It’s been a long time, but I’m finally nearly done with my M.A. program and I’m hoping against hope that I’ll be able to devote more time to fiction.  I have a few updates to report:

• My story “The Tiger The Dove” is in the Stone Skin Press anthology The Lion and the Aardvark.  It’s an extremely handsome book with some excellent writers included, and I was delighted to see that my story got an illustration by Rachel Kahn.  “The Tiger The Dove” is based on the pacifist political parties that emerged in Japan after World War II, primarily the DPJ – having grown up in two prideful countries that would never have surrendered their arms, I’ve always been intrigued by Japan’s support for Article 9.  For an academic take on this, check out “Japan: The Power That Dares Not Speak Its Name?” in The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific, ed. Connors, Remy, and Dosch.
• My story “Every Heart is Cold Dark Matter,” will appear in the Belladonna anthology Black Apples, which will feature a line-up of gothic/dark princesses.  “Every Heart is Cold Dark Matter” was inspired by my winter break at home, during which I watched a lot – a lot – of the Showtime soap opera The Tudors as well as astronomy shows on science channels.  I tried very hard to understand Hermeticism for the purpose of this story.
• My story “Red Goat Black Goat” will be reprinted in Ellen Datlow’s anthology Lovecraft’s Monsters.  “Red Goat Black Goat” was initially published in Innsmouth Free Press for their multi-ethnic issue.  I have realized recently that Lovecraft goes together perfectly with my thesis subject, nationalism – the nation as a god, a sleeping god that needs to be awakened, and all that – but this is not that story.  “Red Goat Black Goat” comes from a scary story I was told as a child and couldn’t wrap my head around.  It’s also semi-inspired by the Death in June song, “Red Dog Black Dog.”

I haven’t been doing a lot of writing in the past couple years, but I’ve been taking notes on story ideas and checking them twice.  I’ve also been plotting a rewrite of a series of political novels that I originally wrote when I was in junior high, and finally put down the first chapter and a half in the last couple weeks.  I owe a lot of my sanity to writing – it’s the one thing I can do, especially in this city, that is just for me, that has nothing to do with my business card or my LinkedIn profile.  It’s a relief.  After college I was very worried that I not use writing to shut out the world, and I don’t think that’ll be a problem now, but just having a little refuge where I feel like I can to mine own self be true is a privilege.