News

Original Fiction published in 2017

4/1/2018

2017 was a challenging year in many ways, so I'm not sad to see it over. However, I had a lot of original fiction published that year in some of my favourite magazines, and all of them are on the Nebula Suggested Reading lists, alongside some truly incredible fiction. Here's a roundup!

Novelette

The Birding: a Fairy Tale (8,400 words), Strange Horizons (18 December 2017).
Like the zombie apocalypse, but with birds (and set in my Greek hometown).

Short Stories

Every Black Tree (4,400 words), Beneath Ceaseless Skies (October 2017).
Post-Bacchic fantasy.
The Rains on Mars (4,800 words), Clarkesworld (December 2017).
Hard, guilty SF.
The Nightingales in Plátres (5,200 words), Clarkesworld (October 2017).
Philosophical, retro SF (aka my Greeks in Spaaaaace story).
This one is on the BSFA longlist. Voting is open until 31 January!
Fixer, Worker, Singer (3,700 words), Shimmer (October 2017).
Poetic automata.

I hope you enjoy them. For more, take a look at my full bibliography.
Here's to a better 2018. I hope it treats us all well.

Happy New Year!

"The Birding: A Fairy Tale" in Strange Horizons

19/12/2017

My final piece of the year is also my first novelette (a short one, complete at 8,400 words, but still the longest thing I've published so far). It's an apocalyptic tale about birds, Greece, and the stories we tell each other at the end of the world.
You can read "The Birding: a Fairy Tale" here, or listen to the podcast, read wonderfully by Anaea Lay (just over an hour long).

"The Rains on Mars" in Clarkesworld (December 2017)

2/12/2017

In a surprise turn of events, I have another piece in Clarkesworld this year.
"The Rains on Mars" is a story about sibling love, trauma, and guilt.
Read here (4,800 words).
Listen here (35 minutes).

Later in December, I'll have a novelette in Strange Horizons that I can't wait to share. 2017 has not been an easy year, but it has been full of writerly excitement.
More soon.

"Every Black Tree" in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

12/10/2017

So apparently October is the month most of my forthcoming stories come forth at once.
You can now read "Every Black Tree" over at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. There will be a podcast too in a couple of weeks, if you prefer having short stories read to you.
[Content warning for suicide.]
Here's a peek:
This man. His accent is strange, foreign. How old is he? His hair is long and grey and curly, like Fedor's. He drinks from my glass. I'd forgotten what it's like to have a man sit at your table, drink from your glass. His smell. The old scar around his neck. Is it a double one—an old scar on yet an older one? The trembling of his hands. What am I doing. What am I doing.
Read the rest.

Fixer, Worker, Singer available online

3/10/2017

"Fixer, Worker, Singer" is now free to read online.
This is the first piece in a cycle I call The Great Welder Stories. It's a little steampunky and a little weird and a little dark (of course), with an experimental structure. Enjoy!

New story out in Clarkesworld Issue 133

2/10/2017

The Nightingales in Platres

My story about Greek diaspora in space is now out in issue 133 of Clarkesworld Magazine (alongside incredible writers like Nisi Shawl and Xia Jia!).

The cover art is by Marianna Stelmach.

Read the story here.

News & Publications, September 2017

19/9/2017

Hello!
I am resurrecting this blog to post publication news and other tidbits, so go ahead and subscribe to the RSS Feed if you want to receive notifications whenever I have something new out.
Here we go!

Fixer, Worker, Singer, Shimmer #39

The sky creaks as Fixer makes his way across the steel ramp that is suspended under the firmament. It's time to turn on the stars.
[...]
To read more, and for bonus interviews with the authors, get the issue (available online for free on October 3).

Alice in Peaceland, Nature #549

The first nightmare
The problem was we trusted Alice too much.
I knew I was dreaming.
I couldn't breathe. The air around me was thick with smoke. My eyes stung. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand; it came away black with soot and bloody.
[...]
Read the rest here.

Calls for Submissions: November - December 2016

29/10/2016

There are some upcoming calls for submissions that I thought I would share. I am planning to submit to at least some of those:

Catalysts, Explorers & Secret Keepers: Women of SF: "An anthology of science fiction showcasing how women have been an integral part of science fiction as authors, as readers, and as characters for more than a century." 2,000-5,000 words. Payment 6c/word. Deadline 1 December 2016.
THE DEATH OF ALL THINGS: An anthology of stories that feature Death as a character. <7,500 words. Payment 6c/word. Deadline 31 December 2016.
SUBMERGED: For stories set at least partly underwater. Details are the same as above.

Other reminders:

Gamut will be opening again to submissions on 1 November 2016. The window closes when they reach 300 submissions, which usually happens in less than 24 hours.
Granta closes to poetry submissions on 3 November 2016. They will be opening to fiction submissions on January 16 2017, until 15 February.

Short Fiction Reading: January - March roundup

26/3/2015

I've been looking for a way to keep track of the short fiction I read every year. And I read a lot of it. I use Goodreads for novels and some magazines that I read cover to cover, but I haven't yet found an efficient way to do something similar with individual short stories. I started keeping a spreadsheet at some point, but decided that I'd rather spend that time reading stories rather than entering data about them, especially since a spreadsheet is not particularly sharable--and half the fun is sharing stuff you like, no?

So I figured I'd do brief lists of things I read and enjoyed, as a mnemonic device as much as anything else.
Note: Not all of these are new, and the list is in no way exhaustive.
Here we go!

"Documentary" by Vajra Chandrasekera in Lightspeed. This is one of the best pieces I have read in all the time I have been reading short fiction.
"I Tell Thee All, I Can No More" by Sunny Moraine in Clarkesworld. Weird and awesome story about dronesexuality.
"The Husband Stitch" by Carmen Maria Machado in Granta. I've been raving about this ever since the first time I read it. Extremely, unbearably, ridiculously well-written.
"Be Not Unequally Yoked" by Alexis A. Hunter in Shimmer. Alexis is amazing and you should go read all of her stuff.
"The Fox Bride" by Mari Ness in Daily Science Fiction. It seems I enjoy everything Mari Ness writes. Understated but lingering.
"The Lives and Loves of Intricate Cakes" and "When the Seltzer's Like 'Nah' and You're like 'Oh Please, Please Be Cold' and the Seltzer's Like 'Nah'" by Rahawa Haile in Midnight Breakfast. So great.
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin. Yeah, I know, how did I just read this in 2015?
Bonus poetry: "You Are Here" by Bogi Takács in Strange Horizons. This really took my breath away.

I think that's it for now. Have you read any outstanding short stories so far this year?

Newsletter

15/3/2015

I've been terrible at updating this blog. I think this is partly because I feel so weird talking into the air. So I decided that a newsletter may be a much more personal way of communicating with people who are interested in what I do.

Voilà, there's now a signup form in the sidebar. --->
Subscribe for (probably monthly) updates about publications, reading recommendations, and other writerly news.

I will still be posting the occasional thought here, so please keep checking back.

I hope to talk to you soon. :)