2024 Reading Recommendations

As with previous years, a lot of my reading is for Neon Hemlock or Baffling. But here I’ll share/update some of my favorite books and stories published in 2024 to help out future-dave with awards ballots.

Novels

• Little Rot by Akwaeke Emeze

  • Thoughts: Twisted, fun, filled with incredible small character moments.

• Exordia by Seth Dickinson

  • Thoughts: Plotty and readable first contact story in tandem with galaxy-brain science and politics that made me feel like I wasn’t quite smart enough to understand it.

Novellas

• The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)

  • Thoughts: Taut, compelling, clever.

• The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

  • Thoughts: Lyrical, Le Guinian, incisive.

• Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo (Interstellar Flight Press)

  • Thoughts: Solid spin on thriller /detective story.

Short Stories

• “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed)

  • Thoughts: Fascinating form, evocative ending.

• “The Clown Watches the Clown” by Sara S. Messenger (Apex)

  • Messed up (complimentary).

• “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed)

  • Thoughts: Messed up (complimentary).

• “Ten Ways of Looking at Snow, Reflected Off an Obsidian Armor” by Avra Margariti (Haven Spec)

  • Thoughts: Visceral and sad and full of longing.

• “Poolhorse” by Samir Sirk Morató (Death Knell)

  • Thoughts: Horrific and nostalgic.

• “Bride / Butcher / Doe” by Lowry Poletti (Strange Horizons)

  • Thoughts: So gay, so gross, so good.

• “Cursed Moon Queers” by Natalia Theodoridou (Uncanny)

  • Thoughts: Hexes and exes. This one hurts. So good.

• “The V*mpire” by P H Lee (Reactor)

  • Thoughts: Compelling and quicksand-stomach-making and perfectly evocative of a Time.

And some stuff I read this year from pre-2024 that I thought was great:

• Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

  • I wasn’t strong enough for the sangfroid but this was well-constructed and worth reading.

• The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

  • A riveting thousand page book that could have probably used 200 less pages. Both less gay and less ace than I would have liked, but absorbing regardless. I could talk about this book for hours probably.

• Wolfsong by TJ Klune

  • My first taste of Klune’s writing. Neat variation on urban fantasy tropes, though a couple of the central conceits drove me up the wall. His authorial voice was really interesting.

• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

  • Take the Kel books by Tamora Pierce and mash them up with Pern and anti-colonialism and alt-history and well-drawn emotion. Really enjoyed this.

• Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

  • This book is incredible. Fav read since The Saint of Bright Doors.

• Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

  • Loved this. It should be made into a movie immediately.

• Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzalez

  • Very cute.

• Vladimir by Julia May Jones

  • Got my litfic fix from this. Somehow made me enjoy the visit in this myopic POV.

• Circe by Madeline Miller

  • Very enjoyable. I understand why it both was accessible for so many and why it was on so many lists when it came out.

• Work For It by Talia Hibbert

  • A little more angst that I truly enjoy in a romance, but Hibbert made me almost not notice.

• Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

  • So good! I love when a “B plot” slots so affectingly inside the main plot like this.

• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

  • Prob my fav romance of the year. Such a good writer.

• City of Bones by Martha Wells

  • Enjoyable. Neat to see the early Wells writing at work.

• Witch King by Martha Wells

  • Loved the dual-timeline, the worldbuilding, the angry gays, the gender stuff.

• The Protector of the Small Quarter by Tamora Pierce

  • Alanna was very formative for me growing up, and I really enjoyed this foray into the narratives of my youth.

• Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torsz

  • Really solid! Might need to look for some Collins/Nicholas fanfic.

• Leech by Hiron Ennes

  • Ancillary Justice meets gothic horror.

2023 Reading Recommendations

A lot of my reading is for Neon Hemlock or Baffling, and plenty is books from previous years. But here I’ll share some of my favorite books and stories published in 2023. I intended to update this as I read throughout the year, but here I am publishing this in January 2024, so no dice there.

Novels

• The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

  • Thoughts: My favorite book of the year. Incredible. Feels like a spiritual successor to Dhalgren, which is my favorite novel.

• The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz

  • Thoughts: Plotty and gripping and unexpectedly (?) horny!

• Translation State by Ann Leckie

  • Thoughts: Continues to scratch a wonderful SF itch.

• The Faithless by C.L. Clark

  • Thoughts: Even better than The Unbroken. I can’t wait to see where this trilogy ends.

• Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché

  • Thoughts: This book snuck up on me. Felt sort of like KJ Charles meets X-Files. Really good.

• The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

  • Thoughts: Delightful.

• A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles

  • Thoughts: Even better.

Novellas

• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

• The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indrapramit Das

Short Stories

• “The Ocean Remembers the Wave” by L Chan (Strange Horizons)

2022 SFF Recommendations

I’m going to be posting some of my favorite books and stories here as a reminder to myself for when award nominations roll around. Because I’m starting this quite late in the year, I’ll also be doing some oh shit i forgot… additions as I get to them, as well as bemoaning the nature of time and how many books I read this year that were from 2021.

Novels

• Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib

• The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards

• The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

• The Sleepless by Victor Manibo

• Scratch Daughters by H.A. Clarke

• Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly

• No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper

• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

• Ion Curtain by Anya Ow

Novellas

• Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy by Sam J. Miller

• “Radcliffe Hall” by Miyuki Jane Pinckard (Uncanny)

Novelettes

• “Shadows of the Hungry, the Broken, the Transformed” by Izzy Wasserstein (Cossmass Infinities)

Short Stories

• “The Cheesemaker and the Undying King” by Lina Rather (Lightspeed)

• “Dick Pig” by Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare)

• “The Application of Strawberry Lip Gloss in a Low-Gravity Environment” by R.J. Theodore (Lightspeed)

• “Douen” by Suzan Palumbo (The Dark)

• “The Found Recollections of Revalor’s Last Oracle” by Elsa Sjunneson (The Sunday Morning Transport)

• “Girl Oil” by Grace P. Fong (Tor dot com)

• “Iconophobe” by Sam J. Miller (F&SF)

Other

• “The Necessity of Trans Joy” by Izzy Wasserstein (Uncanny)

2022 Eligibility Post

2022 has been a little twistier and more unpredictable than 2021, but there’s still plenty that I’m proud of. As far as work eligible for your consideration, I have a handful of stories that came out this year, but if you considered one short story, I’d love for you to read “Fallow Stone” in the Spring/Summer Issue of PYRE. It’s a queered up reimagining of Bluebeard’s Bride, and I’m really proud of it.

I’d also be honored to be considered for your Best Editor ballots in short form. My editorial output this year has included:

• Issues 7-9 of Baffling (we’ll be sneaking Issue 10 out on December 31st as well)

• Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver

• Let the Mountains Be My Grave by Francesca Tacchi

• Empire of the Feast by Bendi Barrett

• Opulent Syntax: Irish Speculative Fiction (with Don Duncan)

• All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From by Izzy Wasserstein (the two original stories)

(There’s a chance we’ll have Luminescent Machinations: Queer Tales of Monumental Invention out in 2022 but it’s looking like it might be 2023 at this point.)

I don’t know if it’s a strong candidate for a Best Related Work exactly, but Marianne and I have also been hosting Neon Hemlock Live every month. You can watch them all of them here.

2022 Update

Some belated updates!

Baffling Year One, which encapsulates the first four issues of the magazine I put out with Craig and Gabriella, got a starred review from Publishers Weekly! You can buy the book here or all the other usual plaes.

“There are no false notes in this strange and dazzling anthology of 26 queer, speculative stories, selected from the first year of Baffling Magazine—which is particularly impressive given the wide range of tone, subject matter, and subgenre.”

— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

I have a recipe-based short story coming out in a few days from Hexagon. Keep your eyes peeled for that. Also we’re still shilling various queer goth nonsense over at the Neon Hemlock Threadless store. Please pick yourself up some sleeveless garb.

Myself and two co-editors (Don Duncan and Rhiannon Rasmussen) are hard at work on not one but two anthologies in this last quarter. You can pre-order both Opuluent Syntax and Luminescent Machinations here, not to mention other titles.

I’m still querying a novel (epic fantasy with tattoo magic and swamp witches) and a novella (Barker-esque secret societies and Byronic mysteries), while also working on a new novel project that I’m desperate to make more time for when the editorial irons are out of the fire! Soon.

Marianne and I presented a few categories for the Lammys this year from the comfort of my living room. If you are missing more of our co-hosting energy, you can also check our our monthly IG Live series. If you’re curious about Neon Hemlock in general, Lyndsie Manusos interviewed me at Book Riot back in June. We talk about Baffling, novellas, and more.

2021 Eligibility Post

2021 was an interesting year!

Two urban fantasy novellas went out into the world: the saucier one set in Washington, DC, “Fool’s Gold,” was released on the Sana Interactive app in January early in the year. And then The Hidden Ones, set in Ireland, arrived in October, from Queer Space/Rebel Satori Press.

My first nonfiction essay, “Shapeshifting,” was published in Trinity Tales (Lilliput Press).

I had a number of short stories find homes:

• “Salt & Fat & Iron & Sugar,” LampLight

• “Non-Volatile Memory,” ASP Bulletin #3

• “An Offering to the Sun,” Decoded #2

• "A Sleepless Hunter’s Wanton Fruit,” Lackington’s #23

• “Top Ten Demons to Kill Before the World Ends,” Cossmass Infinities #5

• “A Clamour at Dusk,” Translunar Travelers Lounge #4

• “Terms and Conditions Apply,” Dim Shores Presents Vol. 2

As an editor, I worked on a handful of things: Unfettered Hexes, A Formal Invitation Issue Two, Queer Space Force, the 2021 Neon Hemlock Novella Series, and four issues of Baffling (with Craig and Gabriella).

And as far as things to come, I also revised the epic fantasy novel I’ve been querying agents with. I wrote a dark fantasy/horror novella that’s still looking for a home. And I’ve started a new novel-length project that I’m excited about.

The Hidden Ones

My novella, The Hidden Ones, comes out from Rebel Satori’s Queer Space imprint this fall. You can pre-order here.

Release Date: October 5th 2021

Holding On in 2020

The photo above is of a mural in DC that I finally managed to grab a photo of. I always see it when I’m in a car zipping by too quickly or otherwise unprepared, but this time I was ready. There’s a magic to it, yes, but also a message: hold on.

2020 was hard for me personally like many of us, but as a writer and editor, it wasn’t too shabby.

Original Stories:

• “La Camaraderie du Cirque” in Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities #2 (which will be reprinted in Podcastle in 2021)

• “Galaxies of Rotten Stars” in Shoreline of Infinity 17

• “Dr. Nikole Obano is Dead” in Trouble Among the Stars #6

• “Sterling” in the Sana Interactive app (which will have an interactive novella sequel coming out in 2021)

• “The Empress’s Knife” in The Overcast #131

• “Fracture” (co-written with Marianne Kirby and Tessa Fisher) in Fireside Fiction

• “A Flash of Light in the Darkness” in Fireweed: Stories from the Revolution

• “Safe, For Now” in House of ZOLO’s Journal of Speculative Literature

• “The Call of the Void” in Outsiders Within

Reprints:

• “The Salt Witch” in Tales to Terrify #420

• “Eye of the Beholder” in The SFWP Quarterly Issue 20

I also put out a story game zine: An Imminent Spark.

Over at Neon Hemlock, I served as an editor for four novellas:

• Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar

• Queens of Noise by Leigh Harlen

• Cradle and Grave by Anya Ow

• Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

I edited Glitter + Ashes:  Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die, with these works:

• “Apocalypse” by Saida Agostini (reprint poem)

• “Dream Askew” by Avery Alder (reprint game)

• “Champions of Water War,” by Elly Bangs

• “The Dreadnought and the Stars,” by Phoebe Barton

• “Didn’t Our Lord Deliver Daniel,” by Christopher Caldwell

• “When the Last of the Birds and the Bees Have Gone On,” by C.L. Clark

• “The Valley of Mothers,” by Josie Columbus

• “The Last Dawn of Targadrides,” by Trip Galey

• “When She Nothing Shines Upon,” by Blake Jessop

• “The Limitations of Her Code,” by Marianne Kirby

• “The Black Hearts of La Playa,” by Jordan Kurella

• “The Currant Dumas,” by L.D. Lewis

• “Soft,” by Otter Lieffe

• “Venom and Bite,” by Darcie Little Badger

• “Imago,” by A.Z. Louise

• “For the Taking, For the Making,” by V. Medina

• “The Bone Gifts,” by Michael Andrew Milne

• “Wrath of a Queer God” by Anthony Moll (poem)

• “Note Left on a Coffeetable,” by Mari Ness

• “Be Strong, Kick Many Asses,” by Aun-Juli Riddle

• “A Party Planner’s Guide to the Apocalypse,” by Lauren Ring

• “A Sound Like Staying Together,” by Adam Shannon

• “Safe Haven,” by A.P. Thayer

• “A Future in Color,” by R.J. Theodore

• “The Descent of Their Last End,” by Izzy Wasserstein

• “You Fool, You Wanderer,” by Brendan Williams-Childs

And co-edited Issue One of Baffling Magazine with Craig L. Gidney:

• “Velvet,” by Nino Cipri

• “Merida, Yucatan: 2060,” by Jewelle Gomez

• “From the Deep, the Music Rises,” by Izzy Wasserstein

• “Cellars, Caskets, and Closets,” by Maxwell I. Gold

I also edited V O I D J U N K, A Formal Invitation, and the incredible winners of the OutWrite chapbook competition. All in all, despite everything, a respectable year!

2020 Keeps Happening

My last roundup was in February and every time I came back here to update things I just …. didn’t. But hey, 2020 keeps happening so I guess we do too.

OutWrite 2020 went off without a hitch, despite the move to remote, thanks to the incredible writers that participated and our fantastic volunteer team. You can check out all of the events on Youtube. This year is my last as chair, so I’m even more pleased that we’ve been nominated for the Mayor’s Art Award for a contribution to the humanities. You can vote for us here if you’d like to.

While I’d hoped this year to be more involved in conventions and readings, I didn’t expect they’d all be online! I read and paneled at Flights of Foundry, NASFiC and the lowercase. Still to come is FIYAHCON and hopefully more! Not to mention the online reading series I’ve been hosting with Marianne Kirby called Neon Hemlock Live.

And in Neon Hemlock news, we’d love for you to join us on Saturday the 5th for the launch party celebrating Stone and Steel and Yellow Jessamine. RSVP here. And I am so pleased to say that Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. So September is off to a great start.

I’ve had a really good year, publication-wise. Here are my five quick pitches for the stories that have come out since I last updated y’all:

• AIs navigating obligation and tradition in space

• Interactive erotic paranormal romance in DC

• A literary triptych about a knife/woman/ship and personhood

• An audio adventure of gargoyles, gender and revolution

• An anthology of revolution that has my story about mental illness and post-apocalyptic antifa

2020 Happenings

Lots has been happening in 2020 already!

I have a couple short stories out in the world, including a creepy alt-dimensional 45 meeting his doppelganger, a reprint of a story where a superhero navigates street harassment, and a dark fantasy story about a circus.

I got interviewed in Washington City Paper by Hannah Grieco about OutWrite, Neon Hemlock Press, and the DC queer literary scene.

I also put out a story game in zine format for Zine Quest 2 on Kickstarter! The zine is called An Imminent Spark. Keep an eye out for the launch of Neon Hemlock’s 2020 Novella Series on February 20th.

I’m looking forwarding to hanging with the Futurescapes crew in Palermo next month as well!

Fall 2019 News & Eligibility

This year has been flying by!

Back in September I got interviewed. November saw me on two panels in Baltimore: a small press panel at Baltimore BookFest and a genre publishing panel at the Pratt. The former is best summed up in this Twitter thread, and the latter in this post at Raw Dog Screaming Press. There may be a podcast of the Pratt panel, which I’ll link to if and when I find it. (Edit: Here it is).

I recently got notification of my schedule for Con*Fusion in Detroit, which I’ll be sharing after they give us the go ahead. Excited to be on the schedule! Let me know if you’ll be there too and want to connect. (I’m also hype to attend The Woods 2020 in January — kicking off the year with the lit community pals old and new).

If folks were to consider any of my stories as part of end of year reading or awards eligibility, two highlights:

• “The Salt Witch” was published in The Audient Void Issue #7 in January 2019 and will be available to listen to on the Tales to Terrify podcast in 2020 as a reprint.

• “Bad Reputation,” co-written with Jordan Kurella, is a short piece included in the A Punk Rock Future anthology with some really great contributors.

Anthology Kickstarter: Glitter + Ashes

Hey friends, I’m Kickstarting an anthology! The campaign goes live on September 3rd. I don’t have a link for it yet, but will post it here and over on the Neon Hemlock Glitter + Ashes page when I do. I hope you’ll consider backing!

Update 9/3: The Kickstarter is live! Check it out here.

Pre-Orders Open at Neon Hemlock Press

I’ve launched a small press to publish the winners of the 2019 OutWrite Chapbook Competition as well as future projects: Neon Hemlock.

Check out our first publications here.

Spring News

I have a post up at Poets & Writers about OutWrite and our annual speculative fiction reading. Check it out and I hope to see you at East City Books on May 4th.

Earlier in the month, I was interviewed about OutWrite at Little Patuxent Review by Erika Franz.

And then next week I’ll be reading at Little Salon 46 in DC. It looks like there are still a couple tickets left.

I also have a secret project that I ought to unveil sooner rather than later. Watch this space.

Back from Firefly Farms

I got back yesterday from a week at Firefly Farms as part of a residency with Sundress Academy of the Arts (SAFTA). It was a lovely, slow week on the farm and I made some headway my novel revisions. Not as much as I would have liked, but I also cooked 2-3 meals a day, fed farm animals and collected eggs, so all things considered, I feel pretty good about it. I think I would have gotten more done if I was writing rather than revising, but either way, if folks are looking for dedicated time and space to work on a project, I recommend the residency. Happy to answer any questions people might have too!

(L to R: Munchma the goat; dave ting & Janie Cannarella; a lamb; dave’s bathroom selfie; a duck)

Season Two of Lonesome Pine Podcast

Season Two of Lonesome Pine Podcast is live! Welcome to Rumour Milltown Radio.

If you could drop a review on it while you listen, it’d be much appreciated!

Queer Sci Fi's Annual Flash Fiction Contest Open to Submissions

Queer Sci Fi officially launched their 2019 flash fiction contest on March 1st. As the second place winner from last year’s contest, I’ll be one of the judges this year.

The content theme is Migration. Submissions should be speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror or paranormal). Max word count is 300, not including the title. They have cash prizes for the top three, and I believe as part of entering you agree that if your story is included in the top 110 stories it can be included in the contest anthology. Deadline is April 10th. Full info at the link above.

2018 Writing Roundup

2018 was somehow a good year for writing. It was full of firsts for me.

• I sold my first pro-rate short story sale, “Overdue,” to The Disconnect.

• I edited my first anthology, Broken Metropolis: Queer Tales of a City That Never Was, published by Mason Jar Press.

• I sold my first reprint, “Misunderstood,” to Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast.

• I sold my first poem(/spell), “A Threefold Invocation,” to FLAPPERHOUSE.

• I co-wrote my first podcast episode, “Moved by the Spirit,” for Lonesome Pine Podcast.

• I received my first writing-related grant from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

• I attended my first convention, WFC, in Baltimore.

I’m hype for 2019. I have four short stories accepted and forthcoming, including my second pro-rate short story sale (co-written with Jordan Kurella). The second season of Lonesome Pine Podcast (co-written with Alexandra Faith) could be dropping as early in mid-January. I’m attending the SAFTA Writing Residency at Firefly Farms in April, where hopefully I’ll be working on revising my novel.

2018 ROUNDUP

PUBLICATIONS

“And Nothing But,” FLAPPERHOUSE #20

“Misunderstood,” Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast (reprint)

Broken Metropolis: Queer Tales of a City That Never Was (editor) (Mason Jar Press)

"Buried Conviction," Speculative City, Issue 2: Game

"Avalon," SOFT CARTEL

"Clickbait," Impact: QSF Flash Fiction Volume 4 (second place winner)

"Overdue," The Disconnect #2

"A Threefold Invocation," FLAPPERHOUSE #18

"Exhibit C: Moved by the Spirit," Lonesome Pine Podcast (with Alexandra Faith)

RETREATS, RESIDENCIES & WORKSHOPS

Futurescapes Writing Workshop (Faculty: DongWon Song, Thao Le, Fran Wilde)

Disquiet Azores Writing Residency (Faculty: Erica Dawson & Helen Oyeyemi)

READINGS

Tales of Horror & Dread at Ten Tigers Parlour (Washington, DC)

Rayceen’s Reading Room at DC Public Library Banned Books Week (Washington, DC)

Broken Metropolis Launch Party at Ten Tigers Parlour (Washington, DC)

Mason Jar Press Reading at Upshur Street Books (Washington, DC)

What If? with the Speculative Wordsmiths at Petworth Citizen Reading Room (Washington, DC)

INTERVIEWS

Special Guest on Lit!Pop!Bang! Episode 1.7:  Summertime Belongs to Queers

Autumnal News

Please find your way over to Shouting About Queer SF to hear recommendations of queer horror to read, shepherded by the delightful Darcie Little Badger, including a rec from yours truly. Spoiler, it involves a story from one of the writers who joined me at Ten Tigers Parlour last week.

Also, I’m delighted to share that I’ve accepted the offer of a residency at Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennesee this coming April through the Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA). I’m especially excited because my novel-in-progress begins at a farm.

Tales Told

Thanks so much to everyone who came out last night for Tales of Horror and Dread at Ten Tigers Parlour! We had a lot of fun. Na’amen Tilahun unfortunately wasn’t able to make it, but we had readings from myself, Sunny Moraine (who read from their story in LampLight) and Marianne Kirby (who read from her new novel Hogtown Market).

Special thanks to our audio engineer and ambient sorcerer (Joe), zombie face painters (DJ & April) and our tarot readers (Ksenia & Vanessa).

(L to R: dave ring; Sunny Moraine; Marianne Kirby)