Story Updates & My Inability to Chill

Hi there! With my 40th birthday around the corner and a short vacay to celebrate, as well as tons of work, home, and writing-related things happening this month, I wanted to give a quick writing update for anyone that cares. Hi, mom!

First, I have a drabble coming out in Ghost Orchid Press‘ Hundred Word Horror – Rock Band: An Anthology of Music-Inspired Microfiction. If you’re unfamiliar, a drabble is a story in exactly 100 words, no more no less. It’s a bit more challenging than one would think. With only so many words to make a complete story, the addition or removal of just one word can compromise the entire thing. So I wrote the drabble and was like YEAH! THIS IS GREAT! The story was complete. It flowed well. It had a line of lyrics from one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands ever. But typical of me, I got overzealous about the submission call and its theme and wrote the dang thing before thoroughly reading the guidelines—one of which was that we could not include song lyrics in the story as they are copyrighted. (Duh, Vashelle.) I took out the lyrics and reworked it, but it took a while for me to be as pleased with it as the original story I wrote. Anyway, here is the badass cover and the link to pre-order it in e-book form. It will also be available in paperback later this month!

Next up is my short story “Blessed Art Thou Among Women” for Ghost Orchid Press’ Blood & Bone: An Anthology of Body Horror by Women and Non-Binary Writers. This is a short horror story about navigating body image as a young woman during these “do it for the ‘gram” times. As the title suggests, there is a bit of a religious-horror element to it. I’m stoked to have this story out in the world as it features a Chicana MC. There’s really not enough of that out there. This anthology is also available for pre-order in e-book form. Paperback will be available in late September.

Two more of my stories will be published this year, though covers have not yet been revealed. I’m such a visual person, an art hoe if you will, that cover reveals is perhaps the most exciting part of this process for me.

My short story “The Warbler’s Song” will be coming out in Unsettling Reads‘ Autumn Noir anthology. This story gutted me to write as I literally had to flesh out my greatest fear as a mother. If you like grief-horror, you might want to check it out. Stay tuned for a cover reveal and purchasing info!

Finally, my story “The Black Tree” will be published by Cinnabar Moth Publishing in their upcoming winter anthology. I have more exciting news to share about some work I’m doing with Cinnabar Moth, but shhhhhhhh. I have to keep it on the down low for now. Stay tuned for that as well.

As I have mentioned, I submitted my very first story for consideration this past December. I NEVER would have imagined having several accepted stories by mid-2021. I’m truly beside myself. Unfortunately (yet fortunately?), I have zero chill when it comes to goal-setting. This is a thing now. I want to keep going, keep writing stories, keep seeing my heart translated to words on paper. There was a time when I worked as an assistant librarian and one of the parts of in-processing books was to make the call-number label for the spine. I remember thinking how cool it would be to author a book cause my call number would start with NIN (my last name is Nino). Doesn’t it make you think of the band Nine Inch Nails? I mean, come on. Now I’ve gotta do it.

Anyway, have a Happy August, y’all. Fall is right around the corner and soon enough we’ll all be snorting pumpkin spice off a witch’s ass. I, for one, cannot wait.