Issue #10

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

Happy January!

We are in the middle of summer now (at last!) which means lots of pool time, gardening, eating with friends, feral children (it’s still school holidays), and wandering around in pyjamas at all hours of the day.

Despite all of this I have managed to hit a few big milestones that I’m happy about. I’m still figuring out what I want to focus on in the year ahead, but generally speaking they include:

• completing several writing projects, including Trash Planet and volume 2 of our “Incongruous Gongs” anthology
• working towards a blue belt in karate–Leila and I both graded for our green belts at the end of last year!
• working well, and hitting savings goals
• making our planned trip overseas to Japan, Korea, and Thailand (in the works for over four years) finally happen
• getting through my to-be-read pile of books beside the bed
• working through the implications of my recent genetic test results–I recently found out I have the BRCA1 gene variant (as does my sister and Dad). This isn’t cancer but I’ll have some big decisions to make about what mitigating steps I will take to address my increased cancer risks.

new cool things

• I finally have my writing website where I want it (…at least for now)! While all of my regular blogging still takes place on the discombobulated blog, all of the links to published works are up there.
• The writing group anthology is done! At present it’s just available as an ebook, but we will very soon have the option to buy in paperback form. It’s called Five By Five–because it consists of five stories by five writers, with five story elements. It was such a great experience we are already planning a second volume.

• Utopia Science Fiction magazine, which I do slush reading and assistant editorial work for, recently released their 5 year anniversary anthology. My copy arrived this week, and it is fantastic. If you enjoy sci-fi I recommend you check it out! I get a wee soft spot looking back on stories that I read and recommended we publish, as well as helped edit; it’s a really satisfying feeling. For US readers / For international readers​

• A few journaling changes. This year I’m doing some writing in the very cool Day One app. I kept a journal with it back around 2015-2017, when Leila was little and I needed a way to quickly note down some of the cool things that happened before they slithered out of my baby brain, but I’ve come back to it this year and I’ve set up a couple of new journals for ‘snippets’ of things I come across as I cruise through the day (still in holiday mode, obviously), and another which so far has been responding to writing prompts, which seems to be a new feature.
• I’m also starting a end of the day journal I’m calling “7 Things,” where I think back to the day and write down any sort of sensory impression, image, moment…some vividness from the day that stood out to me. I am really, really, enjoying going back through these already.
• ping pong / table tennis! We gave ourselves a family present of a ping pong table for christmas, and since then we’ve been having a blast in the garage! Chewie the cat has been getting in on it as well :)

reading

• I kicked off the year with Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata, a collection of very strange short stories, loosely associated with themes of people’s relationship to nature, or humans as animals. I liked this one a lot.
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Still in progress! I know this one is a favourite for a lot of people, but I feel like I’m still finding my way on this one.
• Also in progress: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I’d only ever read her Temeraire books so I know I have a lot of catching up to do. Really enjoying this one so far.

links

I’ve started saving web links to are.na! Some of my highlights include:

• ​mouse secretly filmed tidying man’s shed every night​
• ​a post about 80s Taiwanese Noir films​
• ​a conversation with Ray Bradbury​

the blog

I know I always say I want to blog more frequently, and so far I’ve been doing a fair bit of reflecting on the past year, and contemplating 2024. Pretty much like the entirety of humanity. We are so cyclic, aren’t we? We love beginnings and endings.

• January 12 - Utopia’s 5 year anthology, and a trip into Wellington​
• January 11 - Going back to work soon​
• January 10 - A ‘must-dos’ list​
• January 9 - BRCA1 and a pool party​
• January 8 - Bloggers on blogging​
• January 7 - Anthology is done!​
• January 4 - Here we are​

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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.

Anyhoo, 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

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