End of the year(is) chaotic rambles

So clearly I've not been keeping up with the newsletter since July, and I think I've definitely been experiencing a bit of a social media and email answering burnout. Hopefully I'll be able to slowly get back into it! This newsletter might be a long one as I attempt to load everything that's been happening since August.

I'd just gotten back from my trip to China and visiting family I haven't seen in the past eight years. I also met my spouse's father for the first time since we got together and after we've been married for almost two years now. But it was an absolutely wild adventure: we first went to Tokyo, Japan (We were lucky enough to catch a Sumo Wrestling tournament!) because there are no direct flights to my spouse's hometown in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia; then we made short trips to Xiangshawan Desert in Inner Mongolian, Tianjin and Beijing, before making out way to my hometown in Changle, Fujian (I got another signature stamp carved from Fujian's specialty stone—Shou Shan. There, I went with my family to visit Fujian Tulou and Wuyi Shan where we learned the process of tea picking and how to manually process the leaves—which apparently takes 30 hours of tossing by hand.

I made a trip to Chengdu for WorldCon as well since I was already on that side of the world and met up with writing community friends that I don't normally get to see—Wole, Arley, Phong, Zhu Ning, and many other new and familiar faces, and took a day trip to Chongqing during the convention as well. I think the wildest thing there was the train station that ran through the buildings. At least the tenants there get to ride it for free! Would highly recommend visiting Hongyadong if anyone happens to take a trip! Some other highlights include Qingcheng Mountain, Dujiangyan, and the Giant Panda Base.

Needless to say, I got little to no writing done. And posting with a flipped timezone meant I had to time them around 12AM China time, which I suppose isn't too bad given my sleeping schedule. Though one funny thing that happened was when I returned to Canada, instead of my usual 4-6AM bedtime and 12-1PM wakeup, I reverted to "normal" hours because of jetlag, sleeping at 10PM-12AM and waking up around 9AM. Though I must say, the last few days resulted in my sleeping schedule flipping once more because my spouse and I have been catching up (binging) the new season of Sweet Home. There aren't many shows that we watch together, but this one is among the few (others being House of the Dragon, Alice in Borderland, Physical 100).

I recently (is it still recently though since time has been passing by so quickly?!) posted about how much I"ve earned from writing and writing adjacent things on X, and I'll drop the stats below again here so I have a record of it for the blog. The 2023 income amount might change by the end of this year though, depending on which story/book/editing/workshop payments come in, so I might end up making a separate post in the end for it alone. But here it is as it stands!

2021: $2,677

2022: $6,075

2023 so far: $11,624

A more detailed breakdown:

2021: ~26 publications, ~38 acceptances

2022: ~53 publications, ~59 acceptances

2023: ~28 publications, 2 books + 1 mini collection

*The above is a mix of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction sales. In 2023, the income stream was much more diverse with editing, workshop, and reading payments as well.

UPDATES

I'm running a workshop with REACH YOUR APEX next week titled "Dressing the Skeleton: Long Form Writing for Short Form Writers". It had sold out but a few more seats have been added. This essentially will be the largest class I've ever taught in my life. But it will also be one where I bring in everything I've learned from short form to inform the ways I shape my long form practices.

The Chinese translation of "Give Me English" has officially been published in print by World Literature and online by FAA. The Japanese translation was also realized in Tokyo Sogensha's Paper Fish magazine! Recently, I'd spoken to a class—Asian American Studies 152: Asian American Literary and Popular Culture: Race, Fantasy, Futures taught by Professor Leslie Bow—via Zoom at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about the story as well, and Leslie had informed me that her students convinced her to keep it as a part of the course, which I was extremely honoured to hear!

AWARD SEASON THINGS

With the award nomination season (Nebula, Hugo, Aurora, Stoker, etc) coming up, I suppose it's time to do a little shouting once again, but I'll be sure to keep it brief! (If you need a copy of anything for award consideration that is not available online for free, please do wing me a message!)

Novella: LINGHUN (Dark Matter INK, April 4, 2023) — Also on the Nebula recommended reading list!

Novellette: I AM AI (Shortwave Publishing, June 20, 2023) — Also on the Nebula recommended reading list!

Nonfiction:

“What Language Do You Think In?: On Being Lost in Translation”—FANTASY MAGAZINE, April 2023

“The Unvoiced, The Unheard, The Unknown, The Unquiet”—UNQUIET SPIRITS: ESSAYS FROM ASIAN WOMEN IN HORROR, February 2023

Short Stories: Full list here!​

Poetry: Full list here!​

NEW OUT

"Dear Kelli" in Dead Letters: Episode of Epistolary Horror ​

"Give Me English" (reprint) in Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction​

"Give Me English (reprint—free to read online!) in Shortwave Magazine​

"We Are A Little Hotel" in Interzone #295​

"The Sisters" (reprint) in The Dark Magazine, December Issue ​

“Your Ballad From Within His Gourd” in Monster Lairs Anthology​

“Dancing With Etta” (reprint) in Pseudopod ​

“By A River In Fujian” in Kaleidotrope ​

“A Journey Without Movement” in Simultaneous Time Vol. 3​

“Think of Family: The Filial Daughter’s Tale” in The Canterbury Nightmares Anthology​

“Mazu—Goddess of the Sea” in +Horror Library+ Volume 8​

“Under the Crescent Hill, There are Hayflowers” in Translunar Travelers Lounge​

PSYCHOPOMP COLUMN

​Chaos Trifecta #6: Steps of Death in Three Stories​

​Chaos Trifecta #7: Life Built Upon Death​

​Chaos Trifecta #8: Ghost Weddings​

WHAT I READ RECENTLY

Slow Burn by Mike Allen (Collection)

The Body Harvest by Michael J Seidlinger

Different Kinds of Defiance by Renan Bernardo (Collection)

Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles

Moon Soul by Nathaniel Luscombe

The Disappearance of Tom Nero by T.J. Price

Time’s Ellipse by Frasier Armitage

Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland

Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo

Winding Paths: A Playable Reading Experience edited by Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito and Ken Hueler

The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma

Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix translated by Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum

The Grimmer by Naben Ruthnum

Apparitions by Adam Pottle

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If you have any recommended reads, I'd love to hear about them! Though most likely than not, they might already be on my TBR and are awaiting the eyeballs... c':