Reading Recommendations at Bookshop.org

I love supporting independent bookstores, so I was excited to learn about Bookshop.org, which is a great way to buy books online if you don't want to go the big biz (billionaire) route! I became an affiliate with Bookshop so that I can curate and recommend themed reading lists and link to my reviews on this blog. It's like a playlist for books!

I've started a "Speculative Short Fiction" list and my first recommendation is an anthology I read in September called New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl. 

I loved so many stories in this, but a few really stood out to me: (1) "The Robots of Eden" by Anil Menon, (2) "The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations" by Minsoo Kang, and (3) "Burn the Ships" by Alberto Yáñez. I will be posting reviews of individual stories in the future. Each story in the collection has a vibe of its own so I recommend taking a pause between each story to let it sink in before beginning to read the next one.

Publication: GROWTH from TL;DR Press

It's here! My beautiful paperback copy of GROWTH: A Speculative Young Adult Collection has arrived containing my short story "Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden." I'm so honored to have this story out in the world.

All proceeds from the eBook & paperback sale of this collection will be donated to the Young People's Trust for the Environment. Check them out here: https://ypte.org.uk/

Buy the book here: Amazon paperback or Kindle version 

Thanks for your support, readers! 

Below is my favorite paragraph from the story:

Cover Reveal for GROWTH

TL;DR Press has revealed the cover for GROWTH: A Speculative Young Adult Collection, which will feature 24 short stories and poems, including mine titled "Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden." Release date coming soon...

 

Short Story Acceptance! "Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden"

Coming in September 2021!

Thrilled to announce that my speculative fiction short story "Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden" was accepted into a YA anthology called GROWTH by TL;DR Press. It will be published in September in both eBook and print forms. TL;DR Press is a charity publisher so all proceeds will benefit YPTE, the Young People's Trust for the Environment.

Submitting Short Stories is Addicting

My summer 2021 update is that I'm submitting short stories to publications and contests again--and it feels addictive! I've finally revisited some stories I workshopped pre-pandemic with my old Atlanta writer's group, Decatur Scribes. I've finished the necessary edits and sent away two stories, one to a contest and one to an anthology. I'm finishing a third story to send an online publication this week.

My other news for July is that I'm taking a personal staycation/writer's retreat for 3 days next week. I'll be staying at a nice little VRBO apartment to focus only on writing. I'm making progress on my novel draft with the hope of submitting for the Pitch Wars mentorship contest this year. Here's the info about that if you're interested: https://pitchwars.org/new-start-here/

Happy writing, Everyone!

--Meg

Publication: Greyrock Review 2021

The 2021 Issue of Greyrock Review has been published! 

My literary nonfiction story "A Library on Wheels" appears from pages 94-103 in the online edition here: GREYROCK REVIEW 2021. 

I hope you enjoy this little pre-pandemic story about a school district librarian working to bring the joy of books to students all over her area with this traveling school bus library!

It's so exciting to see my words in print and my name (nonfiction/married name: Megan Maulsby) on the back cover: