I’m delighted to announce that my horror story “The Box Wife” which originally appeared in Shock Totem #9 will be featured in the world’s premier horror podcast Pseudopod in the near future!

I am so excited that the story will be released for streaming and download for free – it’s one of my favourites, and I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to share it around with such ease.

Here’s the opening line:

If you run your hands over me you’ll be pulling splinters from your palms for days.

Cannot wait to share this – thanks, Pseudopod!

And you can grab a copy right here. You can also find the full TOC at SF Signal.

I’m really excited that this is out! It heartens me to see how warmly received this project has been, and it’s especially touching to know that there are a few people out there who came out by participating in this issue. If you’re reading this, o people, know that I think that you’re incredibly brave. Well done.

I was delighted to write a short personal essay for QDSF – you can find it in the issue or read it online here:

“So Say We All.”

I’d like to say a personal thanks to the team at Lightspeed for creating this project and for publishing so many wonderful stories. Thank you for giving queer SF (and fantasy, and horror) writers a voice (even more than you already do!)

I speak only on behalf of myself, but I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Turns out I have a huge second half of 2015 ahead of me! Wow.

First things first!

I’m pleased to announced that I’ll be appearing on four (four!) panels at the upcoming Continuum convention in Melbourne. Continuum runs over the Queen’s Birthday weekend – this year from the 5th to the 8th of June.

My panels are as follows:

Friday 530pm

BSG and Feminism

Emma Osborne, Alexandra Pierce, Amanda Bridgeman

With nearly every episode of BSG passing the Bechdel test (as well as the Mako Mori test and the infamous Sexy Lamp test) it is easy to hold up the show as a great example of equality. How do the female characters shape the world and the politics of BSG?

Saturday 10am

Panel Workshop: Queer/LGBTIQ Worldbuilding

Emma Osborne, Bismuth Hoban

Building worlds filled with authentic diversity can be a challenge. How can we write worlds that are inclusive of the LGBTI population with sensitivity and honestly?

Sunday 2pm

Panel Workshop: Writing LGBTI Characters

Narrelle M Harris, Lauren Mitchell, Emma Osborne, Cecil Wilde, Hespa

Genre writing presents many opportunities for diversity. What are the important things to consider when writing LGBTI characters and relationships? (Includes asexuality)

Sunday 6pm

Exploring Speculative Poetry

Emma Osborne, Kyla Ward

Speculative poetry is a way of elegantly exploring fantastic realms usually limited to film and prose. From Cylon basestar poetry to Beowulf, we analyse what makes a speculative poem and look at what the future may hold.

You can find a complete list of the panels (and there are some brilliant ones!) on the Continuum site.

On the other side of the desk, I’m stoked to be able to confirm that I’ll be attending ReaderCon in Boston in July! I can’t wait to meet people and hang out with friends and acquaintances (especially those of you I only know online or on Codex so far!)

I’m also scheduled to attend GeekyCon in Florida in August and GenreCon in Australia’s Florida Brisbane in October/November!

Wow. Now that I’ve written it all down, it seems like a lot. 😉

If you do recognise me at a con or if you see me on a panel (eeeee) and want to come and say hello, please do! I love meeting new people (especially fellow nerds!)

Huh. I am going to need a lot of Starbucks in international airports coffee.

There are a few things I want to do this year (like take a tour of Tasmania’s whiskey distilleries, hell yeah) but most of my goals are writing-based.

Here they are, in the interest of accountability.

1. Submit to Clarion and Clarion West.

This will be my fifth crack and West and my fourth crack at UCSD. Whew. Yeah. I know that plenty of people apply multiple times, and I’ve gotten much better as a result, but it’s still kind of doing my head in. Let’s hope that this will be my year! I have a good feeling about 2015.

2. Re-draft my novel.

I finished the first draft in October last year and put it away for a bit. I’ve been working on my Clarion stories (and had a completely fucking crazy time at the day job) so it has been waiting patiently since then. Looking forward to getting back into it (I have made lots of notes) and getting it tightened up (hopefully once more after Clarion, if I go this year!)

3. Start querying agents.

If all goes well, I’ll start querying toward the end of the year. Eeeeep!

I’m also looking forward to submitting to Queers Destroy Science Fiction! It’s fantastic to see them blast through their stretch goals! Can’t wait for Queers Destroy Horror, also!

It’s pretty amazing to think that I’ll be a part of the QDSF anthology either way, as they raised enough to include my essay in the print edition. Yay!

Best of luck in reaching your 2015 goals!

Lightspeed Magazine have recently launched their Kickstarter for Queers Destroy Science Fiction, and hey, they hit their target already! Amazing!

Today’s personal essay is one from me (you can read it here, without needing to back the project!)

I’m so delighted and happy to have been asked to contribute an essay. I hope that you enjoy reading it and that you choose support such an important initiative!

Chuck Wendig asked us what our favourite things of 2014 were. I’m stealing his list and posting a link to this because it’s my blog and I can do what I want!

(Also, because lists like this are fun, and it’s a lovely way to wrap up a year!)

1) Favorite novel of the year?

Gonna cheat on this and say favourite novels. It has got to be the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Eliza introduced me to these books and they blew my fucking head off. I am desperately in love with all of the central characters. I’m so into these books that I legitimately looked up a bunch of fan art and listened to fanmixes whilst re-reading the Dream Thieves because I just love Ronan Lynch that much.

Stiefvater is three books in (Blue Lily, Lily Blue just came out) of the four book series and I am sure that something terrible is coming, but I cannot look away. Go pick up The Raven Boys. Then come back and tell me how much you love it.

2) Favorite non-fiction book of the year?

I didn’t read much non-fiction in terms of books, but I’d probably have to say Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It’s one of those writer bibles. Very good, practical advice.

Other than that, I must recommend Aeon for non-fiction. Their articles are gorgeous and always beautifully written.

3) Favorite short story of the year?

Easy. The Fisher Queen by Alyssa Wong. Bloody brilliant story.

4) Favorite movie of the year?

I really liked Captain America: Winter Soldier. I have a man-crush on Chris Evans in that role. Love me some Steve Rogers.

5) Favorite TV show of the year?

Orange is the New Black! Love it. Uzo Aduba is my hero. Someone PLEASE cast her in the new Ghostbusters.

6) Favorite song of the year?

Chandelier? Yeah, probably that.

7) Favorite album?

Hmmmmmmm. My music brain has been a little skewed this year. For various reasons, I was quite shut down to my back catalog and sort of filtered out a lot of new stuff. I’m going to take a pass on this.

8) Favorite video game?

Pokemon Y. I HAD THE BEST TIME.

9) Favorite app?

8 tracks. Curated playlists with every imaginable theme. A lot more reliable than Pandora if you’re in a mood/want something to match a book/character/genre/whatever.

10) Favorite [something else] of the year?

I traveled like a mofo this year. Europe for a wedding (plus a lot of side-tripping around Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland) and an impromptu birthday trip to New York for my 30th (thanks, Eliza!) in which I met Margaret Atwood and a bunch of amazing authors and agents (and saw Chuck and his lovely wife! Yay!)

This year has been an emotional rollercoaster (more about that some other time) but it has landed well. I’m 30 now and that’s totally OK, and it’s sort of nice to be able to say ‘OK, that was my 20s, and this is all new’.

I’ll leave you with my favourite photo of the year, taken while we were road-tripping through the Swiss alps. Because I’m a bastard.