Ceallaigh's Blog
Greetings, Friends!
I had meant to post a year-end writing recap on New Years' Eve, but I had friends over to play D&D for two days straight, and I'm the glass cannon of the party (sorcerers FTW!). Clearly, casting Tasha's Caustic Brew on invisible giant spiders was far more important than writing about writing. Anyway, here I am, and here's the recap.
But I can't really call this a "writing" recap, can I? My first publication of the year was Shatter and Rise, an EP of three songs I released into the world on May Day. Of all the work I brought to the table this year, I'm most proud of these three songs. They were a long, long, long time in coming. Welcome to the world, little musics. If you're Canadian, I hope you'll consider "Shatter and Rise" and "Cruel Johnny" for the 2023 Aurora Award in the Best Poem/Song category.
Buy Shatter and Rise on Bandcamp | Stream Shatter and Rise
It's been a real pleasure writing for the Alphabet Anthology series; some of my best stories have come out of Rhonda Parrish's prompts. So I'm delighted to show you the cover for the next instalment of the series; G Is for Ghosts. Subscribers to the Folklore & Fiction dispatch and podcast will have already seen an excerpt from my story around the letter "C," but here it is again, in case you haven't read it.
Three dreams of sorrow were given to Serkleit, Goddess of Art and Fermentation, Keeper of Caves at the Heart of the World, before her deification.
Once in a while, I love to occupy that liminal storytelling space between poetry and fiction and tell a richly-phrased story in just a few words. When Rhonda Parrish invited me to submit a story for consideration in her tarot anthology Arcana, I did just that. "The Moon" is the shortest story I have ever written and an effort to apply the meaning and symbolism of the card itself to the experience of being a transgender woman. While I'm a natal woman, I hope it offers something gentle and poetic to that experience and to my friends in the transgender community.
About three years ago, Rhonda Parrish wrote to ask me if I'd like to submit a story for a tarot-themed anthology featuring a tale for each card in the major arcana. I was stoked and pulled the major arcana cards out of one of my (many) tarot decks to ask which card I should write about. I drew The Moon, so I wrote Rhonda and asked for it. She later told me she was at lunch when she received the email, said to her friend that she had never been asked for the moon before, and then replied to me that I could have it. Who knew it was so easy to actually get the moon?
Today, I'm thrilled to announce that Arcana is nearing publication, filled with a deck of stories by a host of talented authors. Rhonda herself writes that:
Tarot card decks have twenty-two major arcana, filled with symbolism and imbued with meaning. Explore the greater secrets and ideas behind those cards with the stories and poems of Arcana. Discovery awaits in tales such as a grasping king struggling with his legacy, an alchemist setting a golem out on a mission of revenge and a woman finding what she didn’t know she was looking for.
Each story is like drawing a card from the deck–you never know what it might reveal.
Featuring stories by Sara Dobie Bauer, Greg Bechtel, Beth Cato, Eliza Chan, Kevin Cockle, Sara Cleto, J.G. Formato, Chadwick Ginther, Joseph Halden, Gabrielle Harbowy, Jim C. Hines, Diana Hurlburt, L.S. Johnson, Dan Koboldt, C.S. MacCath, Susan MacGregor, Cat McDonald, Annie Neugebauer, Alexandra Seidel, Angela Slatter, Sarena Ulibarri, Brittany Warman and BD Wilson.
After a long dry spell, I am delighted to report that I have a new poem in print in the speculative poetry journal Liminality. Here it is, and please do take a moment to peruse the other pieces as well. It's a lovely issue.
http://www.liminalitypoetry.com/issue-25-autumn-2020/i-dreamed-of-a-woman
A good friend and fellow author recently mentioned that it's a terrible thing to have a book published during a pandemic. She's proud of her work but doesn't feel she should promote it while so many are worried about so much.
This is where I come in. I care very much for my writing community, and I want to help my fellow authors in these troubled times. With that in mind, here are several new releases and a newsletter by fellow Canadian authors. If you're at home and looking for something to read, they've got you covered.
Sometime in December, likely on or around the winter solstice, I'll be releasing a second edition of The Longest Road in the Universe: A Collection of Fantastical Tales. My primary reason for doing this is to change the cover and add a story. I love the current cover and always have; Murky Depths commissioned the art from Nancy Farmer when it bought the titular story from me years ago, and I've always thought it captured an important moment in the narrative. But readers have told me it gives the impression that the collection is comprised of horror stories, and it isn't. (It's a mix of science fiction and fantasy.) So I'm changing the cover and moving the art inside to illuminate the story for which it was commissioned. I'm also adding a story first published in the Stolen Island Review in 2003.
The When Words Collide festival has released its tentative final program, so I thought I'd share my itinerary:
Friday 3 PM - Canmore - Fairytales, Fables and Folklore Remade
C.S. MacCath, Carol Parchewsky, Jim Jackson, Ron Oswald [PM]
Fairytale remakes, historical reimaginings, using themes from the past to create a new story. What is being done in today's Young Adult fiction, and how can past inspiration be made new again?
I've written a short article for the #FolkloreThursday project covering a bit of folklore history, a bit of folklore theory, and a bit of contemporary folklore studies. It's live on the website now, and you can read it at: https://folklorethursday.com/folklore-folklorists/what-is-folklore
For the fairy enthusiasts among you, here's a story bundle curated by Sandra Kasturi containing the new F is for Fairy anthology, which includes my short story "B is for Burned/Every Broken Creature." Other contributors include Jane Yolen, Gemma Files, Marie Bilodeau, Nancy Springer, and more! You can buy the bundle here.