2023 in Review & Awards Eligibility
3 short stories, 1 creative non-fiction essay, and looking ahead to 2024
Dear reader,
A busy year is coming to a close, and it’s time to look back. I visited Adelaide, Clunes, Brisbane, Sydney, Byron Bay, Albury-Wodonga (virtually!) and Canberra for literary festivals—and navigated the steep learning curve of launching a debut novel. I travelled to Malaysia and Japan with family—and discovered that doing less, and slowly, is more. I returned to clinical and research work—and am accepting that juggling an assortment of commitments is the destination, not the thing to be endured.
This year, I published three short stories and one creative non-fiction essay. You can find them listed below, with tiny excerpts from each. If any tickle your fancy, I encourage you to pick up a copy and support short fiction publications—they are such a vital part of the literary landscape, and rely greatly on reader support to survive.
POST HACKING FOR THE UNINITIATED (CLARKESWORLD, OCT 2023)
Also vailable in audio online and on the Clarkesworld podcast wherever you stream!
My vision went hazy. I blinked hard, focusing on the two pains sitting like stones at the base of my skull. I unnetted the smaller one first. The release was a crest—euphoria, tenderness, blinding light—and then waves of stabbing pain, washing up inside my foot. I shuddered in the chair.
“Just take the analgesia,” Calam snapped.
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t like the stuff. I didn’t like how much I liked the stuff. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you try some pacification yourself, kid?”
Calam laughed, a brittle noise.
IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WERE TEETH (HELL & HIGH WATER, GOING DOWN SWINGING, 2023)
There are many ways to know a person. I have known others who sat in this dentist’s chair. I parted their wrinkling lips, probed their clasping gums, and felt their private pains. Many of them I released with only a gentle wish of wellbeing.
THE DEVIL’S HAIR (WHERE THE WEIRD THINGS ARE VOL. 2, DEADSET PRESS, MAY 2023)
Chloe told them in a proud whisper that this was a sign. “It’s called an omen,” she explained smugly. “I read it in a book. It means bad things are going to happen, like someone might die.”
HOLY REVELATIONS (UNQUIET SPIRITS, FEB 2023)
On a still summer’s night, the Holy Spirit descends. A campsite scattered with wooden cabins, surrounded by a whispering fringe of Australian natives. Amped-down electric guitars, casting wistful chords from the windows of the community hall. Within, it’s dark. Only the multicoloured spots from a cheap disco light whirl over upturned faces. A forest of teenagers, straining towards heaven.
What next? I have a storm of ideas: I want to write the second novel, I want to write the next linked story in the Orin-and-Calam universe, and I want to write more short fiction. I’m thinking about revenge, rage, gender, bodies, how love shapes a person, how memory shapes a person.
I’m thrilled that I’ve managed to scribble a new horror story that will appear in a very cool anthology next year (sneak peek: it riffs on the stereotype that “all Asian girls look the same” in a vengeful catharsis). And I’m excited that Continuum Con is returning to Melbourne in May 2024!
But I’ll tackle each new thing slowly. Particularly with the second novel, I’d like to grow into the person who is ready to write the story. And, as I’m sure you’d all agree, there are plenty of other things outside writing that deserve our attention—not least of which include tragedies close to home and afar.
And so. I’m looking forward to approaching 2024 in a quieter, deeper way. I’ll be working, caring, reading, thinking, and moving—and, of course, writing. I hope to share the journey with you.