Writing News

June has been a busy month: I submitted my MG historical/fantasy fiction to a publisher and an agent, submitted two short stories and drafted a new fantasy novel. And - as every month - I have received a few rejections.

But it wasn't all about writing-fun, submitting-chores and rejection-pains. 

The good news of the month is that I have 6 publications coming out! 

Three flash fiction SciFi stories and three poems are out this months (as soon as tomorrow, in fact)!

Poetry

The lovely people at Baby Teeth Journal will publish three poems of mine tomorrow and an interview with me later this week.

Poster by Myles Cooley

'In A Name' is my latest poem and is included on their patreon page. Here is an excerpt from the first half of the poem (read the full poem here):

...Exotic, strange, unpronounceable 

Sounds touch your ears but not your soul 

Float down the river 

Beyond the fence...

'A Dog' is a poem I wrote after our dog died a few years back. Here is and excerpt:

...We sit
until the sun burns into our backswe start going backWe walk along the suburban remnants of the bush,
back to our streetYou run aheadknowing the way
I follow...

If you like to read the rest or any of the other Baby Teeth Journal entries for June, visit their website:

https://www.babyteethjournal.com/

SciFi Short Fiction

As I have announced last month, my stories "Match", "Spacepirates" and "Take Away" will be published in the Black Hare Press anthology called Worlds, book 1 in the Dark Drabbles series. The book comes out as e-book and paperback. Visit their website for more info.

Stories of new worlds, new creatures, alien colonisation, humanity's new home, space accidents, alien snackcidents, evil planets, military mashups, alien autopsies, and much, much more.

What miracles can one hundred debut to bestselling authors do with 100 words?

More than three hundred 100-word drabbles from around the world.

https://www.blackharepress.com/publications/worlds-a-science-fiction-microfiction-anthology/

> Let me know what you think if you do happen to read any of the above! <

WOW Word of the Week #6

This word of the week instalment is long overdue, but here it comes with the force of the southerly winter winds that have been rattling our windows and bones these past days. What's more apt than to pay some tribute to the change in seasons, our marker of time and the natural space we live in?

Kogarashi

                                    こがらし

cold, wintry wind

Kogarashi is “the cold wind that lets us know the arrival of winter.”  I feel this wind right now, beating the walls and windows and roof of our house, while I'm trying to write.  “Brace yourselves, winter is coming.” (Ok, this might read out of kilter for those readers of this blog, who happen to live in the northern hemisphere!). But here, in Down Under, we are feeling it!

Winter winds are often mentioned in literary works. They set the mood and tone of a story or a scene, and often dwarf us humans into insignificant specs on Earth. So many good poems and stories have conceptualise Kogarashi. Think of haiku master Basho's winter haiku poems, or  'Winter Wind' (from Something I've been Meaning To Tell You), by short story queen, Alice Munro.

Sometimes, wintry winds play a role as protagonist or a character in a story. Sometimes Kogarashi is the concept that even becomes the title of books like the long awaited The Winds of Winter, which is the planned sixth novel in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (that's the series written by American writer George R.R. Martin, and which is the story of the TV smash hit, Games of Thrones, for those of us who live under a rock😉).

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

I hope you stay warm, wherever you are! To end this post with a quote:

"A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things." (George R.R. Martin)

***

What wintry wind stories have you read? Let me know below in comments!

Writing News

Writing News April 2019 - Part 2

April's turning out to be a very successful month for me. 

As I have flagged late last year, I'm very happy to announce that my first eco-tale (I am currently writing a series of seven tales) has now been published online by GRIFFITH REVIEW.

I'm very lucky to be in such amazing company of writers! 

A BIG THANKS to Catherine McKinnon and Christine Howe, as well as Ashley Hay (editor) and her colleagues at Griffith Review for bringing these stories to light!


Things we want to know but forget to ask - stories about the painted past and the precarious future, comprise also works by Christine Howe, Luke Johnson, Susan Ballard, Joshua Lobb, Catherine McKinnon and Tess Barber. Note: My work is published under my name, Friederike Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis, not my pen name, Freddy Iryss.

" 'Things we want to know but forget to ask' is a collection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from seven talented writers in response to seven different artworks held by the Wollongong Art Gallery." (Griffith Review, April 2019).

Find the entire collection, including the artworks, here.

>>I'd love to get some comments from you!<<

Writing News

Writing NEWS April 2019


Part of my 2018/19 goals is, as you may remember from my post to 5. Write more shorts and SUBMIT to competitions. 

Well, true to my goal, I have been writing away and sending off to many, many competitions in these first three months of 2019. 

And I have good news: THREE of my flash-Fiction stories, 'Match', 'Spacepirates' and 'Take Away' will be published mid 2019 in the SciFi anthology Worlds - Dark Drabbles #1, by Black Hare Press.

Admittedly, it was a challenge on many levels, last but not least to write the whole story in exactly one hundred words!

I also learned something about myself in the process. By pushing my self-made boundaries out (e.g. what I can and cannot write about), I entered another world of opportunities and possibilities that I haven't imagined before. 

> So it is true: if you can imagine it, it can come true!<

I know now that I can imagine and write about worlds set in the future that feel alien and yet strangely familiar and possible all the same. 


(Only - I really, really hope that what I have imagined in these two stories about spacepirates and newly colonised planets will stay what it is - Science Fiction!)

I'll post more about it when it comes out later this year!

WOW Word Of the Week #5

Happy World Frog Day, Everyone! 

Today, 20 March 2019, is World Frog Day and to celebrate the survival of about 7000 species around the globe and counting, today's WOW is FROG.

While more frog species are being discovered as we speak, sadly about 25% of the discovered ones are endangered. The Australian Museum created an app, called FrogID that allows to discover, track and record. It helps scientists like Jodi Rowley, a biologist with 'a focus on amphibian diversity, ecology and conservation, and a passion for communicating biodiversity conservation' at the Australian Museum, to observe and conserve these amazing creatures.
Read here about Jane Goodall and her role as International Ambassador for the Frog, appointed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008.

#5

FROG

Old English frogga, and of Germanic origin. the word is related to Dutch 'vors' and German Frosch 1. From Middle English frosch, from Old English frosċ (“frog”), from Proto-Germanic *fruskaz , from Proto-Indo-European *prew- (“to jump, hop”). Cognate with West Frisian froask , Dutch vors , German Frosch, Norwegian frosk, Icelandic froskur.



Anyone who knows me, knows that I am into frogs. A lot.

I think almost every room has either images, figurines, or books about frogs. They are everywhere: in pot plants, on table tops, my desk, shelves and t-shirts.


...indoors...




...and outdoors!

We even had real ones. But not as pets, no. We had two visiting frogs: One came only a couple of times inside the house, but stayed mostly on our tree in the front yard; the other  hung out in our kitchen for months).


Here is a pic of one of our visitors who stayed with us and became my muse:


I called him Fridolin.

He loved to hang out under a hibiscus cutting I planted in a pot in the kitchen, near the window. He would be at certain places at certain times of the day: for example, in the morning he was soaking up the sun (see picture under his personal umbrella). 

In the hot afternoons, he'd go and sit in the cool, dark TV room.

He was very friendly and unafraid.

Sometimes he disappeared for a couple of days, or so we thought until we found him sitting in another pot, in another room entirely!

Then one day, he didn't show for a week and I was worried and looked everywhere --and I found him, too late, under a heavy pot plant. R.I.P,  Fridolin.

Personal Frog Fun Facts:

• 'Frosch' is one of the first words our little bilingual granddaughter has recently learned, at 20 months!

• Friends bring me frogs in all forms and shapes from their travels to Japan!

• I'm sure I'll be reborn as a frog in my next life!

• My first eco tale, A Tale From The Cabbage Tree Forest, Figtree will be published in April 2019 by Griffith Review and features a Yellow Spotted Tree Frog as the MC! (Needless to say, Fridolin was my inspiration!)
• I studied at the same University as the Brother's Grimm, at the Philipps Universitaet in Marburg, Germany. And I sat many a times under this fountain sculpture, a cute version of the 'Frog King':

                          

>>I would love to hear your frog stories! Leave them in the 'comment' section below!<<

Weekender Books - March 2019

                          Weekender Books - From My Writing Community

This weekender books blog is a special one because I present books by authors I met through my writing communities on social media. We always hear about how important it is to show agents and publishers that we have a great number of followers to be relevant. However, when I come across tweets where writers invite me to follow them back because they want to reach their target, I hardly ever do, because I don't want to be just a numbers collector.

Yes, I get it that it is important to be out there and be seen. But time (I'm sure everyone who landed on this page will agree) is precious and I only want to interact with other writers in a way that is meaningful. If someone just adds me in the hope I follow back to boost their numbers -- they really shouldn't. I follow people on twitter that I find interesting.

As 'Freddy Iryss' I'm still a newby on Twitter and Instagram. I have only recently joined #AusWrites and the #WritingCommunity on Twitter but have already 'met' some wonderfully inspiring writers. We chat, we play writerly games and I even won in a fun book-give away! Yay! (Shout out to S.J. Morgan!).

In any case, I'm getting more and more interested in what everyone's written and so I started reading. And the book pile is growing faster than I can read, because you guys are putting out so many great stories! I might have to come back and do another post with the next lot of books that's caught my eye!

Here is my scoop:

Heaven Sent by S.J. Morgan 

Tarin of the Mammoths - Cave Bear Mountain (book 3) by Jo Sandhu 

Swallows Dance by Wendy Orr

 Heaven Sent 

 by S.J.Morgan (Midnightsunpublishing, 2018)
 YA Contemporary Fiction

This is one of my favourite debut YA novels I have read this year. Fifteen, almost sixteen year-old Evie lives in less fortunate circumstances. There are her mother's poor boyfriend choice, which puts Evie in the perilous environment of drug dealers; then there is her father who is more of a vague idea than real to her; and her own physical limitations brought on by a brace she needs to wear for her her adult scoliosis, all of which make life rather hard for Evie. 

The sudden appearance of mysterious Gabe, who comes literally crashing through her bedroom wall, claiming 'he's been sent to save her', has Evie puzzled but hopeful. I, too, was still wondering all the way through how he's possibly going to manage that. Sure he is cute and older than her, but incredibly unpredictable and unreliable. He just as suddenly disappears as he seems to appear. Is he even real? A boy or an angel? 

However, things turn out so completely different than I imagined, with unexpected twists and turns that make this a suspenseful read. And the end --oh boy! I have to say, I did not see it coming! 

Physical and mental illness are cleverly written in and weave their way through the narrative almost like minor characters in their own right, which struck me as different. 

💪💪✊😳😎

Recommendation: A must read when in-need-of-a-bigger-picture-than-my-own-life's misery-pick-me-up. Thought provoking and suspenseful.

Tarin of the Mammoths - Cave Bear Mountain 

by Jo Sandhu (Puffin, 2018)
Young Readers - Fantasy

I know, it is not a good idea to start with book 3 of a trilogy. Unfortunately, the other two books were out at my local library, which I guess is a good thing because someone else is reading them, too. Besides, in this case it wasn't difficult to catch on, because any holes were filled along the way. 

Tarin, the hero of this story, has news of his clan and is eager to find them after months of separation. But when his friends and travel companions, Kaija and Luuka, unexpectedly find their mother and the wolf cubs get kidnapped to fight for their lives against a bear in the Bear Festival, he can't just leave them and they all understand soon that the ties of friendship are sometimes stronger than blood ties. 

The pre-historic setting of the story, its characters and landscapes draw the reader into another time and space, one that's full of danger, hardship and fear. I appreciated also the historical elements and felt for the fierce and courageous clan composed of three children, an owl and two wolf cubs. I found the action and descriptions vivid and solid research shine through. I read Jo Sandhu, the author even travelled to Finland (always nice to see the authors to go the 'extra mile' for authenticity 😊😊). I find this award-winning novel delightful, probably in part because I am a trained anthropologist and find all cultures, past and present, fascinating. I can't wait to read the other two in the series!


💪💪😧😧😎

Recommendation: When you want to have an adventure and expand your knowledge of cultures, customs and lore that are lesser known.

Swallows Dance 

by Wendy Orr (Allen & Unwin 2018)
Historical Fiction

Leira, the heroine of this story, is about to be initiated into the priestess class, when the volcano on their island erupts. The devastation that follows, leaves Leira's mother with serious physically and psychologically wounds. Leira and her family flee on ship and find refuge in Crete. But only hostility, prejudice and starvation awaits them.  The older woman, her grandmother in all but name, cannot carry the burden of their survival on the unfamiliar island of Crete. And so it's up to Leira to forget about being high-born and privileged and enter the workforce of the hardest working, lowliest labourers. 

This is a contemporary story told in the ancient setting of the Bronze Age, a concept to which I'm particularly partial. My husband is a Bronze Age archaeologist and Greece has been my second home since I was a teenager.  Swallow's Dance spoke to me on several levels: its prose, interspersed with free verse, flows beautifully - it is Leira's song. That her name carries the same word origin as lyra (or in English: lyre), a string instrument used in the recital of lyrical poetry, is emphasising her role as a barde even more. 

Swallow's Dance is a beautifully crafted story about the hardship that comes with having to flee one's homeland. I read it as an ode to ancient Greece but also as a timely reminder of those seeking asylum, those who are being rejected on grounds of prejudice, while having to come to grips with their own displacement, dislocation, loss and grief. But it is also a story about hope, change, resilience and the powers of re-inventing oneself if necessary. We know that books can evoke empathy. This book will raise questions in readers, we all should ask.


💪😟😔💪💪

Recommendation: When you need to read a strong female character's story. Not an entirely quick or light-hearted read, but illuminating and rewarding, nonetheless.

That's it for now. I hope these morsels have made you curious and you'll pick a copy of these stunning books. If you have read any of these books, I'd like to hear from you. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?