and Grayson Towler!

Painting: Allen Anderson, "Sargasso of Lost Starships," Planet Stories, January 1952

Electric Spec Story Sale!

Boskone was extraordinary. How lovely to be back in person again!

In the mean time, I have a short story announcement.

According to my files, I've been sending submissions on and off to the online magazine, Electric Spec, since 2010. Now, after twelve years, I finally have a short story that will be published by them.

"One Girl" is a short story that I wrote in a fit of anger at the superhero genre and one that, I think, transmutes my feeling then into something far more potent. I look forward to sharing it with you. Many thanks to editor Grayson Towler for giving this one a shot

2021 Publications: A Year in Review

It's been a busy year. I'm really proud of the stories I've published. They're now eligible for 2022 awards.

"King Moon's Tithe to Hell" is about a woman, another woman, the land of Faerie, and a journey to Hell. Also, far more terrifying, commitment. It's my first work of prose accepted by Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet and is in their June 2021 issue.

"House of Wolves" is about the "found family" trope but also I wanted to explore its potential toxicity. I'm so pleased Kaleidotrope put it in their Summer 2021 issue and grateful that it was accompanied by some lovely art (right) by Cindy Fan, "Tea Time."

"Here is the Girl Ghost" is a ghost story set in a house that's a lot like the one I live in now. (Okay, I live in an apartment in said house, but still.) It features memories I have of visiting France. I'm happy it has a home in Mirror Dance, July 2021.

What a pleasure to have my queer, dysfunctional vampire romance, "Frost Bloom" in Nightmare Magazine, September 2021. It's my first short story in Nightmare and my first in a John Joseph Adams publication. What a thrill!

Shout Out from Best Horror of the Year Vol. 13!

In Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year Volume 13, my short story, “Her Eyes Like Silver Dollars,” got a shout out in the Honorable Mentions! Special thanks to the editors of Wicked Women: An Anthology of New England Horror Writers, Trisha J. Woolridge and Scott Goudsward. And thank you to my fellow anthology wicked women and notables, Jennifer Williams and the irreplaceable Jane Yolen.

Also, my gratitude to new Patreon supporter, Abner Hall! Thanks, friend!

Infernal Salon: The Stream Recording!

This past Sunday, C. S. E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez hosted the Infernal Salon to support Strange Horizons! With the use of Negocios Infernales, a dice-less roleplaying game, each writer on the stream was challenged to write a short piece in a little over a half hour. The result was a four hour stream and a boost to Strange Horizons' Kickstarter for the coming year!

You can skip ahead to 2:18:38 of the four hour stream to see me reading a section of the 900-word (!!!) flash fiction I wrote. It's currently titled, "Poisoned Crossing," but may change once I get a chance to edit it.

Here is the Mirror Dance Girl Ghost

So, because I am a walnut sometimes, I completely forgot to promote this flash piece that was published in Mirror
Dance for the Spring 2021 issue. It's called, "Here is the Girl Ghost." Editor Megan Arkenberg kindly gave it a home.

It took me a long time to place this story and it's a piece close to my heart. I don't pull straight from my own life a lot, but the memories attached to France are real. If the ghost is real, too, I haven't spoken to her, as far as I can remember.

It's a Beautiful Nightmare

IT'S HAPPENING.

Not only is it spooky season, but my short story, "Frost Bloom," is in this month's issue of Nightmare Magazine along with an Author Spotlight. You should absolutely buy an issue and support editor Wendy Wagner and my fellow authors, Orrin Grey, Franklin Ard, and Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas. 

But, if you don't want to, that's fine, because it's free today!

Enjoy some queer horror, friends!

Cowboys and Cannibal Brides!

I'm completely bowled over. In early July, I quickly wrote and sent a submission to Flame Tree Fiction's newsletter flash fiction challenge, Hungry Cannibals. Thursday, I got an acceptance for the story.

Today? My horror flash fiction piece, “A Bride from the Hill Folk,” went out in the newsletter! It has cowboys, a post-apocalyptic landscape,  and, yes, cannibals. All in 1000 words!

I'm shocked and pleased by the quick turnaround time. The story will appear on the website in a month. I'm also very proud of it and think it's one of the creepiest things I've managed to publish. I can't wait to share the perma-link with everybody.

Wolf House and A Fine Time for Romance (Fiction)

My new short story, House of Wolves, is up in the new issue of Kaleidotrope! Please enjoy it, the other stories of the Summer 2021 edition, and this devastating art by Cindy Fan.

In other news, I spoke with book critic Peter Berard at Melendy Avenue Review about a passion of mine that woke up a couple years ago: reading romance fiction. The discussion includes a brief overview of pioneering force in historical romance Georgette Heyer, romance fans as early adapters of ereader technology, the importance of escapism, and, of course, the difference between "closed door" and "open door" romance! (Hint: it's sex.)

It was fun to do. Getting to talk to people about my specific interests is always a delight. Because I largely move in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre circles, this was a really unique opportunity. Thanks to Peter for asking thoughtful questions and his willingness to engage over different literature!

Requiem for Spooky Season: A Mega Round-Up of Fiction, Theater, YouTube, Game Writing, and Things I've Been Doing

October is in the rearview mirror, now, but for me, spooky season is forever.

On November 24th, Wicked Women: An Anthology of New England Horror Writers dropped. It was edited by Trisha J. Wooldridge and Scott T. Goudsward with a cover by Lynne Hansen. The writers in it, among many, include Jane Yolen, Hillary Monahan, and myself. I'm ecstatic to be in such company.

I wrote the short story that was accepted to the collection, "Eyes Like Silver Dollars," some years ago. It was wonderful to edit it under the guidance of Trisha Wooldridge. I spoke about it at length with her as well as fellow writers Lola J. Clemente and Christine Lajewski, and the cover artist, Lynne Hansen, for the Wicked Women panel we recorded for Salem Horror Fest 2020.

You can find the specific "Wicked Women" panel here and other programming here! 

Please take a look. It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of this online convention, especially during the isolation of the pandemic.

If that's not enough for you, I did a reading for the fest, as well! 

It's actually from the beginning of "Bobbie and Her Father," my other short story published this year.

This story has garnered some delightful praise, which you bet I'm linking here for my own edification:

The father in the thought-provoking “Bobbie and Her Father” by Gillian Daniels is a modern Victor Frankenstein, and Bobbie is his creation. [...] [O]ne is left pondering many of the themes of Mary Wollstonecraft’s original: the consequences of one’s actions, the ramifications of playing god and/or trying to conquer mortality, and the fact that monsters are not born monsters.

- Paula Guran, Locus Magazine

The story is by turns heartbreaking and frightening, and while it is not without its death and gore, at its heart, it is a story of monstrous loneliness rather than monstrous rage.

- A.C. Wise, Shiny Shorts: Monster Summer 

The horror here builds nicely.

- Sam Tomaino, SFRevu

Oh my gosh. THIS STORY. It is a wrenching, horror-ifically funny, and devastating take on Frankenstein, all set in modern-day suburbia, and featuring the regular kinds of people that probably maybe live on any given street. Daniels's story twists and turns through unsettling scifi, to horror and dark comedy, into something that is almost (but only almost) heartwarming.

- Maria Haskins, My Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Short Fiction Roundup - August 2020 

 

Thank you. I'm so moved. I was so nervous when The Dark Magazine agreed to publish this story, but I should have realized the audience for it was there and waiting.

Speaking of readings, the YouTube channel TheDevilsInterval did a reading of my short story, "Older Sister." It was originally published in The Dawnline RPG with Voidspiral Entertainment in 2018. 

The narration is amazing. You should totally check out his channel and the other stories he's read and produced.

Last but far from least, I wrote a piece of theater/teleplay which premiered in October. It's called, "Let Slip the Dogs of RAWR XD" for our Catalyze Open House. It was a crash course in learning how to edit video, too, which was enormous fun.

Sienna is Kitty Drexel, an actress and my editor over at The New England Theatre Geek. Shawn is played by the excellent Joshua Berkowitz-Geller and Baby, the dog, is the esteemed Jenny Gutbezahl.

I wrote this with Catalyze Playwriting Group, which we premiered in the Catalyze Open House which I helped design, another learning experience that was fascinating and rewarding. 

I absolutely recommend clicking through to find the many Easter eggs my fellow playwrights and I hid throughout. One is a Twine game I made in the basement!

This is all to say, I've been busy and doing my best to take care. 

I hope you're taking care, too.

Radiant Reading

On Saturday, November 3rd, my ten minute play, "Radiant Bones," will be over at Central Square Theater for a Pre-Show Saturday Symposium before the evening showing of Frankenstein.

If you can, please join me there. The show is about such cheerful subjects as radiation poisoning, nihilism, and what you would give up for love.

Hooray!

Also, another story of mine will be available in Voidspiral Entertainment's Dawnline RPG, available next year. The short story is called Ainsel and is about as long as Older Sister, which is still up if you would like to read it!

In the Deep Dark Woods

My jaw is ON THE FLOOR.

Ellen Datlow put down my short story, "Scott and Lara Go to the Woods" in editor John Benson's Not One of Us #57, as an honorable mention for Best Horror of the Year Volume 10!

What? How? I don't understand, but I'm very, very happy pleased about it.

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling edited adult fairy tale retelling anthologies that taught me I really did love dark fiction.

They also inspired me to write, to write weird, and to stay true to my interests, whether grim or fanciful, sweet or difficult.

Thank you for the shoutout. I really appreciate it.

***

Many thanks to the giving Ian Sharp for his wonderful, enthusiastic support on my Patreon! Hope you're enjoying my creepy comics!

***

My creepy fiction is found further afield!

In case you missed it, my flash piece, "Time is Like a River," dropped in July at Asymmetry. Give it a read!

Comics, Conventions, and Compliments!

Readercon is THIS WEEK and my schedule is RIGHT HERE!

I'm now posting daily comics and artworks (example in this post) now on my Patreon and Tumblr! If you would like to support my Patreon for $2 a month (such as dear supporter Alan Danziger), you can see my comics and other content a couple days before anyone else!

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't express my gratitude to Quick Sip Reviews, where Charles Payseur reviewed my flash piece, "Beast of Breath," in Fireside Fiction! Many thanks.

The Reviews Are In

I thought the best review for my short story, "His Wife and Serpent Mistress," (now available for free on Beneath Ceaseless Skies) would be from my mom. 

(Pictured left.)

But here comes Charles Payseur over at Quick Sips, ready to compete for that valued title.  He reviewed my story and called it, "a wonderfully joyous story that keeps an eye on what people really want, on compassion and belonging and people helping people." 

I have been floating all day. 

Thanks for getting it, dude.

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short Fiction, Triangulated

Triangulation: End of the Rainbow
Edited by Bill Moran (2010)
PARSEC; Soft Cover; 153 pages; ISBN: 978-0-9828606-0-1

PARSEC Ink's annual sci-fi/fantasy anthology uses what initially appears to be a cheerful theme to unite a number of varied and unlikely short stories. I'm at a loss as to how I haven't heard about the yearly series until now.

Triangulation: End of the Rainbow could have been a cheesy collection in the sweetly manipulative vein of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Instead, the stories delve deeply into different subgenres of sci-fi/fantasy, featuring gods, post-apocalyptic societies, and tourist traps for aliens.

Some of the fiction relates in very obvious ways to rainbows, color, or even just The Wizard of Oz. The first story, for example, David Sklar's "The Rainbow Vendor," is just a metaphor for finding where things belong. Or at least that's what my interpretation was. This story is sugary but by no mean sets the tone for the volume.

Then you have creations like Tinatsu Wallace's "A Womb of My Own," where a not so distant future has developed the technology for men to have children, or Ron Sering's "Spirit House," where a man ends up in Bangkok to forget his messy divorce. Neither relates to rainbows in an obvious or cutesy way, but with quiet hints that don't get in the way of a good story.

So. Is this book good, fun, both, or neither?

The fiction is wild and varied, an unexpected but satisfying blend. Some are better than others but all have their moments of grace and interest.

Strong short stories include Amy Treadwell's "The House at the End of the Rainbow," D.K. Thompson's "Haole," and Aaron Polson's "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable." Most of the works are deeply involving and juxtapose each other nicely. Please note, though, that because this is an independent publication and staff resources are limited, words pop up missing once in a great while. It's not often but it can be jarring to read an excellent work of fiction and realize someone forgot to add an "and."

The collection ends on a dark note, first with Cat Rambo's "In Order to Conserve," about a world turning to black and white with no hope of regaining its old beauty. Perhaps more chilling is the afterward by editor Bill Moran.

Moran writes about the difficulties of maintaining a magazine in this age, specifically one devoted to fiction and fantasy. "Two cents a word is not a fair rate for the quality of stories we continue to find for these anthologies, not even close," he writes. "Yet it's more than we can justify, even with unpaid staff." He ends his outro talking about how he really believes in his work and knows what he's doing is important, but the tone of defeat is difficult to shake.

Literary magazines have never made very much money. I understand it's a hard business with few rewards.

But I just can't stand to think anyone who's participated in the creation of this book would believe they've failed when they've obviously succeeded so very well.