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Turtle child

New story out in Uncanny Magazine today! On the Water Its Crystal Teeth. This is a chosen family story that plays with fairy tale tropes about the childless old woman finding a fairy child, now that I am a childless old woman with fairy children. (By fairy tale standards. Don’t worry, you don’t have to reassure me that 46 is not genuinely old any more than you have to check in with whether I realize that my godchildren were not actually left for me by the Good Neighbors.)

My friend Caroline Yoachim did a lovely interview with me if you want to find out more about this story and other fun Marissa trivia.

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Enjoy the journey

New story out today! Transits of Other Lands appears in Kaleidotrope. I wrote this story because writing “I MISS THE MONTREAL METRO” a hundred times during lockdown seemed like a less interesting way to express this. But also: I still do miss the Montreal Metro, gosh I miss the Montreal Metro, and also I miss the T-Bana and the T and BART. Other people’s public transit is a magical thing.

In this story, literally so.

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Short Stuff I’ve Enjoyed, Third Quarter 2024

Again, please feel free to recommend things in the comments, I definitely have not read everything that’s out there!

Testimony of an Encounter with the Death-Mage, Taken at the Canal Village of Po-Endenn, Stephen Case (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

This Mentor Lives, J. R. Dawson and John Wiswell (Haven Spec)

Father Ash, Rachel Hartman (Sunday Morning Transport)

Reciprocity, Valerie Kemp (Haven Spec)

Caring for Your Damage Sponge, Rich Larson (Small Wonders)

Letters from Mt. Monroe Elementary, Third Grade, Sarah Pauling (Diabolical Plots)

The Only Writing Advice You’ll Ever Need to Survive Eldritch Horrors, Aimee Picchi (Lightspeed)

At the Stopping Place, Grace Seybold (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

Moon Pies, Taylor Thackaberry (Uncharted)

Skinless, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Haven Spec)

I’ll Miss Myself, John Wiswell (Reactor)

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I’m such a trend-setter

New story out today in Nature Futures! Denebian Glamour’s What’s Hot and What’s Not for the Next Millennium! Get all your fashion tips here and find out what heavenly bodies you’ll be able to vaporize with impunity and how many airlocks your space station should have! Are YOU living in the fashionable part of the galaxy? The answer may surprise you!

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As the dust clears….

New story out today! Conjured from the Rubble is in Haven Spec magazine. Natural disaster, class mobility, and…wizards! I hope you enjoy it.

I’m walking a weird path with my natural disaster stories these days. The nearest inspiration for them, the thing my heart is still processing, is the tornado that hit my college in 1998. It can take some time for art to come to the surface, and it’s only in the last few years that I’ve really been dealing with that one. On the other hand natural disasters in general are on the rise, and the more time goes on, the more I’m looking at what’s coming rather than what’s come before, on this topic. So the balance gets interesting. I hope you like this one.

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Second quarter stories I’ve liked

Here’s some of the new stuff I’ve liked this spring. I’m terribly behind on my new short fiction reading, because I keep being handed other short things to read, but I’ll get there, one way or another. And in the meantime here are some gems.

Carbon Cycle, Lindsay King-Miller (The Deadlands)

A Series of Accounts Surrounding the Risen Lady of the Orun-Alai and Other Alleged Miracles in the Final Days of the Riverlands War, Aimee Ogden (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

Blackjack, Veronica Schanoes (Reactor)

The Weight of Your Own Ashes, Carlie St. George (Clarkesworld)

An Intergalactic Smuggler’s Guide to Homecoming, Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld)

Five Answers to Questions You Probably Have, John Wiswell (Uncanny)

The Great Beyond Commands, John Wiswell (Small Wonders)