2021 Award Eligibility Post

2021 is a strange strange year for me. I have always thought I have nothing to show for it, because I haven’t done much writing, submissions and assorted things that make me a “writer”. I have mostly reprints, a couple of translations, a IP-related story, and stories in anthologies that came out after a while (thanks to the pandemic). Plus, I wrangled articles as Senior Articles Editor at Strange Horizons. And still I feel as if I have nothing to show, nothing to prove that I wrote, that I am a ‘science fiction’ writer.

What makes a writer? Our output? Our input? At this stage, in Pandemic Year Two, I don’t know what makes a writer a writer. The world has its standards, awards and benchmarks. Myself? Just putting words to paper, manifesting them – that makes me a writer.

The Thing You Feed, Serialbox, January.

Twelve Paths To Glory, January 14th.

The Complete Dragon Sisters Omnibus, January 25th.

Saints & Bodhisattvas, BE ME: LGBTQIA+ Stories of Belonging (eds. Joel Donato Ching Jacob & Daphne Lee), February 13th.

Unravel, Ab Terra Flash Fiction Magazine, issue 2, March 17th.

The First Day of Khirshi-Da, The Fox Spirit Book of Love, April 13th.

It Is The Year 2115, Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Cities, World Weaver Press,  April 13th.

Dutiful Daughter, translated by Yukari Kousaka, Kaguya Planet,  July 22nd.

Yen Lo Wang’s Wife, Insignia 2021: Best Asian Speculative Fiction.

Two drabbles in Mythical Creatures of Asia (Insignia Drabbles Book 3), May 10th.

Di Yu, Cold Open Stories: Short Fiction Anthology, June 12th.

Blue Kueh, Seasons Between Us: Identities And Memories, (eds. Lucas Law and Susan Forest), Laksa Media, August 8th.

Poems, Shoreline of Infinity 26.

Starfang audiobooks, Scribd, October.

Hearts of Wulin, The Gauntlet.

The Waters Of This Place: Aotearoa New Zealand Speculative Fiction, Strange Horizons. (non-fiction/editorial)

Taking Care: The Humane Heart of Science Fiction, Strange Horizons. (non-fiction/editorial)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Nonbinary Joy. (non-fiction/editorial)

A Different Future: An Examination of The Ministry & Indigenous Futures. (non-fiction/editorial)

Art

Illustrations in Mermaids Monthly, February 20th. (Also this)

November updates

October... October had been horrible. My mother-in-law passed away after a long epic fight with cancer. Only a couple of days after her funeral, my spouse's aunt passed as well. It has been a horrible and sad month - and we are coping the best way we can. 

Some days I barely hang on. Some days I am okish.

In between, I managed to art, to read, to knit and to celebrate (quietly) the release of the Starfang audiobooks. I am still navigating through the morass of weird emotions. Grief is one of them. I am also exhausted, physically and mentally. Singapore's virus situation isn't helping. I got my booster though and my primary care physician told me that the majority who got it are actually ok. The news are just... well, eyeballs are important, yes? I am not even going to talk about stats and data - because I feel like there are omissions. 

So what do I have in store for November?
1. Rest. 
2. Plan my future.
3. Mice. 
4. Fire Heart.