From the Pleased as Punch category: Fantasy Magazine published my story “Stereogram of the Gray Fort, in the Days of Her Glory” this week.  There’s also an interview in which I discuss the inspiration of the story and attempt to describe what makes a successful writing group.

Altered Fluid members N.K. Jemisin, Eugene Myers, and Devin Poore will be reading at the NYRSF reading series this coming Tuesday, June 1st, held at the SOHO Gallery for Digital Art at 6:30pm.  Full information, directions, and bios are available at here.

The 2009 Interzone Readers’ Poll has been announced with a strong showing from Altered Fluid.  My story “Saving Deigo” was voted #5.  Paul Berger’s “Home Again” tied for sixth place, and Alaya Dawn Johnson’s “Far and Deep” tied for tenth.  Jason Sanford came in with the win for his excellent story “Sublimation Angels.”  Interzone is one of the best-looking and has some of the best content of any genre magazine publishing today, and I’m super proud to be on that list with several of my fellow Altered Fluidians.  Congratulations to them!

Ellen Datlow has posted her list of honorable mentions (page 1, page 2) for Best Horror of the Year, Volume 2.  Included among the many names are Altered Fluid’s own Alaya Dawn Johnson for her story “Far and Deep,” (Interzone #221) as well as yours truly for my stories “Saving Diego” (Interzone #221) and “The Spaces Between Things.” (Electric Velocipede 17/18)

In addition, three stories from Sybil’s Garage No. 6 received honorable mentions:

Toiya Kristen Finley’s  “Eating Ritual,” James B. Pepe’s  “I Am Enkidu, His Wild Brother,” and Genevieve Valentine’s “The Drink of Fine Gentlemen Everywhere.”

Congrats to all!

Altered Fluid members are well represented in this year’s Hugo & Campbell nominations.  Not one, but two names appear.  N.K. Jemisin has been nominated for a Hugo for her short story “Non-Zero Probabilities,” which appeared originally in Clarkesworld Magazine.  While Saladin Ahmed has been nominated for the Campbell Award for best new writer.  We wish them many congratulations and the best of luck!

This month, my story “The History Within Us” was posted at Clarkesworld Magazine.  A few days ago, they also released a podcast read by the amazing Kate Baker.  In this post on my blog I describe how the story came to be.  You can read the story here.  And you can listen to the podcast here.  I hope you enjoy it.  And feedback is always welcome.

The annual Altered Fluid writing retreat went swimmingly, not the least of which was because we spent a good bit of time in the hot tub. But we also got a lot of good writing done, which is, after all, why we do it. This year’s retreat photo:

Alas, missing a few members since not everybody could go this year.

Editor John Klima of Electric Velocipede picks two Altered Fluidians for his Hugo & Campbell nominations.

John gives my story “The Spaces Between Things” his Hugo vote, and he suggests Fluidian Saladin Ahmed for the Campbell Award.

Thanks, John!

Link: http://blog.electricvelocipede.com/2010/03/2010-hugo-nominations.html

I’m proud to say my short story “Small Burdens” just went up on the wonderful speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons.  You can read it here.

This piece began as my first Clarion story, written during the week our workshop was led by Kelly Link.

A bit of spoiler — It’s a fairy story, and I knew next to nothing about fairy lore when I started it, but the piece grew out of the question: When fairies steal human children, why do they bother to leave changelings in their place?  It seems like a lot of work, and they’re eventually found out sooner or later.  Do fairies just have cruel senses of humor, or do the changelings serve some purpose that humans never see?  I tried to answer that, working from the premise that fairies were a bit too alien to relate to humans, and that the changeling had to be doing something that would help them abduct or raise a human baby.

I’ve been a big fan of Strange Horizons for years (and it was co-founded by another one of my Clarion instructors, Mary Anne Mohanraj), so I’m delighted this story found a good home there.

It’s too bad they couldn’t run this a week earlier, though — Saladin Ahmed’s “Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions” appeared the week of February 15, and we just missed the chance for a back-to-back block of Altered Fluid stories.

The 2009 Locus Recommended Reading List is out, and my Interzone short story “Home Again” is included in it!

I’m a little stunned to see my name appear with so many people I’m in awe of.  There are several with whom I never would have expected to share a list any more specific than “Beings That Appreciate Oxygen” –  conspicuous among these are four of my Clarion instructors: Kelly Link, James Patrick Kelly, Geoff Ryman, and Neil Gaiman.

Wow.

Inclusion in the Locus Recommended Reading List also means inclusion on the Locus Awards ballot.  “Home Again” is a tiny story that got only a fraction of the attention of some of the others in this big category, but it would mean a lot if it didn’t come in dead last.  If you read it in Interzone #221 and liked it, please vote!

The ballot is here, and “Home Again” is in the short story category, about halfway down the page.  You don’t need to be a subscriber or a member, and you can vote for 5 pieces in each category.  (It may take several minutes for the form to process after you hit Submit, but it looks like it does go through.)

Thanks!