About

Valerie Valdes’s short fiction and poetry has been featured in Magic: the Gathering, Uncanny Magazine, Fit for the Gods and Nightmare Magazine. Her debut novel Chilling Effect was published by Harper Voyager in September 2019 and Orbit UK in February 2020, with starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal. It was also named one of Library Journal’s best SF/fantasy novels of 2019, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award. The trilogy is now complete with Prime Deceptions and Fault Tolerance. Her space fantasy novel, Where Peace Is Lost, was released in August 2023, and was named a 2024 Reading List Council honor title.

Valerie is co-editor of Escape Pod, and currently works as a freelance writer and copy editor. She attended the University of Miami, where she majored in English with minors in creative writing and motion pictures. She is a graduate of Viable Paradise and has taught classes and given lectures for Writer’s Digest, Clarion West and Georgia State University, among others.

Valerie has participated in and coordinated both in-person and online writing groups since 2006. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, watching cartoons and learning to sword fight. She lives in Georgia with her husband, children and cat.

Valerie is represented by Quressa Robinson at Folio Lit.

Biography

Short:

Valerie Valdes is co-editor of Escape Pod, as well as the author of the Chilling Effect trilogy and space fantasy novel Where Peace Is Lost. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Magic: the Gathering and several anthologies. She lives in Georgia with her husband, children and cat.

Medium:

Valerie Valdes is co-editor of the award-winning Escape Pod science fiction podcast. Her debut novel Chilling Effect was shortlisted for the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and her latest novel, Where Peace Is Lost, was named a 2024 Reading List Council honor title. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Magic: the Gathering and several anthologies. She lives in Georgia with her husband, children and cat.

Long:

Valerie Valdes’s work has been featured in Uncanny Magazine, Magic: the Gathering and several anthologies. Her debut novel Chilling Effect was published by Harper Voyager in September 2019 and Orbit UK in February 2020, with starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal. It was shortlisted for the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and was also named one of Library Journal’s best SF/fantasy novels of 2019. The trilogy is now complete with Prime Deceptions and Fault Tolerance. Her space fantasy novel, Where Peace Is Lost, was released in August 2023, and was named a 2024 Reading List Council honor title.

Valerie is co-editor of Escape Pod, and currently works as a freelance writer and copy editor. She is a graduate of the University of Miami and the Viable Paradise workshop and has taught classes and given lectures for Writer’s Digest, Clarion West and Georgia State University. She lives in Georgia with her husband, children and cat.

Humorous:

Valerie Valdes lives in an elaborate meme palace with her husband and kids, where she writes, edits and moonlights as a muse. When she isn’t co-editing Escape Pod, she enjoys crafting bespoke artisanal curses, playing video games, and admiring the outdoors from the safety of her living room. Her debut novel Chilling Effect was shortlisted for the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and her short fiction and poetry have been featured in Uncanny Magazine, Magic: the Gathering and several anthologies.

Headshot

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Interviews and Press

Panels, Etc.

What Puzzles in Games Do (Flights of Foundry)
The Clockwork of Mechanized Emotions in Games (Flights of Foundry)
Constelación – Founding a Bilingual Magazine (Flights of Foundry)
Surviving Your Debut (Flights of Foundry)
Plot & Revision (Flights of Foundry)
When Conflict Becomes Combat (Flights of Foundry)
R.A. Salvatore Interview (Popverse)
The Female and Non-Binary Authors Who Bridge the New Frontier of Space Fiction (Comic-Con@Home)
Blades in the Dark: The Case of the Cindered Seal (Speculate SF)