Mirror Dance re-opens to submissions

That's the big news for today. See the guidelines here, and note that we have a new address for e-mail submissions.

"Palingenesis" has garnered some nice words from Charles Payseur at Quick Sip Reviews (a new favorite review blog, by the way: Payseur's comments are generous, attentive, and lyrically written) and Maria Haskins, who recommends it along with eight other "intriguing" speculative stories from around the web. I won't be linking to the review at Tangent, which misgenders a non-binary character in a way that strikes me as deeply dismissive, if not intentionally malicious. In fact, I'll link to this instead: American Dialect Society, "2015 Word of the Year is singular 'they'."

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Friday, January 15, 2016

Mirror Dance, reviews, the writer in its natural habitat

Autumn 2015 issue of Mirror Dance

After posting about our new URL, I realized that I hadn't posted about our new issue! Find it here, and be sure to share the love on your social media platform of choice.

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Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Mirror Dance

URL updates

I've (finally) purchased a non-blogspot URL for Mirror Dance. The new address is www.mirrordancefantasy.com. Old links should still take you to the correct page on the website, but please let me know if you find a broken link in the wild.

In the same vein, you'll notice that the URL at the top of this page is now blog.meganarkenberg.com. Sub-domains: the wave of the future?  Or just darn sexy?

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Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Mirror Dance, public service announcement, updates

August: writing, Mirror Dance, new publications

I'm back in California after a relaxing beer-and-sausage-filled trip back to Wisconsin, and my timing could not be more perfect. I missed the worst of the wildfires and arrived in time to enjoy a stretch of unusually temperate days: the breeze stirring the loose pages on my desk is a mere 88 degrees. The sunflowers are blooming in the fields alongside the freeway. This is the weather that makes people want to move to California.  

So what am I up to now that I'm back? Well, I'm spending nearly every waking hour reading for my upcoming prelim exams. My progress on short fiction this summer can be measured in inches, although I'm wrapping up a flash piece for the next volume of Rhonda Parrish's alphabet anthology series, C is for Chimera. (So what is L for? You'll have to wait and see!). I'm also poking at a Bluebeard story that I started ages and ages ago. It was missing a vital piece in the main character's motivation, but I think I've figured it out as of last month. 

The Autumn 2015 issue of Mirror Dance is ready to go for September 1st. While our Autumn issues aren't themed, there's a general focus on vocations and professions in the short stories this time around. On the other hand, I've been seeing a noticeable uptick in mermaid and selkie stories in the slush pile. Hypotheses? I'd blame it on the drought, but we see submissions from all over the globe.

I have two new stories out this month: "Love in the Time of Markov Processes" in Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists (Lethe Press) and "And This is the Song it Sings" in Nightmare. The first is about alternate universes, Tam Lin, whale falls, and unrequited love; the second is about ghost stories and hitchhiking. Also serial killers, symbiosis, and Rilke (maybe). I talk about that in the Author Spotlight. 

And now: back to reading.

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Monday, August 24, 2015

Mirror Dance, short fiction, the writer in its natural habitat, updates

Five Things of various shapes and sizes

Looking at the archive of this blog, there seems to be a pattern: in January, I resolve to work harder on my internet presence, and there are a fair number of blog entries; then the winter quarter catches up with me, and between teaching, research, and writing, I fall off the internet-planet until something happens that demands to be blogged about. The question of whether this particular post fits the pattern or not if left open as an exercise to the reader.

1. Reprints! "Final Exam" is being reprinted in John Joseph Adams' Wastelands 2. Read an interview with me (and other interviews with the other fabulous contributors) here. "The Minotaur's Wife" appeared in Pantheon's Persephone issue at the end of January, and "All the King's Monsters" will appear in Airships & Automatons at the beginning of next month.

2. The Spring 2015 issue of Mirror Dance is all ready to go! I'm also getting a lot of awesome submissions for the summer "Animals and Humans" - more so than usual. Just an especially popular theme? Or is everyone getting a lot of writing done now that they're cooped up for the winter?

3. I finished a story! Yes, that is important enough to get its own bullet point. Horror stories are easy to start and hard to finish, in my experience, so I'm giving myself credit on this.

4. I am not at all caught up on reading. However, as a reward for myself for achieving something like a word-work balance (like a work-life balance, but for people who do two different kinds of work), I bought a copy of Caitlin Kiernan's The Red Tree and re-devoured it in one sitting.

5. And finally, speaking of horror: I am going to the nonfiction editor for Nightmare's Queers Destroy Horror! special issue! Ridiculously excited about this. More news as it comes.

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Saturday, February 14, 2015

horror, Mirror Dance, queer fiction, the writer in its natural habitat

The End is Now, again, and Mirror Dance

The autumn issue of Mirror Dance is up, and The End is Now, the second book in The Apocalypse Triptych, is now available. I edited the former,  I'm in the latter, and both, in my humble opinion, are excellent. Happy reading!

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Monday, September 01, 2014

anthologies, apocalypse, editing, Mirror Dance, writing

March News

• ~ The Spring 2014 issue of Mirror Dance is now online, with (as usual) a fantastic mix of familiar names and exciting newcomers.

• ~ The March 2014 issue of Niteblade is also online, and Mirror Dance readers should recognize - or will recognize, after our summer issue - every name on the poetry page. ;-) And when you're done reading the lovely poetry, you can slide over to the fiction end of things and check out my fairy-tale retelling, "Godfather."

• ~ The End is Nigh, co-edited by John Joseph  Adams and Hugh Howey, is officially now in Kindle and trade paperback. In addition to my "Houses Without Air," this anthology is full of stories from awesome writers like Seanan McGuire, Ken Liu, Jake Kerr, Sarah Langan, and Paolo Bacigalupi. 

Later this month, my story "The Sons of Zeruiah" will be published in King David and the Spiders from Mars. Four new poems will also be featured in the revived Flytrap.

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Saturday, March 01, 2014

anthologies, apocalypse, editing, Mirror Dance, Niteblade, publishing

TSFAQ (Time-Sensitive Frequently Asked Questions)

Hey Megan, where are you right now?
Glad you asked! Right now, on this fifth of September 2013 at nine hours post-meridiem, I am in my hotel room in Lincoln, Nebraska.

What on earth are you going there? Don’t you live in Milwaukee or some place?
Well, until this morning, I did live in Milwaukee. I'm now in the process of moving to Davis, California, and Lincoln is the first stop on my itinerary. I'll be arriving in Davis on Sunday evening.

Why are you moving? Was it the weather? I bet it was the weather.
It was not the weather. I'm entering the Ph.D. in English Literature program at UC Davis. In the unlikely event that you know me personally and this is the first you're hearing of it...well, surprise!

Grad school, huh? What are your research interests?
Victorian literature (especially ghost stories and works with supernatural elements), Gothic literature, and Queer Theory.

Okay, that sounds cool, I guess. How's the writing going?
Much better than it was going last semester. I'm aiming to have five new stories in submission by the end of this quarter. At one time, that would have been a modest goal, but considering the approximately fifty thousand things that have complicated my life over the last year, it now seems positively ambitious.

Oh, and "Sister Philomela Heard the Voices of Angels" placed third in the short poem category in this year's Rhysling Awards, which was pretty cool. So writing is going well.

How's the editing?
Mirror Dance is going well - we just put out a new issue on Sunday. We also have Facebook Page now because all the cool kids are doing it. Watch for updates about Lacuna in early October. (Read: Lacuna is still in e-zine limbo.)

Hey, what did you do to your website?
Sorry, still playing with the formatting. I'm trying to find a template where the main column is wide enough to hold a full line of text in my bibliography, but not so wide that story excerpts become hard to read. I also realize that I never finished my biography page, so that should happen once I finish moving.

Anything else you should update us on?
I got nothing. But check out the the brilliant theme for an upcoming special issue of Lightspeed magazine!

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Thursday, September 05, 2013

editing, grad school, Lightspeed, Mirror Dance, my English major is showing, preaching to the invisible choir, Rhysling, the writer in its natural habitat, travel, updates, writing

I love having this problem...

This morning, as I read through the Mirror Dance slush, I again think to myself: I need to limit the number of poems one poet can submit at a time. Because I only publish four issues a year. And there are some poets who submit five amazing poems at a time, and while I prefer not to publish multiple pieces by one person in an issue, it would be unbearable to pass on this incredible, incredible poetry...

Mirror Dance poets, you guys spoil me!

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Friday, August 30, 2013

editing, Mirror Dance, poetry

Poetry Recommendation

Having recently accepted another story from the very talented Sandi Leibowitz for Mirror Dance, I found myself thinking again of her haunting poem in Apex's December 2011 issue: To a Gentleman Who Is Visited. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. And if you have read it already, it really deserves another look.

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Saturday, June 15, 2013

ghost story, Mirror Dance, poetry, recommendations, Sandi Leibowitz

It's always Summer in our dreams...

My story "The Huntsman" - a mash-up of at least three different fairy tales - is now online at Lightspeed. While you're there, check out the reprint of Ken Liu's incredible "Mono no aware."

The June issue of Mirror Dance, Watchers: Stories of Angels and Demons, has also appeared (and been appeared for a little over a week now. Apologies for my belatedness!). The poetry in this issue is some of the most incredible work we've published - check it out!

On a different front, last Friday I finished my student teaching semester, and with it, my B.A. in English and Secondary Education. Insert joyful noises here. As of tomorrow, I will be spending the rest of the month visiting the multi-talented Therese Arkenberg in Washington DC, where I intend to catch up on a semester's worth of writing! And, you know, see some museums and pandas and stuff.

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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

editing, fairy tale, fiction, Lightspeed, Mirror Dance, Therese Arkenberg, travel, writing

Achievement Unlocked: Slush Pile

For the first time in about two years, the slush piles for both Mirror Dance and Lacuna are completely empty. Done. Answered. De-slushed. If  I didn't see the empty folders with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it was possible.

Quick, somebody submit something to Mirror Dance before the rush of accomplishment goes to my head!

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

editing, Lacuna, Mirror Dance, No Exit

Mirror Dance Summer 2012

"Passages: Stories of Gateways and Guardians"  is now online! This issue has gods and fairies, heroes and monsters, ghosts and vampires, temples and mysterious forests and icy fog-shrouded mountaintops. (It also has a few mysterious formatting issues, which I am trying desperately to sort out, and incredible original art by Shirl Sazynski, which should more than make up for the formatting.) Happy reading!


Also, in honor of this issue's theme, have a look at these fascinating entrances that are clearly gateways to Narnia.

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Friday, June 01, 2012

editing, fantasy, fiction, Mirror Dance, poetry, publishing, reading

New market for fantastical poetry!

I thought some of my Mirror Dance poets might be interested in this: Through the Gate is a brand-new magazine for fantasy poetry with "emotional and literary depth" and a special interest in myth and folklore. Find the full guidelines here. This sounds like a fantastic project and I can't wait for the first issue!


Speaking of gates and traveling through them, the line-up for the Summer 2012 Mirror Dance (theme: Guardians and Gateways) is complete. Mike Phillips and Robert Shmigelsky return to our pages, while we'll be welcoming Shirl Sazynski, Jamieson Ridenhour, K. A. G. Broderick and many others to their first (but hopefully not last!) Mirror Dance issue. The issue goes live on June 1. Hope to see you there!

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Friday, May 25, 2012

magazines, Mirror Dance, poetry, publishing

Lois Tilton reviews Mirror Dance

I have some exciting news to go along with my exciting new blog template! This month, alongside her ususal reviews of professional magazines like Clarkesworld and Apex, Lois Tilton at Locus has reviewed the Spring 2012 issue of Mirror Dance. Caroline Spencer's "The Players" is "recommended," and Ms. Tilton has nice things to say about the other short fiction in the issue.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Mirror Dance, review

Roses in December

The Winter 2011 issue of Mirror Dance came out this morning. We have some lovely retold fairy tales, surprising takes on folklore, entirely original pieces, and an insightful interview with Mike Phillips. I'm particularly pleased with the poetry in this issue, so be sure you check it out!

My pseudo-Jamesian secondary-world ghost story "The Gardens of Landler Abbey" appears in today's issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and the very queer "Portrait of a Courtesan" appears in Crossed Genre's final issue. As a bibliographic note, "Landler Abbey" is my most recently finished story, having been drafted, edited, and submitted this September. Make of that what you will.

In other news, please think positive thoughts for my mother and aunt, who lost their beloved mother (my wonderful and elegant grandmother) on Saturday.

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Thursday, December 01, 2011

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editing, ghost story, Mirror Dance, No Exit, publishing, queer fiction, short fiction

Magazine Updates

1. Mirror Dance's Spring 2011 issue is now online. "Online" being a relative term, since I misplaced one author's poem and now I can't find my review of Walter Rhein's excellent The Bone Sword in my files. This is incredibly embarassing and will be corrected before the end of the day.

2. Lacuna is closed to submissions until June 1 so that I can clear out the backlog. My attempt at replying within a week with a rejection or a hold notice seems to have failed utterly. We'll see if I can come up with a more managable system before June.

If you have any questions about the status of your story, feel free to ask, though the answer will almost certainly be "I'm still considering it for the October 2011 issue." When I read through a batch of submissions, I'll make an announcement on the Lacuna submissions page, saying "All stories submitted before [Date] have now been responded to," and if your story was submitted in that date range and you haven't received a response, you'll know you're good to panic.

Until then, keep calm and carry on.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

editing Lacuna, Lacuna, magazines, Mirror Dance, publishing, updates

What? Already?

As far as I'm concerned, November is now over. The December issue of Mirror Dance is up and lovely and brimming with poetry and flash fiction. Go check it out!

As predicted, I utterly failed NaNoWriMo. I finished two stories--"The Gallery of Vespasian Marat" and "Lessons from a Clockwork Queen"--neither of which were on my need-to-complete list, and which combined total less than 10,000 words. If I'm allowed to count drafts of class assignments, I wrote approximately 35,000 words this month. Which isn't bad for me, so I'm not completely disheartened.

And I got two seperate ideas for two seperate novels, one of which I hope to get somewhere on over winter break.

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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mirror Dance, NaNoWriMo, publishing, writing

O Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness...

Hooray for autumn and the plentiful publication it brings!

1. The Autumn 2010 issue of Mirror Dance is live and lovely. Check out the great fiction, poetry, and a piece or two that falls between the cracks.

2. My story "Rosewinter" appears in the current issue of Niteblade. This is a pretty old story, originally written in fall of 2008, though reworked quite a bit since then. For those of you playing along at home, "Rosewinter" uses a spiral chronology similar to the one in "The Copperroof War," and is (along with "Cesare") one of the only villanous-woman's-first-name-titled stories I ever successfully completed, though I have ten or twelve sitting around in draft form.

3. My story "The Father of the Riverborn" appears in the current issue of Port Iris. This story is much newer, and the viewpoint character also plays a role in my novel-in-progress Jaquemart. This is also the only time you will ever, ever hear me talk about gender roles in fiction: "I’m familiar with psychoses...And this sexual-role nonsense sounds like a culture-wide psychosis."

4. I also have a story appearing in the September issue of Flagship, and poems appearing in Cabinet des Fees and Illumen. More on those as they come in.

5. The proof of Crimethink arrived today with all its pieces in the proper place! I pressed the fancy little approve button, and now you can buy a print copy from the Crimethink storefront: https://www.createspace.com/3476062. Remember that all proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.

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Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Mirror Dance, poetry, publishing, short fiction, titles, updates

Slush Pile Progress

As of this moment, I am down to seven stories in the Lacuna slush pile and three in Mirror Dance. This is the fewest I've had since...ever, I think.

Of course, those seven Lacuna stories are fighting for one spot in the April 2011 issue, so easier =/= easy.

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Monday, August 23, 2010

editing Lacuna, Mirror Dance, updates