Hello, fellow tooters! I'm a first reader at Strange Horizons, formerly of Augur, and Uncanny Magazine.
I write speculative fiction inspired by Palestinian folklore. Mostly short fic, but I'm working on a novella atm.
I'll be slowly rebuilding my archive of posts about Palestinian folklore here.
Come on by and say hi!
A reading list I made of Palestinian speculative fiction and non-fiction (incl. essays, poetry, short and long form fiction) available in English:
https://soniasulaiman.com/readpalestinianspecfic-reading-list/
I have to fight the default brush to get the edges and shapes I want. The custom brush makes me think of oil painting- without all of the fancy textures, just the feeling of using a simple round brush.
I made my own Procreate brush! I think it's already making an improvement. What do you think?
mlm: the default brushes.
wlw: the new brush.
I introduced a bunch of danmei readers to the baihe novella Night Flowers Shrinking from the Light of the Sun by Li Xing. They wanted something like MDZS but sapphic, and that's exactly what this is... It's a comedy, but its CP are Wangxian if they were lesbians.
A demoness saves the life of a stony-faced, upright young cultivator who insists on repaying the life debt. No one is happy about this arrangement. Billed as "idiots to lovers."
Book Riot built a commented list of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative novels written by Latinx writers, and my Terminal 3 made the list. Would you please consider perusing the catalogue?
Amazing week.
A psw triggered a panic attack so I called the office and simply said what happened and that I didn't want her to come back again. I started changing mom tonight and the same psw calls-- the office did nothing about my report.
So I had to tell her myself, that she wasn't going to work with us anymore. She didn't take it well, and hung up on me.
Meanwhile mom is all confused and disturbed, not understanding what's happening. Urgh.
Decoded Pride Issue #3! is a story-a-day anthology of speculative queer fiction and comics by queer and trans creators. My story Platinum Venus will be released on June the 10th. https://decodedpride.com/decoded-pride-issue-3-schedule-announced-30-queer-and-trans-comics-and-stories-releasing-daily-during-pride-month/
The Arts Council emailed me today. They were checking up on the eligibility of my novella for a grant -- you can't get two grants for the same project.
So they just wanted me to tell them, definitively, that the novella has nothing to do with the collection of short stories I'm working on too.
I guess it's a good sign; the process is progressing. The wheels turning.
An update on the anhedonia thing. I did manage to just keep doing the thing. I'm quite pleased that I didn't give up on making art today, since it's a big part of my recovery/management. I know it's a matter of waiting out the aftershocks of the panic attack.
That can sometimes take a week, but I have meds I can take. Today's sketches: a figure study, and a style study.
I made a whole bunch of sketches for Mermay, and now I regret it bc it feels like I have to use them... even though I'm wanting to try out different styles rn.
I'm getting closer to something that I like, though.
I tell Palestinian folktales.
Hugo-nominated First Reader @ Strange Horizons
Words in sundry places. Art alt:
SFWA, CSFFA, Codex
(she/her)