Other People’s Writing

I guess it’s about time for a brief update from my writing life. Mostly though, this will be a post about other people’s writing.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have two stories published so far in 2024 (both over at Stupefying Stories). There are still another six months left for that number to go up, but things have been quiet on that front for a while now. Even the number of rejections I’ve received lately has been pretty low considering how many stories I have out on submission.

Writing has been slow for a while as well, and I doubt that will change any time soon as I’m about to go off paternity leave and start back at work. I am writing, though, slowly, steadily, putting together one story after another. And I hope to have another handfull of short stories ready for, if not submission, then at least for my writing group to critique, soon.

I did attend our “local” SF&F convetion, Fantasticon, last week, though (local, as in there are currently two yearly SF&F fan conventions in Denmark, and this is, by far, the one closest to where I live). I’m about as introvert as you can get, but somehow, I managed to mingle and socialize and generally have a really great con.

I also met some awesome fellow writers. There was the Guest of Honor, Catherynne Valente, who was not just great on panels but also very friendly and loaded with funny annecdotes from her already long career as a writer and the weird little island in Maine where she has settled down.

Then there was the Danish SF&F writer Jane Mondrup, whose debut novel, Zeitgeist, I’m currently reading. I rarely have high hopes when diving into a Danish science fiction or fantasy story, but considering how well written Jane’s novel is, maybe I should reconsider that predisposition. It’s simultaneously an entertaining, easy-to-read story and a mind-numbing puzzle. While she has no stories published in English yet, Jane let it slip that there might something big underway soon.

Finally, I also met Lars Ahn who is perhaps one of the more established authors of speculative fiction for adults in Denmark (if you can really argue that we have established authors in the genres in this little market). Lars writes both in Danish and English, and last year he had an excellent story published in Lightspeed.

If you happen to be in the Copenhagen area next summer, you should definitely consider dropping by Fantasticon. It’s a cozy little con full with friendly people, and it has plenty of programming in English.

Finally, the equally awesome Jules Arbeaux just released her debut novel, Lords of the Empty Isles. Jules is in my writing group, and I’ve been lucky enough to read part of an early draft of the story. Back then, it was already a very promising and emotional story, and I really look forward to reading the final version (my preorder should be here any day now).

Lord of the Empty Isles isn’t published in North America yet, but Blackwell’s offer free international shipping.