Caroline M. Yoachim's Blog, page 2

2023 Year-end Post

I only had one piece out this year, which makes for a year-end post that is short and sweet.

Worlds pop into existence, composed by clicking keyboards or in spraying foam on waves of thought; tucked away in spells, algorithms, entangled particles, recipes; evoked by waving wands; sketched by twirling ley-line brushes; assembled by spinning quantum mundistructors. They’ve been doing it for eons.

But recently, there has been a pause.

“I’ve lost it,” he says to her, despondent. “I haven’t been able to make a new world in sixteen terakernels.”

“Same. I haven’t conjured one in ages.” The barest wisp of an idea skitters around the edges of her brain. She’s always admired his worlds, so elegantly structured. “Want to collaborate? Maybe we could spark each other.”

“Collaboration?” is a 7550-word novelette, co-written with Ken Liu. It appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of Uncanny Magazine.

This novelette was a blast to write, with interwoven worlds, poetry and mirrors, muses and anti-muses, wine and kittens. There are robots, bored gods, and works of art that cannot quite be appreciated by human minds. I even got to try my hand at some digital calligraphy to create an ensō.

And really, how better to explore the question of what it means to collaborate than by writing a collaboration?

(The original version of the story has a fair bit of formatting trickery, so we have created an accessible version for screen readers, which you can find here.)

Norwescon!

I will be at Norwescon! Want to find me? Here’s my schedule:

Thursday, April 6Time Travel and Historical Fiction

4:00pm – 5:00pm @ Evergreen 1 & 2

Frank Morin (M), Caroline M. Yoachim, Ellis Bray, David D. Levine

If you could travel back in time, where would you go? Time travel adds a slew of cultural complication to historical fiction. Consider Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and Octavia Butler’s Kindred. This panel discusses what makes such stories so intriguing.

Friday, April 7Intersecting Art and Technology

11:00am – 12:00pm @ Evergreen 3 & 4

Wm Salt Hale (M), Caroline M. Yoachim, Dr. Ricky, Colette Breshears

The tools of a jeweler and technician may seem surprisingly similar. What sort of inspiration can come from dismantling old tech? What sort of bounds can be broken by integrating new tech? Why stop at jewelry? If art is everything and technology is all over the place, why not explore where they come together… together!?

Interview and Q&A with Uncanny Magazine

2:00pm – 3:00pm @ Grand 3

Caroline M. Yoachim (M), Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, Monte Lin

Mirrors and Parallels: Enter the Panel-verse

3:00pm – 4:00pm @ Cascade 10

Shweta Adhyam (M), Eva L. Elasigue, Greg Dubos, Caroline M. Yoachim

Panelists discuss what using multiverses does to individual works and science fiction and fantasy as a genre, and talk about texts where it works great, and others where it falls flat. They will ask why multiverses are having such a moment in Marvel, the Spider-verse, and Everywhere All At Once, and contemplate how this panel compares to the infinity of panels happening at parallel moments.

Saturday, April 8Autograph Session 1

10:00am – 11:00am @ Grand 2

Djèlí Clark, Michael Damian Thomas, Lynne M. Thomas, Grace P. Fong, Nisi Shawl, Benjamin Gorman, Brenda Cooper, Brianna Tibbetts, Carol Berg, Caroline M. Yoachim, Casey Dunn, Curtis C. Chen, D.L. Solum, Daryl Gregory, David D. Levine, Ellis Bray, Eva L. Elasigue, Evan J. Peterson, Frank Morin, Gabe (G.S.) Denning, Gordon B. White, Heather S. Ransom, Jack Skillingstead, Jeff Sturgeon, Joseph Brassey, J.P. Barnett, Julie McGalliard, Kimberly Unger, Marie Bilodeau, Agathon McGeachy, Joseph Malik, Mikko Azul, Nancy Kress, Patrick Swenson, Remy Nakamura, Rhiannon/R.Z. Held, Scott James Magner, Tyrean Martinson, Greg Dubos, Steven Barnes

Adding Realistic Details to Your Fantasy Writing

1:00pm – 2:00pm @ Cascade 7 & 8

Carol Berg (M), Caroline M. Yoachim, Rhiannon/R.Z. Held, Brenda Carre

Anachronisms and just plain wrong details are sure ways to ruin an otherwise immersive fantasy tale. It is the writer’s responsibility to get it right. We will focus on finding and placing accurate medieval/historical details into fantasy settings to keep the reader immersed in the story. We will work on writing rich textures, avoiding common cliches and faux pas, showing rather than telling, avoiding info-dumping, and making the reader’s experience smooth, compelling, and exciting.

Reading: Caroline M. Yoachim

2:00pm – 2:30pm @ Cascade 3

Caroline M. Yoachim (M)

First Lines are First Impressions

5:00pm – 6:00pm @ Evergreen 3 & 4

Daryl Gregory (M), Nancy Kress, Caroline M. Yoachim, Casey Dunn, Jack Skillingstead

What goes into writing a great first sentence? Like the opening notes of a great song, first sentences of stories tend to ring in readers’ minds long after the ending is reached. Writers and editors discuss their favorite opening lines in literature, what makes them unique, and how their own first lines came to them.

“Collaboration?” is in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 50!

New fiction out today! “Collaboration?” is a novelette I wrote with Ken Liu, and it is in Uncanny Magazine’s 50th issue!

“Worlds pop into existence, composed by clicking keyboards or in spraying foam on waves of thought…”

Writing this broke my brain in all the best ways. Working with Ken pushed me in directions I would not otherwise have gone, and we got to dig deep into the question of what collaboration really is. It was an absolute joy to write, and I am so excited to share it with you!

2022 Year-End Post

I wasn’t going to write an end-of-year post this year, partly because I usually focus on new stories I’ve published… and this is a gap year for me with nothing new coming out. But despite that it was a good year for me, writing-wise:

“Colors of the Immortal Palette” was a Hugo, Nebula, Ignyte, and Eugie Award finalist, and was included in Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022. I am so very proud of that novelette, and I’m deeply grateful for all the honors and attention it got this year.The science fiction awards database has (among other things) a list of major award never-winners. The page isn’t quite up to date, but with 14 nominations, I think I’m now in the top 10 for most nominations without a win.

In terms of actual writing, 2022 was a year split almost exactly in half. I spent the early part of the year mostly blocked, and honestly writing had been something of a slog even before that. I ran (over 400 miles this year!), I took photos, and I wrote pages of notes and starts of stories that went nowhere.

Then around mid-year I got the idea to write a story about collaboration, and realized I could do it as a collaboration (with Ken Liu!). This turned out to be an even better idea than I realized–I had lost the joy in writing, and working with Ken was so much fun. It reminded me how much I love the ideas, and the challenge of getting all the pieces to fit together was a satisfying puzzle. The result is a novelette aptly titled “Collaboration?” which is in the January/February issue of Uncanny magazine.

After that the words have flowed somewhat better. Inspired by some of the ideas from “Collaboration?” I wrote a short story that tries to get the reader’s brain to do things that brains do not really do… That one is “We Will Teach You How To Read | We Will Teach You How To Read” and it is forthcoming in Lightspeed.

And now I am working on another collaboration (with Tina Connolly! About MURDER!), and also a short work-for-hire project, and I have ideas kicking around in my head for other stories. So my writing year got off to a slow start, but I am having fun writing stories again, and that is definitely a victory.

Worldcon Schedule!

If you will be at Chicon next month, come see me! Here’s my schedule:

Friday, Sept 2
10am – The Writing Workshop (Michigan 3)

Saturday, Sept 3
10am – Reading (Dusable)
1pm – Let Me Tell You About the Very Alien: They Are Different From You and Me (Grand Hall K)
4pm – Table Talk (Crystal Foyer)

Sunday, Sept 4
10am – Autographing

Almond Cream Pie

I often post pictures of almond cream pie when I make it for Thanksgiving, and people sometimes ask for the recipe. So here it is! This is basically a recipe for the filling, because I use a store bought pie crust to save myself a little time :)

Ingredients:

1 pre-baked pie crust, cooled

Filling:

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

1.5 cup milk

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Garnish:

whipped cream

toasted slivered almonds

Directions:

In a large heavy saucepan, combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Stir in milk, heavy cream, and egg yolks. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter and almond extract. Pour egg mixture into prepared piecrust. Chill for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Top with whipped cream and toasted slivered almonds.

2021 Award Eligibility

I had one novelette out in 2021: “Colors of the Immortal Palette” (12,900 words) appeared in issue 39 of Uncanny Magazine.

“Colors of the Immortal Palette” combines so many things that I love–Sondheim musicals, impressionist art, and ukiyo-e prints, to name just a few of the inspirations. It is also deeply personal, an exploration of navigating the world of art from a marginalized perspective. Plus I realized that I’d never written a vampire story, and wanted to play with ideas about immortality, legacy, and time.

Here is a short excerpt from the beginning:

LEAD WHITE

I will always remember the view of Paris from his window. Snow, pure and untouched, softens the outline of the buildings and covers the grime of the streets. White, the color of beginnings. His canvas is primed and ready to be painted, and stark winter sunlight glows bright on his undead skin.

The studio is cramped, drafty despite the heat radiating from the stove. One corner is clean and lavishly decorated, the rest a cluttered chaos of painting supplies and personal effects. He studies me intently as I take in the room, evaluating me much as he did at the Café Guerbois when I’d first caught his eye.

I wait for him to ask how I came to be in Paris. Artists are so very predictable that way—no trouble at all accepting this pale immortal creature as one of their own, but a woman of my mixed ancestry? Utterly implausible.

“You should hear the stories they tell of you at the café,” he says. “If Émile is to be believed, you arrived here as an ukiyo-e courtesan, nothing more than paper wrapped around a porcelain bowl. A painter—he will not say which of us it was, of course—bought the bowl and the print along with it.”

“And the painter pulled me from the print with the sheer force of his imagination, I’m sure,” I reply, laughing. “Émile is a novelist and can hardly be trusted to give an accurate account. The reality of my conception is vastly more mundane, I assure you…though it does involve a courtesan.”

Want to read the rest? Head over to Uncanny Magazine: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/colors-of-the-immortal-palette/

New Fiction: “Colors of the Immortal Palette”

I have a new novelette out in Uncanny Magazine! “Colors of the Immortal Palette” is a story of art and identity, history and truth. It was a difficult story to write, and I’m really proud of how it came out. A short excerpt:

LEAD WHITE

I will always remember the view of Paris from his window. Snow, pure and untouched, softens the outline of the buildings and covers the grime of the streets. White, the color of beginnings. His canvas is primed and ready to be painted, and stark winter sunlight glows bright on his undead skin.

The studio is cramped, drafty despite the heat radiating from the stove. One corner is clean and lavishly decorated, the rest a cluttered chaos of painting supplies and personal effects. He studies me intently as I take in the room, evaluating me much as he did at the Café Guerbois when I’d first caught his eye.

I wait for him to ask how I came to be in Paris. Artists are so very predictable that way—no trouble at all accepting this pale immortal creature as one of their own, but a woman of my mixed ancestry? Utterly implausible.

2020 Award Eligibility

I had one new novelette out in 2020: “Shadow Prisons,” which originally appeared in three parts in The Dystopia Triptych (eds. John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant).

The novelette is available online (serialized in three parts) at Lightspeed Magazine:

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/series/shadow-prisons/

Here’s an excerpt from Part 1: The Shadow Prison Experiment

The shopping district was crowded on a Sunday afternoon, and Vivian Watanabe was out running errands with her sixteen-year-old, Cass. Together they wove through throngs of shoppers wearing customized skins or the generic default. Vivian wasn’t fond of Generics—they fell into that uncanny valley between a nondescript human and a silver android. Cold and impersonal, plus it was hard to keep track of who you’ve interacted with. Which was the point, she supposed. Personal connections and privacy were often at odds.

“This neighborhood is creepy,” Cass said, waving their arm at the crowd around them. “Rich people have flawless skins.”

“Back in the old days it was make-up and plastic surgery and designer clothes. Overlays aren’t much different.” Vivian wasn’t wearing an overlay. It’d been Cass’s idea, and they’d convinced Vivian to do it as an exercise in challenging societal norms.

Walking around without an overlay felt simultaneously scandalous, exhilarating, and deeply unsettling…

New fiction: “Shadow Prisons”

I haven’t been very good about updating this blog, but I had some new fiction out June 30th!! “Shadow Prisons” is a novelette in three parts, appearing in The Dystopia Triptych (eds. John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant):

Shadow Prisons: Part 1, “The Shadow Prison Experiment” is in Ignorance is Strength (The Dystopia Triptych Book 1)
Shadow Prisons: Part 2, “Shadow Prisons of the Mind” is in Burn the Ashes (The Dystopia Triptych Book 2)
Shadow Prisons: Part 3, “The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma” is in Or Else the Light (The Dystopia Triptych Book 3)