Congratulations to all the women and nonbinary writers who have been published this month! Here is publication news from WWS-SF!
From Janna Layton’s poem, “The Seventh Room,” in the literary magazine Polu Texni:
The Masque of the Red Death” is short—
a story in seven pages—
and so much of it
is Poe’s description of the rooms,
the twisting ballrooms of the castle
where Prince Prospero has locked himself away
from the plague.
From Rebecca Gomez Farrell’s short story, “Treasure,” in the anthology Dark Luminous Wings:
Wind thundered past the slats of the storage cabin. Hidden within a barrel of fish guts, the stowaway braced herself for lurching. But when the ship pitched sharply sternside, Enkid knew it was no ordinary squall. A storm this bad would force the captain out of his quarters despite his usual drunken stupor.
From Dominica Phetteplace’s short story, “Gin is Stronger than Witchcraft,” in the Mixed Up collection:
I wasn’t looking for a cocktail, I was looking for a magic spell. But there were more bartenders than witches in San Francisco. Everyone either worked in tech or they worked in food. When I was married, I used to say that I was my own job. But now that I’m divorced, I just say that I’m divorced.
From L. S. Johnson’s novelette, “To Us May Grace Be Given,” published in the GigaNotoSaurus anthology:
We had nearly three weeks before Bill Boyland was to come back, but as Mam explained it, sometimes the devil takes a while. We took turns watching the circle and keeping up with the plowing. Mam said it wasn’t a circle but a kind of snare. She had put the last of our salt pork in the middle and kept adding drops from one of the vials to it, her face getting grimmer by the day. I didn’t know why we didn’t just send the devil to Bill Boyland direct, rather than bring him to us, what if the devil decided to take us all? But Mam didn’t look like she was for questioning, so instead I said that the goats might get at the bait.