BrooklynWriter

About science fiction, fantasy, tech & life.

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Sometimes, it's a nice distraction to research a phrase you've never come across before.

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Twisted Folklore StoryBundle

StoryBundle is a neat idea where you can get hold of a bunch of books within a category — sometimes a strange category — for a very low price (although you are encouraged to add to it if you can). Well, The History of Soul 2065 is part of a StoryBundle called The Twisted Folklore Histories bundle. Until March 7th, you can get four books in .epub format for $5 and another eight books (for a total…

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Books, Booze & Barbara

I haven’t attended a lot of readings since the pandemic, but one of the few I have attended — although, admittedly, not often enough — is Randee Dawn’s Brooklyn Books & Booze @ Barrow’s Intense. It takes place once a month, every third Tuesday at an interesting bar in Brooklyn’s Industry City that specializes in ginger liqueurs (although it offers other drinks as well). Randee was nice enough to…

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End of the year round-up

Here's my end of the year roundup blog -- I managed to get two stories published this year, so I thought I'd add them to the other lists I've seen.

I’ve seen some year-end reminders of some of the great fiction that my writer friends had published this year. So I thought I’d add my own list to theirs. I actually managed to get two stories published in 2023: one in F&SF, a magazine that I’ve been following for most of my life (yay!), and one in an excellent anthology. Neither story is available online, so I’ve linked the name of the magazine…

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Jewish Futures, Hour of the Wolf, and new eyeglasses

So I’m on my way to the optometrist to pick up my new eyeglasses — two pair, one for reading and one for movies / tv / driving — and I glance at Facebook and realize that today is the day when the Jewish Futures anthology is officially published — and that this evening, Jim is broadcasting my recent NYRSF conversation with Sheree Renee Thomas on Hour of the Wolf at 9 a.m. on WBAI 99.5. Jewish…

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Upcoming NYRSF conversation with Sheree Renée Thomas

I’m really excited to announce that I’ll be chatting with Sheree Renée Thomas on the online NYRSF Readings this coming Tuesday, August 1st, at 7 pm. We’ll both be reading short selections: I’ll read the story that was published in the May/June issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Sheree will present a sample of her writing as well. Since she’s both an extraordinary writer and the editor of…

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My Midge doll had a woolen coat

Memories of my Midge doll.

I haven’t seen the new Barbie movie yet (although I have every intention of doing so), but like many women, I have my own memories of Barbie — or, in my case, Midge. Let me begin by saying that I didn’t like Barbie from the beginning. I felt that she looked “stuck-up” and not at all friendly — perhaps because I grew up in a housing project with kids who were largely Jewish, Italian Catholic, or…

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WBAI and NYRSF

I’ve been trying to be better about writing — I’ve been getting up about an hour earlier every morning to try to get something done — and in the meantime, I’m going to be doing two readings this week; one from a couple of years ago, and one brand new one. First, if you haven’t heard me read the short story “Stoop Ladies” from my book The History of Soul 2065, you can hear it on Jim Freund’s Hour…

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Flights of Foundry is this weekend, and I'll be there

Flights of Foundry, a completely online convention for (as they put it) speculative creators, is happening this weekend, and I’ll be taking part, moderating a panel and doing a reading. The convention is free of charge (although they do ask that you contribute if you can), and offers panels, workshops, readings, and conversation (the panels are via Webex; the conversations are via Discord).…

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New story: "Where Things May Lead"

Only days after I finished sniffling about my poor publication showing, my story "Where Things May Lead" has been published in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.

Illustration by Fran Eisemann using stock from NASA and Omni. So only days after I finished sniffling about my poor publication showing, my story “Where Things May Lead” has been published in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, along with a lovely illustration by Fran Eisemann (who is the editor-in-chief of the publication, so obviously wears many hats). The story is a little different from my…

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Apologies to all my writer friends

Some regrets for not being able to put together a list of recommended stories for awards this year. It has nothing to do with the worthiness of this year's fiction.

Credit: Carole Raddato I have started seeing all the recommendations for the various writing awards — Hugos, Nebulas, etc. — going up on various social media, and I’ve realized that I have not kept the list I promised myself I would of the stories I read this year. Which means that I haven’t put together a list of recommendations — and since I’ve got a particularly busy December ahead of me,…

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Finding the strength to create

Occasionally, it's hard to find the strength to create.

A Young Woman Writing a Letter, Frans van Mieris, from The Leiden Collection In my last post, I talked about the statue of a sad angel that I saw on a walk, sitting on a wall, mourning someone or something. Well, recently I’ve wondered if the little angel was sad because they were a writer. There are writers out there who become early successes, who are adored by thousands, if not millions,…

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The Sad Angel

For some reason, I keep thinking about a little statue of a child angel that I saw sitting on a stone wall.

Sometimes, I see things, or read about things, that just stick in my brain. (I’m sure the same thing happens to you.) And it’s for no real reason — just because it’s there, and something about it either fascinates me, or makes me think. Last Saturday, I visited a friend who lives up around Woodstock, NY, about a three-hour drive north of NYC. She lives in a semi-rural / semi-suburban area, and…

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Two stories in two very focused publications

This month, I've got two stories -- an original piece of flash fiction and a reprint -- appearing in two independent publications.

A lot of short story anthologies focus on very particular themes, either because that’s what the publishers / editors want to read about, or because a themed anthology makes it more interesting to those readers who are, well, interested in that subject. I’ve recently had stories accepted by two of these anthologies (notice I didn’t use the word “sold” — neither were paying markets), and by a…

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Rosh Hashanah, basements, and birds

What I did on Rosh Hashanah.

Over the course of the two-day Rosh Hashanah holiday, I followed along online with the services at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan (they were lovely), but also spent a little time to do some necessary work in the basement. It’s always interesting when you are forced to go into a chaotic basement to reorganize because of a flood (yeah, that happened a few years ago, don’t ask), or because there are…

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Pro-choice horror authors roundtable

I participated in an online roundtable by pro-choice horror authors

I was pleased to be invited to participate in an online discussion of abortion rights by horror authors on Gwendolyn Kiste’s blog. The blog offers the opinions of a diverse group of writers who express their anger, fear, and determination — I was really impressed with the wide range of reactions, experience, and information that was expressed. I don’t have much more to say; I think the best…

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Five of my favorite Jewish-themed SF books

Five of my favorite Jewish-themed SF books

I was recently invited by Shepherd, a website that asks authors to pick their five favorite books around various themes and topics, to pick a topic and pick the “Five best books.” I chose as my topic Jewish-themed science fiction, and picked out five books — two anthologies and three novels — that I especially liked. If you’d like to see which books I’ve picked, and why, you can find them…

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