Long Time No See
Hi everyone! It’s me again.
I’m writing to you on a snowy December morning, at the tail end of 2024. Quite a lot of us are feeling a bit raw right now, what with the state of the nation and the world. Given that we’re heading into some darker months (both literally and figuratively) I want to encourage you all to do what you need in order to take care of yourself. As I’ve been saying to my yoga students, self-care is resistance. And when I say self-care, I don’t mean beating yourself up for not living up to some ideal of health; I mean caring for yourself. Treating yourself the way you’d treat a dear friend: with kindness and compassion and understanding. Use your sun lamp! Reach out to a friend when you’re feeling low! Fill your well with art — high-brow, trashy, and everything in between.
With that being said, I want to highlight some of the great reads that came out this past year. This is in no way a comprehensive list of all the stories I loved in 2024; it’s just a selection. If you’re looking for an excuse to step away from the news, maybe check one of them out.
Novels
In Universes by Emet North — a gorgeous exploration of the possibilities of the multiverse, the formation of identity, and the ways in which all of our choices, accumulated across many different lifetimes, can affect our future.
The Book of Love by Kelly Link — Kelly Link has been my absolute favorite short story writer since the mid-1990s. And now, she’s published her first novel! The less you know about this one going into it, the better; suffice it to say that even though it’s a chonky door-stopper of a book, it’s just as bizarre and beautiful as her short fiction has always been.
Short(er) Fiction
What Any Dead Thing Wants by Aimee Ogden — A stunningly-written novelette that asks what it would really mean to terraform a planet.
Another Old Country by Nadia Radovich — An achingly-lyrical story about translation, history, and displacement told in three interweaving stories.
Between Home and a House on Fire by A.T. Greenblatt — I loved this unique take on portal fantasies: What if the portal universe you escaped to becomes one you’re trying to escape from? And what if they really, really need you there?
And You and I by Jenna Hanchey — A meditation on time, and loss, and possibility written in gorgeous prose that pulls no gut-punches.
If you’re curious what I’ve been up to since I wrote last, please check out the publications page on my website! But I’d like to highlight two of my stories that came out in 2024:
”The Witch Trap”
These floors, original to the house, have witnessed the turn of two centuries. The shoe concealed beneath them is older. Laces replaced, sole thrice mended, the shoe still bears the impression of the big toe that for years pressed against the worn upper. Now, it rests mateless between floor joists, a curiosity for spiders and mice. No longer a shoe, but a summons.
This story came out in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 48 — a journal co-edited by the above-mentioned Kelly Link (!!!) It’s a story that, in a very real way, I’ve been working on for thirty years, as it incorporates research I worked on in graduate school and have been mulling over ever since. Lady Churchill’s has been a dream-journal of mine for years, and I’m still astonished to have a story in its pages.
”The Stolen Sabbath”
Each Friday my mother unfolded the sabbath from where it had been hiding all week, snapped it out like a fresh sheet, and draped it over the weekend. I could never quite catch her doing it; one moment, the kitchen was just the kitchen, and the next, it was sacred. She told me not to think about it too much. She told me just to let it happen. She said that one day it would be my turn, and she’d teach me where the sabbath came from, how to unfurl it and smooth it out, and then how to fold it back up again and tuck it back in its place. But I was not a patient child: My mother told me this, too.
This little flash piece just came out in The Cosmic Background a few days ago. December stories sometimes get lost in the hustle and bustle of the season, but I’m quite fond of this one, and I hope folks will check it out and perhaps find a bit of comfort in the small circle of candlelight.
To all of you, thank you so much for being part of my community! If you read any of the stories I recommended, please reach out and tell me what you thought of them! Or just reach out to say hi. The more ties we can forge between ourselves, the stronger we’ll all be.
If you’re not currently subscribed to my newsletter, feel free to do so! I promise not to spam your inbox, but I also promise (to try) to send out updates more than one every year and a half. Plus, cat pictures!