Tina Connolly's Blog

It's a yearly blog post, woot! (AKA, it's time to update the appearances page for 2019, but I like making a record of what I did for the year. Especially when I go, hey, why am I so tired? Here's why.)
First, publications! My main 2018 work is a novelette I am very proud of, The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections, on Tor.com. It also appeared in the "best of" collection Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction. (And it has gorgeous artwork by Anna & Elena Balbusso.)
Additionally, I published a fun little flash piece, "Rejuve", on Daily SF.


Narrations! I'll try not to miss any but I always do. I need to put dates on my narration page so I can quickly find them, hm. Anyway!
Maria Haskins, Kaiju Outside Hope (flash), Escape PodAdam Knight, Hoping for Red, Escape PodN. R. Lambert, When the Slipling Comes to Call, PseudopodRich Larson, Penitents, Beneath Ceaseless SkiesChristi Nogle, Promise, Escape PodAimee Ogden, Your Words There for the World to See, Cast of WondersRyan Row, My Heart is a Prayer, PodcastleFran Wilde, Ruby, Singing, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
I also ran 41 stories on Toasted Cake! Find them here.
Places I went! I went to Norwescon, the Orcas Island Literary Festival, the Nebula conference, the Campbell conference, WorldCon in San Jose, and World Fantasy in Baltimore. (Okay, that was rather a lot.) I also read from my work at Annie Bloom's here in Portland, the Longview Library in Washington, and the KGB bar in NYC. I hung out at the first SW PDX Jolabokaflod at Broder Soder with a bunch of writer friends. And I was honored to appear on a panel about Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books here at Powell's in Portland.

Things I taught! I taught "Podcasting 101" at the Washington County Writers Forum, "How to Give a Great Reading" for SCBWI, co-taught "Switch it Up" with Kate Ristau for Literary Arts, and "Building Characters" with Caroline M. Yoachim for Clarion West. I also led my one-week YA novel workshop in Kansas for CSSF again. I keep doing more teaching every year and I'm really enjoying how much I learn from it. 
And that's. . .more than plenty! I am very grateful to all the places that hosted me last year and I had a wonderful time seeing all the people I saw. See some of you this year, too!

I went to make this post, and found I never wrote the one for the 2016 publications. I am...unsurprised. It has been a year of both very good things and very bad things. The latter we have all been dealing with at a national and global level. (But I am very grateful for the mitigating presence of the former.)
Well, the main things I had published in 2016 were two books: Seriously Shifted, and my collection On the Eyeball Floor. And 2017 saw the completion of the Seriously series with Seriously Hexed, and (one of the very good things) a completely unexpected World Fantasy nomination for the collection.

I actually got to write a few short stories this year! (Mostly flash, but hey, I love flash!) And cracked several new-to-me markets, including one that has been on my bucket list since I first started submitting: F&SF.  Here are the 2017 short story publications:
"Queen Aster, Who Dances" (flash), Fireside, 4 July 2017"Hearts, Sticky with Mulch and Jam" (flash), Daily SF, 28 August 2017"The Two-Choice Foxtrot of Chapham County", F&SF, Sept/Oct 2017"Twenty-Nine Responses to Inquiries about My Craigslist Post: Alien Spaceship for Sale, $200, You Haul" (flash), UFO 6, ed. Alex Shvartsman, October 2017"Pipecleaner Sculptures and Other Necessary Work" (flash), Uncanny #19, Nov 2017

On the podcasting front I was super pleased to complete my first full year of co-hosting for Escape Pod, working with many amazing people. (But I especially must mention my two co-hosts, the co-editors of EP, Divya Breed and Mur Lafferty.)
I brought back Toasted Cake! And am very grateful for all the wonderful authors who submitted stories to me. It was a brutal slushpile. But the 2017-2018 school year run has so many amazing stories in it, and I can't wait to share them with you. I also started a patreon to help fund Toasted Cake, and am very grateful for all those helping me out over there.
Other stories I narrated:
Madeleine Alvey, Honey and Bone, Escape Pod #566K. C. Ball, Stay, Podcastle #462Marie Brennan, The Siret Mask, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #238 (500th story!)Matt Dovey, The Ghosts of Europa Will Keep You Trapped in a Prison You Make for Yourself, EP #577Rachael K. Jones, The Fall Shall Further the Flight in Me, Podcastle #493Cat Rambo, Red in Tooth and Cog, Escape Pod #607Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Every Orphan Child to a Good Home Should go, Overcast #64 (flash)Sara Saab, Suddenwall, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #191Greg van Eekhout, On the Fringes of the Fractal, Escape Pod #598Caroline M. Yoachim, Carnival Nine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #196
As you can see, there are some AMAZING stories in that lineup that I was honored to read.
And a quick roundup of the places that I went - I was thrilled to teach with my good friends Alex C. Renwick and Kate Ristau for Cascade Writers, to mentor 4th and 5th graders at the Oregon Writing Festival and grownups at the Great Critique through SCBWI, and of course, to teach my first ever one-week class, a YA Novel writing workshop through CSSF at KU. (Doing that one again next June, so keep an ear out if that interests you!)
I also went to many bookstores and libraries: the Dallas Library, the Clackamas B&N via Willamette Writers, the Beaverton City Library, Another Read Through, the St. Helen's Library, and Powell's Cedar Hills. I also did readings for the PNW SFWA series, which were in bars. Bars are not bookstores, but Duane at the U Bookstore in Seattle, and Mark Niemann-Ross and Brad Wheeler here in Portland helped bring and sell books for those venues. I continue to be grateful for the support of so many wonderful people in all those places.
Cons: Norwescon, Campbell Conference, Willamette Writers Conference, Rose City Comic Con (where I paneled/tabled with Will Ritter and Lish McBride, World Fantasy, Wordstock (where I acted out scenes with Fonda Lee, David D. Levine, and Curtis C. Chen) and OryCon. I spoke, read, and/or taught at all those places, and I deeply appreciate the hard work from the organizers that goes into them.
I think that wraps up my year - on a publishing level, anyway! There is always more than I think, and it is always slightly exhausting looking back at it. But I am super grateful for everything I get to do and would not change it.
Here's to 2018 - more art, more love, more resistance.
xo tina

So it's the end of January. That's okay. The past few months have been...busy.
I'm cleaning up my Appearances page to put in the 2017 dates of where you can find me. Just like this time last year, I'm like, oh hey, that's not a super-packed schedule. But I expect it will change. :)
I went to so many cool events in 2016. I'm very grateful to everyone who made these possible, or came out to them.
I went to Norwescon, Houston Teen Book Con, BEA, Westercon, WorldCon, PNBA, World Fantasy, Wordstock, and Orycon.
I went to the Nebulas when Seriously Wicked was nominated for a Norton and to the OCTE conference when Seriously Wicked received an Oregon Spirit Book Award honor.
I traveled to a bunch of awesome bookstores and libraries for Seriously Wicked, On the Eyeball Floor, and Seriously Shifted: Barnes & Noble Bridgeport, Another Read Through (PDX), the University Bookstore (Seattle),  Powell's Cedar Hills, Corvallis-Benton County Library / Grass Roots Books, and Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego).
I taught at the League of Exceptional Writers - "Writing Dialogue with Sparkle & Snap" - at the Cedar Hills Powells in January. And in April, Caroline M. Yoachim and I taught a One-Day Workshop through Clarion West - "From Idea to Story".
And my new short play, "Silence", was performed several times by the Pulp Stage.
That's a lot of events! I'll wrap up publications in the next post. Thank you again for coming out to see me last year! I enjoyed every one of these events.

First off, I turned in the third Seriously Wicked book! And there was much rejoicing! *rejoices*

Second. Here's a picture from Radio SFWA, which I helped perform at the Nebulas this year in Chicago.  Here's a link to see the whole song and dance.
Third. I'm shortly off to WorldCon! I have some super great panels and other things. Here, take a look!

Tina Connolly WorldCon Schedule!Book Club: The Lie Tree - Thurs Aug 18, 3pmTruly, Madly, Funny: SF That Makes Us Smile - Thurs Aug 18, 5pmLatchkey Kids in Fiction - Fri Aug 19, 10amAutographing - Fri Aug 19, noonLaunch Party with Fairwood Press for my debut collection, On the Eyeball Floor! - Fri Aug 19, 8pmAutographing at the Fairwood Press table - Sat, Aug 20, 11amEscape Artists Group Reading - Sat, Aug 20, 2pmPlaywriting Techniques for Fiction - Sun Aug 21, noon
(And obvs, just click on the link to see the locations of everything, as well as the crazy awesome list of panelists I get to be paired with!)
Fourth. As soon as I come back, I'm heading up to Seattle to read with Caroline M. Yoachim at the U Bookstore for the PNW launch party of our collections! Mine is On the Eyeball Floor and Other Stories, and Caroline's is Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World and Other Stories. The date for that is Thursday, August 25 at 7pm.
(I'm inserting a picture that Caroline recently and kindly took of ALL MY BOOKS at the U Bookstore. Well, all the ones that have come out so far! It's pretty exciting to have a 2-book release year - the collection comes out August 16, and then Seriously Shifted comes out November 1! More details about that release to come...)
I hope to see some of you at WorldCon or in Seattle!

I am busy finishing up the first draft of Seriously Wicked #3 (seriously, the end is in sight!) So here are a whole bunch of random links for you that I've been meaning to share. And if you're in Portland, come find me this weekend at Westercon! I'll be the one with the laptop . . . working on Seriously Wicked #3. (So! Close!)



First off: I have an essay in The Usual Path to Publication, ed. Shannon Page - find it at Book View Cafe or Amazon. I've read a few of the essays (they're all about breaking in to the biz) and it's a super fun book.
Like Seriously Wicked, Seriously Shifted is also going to be a Junior Library Guild pick. Yay! This means it will be in a bunch more libraries!
I narrated Yoon Ha Lee's "Shadow's Weave" for Beneath Ceaseless Skies's 200th issue! Delighted to be included in this milestone for BCS.
My co-hosting gig with Escape Pod started a little bit ago. You can hear me hosting my first couple eps at Divided by Zero and Saints, Beasts, and Zombies. More to come, of course!
Westercon Schedule! This weekend in Portland! This Saturday you have two ways to come hang out with me - first at the 11am Kaffeeklatsch (basically we hang out and chat, so that'll be fun whatever happens), and then I have a reading at 12:30. I will read . . . something. Something funny? Very probably. :)
Full Schedule:Autograph Session - July 1, 4pmKaffeeklatsch  - July 2, 11amReading! - July 2, 12:30pmHow to Revise - July 2, 4pm Young Adult Fantasy We Read - July 3, 1pmBooks into Audiobooks - July 3, 3pm

In the "It never rains but it pours" category (sidenote: true in Kansas, not true in Oregon) I have two local events this weekend. 
Come find me at:


Friday 10th, 7pm - Barnes & Noble at Bridgeport in Tigard, OR. I'll be there as part of the national Teen B-Fest with fellow authors Jason Gurley and Daniel Wilson. We'll be doing a trivia game and handing out prizes, so stop in!
Saturday 11th, 1:30-3 - Another Read Through bookstore in Portland, OR. I'm doing a Young Adult Panel with Kate Ristau, Ali Berman, and Suzy Vitello - we'll read from our books and do some Q&A. There may be cake. Come on by!
ADDITIONALLY: I'm delighted to say that Seriously Wicked received an Oregon Spirit Book Honor Award in the YA category! The book and I get to go to a luncheon this fall with fellow Honoree Teri Brown and Winner Fonda Lee. The book is given by Oregon teachers and librarians to a "distinguished contribution to children’s literature or young adult literature that engages and encourages readers’ imagination, discovery, and understanding, reflecting the spirit and values held by Oregonians." Which makes me super happy.

Hey folks! If you're going to be in Chicago this weekend, come find me at BEA and/or the Nebulas!
BEA -I have a signing at BEA on Friday from 2-3, table 7. (Ask at the Macmillan table if you get lost.) I will have a stack of Seriously Wickeds there to give out! Come get one!
Nebulas - Friday 4-5 I'm on "Podcasting for Writers" with Tanya DePass, Kate Baker, & K Tempest Bradford.Friday 8-9:30 - Mass Autographing, open to anyone at all, even if you're not attending the conference!Saturday 1-2 I'm in the Expert Village talking about (and demo'ing, if you wish!) face painting! Sign up for a 10-minute slot and learn anything you wanted to know about being a carnie.
I will also be at all the Banquet stuff, since Seriously Wicked is nominated in the YA category. It truly is an honor just to be nominated, and I intend to go and have a lot of fun. :)
See you soon!

Guys, I just had a fabulous couple weeks - first Norwescon, where I had a packed reading and many awesome panels (tip: if you want to hear me being especially opinionated, come hear me talk about dialogue), and then last weekend, Teen Book Con in Houston, sponsored by the lovely Blue Willow Books.



Jeff Zentner, who has just released his debut The Serpent King. It is getting SO MUCH GOOD PRESS. I brought it home and can't wait to read it.



Anyway. Look. If you ever get a chance to hang out with a school packed full of teens who LOVE TO READ, you should DO THAT THING. It was amazing. We were all wishing there'd been something like that when we were in high school. I met so many fabulous readers, writers, artists, librarians, educators, booksellers, etc, etc. It was literally the best. Literally. 



Oh, and another thing that is also the best? You are looking at the new co-host of Escape Pod. YES. If you like science fiction short stories, and you're not already listening to the biggest and oldest SF podcast, then sign on up and come join us. 

I recently worked on two podcasts for Escape Artists! 
"Black Hearts" by Shannon Peavey just went live as part of their Women in Horror showcase. It's a nicely creepy weird west tale, and I like narrating those. 



And I read the part of 13-year-old Belina for Martha Wells's "Night at the Opera" for Podcastle's 400th episode! Pleased to be a part of this full-cast recording on this fun story.

I'm delighted to share the fabulous cover for Seriously Shifted! (Cover courtesy of Tor Teen and Emma Goulder.)



A sparkling new adventure about teen witch Camellia and her mother, wicked witch Sarmine, introduced to readers in Seriously Wicked

Teenage witch Cam isn’t crazy about the idea of learning magic. She’d rather be no witch than a bad one. But when a trio of her mother’s wicked witch friends decide to wreak havoc in her high school, Cam has no choice but to try to stop them.

Now Cam’s learning invisibility spells, dodging exploding cars, and pondering the ethics of love potions. All while trying to keep her grades up and go on a first date with her crush. If the witches don’t get him first, that is.

Can’t a good witch ever catch a break?

Here's the page on goodreads: Seriously Shifted

And on my website. November 2016!