Rati Mehrotra's Blog, page 10

Sumer Is Icumen In (and other reasons to smile)

Sumer Is Icumen In is the title of a medieval English round of the mid-13th century. The middle English is pretty hilarious to sing aloud (Lhude sing cuccu!), but it feels appropriate to the day, which must be the first (okay maybe second?) sunny day in the last TWO WEEKS. April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but what are May showers supposed to bring? Floods, that’s what. We’ve been relatively fortunate in the GTA…

[image error]Anyway, on to other reasons to smile. Yesterday was the launch o...

April News and Reviews

News flash! I have a release date for my novel. Markswoman is scheduled for 23 January 2018. A few weeks, and I should have a cover to share. It’s all very exciting.

I’m working with my editor on line edits, and it’s a very interesting process, quite an eye-opener for me. I’ve been writing this book for so long, and have so many versions in my head (and computer) that sometimes I can’t ‘see’ it any more. That’s why my editor’s eagle eye is so critical. I’m loving her suggestions, and can’t wa...

Hackers’ Faire: now live at Cast of Wonders

[image error]Story Day! Very pleased to announce that Hacker’s Faire, my far-future story with cats, cyborgs and buskers mingling in a bombed-out space station in Toronto, is now available to read or listen at Cast of Wonders. The story is narrated by Wilson Fowlie and hosted by Alethea Kontis.

Hackers’ Faire was inspired by the amazing 2014 New York Makers’ Faire. Giant electronic giraffes, robots, rockets and 3D printers galore… I wandered the Faire in a daze, and in the months that followed, drew on th...

Poems on the Underground

[image error]Twenty years ago, a friend of mine from England gave me a beautiful gift: a book titled Poems on the Underground, a collection of poems that were selected to be displayed on unlet advertising spaces in the London Tube. The reasoning was that the Underground is an inescapable part of life for commuters, and we all have a yearning for poetry, or at least prefer reading poetry to ads. The project was a hit with commuters. And I still have my amazing book. The poems are as vibrant as ever.

The To...

In the Ruins of the Residency

This winter, I returned after a gap of some years to visit my old hometownLucknow: the capital of the most populous and tumultuous state of India, Uttar Pradesh. There were parts that looked utterly different –enormous,walled-off parks with stern statues,bright and noisy malls, a river development and – most surprisingly – the beginnings of a metro.

And there wereparts that were just the same– the crowded,cow-dungsmearedstreets of the old city, the boys flying kites on the rooftops, the myria...

Piety, Prayer, Peacekeeper, Apocalypse

For a writer, there is no better way to welcome the new year than with a new publication. I am delighted to announce that my story Piety, Prayer, Peacekeeper, Apocalypse has been published by Podcastle and is available both to read and to listen as a podcast, narrated by Stephanie Morris. Thanks to the lovely folks at Podcastle, and to Stephanie for an amazing narration!

This is a story that I loved ‘world’-building’ – and although I rarely go back to the world of my short stories, this is a...

Top Ten Reads of 2016

Well, November sure was horrific. In keeping with the world news these days, I’ve been reading some fantastic dystopian fiction – namely, Station Eleven. What an amazing book, elegantly crafted from multiple points of view, jumping back and forth in time – before, during,and twenty years after a deadly flu outbreak that wipes out most ofhumanity.

I reckon I read over forty books a year, and I deeply enjoy most of them. So it is very difficult to come up with a top ten list for 2016, but I fee...

Story Sales, Readings and more

I’ve been focusing more on my novel this year – I’m at the56K mark on my sequel! –and written rather less short fiction than last year. However,I’ve stillgotten quite a few story acceptances in the last few months, along with the usual plethora of rejections. I’ll update my short fiction page by and by, but meanwhile, here is a list of publications I’m looking forward to in 2017, apart from the projects I’ve already blogged about:

Piety, Prayer, Peacekeeper, Apocalypse
A secondary-world fanta...

Toronto Street Art

The other day, I was walking down Queen Street with my sister, who insisted on playing Pokémon Go the whole time. It was mildly annoying – I can’t abide games myself, and refuse to buy a smartphone (I know, I know, I’m a dinosaur). Anyway, the upside of this was that she kept ‘discovering’ the amazing murals that adorn the walls and shop fronts and alleys off Queen Street. Forced to slow down, and look, I too discovered them anew. And here are some pictures we took of that leisurely stroll. T...

Monsters and Adventures and Tropes, oh my (Part 3)

Okay, this is my final post on this topic. The third exciting project I am proud to be a part of isUpside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling published by Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications, due outthis November, and edited by Monica Valentinelli. Each story in this collection examines a tired trope or commoncliche and twists it into something new.

My story in this anthology is titled Real Women are Dangerous and is inspired by the 100 million Missing Women of Asia. The term‘missing women’...