Hi, friends!

It’s been a busy couple of months–and I think I forgot to share here that A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is out; hooray! Here are a couple pictures by my agent of the launch event at McNally Jackson in New York City:

So it’s really wonderful to be invited to be part of amazing anthologies with wonderful editors who help you make your story the best it can be and wonderful fellow contributors whose work just shines. I’m so happy I have stories in three such anthologies this year (The Underwater Ballroom Anthology, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft), and the latter two are coming out this summer!

Some cool news: “Starskin, Sealskin,” the poem I cowrote with Sara Cleto that found a home in Uncanny Magazine, has been nominated for a Rhysling Award! Whoo-hoooooo!

Some fun news for the new year!

Awesome writers Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent are coediting a fantasy and science fiction anthology based on this underwater ballroom, and they invited me to write a story for it! It’ll be available in April of this year, but you can add The Underwater Ballroom Society on Goodreads now.

And now, to reveal the beautiful cover for the second anthology I have a story in next year! Isn’t it gorgeous? I’m so, so excited. My story is called “The Moonapple Menagerie” and stars a coven and a magical occasional theater in the woods, and I’m super proud of it.

If you’ve been longing for a taste of fall, I’m happy to say that the text of my story “Autumn Jewels,” which first appeared as a limited-edition handmade scroll in the Sihaya and Company 2016 autumn box (pictures below), is now available to read and listen to as part of Podcastle‘s seasons-themed flash fiction episode! Go forth and enjoy.

The summer issue 2017 of Faerie Magazine, with my mermaid modeling photo (accompanying Alice Hoffman‘s short story) and article on four Hindu and Buddhist mythical beings, is out! I’m so, so excited; with this issue of my favorite magazine, I get to be the representation I want to see in the world!

I’m happy to share my latest story with you, a dark fairy tale of sorts called “The Path of Pins, the Path of Needles.” It’s a departure from my usual style (I never write in either first person or present tense, or use such spare prose), but it was fun, and I hope you like the result!

A quick post to share that Brittany Warman, Sara Cleto, and I were guests for the inclusivity in fairy tales episode of the speculative fiction podcast Skiffy and Fanty (in its own words, a podcast about “anything and everything related to the science fiction and fantasy genres”), and we had a great discussion with hosts Julia Rios and Mike Underwood!

So! I’ve got two beautiful things to share with you today. First up, not only will I have an article in the summer 2017 issue of Faerie magazine (this one about four mythical beings from Hindu and Buddhist lore), but I actually got to model as a mermaid for Alice Hoffman‘s latest story!!!!! I’m over the moon.

I’ve been away this past week (first a much-needed meditation retreat–we need contemplation and compassion for others so much, especially right now–and then a visit with a wonderful friend who helped me figure out what to do with the rest of my novel revision and just inspired me in general), so I wasn’t around to announce this, but I have a story out in Mythic Delirium!

I’m thrilled to announce two things! First, my essay “#beautifulresistance” is live in Uncanny magazine, and I hope you’ll go read it. (Among other things, it’s my love letter to Link from The Legend of Zelda.)

Happy Friday! If you’d like something fun to read, my story “The Mango Tree” is now free to read here in Mothership Zeta‘s sixth issue. It’s about a girl, her grandma, a yaksha, some witchy daayan, and of course, a mango tree. Hope you enjoy it.

Hi, friends! It’s pretty icy where I am, so I’m snuggled up under a blanket with a mug of tea as I write this.

I have a couple fun things to share with you. First, if you’re in the NYC/NYC metro area, I’ll be there on Monday, 20 March, for a panel with the editor and some of the other authors in Here We Are: Feminism for the Real world, which will be moderated by David Levithan as part of the New York City Teen Author Festival. It’s free and open to the public; please come see us!

The prompt for this story, titled “So Sweet a Changeling,” was “Shakespeare with a sci-fi twist.” Enjoy!

I’m so excited to share that I’m going to have a story in Toil & Trouble, an anthology about witches that’s going to be awesome! Just look at the editors and the lineup!

I sold my essay titled “#beautifulresistance” to Uncanny magazine as part of its ongoing Protesting 101 campaign, and it will be out in issue 15. I’m really, really honored and pleased, and I can’t wait to share it with you. (Spoiler: I reference The Legend of Zelda. Yes, really.)

So if you recall, I was fortunate enough to teach part of a lesson on the Beastly Bride (ATU tale type 400, “The Quest for the Lost Bride”) lesson as part of the Carterhaugh School’s fairy tale course. (Such a great course; Brittany and Sara are super smart, funny, and excellent teachers, and I’m learning so much! I highly recommend signing up for their future offerings.) I spoke about “Ganga and Shantanu” from the Mahabharata and a couple other beastly women stories, and the reception was so enthusiastic, with the students asking where they could find more, I went to my fellow desi writers, got their suggestions, and put together a reading list.