Welcome to the July issue of my newsletter! We have three poems and a longer science fiction story for you to peruse poolside.
What was published in July 2023
I kicked off July with the publication of three collaborative poems I wrote for a submission call with Spark to Flame magazine. They graciously paired me with a poet I had never met before who provided a creative fragment: a few stanzas that mused on nature and time. Based on that fragment, I generated three poems in different styles: an erasure, a free verse, and a haiku. The piece opens Spark to Flame’s first issue and you can read Nettles Three Ways here. Their next collaborative poetry call opens August 15 and runs through October 15.
The second piece I had published was a science fiction story with Metaphorosis Magazine. I went through about six rounds of full revisions and edits with their keen-eyed and encouraging editor, Ben Morris, and the revision process was far more rewarding than the initial drafts as it challenged my process and forced me to rethink major elements of the work in different avenues. It’s always a great reminder how important feedback is within the creative community.
You can listen to the audio recording of When The Future Calls or read the full version here.
Also, peep my work that has appeared in print anthologies below! Even though I’m primarily published digitally, it’s always a thrill to receive a physical copy of my work. Huge thank you to Third Wednesday, Bitterleaf Books, Soor Ploom, and Metaphorosis Magazine for making that effervescent feeling possible.
My favorite read of July: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
I’ve never read any of R.F. Kuang’s work before even though I am a HUGE fantasy fan, but I had heard great things about her most recent novel, Yellowface, on social media and the wider web. The novel did not disappoint. In terms of premise, Yellowface follows the ascent and descent of a white author named June Hayward who steals and reworks a fellow Chinese-American author, Athena Liu’s manuscript about Chinese laborers in World War I.
For folks who have worked within publishing industry, it has some very spicy criticisms of how publishing works today, bringing back memories from when I worked as a literary agent: how publishers choose bestsellers ahead of time, how getting a book contract is only the beginning of the battle, and how the fallacy is continued to be perpetuated by some white writers during the recent shift in focus on DEI that no one wants to publish them because they’re white rather than admitting to themselves that they just haven’t written anything new, innovative, or frankly, worth publishing. Also, here’s an article from Publisher’s Weekly stating that white authors made up 76% of the books published in 2019 - 2022, so don’t forget that white authors are still very much the majority in today’s publishing.
Yellowface is a self-described literary horror novel that, like a Black Mirror episode, reflects the reality of how we often let cultural appropriation continuously slide into our larger media diet in a way that’s sometimes too close for comfort. It forces readers to think through critical questions like:
What does it mean to tell other people’s stories and not compensate them for it, especially when those stories are appropriated from a marginalized community by white authors who rewrite them into tired white savior narratives?
Why is the publishing industry so afraid of alienating white audiences?
Has technology enabled a rabidness in online bullying and harassment that is justified by cancel culture?
It’s a book that’s hard to look away from. It’s satirical. It’s scathing. In its bluntness, in its critique of the way we consume media and how we try to convince ourselves that we’re always the good guy, even when we’re clearly in the wrong, the work is a triumph. Read it.
The look-ahead
I’ll be at the Salem Literary Festival reading a very short piece I have forthcoming with Five Minute Lit. Otherwise, I enrolled in Bethany Jarmul’s Line Editing Workshop in early August. She’s a fantastic author of CNF flash fiction and I wrote three pieces in one of her generative sessions in June, so very much looking forward to this class.
Otherwise, I’ll be working through a new science fiction idea and continuing an particularly brutal round of marathon training. Until next month! If you feel so moved, reach out! I’d love to hear from you. Have a wonderful week!