May 24, 2022

live from the forest, it's e.m. anderson!

then THIS happened

and that seemed like a good reason to start a newsletter.

SO. WELCOME.

what you can expect from this newsletter

today? info about my writing and pics from my recent trip to new york.

in general?

........................??????????????

idk probably tree facts and bird facts and maybe like the occasional uncle iroh fact or something, or possibly tangents about grammar, because I am a chaotic tree-bird-iroh-grammar gremlin person.

writing & whatnot

the remarkable retirement of edna fisher

When you’re a geriatric armed with nothing but gumption and knitting needles, stopping a sorcerer from wiping out an entire dragon-fighting organization is a tall order. No one understands why 83-year-old Edna Fisher is the Chosen One, destined to save the Knights from a dragon-riding sorcerer bent on their destruction. After all, Edna has never handled a magical weapon, faced down a dragon, or cast a spell. And everyone knows the Council of Wizards always chooses a teenager—like the vengeful girl ready to snatch Edna’s destiny from under her nose.

Still, Edna leaps at the chance to leave the nursing home. With her son long dead in the Knights’ service, she’s determined to save dragon-fighters like him and to ensure other mothers don’t suffer the same loss she did. But as Edna learns about the abuse in the ranks and the sorcerer’s history as a Knight, she questions if it’s really the sorcerer that needs stopping—or the Knights she’s trying to save.

it's been a long haul for this book. I drafted it over the course of a year and a half as part of a Last Man Standing writing contest. 72 weeks, with 30k written the last week to try to get the last two contestants to drop out so a winner could be declared.

(the minimum for that week was 20k words, we both overshot it, the creator gave up trying to pressure us out and declared us both winners. it was magnificent and exhausting and exhilarating.)

several rounds of revision and line edits later, I yeeted Edna into the query trenches...in 2020, which was objectively a terrible time to start querying, but! that's when it was ready! so!

almost a full two years later, after many rejections, many almosts, many crying jags, and oodles of existential despair, here we are. twitter has been a party, and I'm very 🥺 at all the people who saw me pitch this manuscript during various pitch parties for two years who are like "finally!!! I've been waiting!!!"

want to see a bunch of shitposts & shares about this novel? check out #ChosenGrandmaWIP on twitter!

the short story harvest is bountiful this year

I also have some short stories out, with one more on the way!

"something witchy this way comes" is in SJ Whitby's Awakenings: A Cute Mutants Anthology, available through bookdepository, indiebound, barnes & noble, and amazon.

Prudence Jones finds an unexpected friend and ally in a grumpy old witch when she runs into the forest on the edge of town to escape her abusive uncle.

read if you like: found family, plant magic, sapphic witches, grump x sunshine, carnivorous trees, fantasy with horror elements

content tags: physical abuse

"the raising of hester macrae" is in Dark Horses Magazine, Issue 4, available through amazon, barnes & noble, and apple books.

When a young boy survives a terrible accident, the townsfolk suspect a local witch of necromancy. Only the witch’s wife, Hester, knows the truth.

read if you like: plant magic, sapphic witches, genteel x feral, necromancy, fantasy with horror elements

content tags: brief animal death

and "jane & the sea-wight" isn't out yet but should be out this summer in GutSlut Press's anthology Suicidaliens. so keep an eye out for that if you're into vaguely monstrous sapphic merfolk, family secrets, and coastal georgia.

amm r9

I've also been working on a different novel, the many buried things of peter shaughnessy, as part of Author Mentor Match, Round 9, with my incredible mentor CJ Connor.

(hi, CJ!)

right now I'm deep into line edits, and I can feel myself stalling because oh no the query trenches. so if you know I should be line-editing and see me dicking around on twitter instead, kindly yell at me until I go back to my doc.

want to see a bunch of shitposts & shares about this manuscript? check out #GroundskeeperWIP on twitter!

obligatory new york pictures

I spent the last week on my first-ever trip to new york city. (my dad's from upstate, but he and mom would just dump us at our grandma's in clifton park and go for a day trip without us.) last time I went on twitter like "but what would I write about in a newsletter???" it was pointed out I could write about my trip.

which I'm not exactly gonna do today because this is already getting kinda long, but here are some pictures.

they're really for fareedah and victoria. but I guess the rest of you can look, too. you're welcome.