Mary Soon Lee's Blog, page 3

Uppagus

My poem What the Osprey Didn't Do has been published in Uppagus, my 49th poem to appear there!

June 2025 update

For the curious, here is the June installment of my newsletter.

It contains writing-related news, three book recommendations, and an alpaca photo.

Favorite May Reads

What did folks read in May that they loved? I think my two favorites were both re-reads: Sienna Tristen's chapbook Hortus Animarum - poetry in prose: beautiful, tender, moving. And Steven Brust's Tsalmoth, book 16 in his Vlad Taltos fantasy series, lent a melancholy edge by earlier volumes, but in itself about as close to cosy fantasy as you can get with an assassin as the main character.

Also much enjoyed: "A Sorceress Comes to Call" (T. Kingfisher, who can do no wrong), "Carousel Tides" + "Carousel Sun" (Sharon Lee, first two of her Archer's Beach contemporary fantasy trilogy), "Point of Hearts," (Melissa Scott, new and very welcome addition to her Astreiant fantasy series).

Fiction: Impossible recording

Here is the link to my 5/19/2025 conversation with C. S. E. Cooney & Carlos Hernandez. The main portion begins at 12 and a 1/2 minutes with a reading/interview from The Sign of the Dragon, followed by book and board game recommendations. [Before the main portion there's a section with chatter but no video.] I'm not certain how long this link will stay active.

Fiction: Impossible converation

Many many thanks to Claire and Carlos, who are awesome!

May 2025 update

For the curious, the May 2025 issue of my newsletter may be read here .

This installment includes three book recommendations and my recent writing news.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

My poem Rules for a Magic Sword has been published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly :-)

For the curious:

- first draft written 1/2022

- based on a prompt from The Daily Poet (Agodon + Silano)

- rejected 9 times

- this is my 10th poem in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

Balticon

I will be at Balticon over Memorial Day weekend. I'll be attending virtually, not in-person, and will be on the “Juggling POV” panel on Saturday and the “From Concept to Final Draft” panel on Sunday.

Fiction: Impossible

On May 19th, I will be a guest for C. S. E. Cooney and Carlos Hernadez’s Fiction Impossible. We will be talking about board games, something we’ve read that we love, and The Sign of the Dragon. Plus I will give a short reading.

Here’s the link to C. S. E. Cooney’s Twitch channel.

Rhysling finalists

I am delighted and honored that three of my poems are finalists for the Rhysling Award :-) :-) :-)

The poems are What Dragons Didn't Do, Right to Shelter, and The Blackthorn (first published in Dreams and Nightmares, not available online).

[They were nominated a couple of months ago and have now been selected for inclusion in the Rhysling Anthology.]

Favorite April Reads

I think my favorite read in April was Diviner's Bow, the latest book in Sharon Lee + Steve Miller's Liaden Universe, with people of good heart helping and befriending other people of good heart, including norbears as people, of course.

Also much enjoyed: my re-read of Vallista, book 15 in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series; plus Hard Knocks, the 12th book about Ishmael Wang in Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper SF series; plus Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind (took me a little bit to warm up to this last one, but I was won over; the possum moments were classic).

What did you read in April that you loved?