In a previous newsletter I announced the release of my Witchy Fiction novella Succulents and Spells, part of a collaborative project by a group of New Zealand writers. We’ve now put together something special for Christmas. Jingle Spells is a collection of seven witchy Christmas stories with all the classic elements of Kiwi summer Christmas.
In my story, “Magic on the Waves”, you get to find out how Laurel and Marigold are doing a few months after the end of Succulents and Spells, what happens when Marigold meets Laurel’s family, and why it seems like one of Laurel’s young cousins may be hiding something…
You can purchase Jingle Spells on Kindle - and there’ll be a paperback available shortly.
I’m excited to announce some other short stories as well:
The Rebuilding Tomorrow anthology is a sequel to Defying Doomsday which told stories of disabled people survive the apocalypse. Rebuilding Tomorrow is set later, and looks at the communities disabled people are part of creating. My story, “Ōmarino”, is about sound and accessibility, about relationships and family, about the validity of different decisions and the potential for change. It’s also the story I wrote in 2019 about missing brunch due to a pandemic - and doing the edits on it in 2020 was incredibly surreal. It was a difficult story to write - and I can only hope I got the delicate balance right - Rebuilding Tomorrow anthology
I also have a story in Three-Lobed Burning Eye called “A Consensus Told in Chromatophores”. I’m so pleased they published this because it’s one that was hard to find a good fit for. It’s a story about cuttlefish and decision making systems. You heard that right. Enjoy!
I hope you’re all keeping as well as possible under the circumstances of this messy year - or at least relieved it’s almost over. I’ll be back shortly with a full list of my work published this year, and then some recommendations.