Hey there. This is UNUSUAL FICTIONS, a monthly newsletter from Jess Nickelsen.

Hello! I hope this month's little letter finds you well. It was 4º (celcius) this morning, which is a sign that we're well-and-truly in to autumn now. (Just as an aside, I always have to add 6 months to the southern hemisphere seasons to figure out what the northern hemisphere equivalent is, even though I have lived here pretty much for thirty years; if you're wondering, we're currently in our equivalent of early November.)

It's very sunny and dry, though cold in the shade. I've been busy getting into cozy mode: making candles (fruit loops and pineapple lumps scented), making sticky chai tea, digging out the thermal layers and sweaters, and kicking off some knitting projects. See below for the sticky chai recipe, if you want to make it for yourself!

news

I made it through the NYC Midnight first round, with my story "Going Upstream" getting tenth place in my group. The next round assignment was sent out (I had genre: spy / character: a bachelor / element: "above the law") and we had three days to write and submit a second short story of no more than 2,000 words. I briefly contemplated submitting a piece that I wrote about hallucinogenic toads, but Steve told me it was too complicated (haha) and so I wrote another story, about a spy taking on one final case at the care home where she now lives. Fingers crossed it gets through as well.

To celebrate, I whipped up an eBook of the first-round story, which you can read online, or download, here at BookFunnel.

I've also signed up for another round of Cat Rambo-ing, this time with her Advanced Fiction Workshop. I'm really enjoying this style of class, despite the very early starts (I miscalculated on the daylight savings front and as a result I'm having to get up at 4am on a Sunday to make the 4:30am class). Last week's session was a goodie, and as our weekly assignments we have a chunk of reading to do, as well as to write a Drabble!

If you've never written one before, a Drabble is a flash fiction story that must be EXACTLY 100 words, including the title. I wrote one yesterday, and it was quite fun to do (though getting down from an initial write of over 200 words, down to 100 was a little painful).

It's possibly a little too NSFW to include in this newsletter, but I've got plans to write another (about a sentient spaceship with a slightly-unhealthy attachment to its captain); if it works out I'll share it next time.

Oh! One other bit of news, I nearly forgot to mention. My friend Gina has a good friend who has worked in audio production for a long time and is looking to move into audiobooks. She's offered to help develop our Five By Five anthology as an audiobook! I'll keep you posted on the process and progress as we get on!

Listening / reading / watching

Still a neverending flow of inputs these days, but if I could recommend a couple of things I'd choose:

• ​Chlorine by Jade Song - what starts as an intense story about what it's like to be a high school athlete from a minority group in very white USA-ville turns into something quite dark indeed. Not for the squeamish, but I thought Song did an amazing job at juggling light and dark, and her protagonist walked the line of intensity and desperation so well. (You can find other books I've previously mentioned on my blog here at my wee bookshop.org bookstore.)
• I'm gathering up all of the new-to-me tunes, songs I can't get out of my head, and recs from my 11 year old daughter into one mish-mash playlist I've creatively called 2024 Autumn. A lot of this has come from the very excellent newsletter run by Andrew Womack , who sends out a nearly-weekly missive of some seriously interesting stuff. A lot I'm also collecting into an atmospheric playlist, but it's still in baby stage.
• I initially bounced off The Untamed when I tried to watch it a few years ago, but decided to have another go. After pushing through the first few slow and ponderous episodes I've realised why this is crack-telly for an insane number of people on the planet. (9.5 billion views so far, apparently!) A very awesome combo of comedy, cringe, camp, bloody swordfights, necromancy, family legacies, and musical instruments as weapons, plus beautiful men in long robes all giving each other longing looks.

sticky chai

Here's the recipe! Please note that in addition to the below I also addded a teaspoon of peppercorns and a teaspoon of coriander seeds.

Also note: the instructions to add 3 tablespoons of sticky chai mix to 2C of water and 1/2 C of oat milk is a BAD IDEA.

Instead, just follow your usual tea rule-of-thumb (one small teaspoon per person, plus one for the pot), but I also add a little extra sugar (1/2 t of coffee crystals) and milk to my teapot before I pour in the boiling water and let everything steep for a while. It's grouse.

the books

As always, if you’re interested in further supporting my writing you can find my wee books either in my ​ko-fi store​ or via my ​Amazon Author page​.

​Thanks again for subscribing! I’d love to hear from you about anything. Just hit reply, or email ​hello@jessicanickelsen.com​. Until next time, Jess ​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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