Every once in a while (okay, more than once in a while), I write politics into fiction. Usually it’s subtle, and I try not to let the agenda take over the story. When I fail, you get something like “Float”.

Appearing in the May/June issue of Interzone, “Float” follows a young girl who grew up on a space colony and has now been deported back to Earth, confused and in culture shock. The story was inspired by the predicament of Dreamers, but you don’t have to be in the US to hear the heartbreaking stories of immigrants being deported for no reason other than ignorance and fearmongering.

No matter your political inclinations or beliefs, I hope you’ll enjoy my little piece of empathy for those who are suffering today.

Do you see this cute cover? It’s for the Hidden Histories anthology by Third Flatiron, a collection of speculative short stories revolving around revisionist and alternate histories. And one of my stories is featured! “Fire, Steel, and Flaming Pearls” tells of a high school student learning the secret of her family’s past and its connection to ancient Chinese dragons that may not have been so mythical after all.

Available in ebook and paperback from Amazon here. Have a read and let me know what you think!

It’s here.

Tattoos have always been something of a fascination for me. In my line of work, I come across a lot of people with them, and I have a couple myself. So when I happened to come across a YouTube video about Fang-Od, an elderly Filipino woman who is one of the last practitioners in the world of a traditional form of tattooing, it was only natural that I would decide to write a story about a woman who weaves stories of her own via magical tattoos.

It’s rather funny because, around this time last year, I was listening to PodCastle in my car and thought to myself, “How nice would it be to get into this Artemis Rising thing?” A year later, I hope you enjoy “The Weaver Retires”, available now as the final story rounding out PodCastle‘s Artemis Rising 5 event. This, I suppose, is what “dream comes true” feels like.

March has been a busy month in terms of publications–I’m falling behind already! So here’s some quick news:

My first contribution to a print book is now up for pre-order! “Vianku’s First Flight” is a science-fantasy romp about intelligent bird-people native to Jupiter, and it’ll be available in Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove, released by Atthis Arts. E-book, paperback, even a limited-edition hardcover! Have a look if you’re so inclined:

And in other news, my bit of SF flash, “Quantum Entanglement”, is now available in the latest edition of NewMyths.com. This is my little flash that could, sent to pretty much every flash market in existence, ignored, unloved, sinking into despair…and now risen like a tiny fluffy phoenix chick. Have a read and let me know what you think!

Till next time, compadres!

About a year ago, I saw a contest on the writing website Scribophile about “the ghosts in the machine”. Having little inspiration at the time, I decided I might as well use the opportunity to take out my recent frustrations with my dad and his steadfast refusal to get a hearing aid despite suffering rapidly-deteriorating hearing loss for the past 15 years.

“White Noise” was the result. I didn’t intend it to be a commentary on the immigrant experience and the difficulty of being heard in today’s world, but sometimes, the stories make themselves. “White Noise” was the first story I ever published in Anathema: Spec from the Margins which, as a magazine dedicated exclusively to publishing queer authors of color, is exactly the venue I dreamt of for this piece. And as of yesterday, you get to listen to it in all its creepy, gurgling-baby glory over at PseudoPod as part of Artemis Rising 5!

Also, can we just take a moment to admire the absolute, mind-bendingly beautiful glory that is the AR5 cover? Because I get goosebumps every time I look at it. And the “Hudson” in the Authors section? Isn’t just for “White Noise”. I’ve got another piece releasing from PodCastle later in March, so keep an eye out!