“STUDIES IN SHADOW AND LIGHT” (2018)
Sasha, a student from Nouvelle S’Entraide, leaves their community to study abroad in the United America, where they get involved with a local student activist. The culture clash that ensues puts Sasha’s life and safety in jeopardy. Will empathy and the ability to read minds be enough to shield Sasha and their loved ones from harm?
This new short story appears in After the Orange, a post-Trump speculative fiction anthology. The publisher, B Cubed Press, will donate a portion of the profits to the American Civil Liberties Union.
“JE ME SOUVIENS” (2012, 2015, 2016)
My short story “Je me souviens” is about activism, superheroes, friendship, courage, and hope. It was first published in the September 2012 edition of The Future Fire. It was also included in TFFX, The Future Fire’s Tenth Anniversary Anthology which came out at the end of 2015. You can find out how to purchase the anthology here.
I am also proud to announce that the story was reprinted by GlitterShip as a podcast as well as in text form! Check out Episode 23. In addition, it is part of the GlitterShip Year One Anthology, which can be purchased here.
Below is how the story first appeared, with the beautiful illustrations by Soussherpa:
Gabriel et Rapha © 2012 Soussherpa
There are nine police cars. I count them again just to be sure and because counting usually calms me.
Arielle watches to see if I’m freaking out. I smile but she’s not reassured. She reaches up to place her hand on my shoulder, asks if I want to leave. I tell her I’m OK. She’s still concerned so I try a sexy smile this time. If she would kiss me now, I’d have somewhere pleasant to channel my beating heart. She leans towards me and I see that she’s used her superpowers to read my mind again, but then another police car arrives, drawing her attention away….
Read the rest here: http://futurefire.net/2012.24/fiction/jemesouviens.html
- In his recent essay, “What’s YOUR Superpower?”, Stony Brook University Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Ritchie Calvin writes:
“This is the superhero story that I want my grandchildren to read. Gabriel does not have super strength or super speed or super intelligence. He has super humanity. Super empathy…. He is a superhero I can believe in.”
- “Je me souviens” was on K. Tempest Bradford’s list of “My Favorite Fiction from September 2012”: http://tempest.fluidartist.com/my-favorite-fiction-from-september-2012/
- It was also on M. Bennardo’s list of favorite stories of 2012: http://www.mbennardo.com/blog/2012/12/my-favorite-stories-of-2012/
- The story finished second in the 2012 Preditors and Editors poll in the category Science Fiction & Fantasy short stories: http://critters.org/predpoll/2012/final_tally_shortstorysf.ht
- Read a review of “Je me souviens” here: http://pickledthink.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-365-project-stories-read-as-of.html
- Valerie Vitale has some very kind words about the story in her interview about the anthology.
Hey, and check out CKUT’s “Easy Sonic Listening” which pieced bits of the podcast for “Je me souviens” together with protest music and sound art to create this episode.
“SLIP BACK, MOVE FOWARD” (2014)
When traumatic events refuse to loosen their hold on you, sometimes the only way to find forgiveness and redemption is by traveling through time.
“Slip Back, Move Forward” was originally published January 2014 in Volume IV of Spark: A Creative Anthology. You can order it directly from the publisher in e-book or paperback here or from Amazon here.
“Slip Back, Move Forward” was been republished by Tabulit in 2016.
Su J. Sokol 