Pulp Literature

I have a short story on the eligibility list for the Aurora Awards!

/ Melanie Marttila

The nomination period is open until April 6, 2024, for the 2024 Aurora Awards, recognizing the best of Canadian SF & Fantasy published in 2023.

This year, I have one eligible work in the Best Short Fiction category, “Psychopomps Are Us,” which was published in Pulp Literature No. 38, Spring 2023. (May 6, 2023. ISSN: 2292-2164. pp 107-116.)

Cover of Pulp Literature Magazine, Issue no. 38, Spring 2023.

I’m proud of this quirky little story told in second person with snarky footnotes. To tell you anything more would spoil the story 🙂 I would be so pleased if PAU made the ballot this year. Consider nominating it, would you?

If you haven’t read it yet, you can support the good people at Pulp Literature by purchasing a copy at the above link 🙂

How to nominate a work for the Auroras

To nominate, you need to be a member of the Canadian SF & Fantasy Association (CSFFA), the organization that administers the awards.

If you’re not a member:

  • Visit the CSFFA web site and select “Not a member yet?”
  • Fill out your name, email, and home province.
  • Select a username and password for the site.
  • Registration is CA$10, which lets you nominate and vote on the final ballot.
  • Once you’re logged in, click on “Pay membership fee with PayPal.” Don’t use PayPal? You can also pay by debit or credit.

Already a member?

  • Visit the CSFFA web site and select “Log in” under “You are a member?” then enter your username and password to access the Awards main page.
  • If you haven’t paid for 2024, click on “Pay Renewal Fee with PayPal.” Don’t use PayPal? You can also pay by debit or credit.

Nominate:

  • Select “Nomination” from the middle of the screen to access the online nomination form.
  • To nominate a work, just select one of the boxes under the category and select the appropriate title of the work you wish to nominate from the drop-down list of eligible works.
  • You can nominate up to five works in each category, but you don’t need to nominate in every category or that many in any category.
  • When you’ve finished nominating in a category, make sure you select the “Update nominations” button for the category, then move to your next category.

And … c’est tout, mes amis!

Pulp Literature Issue 38 Launch

/ Melanie Marttila

I’m just dropping by to remind everyone that Pulp Literature issue 38 is launching tomorrow at the Port Coquitlam Readers & Writers Festival!

If you’re in the area, I encourage you to visit the Book Fair & Market Hall at 1 pm. Authors Sylvia Leong, JJ Lee, Rhea Rose, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Jude Neale, Leslie Wibberley, and JM Landels will be on hand and reading their fabulous work.

And if you’re not in the area, consider ordering a copy.

Show the good people at Pulp Literature some love!

Until next time, be safe and stay well; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

The next chapter weekly: Feb 5-11, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to week six of 2023!

This week, the tarot card I drew was The Wheel of Fortune. This card symbolizes infinity, boundless energy, turning point, destiny, life cycle, endless possibility, and purpose. It can represent unexpected changes, in either a positive or negative direction.

I’m seeing this card as a positive change in my life, both at work and creatively.

From the Celtic oracle deck, I pulled The Father/Dagda, for the second week in a row. And I shuffled that deck.

Pairing The Wheel of Fortune and The Dagda seems portentous.

The 5th was also the full cold moon (and moon in Leo for the astrologically inclined). I renewed my goal to rid myself of a certain kind of autistic inertia and get to bed at a reasonable hour. It’s getting better, but I’m not as rested as I need to be.

The week in writing

I worked most days on Reality Bomb and finished freewriting ideas for chapter 27 in Alice in Thunderland. I’ve moved on to chapter 28, but I’m thinking I have to rework these last four chapters before I get to the actual drafting. But I will get to it before the end of the month (!)

I took Friday and Saturday off after a full week of work. I just needed a break.

Copy edits for my forthcoming story in Pulp Literature arrived and were actioned promptly.

My application to the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) was accepted (very quickly—within a week). I’m updating my CV, etc. today 🙂

Here’s how the week broke down:

I managed to reduce RB by a net 401 words for the week, a net -290 words for the month so far, and a net loss of 922 words on the draft overall.

I’m moving on to the next chapter using the pattern I started with Suzy, i.e., combining three chapters and paring down to a reasonable length. In RB, I have this nasty habit of repetition, like everything has to happen three times before I move on. I also write events in an inefficient order. Working on cleaning those issues up.

As I mentioned, I finished chapter 27’s freewritten outline and moved on to chapter 28 in Alice. This week, I hope to finish chapter 28, sketch out the epilogue, and tweak the whole climax and denouement in preparation for finishing the first draft.

In creating my map for Alice after drafting most of it, I’ve been marking in each chapter how it needs to change, what foreshadowing needs to be added, and how cause and effect can be strengthened. I think it’s a good approach. We’ll see how it works out and whether I want to use it for future projects.

I’ve blogged 1,615 words for the week and 2,843 words so far in the month.

Another Shaelin Writes video cracked open the concept of subtext for me. Look for that on tipsday. I really relate to her process and way of thinking about writing, even though she writes literary fiction and I’m a genre writer.

Filling the well

I attended a FOLD webinar, “How to Write a Great Book” presented by Evan Winter on February 11, 2023. It was a good presentation. Unfortunately, Evan’s journey to publishing was anomalous, i.e., he self-published his book, attracted the attention of a publisher, who helped him get an agent before moving forward with the deal.

I had my biannual appointment with the OBSP, AKA the booby squishing, on Monday. Not as bad as the first time.

I took my mom to our next hair appointment on Saturday.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, Phil and I finished watching The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon), season 2. The series really strikes the perfect balance between comedy and drama. And most of the characters progressed in their arcs/got their moments to shine.

I also watched The Banshees of Inisherin (Disney +). Good movie, but it made my poor heart hurt.

Moving on to what I’ve been reading, I finished Sue Lynn Tan’s The Daughter of the Moon Goddess. There’s a lot of fighting and battles, but the story had an overall dreamy feel to it. It was gentle and lovely. I really enjoyed it.

And that was the week in this writer’s life.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Book review of What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

What the publisher says:

In the mid 1500s shipwrecked African slaves melded with the indigenous peoples of coastal Ecuador and together they fought the Spanish colonial power to a standstill, to remain independent for centuries.  The story of the people of Esmeraldas is told through the eyes of three characters: Alonso, an escaped slave; Expectation, an a-gender shaman; and Alejandro, a priest on the run from the Inquisition.

With its slipstream elements this novel carries a flavour of South American magical realism tradition into a grand historical epic.  Both sweeping and intimate, it is a delight to read from beginning to end, and we are honoured that Matt has decided to entrust his grand work to us.

Pulp Literature

WhatTheWindBrings

My thoughts:

Hughes is not shy about calling What the Wind Brings his magnum opus. It’s a novel that’s been over twenty years in the making, the author not wanting to publish the work until he felt it was ready to meet the public. That time is here, and Hughes has produced a novel worthy of his ambitions for it.

My favourite character was Expectation, the nigua shaman. They’re an outsider because of their vocation, but even more so because of their gender and identity. None of the other characters quite know what to do with or about Expectation or even what to call them. Accordingly, some characters identify Expectation as she, some as he, and some identify them by their vocation, or, pejoratively as a witch.

Expectation doesn’t care. They know who they are and what they need to do, and they find a way to persevere despite the antagonism of Anton and the other Africans who have taken positions of power within the new community after the shipwreck.

Expectation has a spirit guide, who counsels them in their work. They heal sickness in the community and they, in turn, counsel the community’s leaders.

They’re pivotal to the melding of the Africans, the nigua, and the other tribes eventually brought into the larger Esmeraldas community. Expectation also plays an important role in Alonso’s story arc when they recover Alonso’s lost spirit guide, and in Alejandro’s arc, when they trepan the Trinitarian monk’s skull after a severe head injury endangers his life.

What the Wind Brings is, in my opinion, Expectation’s story. They’re the character that does the most to bring the community together and ensure its continued harmonious survival. While Expectation’s shamanism is the source of the novel’s speculative elements, they also display a healthy scientific curiosity, thinking about the nature of illness and contagion. These ponderings enable Expectation to adapt to other ways of thinking and healing and help them to remain relevant in the changing political structure of the Esmeraldas community.

Hughes writes with candour and compassion about the African slaves, the Ecuadorian indigenous peoples, and even the Portuguese and Spanish colonizers. His characters are, first and foremost, people with relatable fears and goals, flaws and better qualities. He does not shy away from the harm his characters do to one another, purposeful or inadvertent. There is great violence in the novel, but also great moments of compassion and love.

Highly recommended.

My rating:

Four out of five stars.