L.S. Johnson's Blog, page 14

handfeel & launches

It feels good in the hand. I like smaller trims onbooks; I havesmall hands, and oversized paperbacks can start to strain the wrists, especially when reading prone (I read prone a lot).

It will also be on sale starting Friday night through Tuesday April 12, in part to celebrate C is for Chimera‘s launch, in part . . . why not? I like sales.

So: Vacui Magia at 99 cents this weekend, then hang out with me and Rhonda Parrish and lots of other great writers at the launch Tuesday evening. Happy we...

blue.

a bout of depression at the moment.longing for something sublime to reset perspective. until then, self-care. back in a bit.

great artists share.

After FOGcon I went right into some overtime at work, and then a friend visited … it’s made for a protracted unwinding, with all the stimulus of the convention distilling into a handful of striking moments that I’m still turning over in my head.

Perhaps the most striking of these was the panel on Appropriation, which is a topic that weighs heavily on me, as I suspect it does on many writers. I am aware of my privilege; I am always trying to write better, to level up and challenge my own assum...

Sunday round-up

The paperback version of Vacui Magia: Stories is just awaiting a final cover and it will be off to the races. In the meantime, the ebook is available, and I’ve had a lovely first review:

https://herebekrakens.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/a-review-of-vacui-magia-by-l-s-johnson/

Otherwise? I’m a little tired on this rainy Sunday. We have our little stray back in the basement to hide out from the storm, but that means the feline members of the family are grumpy, which makes for poor sleep for all. I...

what a long strange trip it’s been

I have a book up at Amazon now:

http://amzn.com/B01CH6QKJE

It’s late here, so late, and I’m so tired, and I’ve forgotten to do a dozen things today. But I have a book out.

In the Bay Area March 11-13? Come see me at FOGcon. I’ll be on the Secret Identities panel on Friday afternoon, and otherwise volunteering and soaking it all up.

And with that, I’m going to bed. “What did you do when you self-published your first collection?” “Oh, I went to bed early that night.”

Vacui Magia: Stories

And then this happened.

Or I really should say: and then this is happening. Because it’s not done yet, and because it feels a lot like something happening to me, not something I’m doing. As if a little group of stories decided to leave the nest for good.

I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but with the buzz building around Mosaics it started to turn into “if not now, when?” (You start having a lot more of those conversations when you cross the Rubicon of 40.)

Aiming for a March 6 releas...

Mosaics

“The Queen of Lakes” is being reprinted inMosaics: A Collection of Independent Women, and I’d be remiss in not taking a moment to remark on the hopes I have for this project. The series (there’s at least two volumes, with hopes of two more to come) is aiming to be an intersectional feminist anthology, with the bolded bit there being the thingthat sparked my interest. I came of age at a time when feminism still felt like a dialogue, but at some point in the intervening decades it seemed to oss...

banner week

I’m still hiding out a bit (this month. THIS MONTH) but I have to post about this week, and what a week it’s been.

First off, “Julie” was accepted as part of Year’s Best Weird Fiction. I can’t even. I can’t. Even after the squeeing ended, I was still not quite understanding it. It’s given me a huge bout of imposter syndrome in the best possible way. Here’s the link to the full TOC:

Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 3 – ToC

And now my blog is embedding things. Hah! You go away for a week or two...

quiet for a little while

A death in the family, plus work and personal stuff, means I’ll have spotty online presence for the next few weeks. I have Wattpad chapters queued up and I will be checking email pretty regularly, but I may be slow replying. Sending everyone positive energy and cute animal photos until then.

Award Eligibility

So here is the obligatory post about awards and such.

I believe I’m in my 2nd year of Campbell eligibility (my clock started ticking with “Marigolds” in 2014).

Last year I had three novelettes published (note that “Julie” was in a UK-based anthology):

“Little Men with Knives,” in Crossed Genres . Vendémiaire,” in B is for Broken . “Julie,” in Strange Tales V.

I also had five short stories published:

“The Tale of King Edgar,” winner of On the Premises Contest #26. “Five Little Seeds,” in Issue...