Winter’s on its way out...
...and I’m marching in with some updates, awards reminders, and a behind-the-scenes look at the most punk story I’ve ever written.
I was on holiday in early February, so I’ve been trying to get back to normal life and catch up on some of the things I had going on. Post-vacation jetlag is real, even when the time zone remains the same. Slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things though.
RECENT NEWS
Something cool that happened since my last newsletter was that the Worlds of Possibility anthology made Locus Magazine’s recommended reading list. This is so deserved. Editor, Julia Rios, did such an amazing job putting together a quality book filled with nothing but uplifting flash fiction. Not to mention beautiful art throughout. It even has two great covers if you buy the hardcover edition. I’m so proud to be a part of this anthology with my story, “Things Most Meaningful,” which as you may recall, also made the BSFA Longlist.
Also, my story, “The Body Remembers,” was featured in Meghan Smith’s film industry newsletter, Fiction to Features, for its cinematic potential. You might remember that my other story, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” was previously featured in Meghan’s newsletter. You can read what Meghan had to say about this latest story, here.
Speaking of “The Body Remembers,” the anthology it was first published in, Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures, got a shoutout in Arley Sorg’s Year in Review 2023 essay in Locus Magazine. You can read the complete essay here. More news about “The Body Remembers” later in this newsletter.
And finally, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 1, which includes my story, “Into the Frozen Wilds,” got a great review from the Ottawa Review of Books this past month. Among other things, reviewer Robert Runté had this to say:
Story quality ranged from “solid” to “outstanding” with the overall weighting tipped heavily towards the “excellent” end. If I’m honest, I think this collection is better than the one I co-edited, a reflection of how Canadian speculative fiction has expanded and matured in the decades since. Overall, it is a great collection, a great reflection on what Canadian speculative fiction has to offer, and a great first entry in which one can only hope will continue as an annual series.
Read the full review here.
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & science Fiction, Vol. 1 also got a lovely review from Amazing Stories magazine. You can read the full review here, but here’s a small excerpt:
In my opinion this volume of The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science fiction belongs on every Canadian reader’s bookshelf.
AWARD ELIGIBILITY
Voting has closed on the BSFA Awards, and the nomination period has ended for the Nebula Awards but there’s still time to consider some of my work for other SFF awards reading.
I have 11 eligible stories from 2023 that you can find here, with all the relevant information, but I’m most hoping people will consider my best-received story, and my own personal favorite, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont.” This story is free to both read and listen to at Fantasy Magazine, right here.
Voting for the Hugo Awards has been open for a while and Worldcon members have until March 9 to get those ballots in.
Nominations for Canada’s Aurora Award are open March 2, 2024 through April 6, 2024. Voting begins June 8, and closes July 13. Note that any Canadian citizen can nominate or vote on the Auroras by purchasing a $10 CSFFA annual membership here.
The Locus poll and awards ballot is also still open. Readers have until April 15 to get their votes in. Remember that anybody and everybody can vote for the Locus awards absolutely free, so get those votes in before the deadline.
And if you’re a member of the World Fantasy Convention (or were a member in 2022 or 2023) you have until May 31, 2024 to vote for your favorite stories for the World Fantasy Award. Just going to throw out there that my birthday is May 28, so if you want to help me celebrate, I’d love a nomination for “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont.”
Fun Fact: While Chilean authors have been nominated for—and have even won—literary awards like the Nobel and the Pulitzer, to my knowledge no Chilean writer has ever been nominated for a major speculative fiction award. It would be incredibly cool to be the first, so if you enjoyed my work, and are reading for awards, please keep my stories in mind.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
If you missed it, “The Body Remembers” was recently reprinted as a Farsi language translation at MetaphorSpace. It seems to be getting some good attention by Farsi readers. If you or someone you know can read Farsi, let me know what you think.
Learning to Be Human Short Stories is now officially out everywhere. This latest Flame Tree Publishing anthology includes my story, “Bright Horizons,” about a high school run by an artificial intelligence. You can order your copy here, or wherever you normally buy books.
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
INTERVIEWS
Together with the release of Learning to Be Human, Flame Tree published an author Q&A in two parts, asking the anthology authors about their inspirations for their stories, favorite stories in the genre, and about their writing process. You can find what I and my fellow authors had to say at part 1 and part 2 of the Q&A.
Also, at the end of last month I recorded another episode of Deborah Davitt’s Shining Moon podcast. This time I’m joined by fellow authors Bendi Barrett, Laurence Brothers, and Premee Mohamed. We’ll be discussing the ins and outs of novella-writing, and I’ll read an excerpt from my novella Lost Cargo. Should be an interesting chat. That’ll be episode 32 of the podcast and I’ll post on social media when it goes live.
JUST FOR FUN
You might recall that my cat Rebel was the star of SFWA’s “Mascot Monday” in January. But on February 12 it was her sister Jax’s turn to shine. Here’s a pic of Jax being her cute self.
If that’s not enough, a couple of weeks later, Jax and Rebel were BOTH featured on “Mascot Monday.” Both cats are very pleased to be getting so much love from SFWA.
And while it’s a little off-season, I made this craft that turned out really cute so I thought I’d share it with you. I saw this in a viral post shared by The Bookcase Beauty on Instagram. The idea was to fill a clear ornament with mini versions of the books you read during the year. I modified it a bit by using the covers of my publications (at least the ones that had cover art to use).
It took me a while to gather all the elements to make the ornament, which is why I only finished this in February, but better late than never. My hope is to continue to add covers as time goes on, which is why I got a large ornament to fill. Many people seem interested in this craft, so you can get the template for it here. It’s free but note that it requires you to subscribe to The Bookcase Beauty blog.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: “Vinyl Wisdom”
I was born in 1975, same year as the Sex Pistols, and my character “John,” as my story says. As a result, I grew up during the height of punk. As a young child, I loved the punk aesthetic. I wanted to dye my hair crazy colors and wear safety pins for jewelry. I wanted to be a badass. But I was a little kid, so I had to live with my mom choosing my look for me (sigh) and mostly I listened to the music my parents liked—which was definitely not punk.
Regardless, this early love of all things punk stayed with me, so when Zsenon Publishing put out a call for punk-themed science fiction stories in 2018, it got my attention. There was just one problem: I’m not really one of those people with a lot of music history knowledge. I liked punk and punk music, generally speaking, but I didn’t feel like I knew enough about it to write a story. I guess you could say, I didn’t want to be a poser. So, I figured the submission call for A Punk Rock Future wasn’t for me, and I moved on.
I worked on other stories for a while, but this punk theme kept popping into my mind like an intrusive thought. Despite my reticence, I started to envision this post-apocalyptic world and an aging punk who’s story would be told by his grandson, “Joey.”
Fun fact: If it’s not immediately obvious, John and Joey were named for Johnny Rotten (of the Sex Pistols) and Joey Ramone (of the Ramones), respectively.
The first concrete story element that—in true punk fashion—kicked it’s way into my consciousness, was the opening line: Whenever I’d ask John how old he was, he’d tell me he was “born in ’75, same year as the Sex Pistols.” I knew this story wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote it, so I went from there, and gradually the narrative began to take shape.
At this point, I’d only published two pieces of fiction, and neither of them had sold for professional pay rates. I was green as they come, and I have to admit the original draft of this story wasn’t all that strong. But it had a couple of things going for it, primarily the voice of my narrator, Joey, the hero of this publishing tale.
Well, one of the heroes anyway. The other one, who deserves a lot of credit, was editor Steve Zisson. It was Steve who saw the promise in this story and pointed out some areas in which I might strengthen it. Like any good editor, he didn’t dictate how my story should be written. He understood that it should be my story and should be told my way. But his suggestions for pacing and a few other details I hadn’t considered gave me a road map to follow. So I made some changes, and he accepted my revised piece for A Punk Rock Future, giving me my first pro sale. It also became my first story to land on a recommended reading list when A.C. Wise included it among her favorite stories of 2019.
Fun fact: Titles have always been hard for me, and I had a tough time coming up with a good one for this story. The original title was actually, “Punk’s Not Dead,” which was weak, and I knew it. Steve Zisson called me out on this and pushed me to come up with something better. In the end I came up with “Vinyl Wisdom,” which we both felt was much stronger.
Years later, “Vinyl Wisdom” remains one of my favorite stories in my bibliography. I still enjoy giving it a read now and then, and hearing Joey’s voice as he and his grandfather struggle to find common ground across their generational gap.
My only regret with this first publication was that since A Punk Rock Future wasn’t free-to-read online, it meant fewer people were likely to read the stories in it. So, I was thrilled when in late 2021, “Vinyl Wisdom” was accepted for publication by Haven Spec. The story was reprinted in May of 2022 and has since been able to find a new audience online.
But let me back up a bit. I’d mentioned earlier that I didn’t feel I knew enough about punk to base a story on it. Enter the research phase. Most people have heard the old adage, “Write what you know.” The thing is, that can be pretty limiting to a writer if they don’t have broad and extensive knowledge across several subjects. In reality, it’s more like, “Write what you’re able to learn about.”
So I set off on a crash course on all things punk. Not just the music, but the entire philosophy behind punk. I learned about the origins of the music genre, the look, the attitudes, the politics and other things that inspired it. In short, I learned punk was about much more than safety pins and colored hair (though since my mom stopped managing my look, I’ve dyed my hair many times in various crazy colors). I learned punk was more of a movement, so I made that idea the theme of my story. I made it the wisdom that John so desperately wants to pass on to Joey, even if it takes Joey a little time to get it through his thick skull.
Fun Fact: My cat, “Rebel,” is named after John’s late wife (and Joey’s grandmother), the inspiration behind the gospel of punk. Rebel (the cat) lives proudly up to her name, never letting us forget that punk is about thinking for yourself, not doing what you’re told.
“Vinyl Wisdom” was also the first time I used music as a story element. I’ve since gone on to use it many times, weaving various genres from just as many eras into stories like, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” “Face the Music,” and others. I’ve always felt the arts are all interconnected. Authors are often inspired by songs, paintings, movies, and more. It just feels natural to incorporate such things into my stories. In turn, I always hope my stories will serve to inspire other artists.
“Vinyl Wisdom” was originally published in 2018 in the anthology, A Punk Rock Future (Zsenon Publishing). It was reprinted in Haven Speculative in 2022.
If you enjoy reading the stories behind my stories, but you’ve missed some, find the ones I’ve covered in previous newsletters here:
Thank you for reading! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share.
P.A. Cornell