Hi,
It’s spooky season aka MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR! I wanted to pop in (pop up?) to tell you all about some updates on things in the works or already published, share my spooky season library haul, and lastly a short story.
Update 1:
I have a reprint story in a great anthology that supports women who are victims of violence. In fact, they’re currently having a fundraiser that ends tomorrow, so please support them if you can!
CALL TO ACTION: The Pixel Project's annual Read For Pixels (Fall Edition) fundraiser (http://bit.ly/R4PRallyUp2021) will be ending at 11.59pm Pacific Time, 31 October 2021 in tandem with Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We have currently raised $5,385 and aim to reach our stretch goal of $6,000 to keep our anti-violence against women work running and are hoping to raise more than by the close of the fundraiser.
All participating Read For Pixels authors have also generously donated a range of goodies to say "Thanks" to donors for supporting our work. Today's highlighted goodies are the many author video call sessions, written critique bundles and 1-to-1 intensive workshop sessions for book fans and budding authors in genres ranging from Fantasy to Romance to Mystery. Authors who are donating their time and expertise to do this include Alaya Dawn Johnson, Arkady Martine, Jeannie Lin, Meg Gardiner, RJ Barker, Roseanne A. Brown, Sam Hawke, S.L. Huang, and Tori Eldridge.
If you are a writer in any of these genres looking for some guidance or a fan of these giants in their genre, get yourself over to our fundraising page (http://bit.ly/R4PRallyUp2021) NOW to make a modest $150 donation to snag your session with your favourite author before someone else does!
Update 2:
I have a new story in the Sorghum & Spear: Way of Silk and Stone anthology. It will soon be on Kickstarter, so check HERE to notify when it becomes live! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/greenecountycreative/sorghum-and-spear-fantasy-novel-the-way-of-silk-and-stone
WHAT I’M READING:
I went to the library this week, our libraries just opened to the public (thank you COVID) and I was so excited to see their SPOOKY SEASON display. So I picked up these gems:
What are you reading this spooky season?
And if you’re still here, a short story for you!
AWOL
It started with a bet and a tattoo.
Basic training had ended, I was officially a Marine. Women only made up nine percent of the Marine Corp, the lowest percentage of all the armed forces. So, during the short interim, before I was sent for my Advanced Training, a fellow Leather Neck bet me that I wouldn’t get a tattoo, my first and only. After a round of the thickest nastiest Irish stouts I’ve ever tasted, I took the bet.
I’d just passed one of the most strenuous periods of my life in Basic. Getting a tattoo would be child’s play.
I wanted something beautiful but that also represented my new vocation. I chose a mermaid. One of those old-timey designs that sailors in the 20s would have chosen. I didn’t want to be at this place forever, it smelled like fruit scented vapes and sweat, so I just chose to get the design outlined. The stark black lines stood out on my brown flesh. I was surprised at the lack of pain. Cat scratches hurt more.
I woke up the next morning my mouth filled with the taste of saltwater. At the time I thought nothing of it, surely a hangover symptom. I brushed my teeth and tongue and replaced the brackish water taste with mint.
The craving for sea meat came later. Mama was so happy I was finally home even if it was only for a week before I shipped out. She asked me what I wanted for my last dinner before I left again. Unbidden from my mouth came the words, shrimp, crab, lobster, and squid. I’d never had a taste for a sea cornucopia as I had right then. Mama just smiled and said, “An Admiral’s Feast, anything for my baby”.
When the scales came I wasn’t as surprised as I should have been. In my defense, they started to litter my tattoo first. It was as if during my slumber the tattooist had come in to finish their art. It was beautiful, the scales shimmered opalescent, the colors shifting and changing with the light. But they began to spread.
How hard is it to cover your scales during PT exercises with your squad?
The heat at Camp Geiger in North Carolina was unrelenting. The humidity swole my coily hair. I sweated even standing still. And all I could think about was getting to the water. The cool water even called to me in my dreams. Topsail Beach was twenty-five miles from base. The weekend was two days away. My scales now covered my entire lower body. I showered at two in the morning, so no one saw.
Daybreak on Saturday, I snuck out of my barracks like a seahorse shooting out of the coral. I could think of nothing but the ocean. The sound of waves crashing echoed in my ears like a song I couldn’t get out of my head.
At the beach, my feet took me north. They felt heavy and foreign, and I knew that the water would be my salvation, but I still trudged north. Until I reached a sign.
Ocean City Beach, NC
I made my way down the beach and found the pier. I looked over the sides at the waves crashing against the aged lumber and I jumped into its depths. Never to be seen on land again.
To learn more about Ocean City Beach, NC, the first beach to allow Black people to own land in NC and the Ocean City Fishing Pier which was at the time the state’s only ocean fishing pier that was open to people of color. PLEASE VISIT: