I had the good fortune to be discovered by my agent Quressa during DVpit, a Twitter pitch event that focuses on all types of marginalized creators and their works.
If you want to read about my novel and how the whole pitch and query process unfolded, check out this interview on the DVpit site.
In some of the most exciting news of my life so far, the novel I’ve been pouring my heart, spleen and other vital organs into for years has sold to a publisher!
Chilling Effect (working title) is slated for release in summer 2019 by Harper Voyager, with the sequel coming out the year after. Get ready for some fun space opera with a kickass lady captain and her crew of misfits and psychic cats. Remember: in space, no one can hear you cagando en la mierda.
Millions of thanks to my amazing agent (go Team World Domination!), and to the editors at Voyager for loving my book as much as I do. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.
My poem “Keening” is now up for your viewing pleasure at Uncanny Magazine. It features one of the most interesting (to me) cultural relics from my childhood: the afilador, the knife-sharpener, a guy with a big van full of blades and tools who travels the city sharpening people’s knives for them. I can’t remember the last time I heard the afilador’s whistle, but it’s a sound that stays with you.
Thanks for reading!
It’s surreal to be sharing good news in the middle of a hurricane. I’m sitting in Georgia right now, where Irma is shedding rain and shaking down trees as she slowly unravels, and I have no idea whether my home in Miami is still standing. My family is safe, though, unlike so many others; what is lost can be rebuilt or replaced in time.
On to the good news, then: I have an agent! After months of querying and uncertainty and an incredibly tough final decision, I’ve signed with Quressa Robinson at Nelson Literary Agency. I’m extremely excited to work with her, nerd out with her, and ply her with wine so I can seal her up behind a wall of my books. Okay, not that last one. Well, the wine, yes, but not the Poe stuff–I’m too Hufflepuff for that nonsense.
I have so many people to thank for helping me get to this point: Jay, who is the best, FYI HTH; Matthew and Rick and my other TWB peeps for their endless support and beta reads and tear-absorbent shoulders and brioche; Jilly and the Brainery crew, who pushed me to turn a short story into a novel and then to fix what was broke; all my VP Twen-Tea (and beyond) comrades who critiqued my work and continue to encourage me every day (go Cheese Weasels!); my NaNoWriMo folks, who shut up and write with me on Sunday afternoons; my husband Eric, who I strive to deserve and who challenges me to be a funnier human; my mom, who steals my child so I can make time to write; and the rest of my friends and family, including my dad and stepmom and siblings, who buoy my confidence by being continually impressed by my accomplishments. If I’ve forgotten anyone, I blame pregnancy brain, which is absolutely real and which has caused me to lose common words and say things like “reach me that bowl” instead of actual English phrasing.
And now, back to watching weather-related news until my eyes bleed.
You can now pre-order the anthology in which my short story, “A Brain, a Heart, a Home, the Nerve” appears, alongside many other awesome new and classic tales. Check out Time Travel Short Stories if you want a lovely hardcover book to casually leave out on a coffee table or adorn your bookshelf with supreme fanciness.
