R.S.A. Garcia's Blog
June 13, 2025
I’m back for an Evening of Tea and Readings!
February 28, 2025
The Nightward is BSFA and Locus Long-Listed! Also, New Book!
January 2, 2025
2025 Awards Eligibility for THE NIGHTWARD
October 15, 2024
It’s My Book Birthday!
September 26, 2024
Worldcon, The Sturgeon Award and Other Joys
July 14, 2024
Good News (The Readercon Special)
July 1, 2024
A Bumper Post or, Of Awards, Giveaways and Pre-orders!
So A LOT has happened. A LOT. This is going to be a bumper catch up, so bear with me.
I WON A FREAKING NEBULA AWARD! ‘Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200’ became the first story written in Trinbagonian creole to win a Nebula, and I became the first person from Trinidad and Tobago to win a Nebula for Short Story. I’ve been told the first from the region as well, but don’t quote me on that, I can’t be sure.
I also became the first Trinbagonian to win the Machine Intelligence Foundation for Rights
and Ethics’ Media Award! My Clarkesworld novella, ‘Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma’ is
the 2023 winner! As I’m only the third winner, I’m very sure I’m the first person of colour and
the first from my region to win. I’m also in excellent company with past winners being the
legendary Robert J. Sawyer and the incredible Annalee Newitz.
Meanwhile, wonderfully positive blurbs have been coming in for ‘The Nightward’ thick and
fast, and I was selected for Publishers Weekly’s Fall 2024 list of noteworthy titles to watch!
Since they only picked one book from each publisher’s roster for the long list, I’m really
delighted to have made the cut.
At the moment, if you’re a member on NetGalley or Edelweiss, you can request review copies
of ‘The Nightward’ (for Caribbean readers, sorry this is not available due to US only rights
issues, but if you’re a reviewer who would like to get a copy, please reach out and I will arrange one for you). There is also a Goodreads giveaway on until July 7th for 100 copies, so readers can shoot their shot!
And of course, you can pre-order at all major retailers, including Amazon.
I also got featured in the women’s magazine of Trinidad and Tobago’s number one newspaper,
the Newsday. It’s still crazy to see pics of myself and a whole ass article attached lol. This has
been a WILD ride, and it’s not over yet. I will have more news soon.
Watch this space!
April 5, 2024
Covid and Other Things
Sorry for the long silence. As it turns out, I ended up going to my doctors several times and spending a couple thousand dollars on tests, only to find out on my own due to a home test, after I suddenly developed flu-like symptoms, that my sister and I had contracted Covid for the first time.
Cue both understanding why my symptoms were so weird, and also, existential panic.
I think my weakened immune system was trying to fight off the infection for over a month until it finally built up enough to cause flu symptoms. I’m not sure how I contracted it, but I’m pretty sure it was me who brought it home, probably after a clinic visit (my first symptoms were two days after a clinic appointment).
In any case, that’s the bad news. Covid finally got me and Andrea, and we’re slowly on the mend. A lot of my scary symptoms have stopped in favour of normal ones. We’re both vaccinated, so that saved our lives. I’m much better than she is right now, but by next week I think we can try to test and see if we’re in the clear.
However, the universe is about balance, and you have to take the bad with some good, so while I was going from doctor to doctor trying to find answers, I found out that I was nominated for a Nebula for the second year in a row! I’m so delighted and shocked. Last year, Bishop’s Opening was nominated for Best Novella. This year, Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200 is nominated for Best Short Story.
I won’t lie. This made me feel so much better at my lowest times. I’m so moved that people loved the story I wrote to bring a little joy into the world. I never expected this response, but I’m so grateful to everyone who read and voted for it.
I can’t sit up long, so I’ll end here. I hope you have a wonderful day and a better weekend.
Until we meet again, stay thirsty, my friends!
March 5, 2024
March Has Come in Like a Lion…
…so let’s hope it goes out a bit more calmly!
Hello Everyone! I hope you’ve had a great February and that March is shaping up to be even better.
My February hasn’t been so great, unfortunately. I’ve not been well since the day after Valentine’s. So far, all tests are normal, and the doctors say it doesn’t look serious, but it’s hard to believe that when your heart and blood pressure are behaving abnormally (among other things), and there’s only guesses as to why.
For now, we’re treating it as a medical side effect from cancer drugs and hoping to get more info next week.
But in the interest of being positive, I’m happy to be here, to have my sister taking care of me, and through her efforts I have been improving, so keep your fingers crossed.
And while you’re doing that, here’s a bit of good news. Most of you know that one of the big magazines in SFF right now is Uncanny Magazine. They’ve won the Hugo for best Magazine many times, and I was lucky enough to have a story published by them for the first time last year. Well, that story, ‘Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200’, has won their Readers Poll for favourite story of 2023!
It’s my first Readers Poll win ever (though I’ve been a finalist at Clarkesworld). I’m absolutely delighted and gobsmacked to have come out on top of the fantastic stories that were finalists with me. So for the moment, I’m holding on to this little win with all my might.
If you want to read the story, you can click here.
And if, by chance, you voted for me, thank you! You made my day during a difficult time.
Also, keep in mind my story is also eligible for the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, WSFA Small Press Awards, World Fantasy Awards and many others. If you’re voting for awards in the SFF community, I’d be really honoured if you considered both my stories published last year. Mid-Earth Removals Limited is the other one, published in The Sunday Morning Transport, and you can read it by clicking here.
That’s all for now. You have a great week and until we meet again, stay thirsty, my friends!
January 9, 2024
2023 Eligibility for Awards
Happy New Year everyone! Glad to be with you again in 2024. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year brings you health, wealth and prosperity!
I should have done this ages ago, but I was ill over the holiday season, so this is my very late post about my eligibility for speculative fiction awards this year.
I had a banner year in 2023 re my work for 2022, and I was so grateful for that. My first time being nominated for a Nebula and Locus award, and my second time being nominated for the Ignyte. This year, I sold two stories. They are stories of my heart, but as I wanted to make things that brought joy and humanity in a harsh world, they have a lot of humour.
“Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200” is a science fiction short story (6861 words) about a lonely old woman who gets a bot to solve her angry goat problem. It was published in Issue 53 of Uncanny Magazine, the July/August 2023 edition. My first sale to Uncanny, it is written in the voice of my people, for my people.
My second story last year was “Mid-Earth Removals Limited”, a fantasy story (3600 words), also set in Trinidad and Tobago, about a very determined single mother, a very lost minion of the Dark Lord and how resilient one has to be it is to deal with every day problems, especially when there are added dragons, among other things. It was the free story for Sunday Morning Transport on November 5 2023, and my first sale to this amazing venue as well. You can click on the links to read.
Both stories are eligible for all the usual suspects, including the Hugo, Locus, Nebula, Sturgeon, BSFA, WFA, Ignyte, and other awards. If you enjoyed either of them, I would greatly appreciate your votes.
Thank you for reading and let’s have a great year together!
