2025: Year-in-Review
This was my first year writing short fiction. I set aside my fantasy novel manuscript revisions and turned to honing my craft. It’s been an unexpected ride and, at times, more of a whirlwind. Over the past year, I wrote 12 stories—a mix of short stories, flash, and microfiction. Some were fantasy, some sci-fi, and others defied easy genre categorization, falling into the realms of dark fantasy/horror or science fantasy.
- Mike Resnick Memorial Award Finalist -
The third story I wrote, and the first that could unambiguously be labeled as science fiction, was nominated for The Mike Resnick Memorial Award for the Best Science Fiction Short Story written by a new author. I discovered the award a few weeks before the deadline and was so new to the short fiction game that I didn’t have a suitable story to submit. So, I gathered fragments of ideas and prose from a writing exercise I’d done a few months earlier and started to map the story that became “Kill the Art Monster Before It Kills You.”
Receiving that early-morning email in July—with the banger subject line: YOU’RE A MIKE RESNICK MEMORIAL AWARD FINALIST—neurocharged my brain and sent me to Dragon Con in August. At some point I had the presence of mind to think: What an amazing start to this little writing experiment.
- Dragon Con -
Attending my first Dragon Con was an absolute blast. Sure, it was also overwhelming, but totally worth it. The con is so massive that it’s spread across five hotels in downtown Atlanta. It wasn’t until my last day that I started to feel comfortable(ish) navigating its crowded halls. I attended so many panels and events featuring authors and editors whose work I follow and admire.
It was an honor to attend the Dragon Awards and be nominated alongside so many wonderful creators. My nomination and the award were covered by Locus Magazine! One of my favorite books of the year (The Devils), written by one of my favorite fantasy authors (Joe Abercrombie), won the award for Best Fantasy Novel. Even though I was a finalist for a different award—and one of far less magnitude—to exist in that moment and realize that a story I wrote was contending for an award at the same ceremony as a book that’s currently being turned into a James Cameron film, well, that was a little surreal.
Fun fact: We went as characters from The Devils for this year’s Halloween. The dress I bought to wear as Baptiste doubled as my Dragon Awards dress, sans the cool pirate hat. (I probably could’ve worn the hat, it’s Dragon Con after all, but I wasn’t looking to draw outsized attention to myself.)
Following the con, my fellow finalists and I started a writing group where we meet and share feedback on our stories. I’m so grateful to have these fellow writers to stumble through the darkness together.
- Philcon -
While at Dragon Con, I learned more about the landscape of various other cons (so many), including Philcon. It’s a modest drive from where I live in NJ and thus made my list of probable next adventures.
Philcon was a gem, tucked away in a hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ. Compared to Dragon Con, part of the magic of Philcon was in the intimacy of bumping into award-winning authors and editors in the hotel lobby and striking up a conversation. To wit, it took only a day to upgrade from watching Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer speak on a panel (Dragon Con) to being invited to join him and four-time Hugo-award-winning editor Neil Clarke for a drink at the bar (Philcon). Seriously, that happened and it was as incredible as it sounds. Everyone was so welcoming and gracious and didn’t seem to mind at all that I was mostly masquerading as an author. All such self-effacing comments were politely rejected. I hope to attend again next year!
- Some Parting Thoughts -
Here’s to the New Year, and the unexpected turns that it will doubtless bring. Friends, thanks for joining me on this journey.
