I’m realizing now that I didn’t post one of these here last year, and that was the year one of my stories actually won an award. Funny how things work in the midst of a devastating plague, isn’t it?
But 2023’s been going for two weeks, so I think I’m finally safe to do my award eligibility post for 2022, since there will be nothing else coming out in that departed 2022 for the remaining lifetime of the universe! (Other 2022s, sure. But not the one we just had.) It was a quiet year for me – which is putting it mildly. But I published two things!
- “A Sword Has One Purpose” – This was my second appearance in Lightspeed, and my first story dedicated to the importance of punching fascists in their awful, awful faces. It definitely will not be the last of the second category, because as the Second World War drifts further from living memory it becomes more evident that some fuckers need to be reminded again and again before they get the fucking lesson.
- “Shards of Nightmares” – This was my first foray into work-for-hire writing for an existing intellectual property, and was written as part of Magic: The Gathering‘s Dominaria United block. As someone who started playing Magic in 1995 and still has a few cards from that time kicking around, it was a rad experience. Even radder, of course, was the money.
I’ve got more stories coming up in 2023, including at least one that still hasn’t been formally announced, and as always there are more looking for homes. Maybe they’ll end up here in future posts!
Phoebe Barton - Science Fiction Writer 