the first spacevalkyries newsletter!
I had been afraid of starting a newsletter for ages due to imposter syndrome. I worried nothing would be good enough, etc. Thankfully (or unthankfully) Twitter began to rate limit things, forcing me to make a choice: keep stalling in anxiety on this newsletter or potentially lose contact with folks.
So here we are! Thank you for perceiving this.
A Brief Intro to Me
If you're as new to the concept of me as a writer and creator as I am to the concept of newsletters, hi! I'm Val. I'm a queer disabled biracial Mexican American sci-fi/fantasy author with ADHD, social anxiety, and chronic pain and fatigue. I've also been streaming a variety of games on Twitch, including many action adventure indie games and visual novels, for over three years now.
I like to flail about narrative in games and media a lot, so you can read my Narrative Thoughts articles on my website or Patreon. I'd like to get more opinion and think pieces published, as well.
But my focus and joy is speculative fiction, especially sci-fi/fantasy. I'm working on a queer mecha space opera novel and a sapphic Hades and Persephone retelling novella. Also I'm always working on at least 2-4 short stories, flash fiction, and soon-to-be microfiction pieces. My brain can never settle on one project. You can some of my short stories on my Patreon—and I do have one published piece in a literary magazine now (see below)!
Recent Publications
"The Void Door" in Beneath Ceaseless Skies (published in March)
Why Twitch’s Disabled Queer Streaming Spaces Matter More Than Ever on Daily Dot's digital creator news platform, Passionfruit (published in June)
These are my first two publications! I hope to announce more in the future, but it's been exciting to have my writing career begin to slowly lurch forward at last!
Indie Game Showcase Highlights
June brought the no-longer-E3 summer games showcases and I wrote up several articles on my Patreon. You can check out all 5 of those articles—which cover over 40 indie games—through this handy roundup post. Enjoy your ever-growing Steam wishlist.
Upcoming Writing and How To Perceive It
Starting in August, I'll be posting one public microfiction piece monthly—largely inspired by silly things I end up thinking about on stream as a prompt—with any extra microfiction pieces for patrons and Ko-fi supporters. So look forward to more (tiny pieces of) fiction from me soon!
Starting in October, I will be posting a monthly sapphic secondary world fantasy murder mystery series loosely inspired by my "Aracelia and the Siren" short story. Think Legends & Lattes meets a bit of Howl's Moving Castle. The first 3-5 chapters will be public, with the rest being Patreon and Ko-fi member exclusive.
If any of that appeals, it would mean a lot if you became becoming a $1 patron on Patreon—or tip me on Ko-fi (which gives you access to member posts for 30 days). You can also become a member on Ko-fi and that'll get you the same content as a Patreon patron, also starting at $1. It's just which platform you prefer!
Basically hi, I'm a disabled and chronically ill writer, any support is appreciated. I try to make most of my writing generally free or low cost to read, though, and any support such as comments, sharing on socials, etc., is appreciated 💕
And that's it!
You won't receive these too often, maybe every other month at most or the occasional random, extra flaily one if a big publication happens. I promise future entries won't be this long, either. Maybe this rambly. That's just... me. But yes!
Thank you for perceiving~