stories – Page 3 – Nadia Bulkin

identity politics

November 25, 2008November 25, 2008Leave a comment

Chris Anthony: Victims and Avengers

“And When She Was Bad” has been accepted at Nossa Morte. The web site hints that the next issue will be out February 2009.

The story actually grew out of an assignment for my Japanese Monsters class that I titled, “The Monster is a Half-Self”, all about the relationship between the monster and the final girl. I really like the trope of the final girl, both in its affirmations and its subversions. Then again I have always been a fan of analyzing gender in horror.

social death

September 23, 2008September 23, 2008Leave a comment

“On The Island” is up at Cezanne’s Carrot. It also got one of the issue’s two Editors’ Prizes, which made my not-so-great first month of senior year a whole lot greater.

I’ve been going crazy reading book reviews. I feel like I should actually read some books.

collateral damage

August 26, 2008August 26, 2008Leave a comment

Nick Brandt: Zebras Crossing Lake, Ngorongoro Crater 2000

“On The Island” has been accepted by Cezanne’s Carrot. Something different, but the story’s also something different, and it’s been through quite a few drafts, so I’m pleased it’s seeing the light of day. I edited the last draft at the Consul General’s Residence in Surabaya and my boss asked me “I thought you’re supposed to write about what you know. What do you know about animal testing?” Not really anything personal, of course, but it is an issue I feel strongly about, and it’s my first really environmentalist story. it’s based on the true story of Vozrozdeniye Island, which I learned about in Weapons of Mass Destruction: the USSR used this island, filled with various animals, as a testing base for various biological weapons – it is now completely contaminated and is negatively impacting surrounding areas on the coasts of the Aral Sea.

Factoid: It’s split into 4 parts, and I named all 4 parts after Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes. What a fan am I.

in pitch dark I go walking in your landscape, broken branches trip me as I speak

there’s always a siren singing you to shipwreck:steer away from these walls, we’d be a walking disaster

just cuz you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there… we are accidents waiting to happen

– Radiohead: “There There (The Boney King of Nowhere)”

independence

July 2, 2008July 2, 20086 Comments

“Intertropical Convergence Zone” is up at Chizine.

It’s almost the 4th of July, and I’m celebrating it for the first time this year, in batik. I don’t think when I was little I even knew what the 4th of July was.

democratic peace theory

June 21, 2008Leave a comment

Annika Aschberg: Cambodia

Just had a story accepted, wonderfully, by ChiZine. It’s called “Intertropical Convergence Zone” and it’s based very loosely on G-30-S (Gerakan 30 September, or the 30th of September Movement). Indonesian children know what I’m talking about. American kids have Paul Revere. We have G-30-S.

Not yet sure when it will be out – sometime within the next half-year. I am very psyched about this to say the least. It’s probably the most political story I’ve written and as a political science major and someone who was very affected by the New Order, it’s extraordinarily validating.

I am in Surabaya, Indonesia, right now. The City of Heroes. It’s filled with crocodiles and submarines.

sortilège

May 20, 2008Leave a comment

Denise Grünstein

I just had a story accepted at Fantasy Magazine Online, which is amazing. Secret: this story’s a reject. It won’t be out until next summer but really, what does it matter. I’m nervous about the size of their readership and propensity to comment and bludgeon but I do believe in this story. It’s called Lake Tahoe’s Lover.

We’re going to Yellowstone next week.

deconstructivism

May 12, 2008Leave a comment

“Blind Spot” is up at Postcards From… It’s from the Woody End, not Hell, which I am somewhat glad for, as I don’t really consider myself a horror writer. Although I think mine is the “futuristic horror fantasy”. That is pretty much what my novel-set Ilium is, futuristic horror fantasy. I like that genre.

Jack Radcliffe: Alison

This story is somewhat autobiographical, but as I’ve said before, my writing has been profoundly affected by my life experience, and I can’t help but think this is natural. When I was in high school, writing was instrumental in helping me think things through, to figure out what I believed. It still is. As Chandra Mohanty says, “The maps I draw are necessarily anchored in my own discontinuous locations.” Suharto died this year and it frightens me how much of an impact he has had on my mother and I.

Also, the hammer in the story is largely inspired by “Hammer” by Sarah Blasko:

there’s a hole in the roof, and the dust that’s pouring through, means you want to build the world again from scratch/ cuz nothing moved means nothing’s found, but there’s a sadness in the sound, as the walls crack and the scenes change so fast/ if you had a hammer you would knock the whole thing down but tell me, how you build again with what is left of all you’ve spent?

rational choice

May 9, 2008Leave a comment

Just had a story, “Blind Spot” accepted at Postcards From… Hooray. I wonder what genre it’ll be put under. It’s strange that my two publishing credits so far have been ghost stories. I used to be mortally afraid of writing about ghosts – but I was always eager to watch them on film and be terrified. Yup.

I have one story that I’m going to send out, and two that need to get written. Both are – gasp – science fiction. Science fiction’s never been my thing, unless you count Michael Crichton, and I skipped his science-oriented chapters. I just loved Ian Malcolm. I originally came up with the one for this anthology that was advertised on a livejournal community, but now that I have it set up I feel like I want to actually send it to a zine. I love zines. It’s weird, I know. Duotrope’s stats say that most people want print publishing that they can submit electronically, and I’d honestly prefer electronic zines and electronic submission. I think because I don’t want to force people to spend money to read anything I write. But then again, I am not planning on making a living as a writer. I’m also of a much younger, internet-addicted generation, and that probably has something to do with it.

So yeah, to anthologize or not. I would send to magazines first if I could, but the anthology deadline is June 1. I suppose I should just focus on getting it written first.

ecological footprint

April 1, 2008April 1, 20083 Comments

“The Five Stages of Grief” is up at Three-lobed Burning Eye.

Michael Garlington: The Fishmonger’s Daughter

I wish I could fish. This picture reminds me of Spearfish, South Dakota. I love the Black Hills insanely – Spearfish, Deadwood, the Black Hills National Forest, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park, Hill City for their tiny museum’s take on their melodramatic struggle with the Field Museum of Chicago over a T-rex named Sue. And yes, Sturgis. Everyone should go.