Christina Sng

Poet, Writer, Editor, Artist

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2021 Features

30 December 2021: So lovely to see my interview with Gene Flynn at Horror Addicts today! We talk about the horror and mythology of my poems in our 2021 collaborative collection TORTURED WILLOWS.

26 December 2021: Lovely to have 2 haiku in the Haiku University's Daily Best for the 15th of December 2021.

neige lourde
pensant à papa

heavy snow
thinking of dad

hiver froid
la chaleur du four

cold winter
the warmth of the oven

23 December 2021: Thrilled to see my haiku mentioned in the Haiku University's Weekly Best and Commentary, curated by Francoise Maurice.

~~

open curtains
the sun follows me into the room

rideaux ouverts
le soleil me suit dans la chambre

~~

Le commentaire du juge: "Quelle belle image!" Merci infiniment, Francoise, pour cet honneur!

23 December 2021: Happy to receive Tokusen (Second Prize) in the International Kusamakura Haiku Competition this year:

pandemic numbers
someone's son
someone's daughter

20 December 2021: Happy to see my haiku mentioned in the mon chat dort
rêves d'hiver

my cat sleeps
winter dreams

11 December 2021: Overjoyed to receive this beautiful book with my haiku featured inside. Merci infiniment, Mine Sensei!

chrysanthèmes
des ombres sur la tombe de mon père

chrysanthemums
shadows on my father's grave

2 December 2021: Tremendously honored to receive two Pushcart Prize nominations this year for my poems "Conversations with the Dead 1928" and "Conversations with the Dead 2028" from my collaborative poetry collection TORTURED WILLOWS!

Congratulations to my Willow sisters, Lee and Gene, for their Pushcart Prize nominations! Thank you so much, Angela. I am truly grateful.

30 November 2021: Happy to see my haiku winter solstice
my cat is fluffier

solstice d'hiver
mon chat est plus duveteux

27 November 2021: Absolutely blown away to see my very first mention in Kirkus Reviews.

"An array of talented authors elevates this collection with indelible prose. Christina Sng, for example, delivers a series of creature-laden poems based My most grateful thanks to Josh Viola, Carina Bissett, and Hillary Raque Dodge for including my poems in their incredible anthology!

On SHADOW ATLAS:

"A host of sublime writers and settings create an entertainingly macabre collection."

24 November 2021: Tremendously honoured to win First Prize in The Pula Film Festival International Haiku Competition!! My most grateful thanks to the judges, renowned Croatian haiku poets, Goran Gatalica and Dejan Pavlinovic, and to the organizers.

19 November 2021: So happy to see my poems, "All This Rain", "The Dream Fields of Hell", "Heart of Darkness", and "All Are Welcome" in Star*Line 44.4. "All Are Welcome" was selected as an Editor's Choice!

~~

ALL ARE WELCOME

Everyone was mostly polite
Through their clicking sounds
And pincer-like arms

But we drew a line when
The alien couple decided
To have our brains for lunch.

Their banishment began
An interplanetary conflict
That turned Mars red

And ended the First Age of Man.

~~

18 November 2021: My Bram Stoker nominated essay FINAL GIRL: A LIFE IN HORROR is now in print as part of the stellar anthology Interstellar Flight Magazine Best of Year Two! It is such a gorgeous book and it feels wonderful to hold in my hand. Thank you so much, Holly!

15 November 2021: Elated to read this wonderful 5-star review of TORTURED WILLOWS by Rebecca Rowland!

15 November 2021: Happy thanks to Julie Kelsey for this lovely interview at The Haiku Foundation: New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners - Christina Sng

17 November 2021: Happy to see my haiku selected by Paul Callus as one of Haiku University's Weekly Best from 1st to 7th November 2021. Paul, merci infiniment pour cet honneur!

whirlwind
my daughter pirouettes

tourbillon
ma fille pirouette

11 November 2021: Happy to see my haiku in the Haiku University's Weekly Best for the week 25 - 31 October 2021. Merci infiniment, Nadine, pour cet honneur!

quiet street
a leaf dances in the wind

rue calme
une feuille danse dans le vent

strada tranquilla
una foglia danza nel vento

11 November 2021: Lovely to see my poem "after death" featured in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue, curated by Alex Fyffe in a new series titled Ad Astra.

after death
are we stardust
are you, dad?

8 November 2021: So happy to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES receive a mention in The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen.

4 November 2021: Fantastic to see Eric J. Guignard's PROFESSOR CHARLATAN BARDOT’S TRAVEL ANTHOLOGY TO THE MOST (FICTIONAL) HAUNTED BUILDINGS IN THE WEIRD, WILD WORLD, and Josh Viola, Carina Bissett, and Hillary Raque Dodge's SHADOW ATLAS featured in Tor Nightfire's New Horror Books for November 2021.

Look out for my tiny tale "One Day at Recess in the Convent of the Blessed Mother on Victoria Street" in PROFESSOR CHARLATAN BARDOT'S TRAVEL ANTHOLOGY TO THE MOST (FICTIONAL) HAUNTED BUILDINGS IN THE WEIRD, WILD WORLD, and my 5 poems "La Sayona", "El Culebron", "The Massacooramaan", "La Ciguapa", and "Yacumama" in SHADOW ATLAS!

1 November 2021: Elated to be in the Best of Penumbric vol iv with my poem "The End" alongside many friends and colleagues!

29 October 2021: Absolutely over the moon to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES and my poem "Concepts" in THE WASHINGTON POST!!!

29 October 2021: A conversation under a willow tree with my willow sisters Lee Murray, Gene Flynn, and Angela Yuriko Smith at the Horror Writers Association Halloween Haunts blog series.

19 October 2021: Absolutely awed to be mentioned in the same line as Ramsey Campbell in Library Journal's fabulous review of ProfessorCharlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World!

18 October 2021: Thrilled to see my poem selected as a Weekly Best at the Haiku University's Haiku Column from 30 August to 12 September 2021 with the following commentary by Paul Callus:

"Sunsets never fail to elicit emotions, beauty, wonder and amazement. Comparing a red runset to a fire-breathing dragon is very impressive, and the image of winged dragons keeps coming to mind."

sunset
I see dragons in the clouds

le coucher du soleil
je vois des dragons dans les nuages

8 October 2021: Happy Book Birthday to TORTURED WILLOWS, a collaborative poetry collection with my BLACK CRANE sisters Lee Murray, Gene Flynn, Angela Yuriko Smith, featuring a brilliant foreword by K.P. Kulski! Here are the first week of incredible reviews.

1 October 2021: So happy to see my poems, "All This Rain", "The Dream Fields of Hell", "Heart of Darkness", and "All Are Welcome" in Star*Line 44.4! "All Are Welcome" was selected as an Editor's Choice for this issue.

23 September 2021: A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES has received second prize in the 2021 Elgin Awards!

My deepest gratitude and thanks to the SFPA: Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association and its members for this tremendous honor.

Congratulations to my fellow nominees and winners! It has been such a privilege to be in the running with you.

Special congratulations to my friends, Akua Lezli Hope and Andrea Blythe for OTHERWHERES and TWELVE!

Check out all the incredible books in the nomination list.

19 September 2021: So lovely to see my haiku selected as a Daily Best in Haiku Column!

chrysanthèmes
des ombres sur la tombe de mon père

chrysanthemums
shadows on my father's grave

16 September 2021: I am truly grateful and honored to be a recipient of the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant alongside my friends and colleagues. My deepest gratitude and thanks to Steve Stred, Laurel Hightower, Ben Walker, S.H. Cooper, Sonora Taylor, Cemetary Gates Media, T.C. Parker, Matt Brandenburg, the Ladies of Horror Fiction, and the generous donors.

12 September 2021: My haiku has received an honorable mention in the Haiku University Weekly Selection of July 26 to August 1!

dad's last summer
if only I knew then

le dernier été de papa
si seulement je savais alors

21 August 2021: Honoured to see 2 of my haiku selected as the Haiku University's Daily Best for 17 August in Haiku Column:

another summer passes
I still feel dad here

un autre été passe
je me sens toujours papa ici

*

desolate summer
but the laughter of children

été désolé
mais le rire des enfants

8 August 2021: Thrilled to be in the Best of Interstellar Flight Magazine: Year 2 with my 2020 Bram Stoker Award nominated essay Final Girl: A Life in Horror.

6 August 2021: Over the moon to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES listed together with these terrifying books about reimagined fairy tales at the Tor Nightfire blog by Gwendolyn Kiste in Unhappily Ever After: 6 Terrifying Reimagined Fairy Tales. Thank you so much, Gwendolyn!

2 August 2021: Over the moon to see my haiku selected as a daily best in Haiku University's Haiku Column for 31 July.

summer breeze
the leaves dancing

brise d'été
les feuilles dansent

31 July 2021: Elated to see "a leaf on a journey" selected as a daily best in Haiku University's Haiku Column! I love this little poem!

une feuille en voyage
rivière d'été

a leaf on a journey
summer river

24 July 2021: Thrilled to see my haiku selected as one of the Daily Best for 24 July by Professor Nagata Mitunori of the Haiku University in Haiku Column!

éteindre la douleur dans mon coeur
mer d'été

dousing the grief in my heart
summer sea

15 July 2021: Elated to see my haiku selected as a daily best haiku from the Haiku University for 12 July 2021.

behind the sunglasses
a face full of grief

derrière les lunettes de soleil
un visage plein de chagrin

12 July 2021: Thrilled to see my 3 haiku written for my daughter in the Daily Best Haiku selected by Professor Nagata of the Haiku University!

marguerites
la naissance de ma fille

daisies
the birth of my daughter

*

tournesols
les sourires éclatants de ma fille

sunflowers
my daughter's bright smiles

*

framboises
les doux bisous de ma fille

raspberries
my daughter's sweet kisses

10 July 2021: Completely blown away by this news today! I am so honored and awed to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES nominated for the 2020 Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Poetry Collection alongside the incredible works of these amazing women: Jessica Drake-Thomas, Jessica McHugh, Sara Tantlinger, and Cynthia Pelayo! A huge thank you to the nominators for reading our work! I am deeply grateful.

7 July 2021: Tremendously honored to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES nominated for an Elgin Award among such stellar company!

A huge and very grateful thank you to all the nominators who took the time to read our books. We truly cherish you!

23 May 2021: It feels like a dream! A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES has won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection!!

Thank you so much to the Horror Writers Association and to my friends and colleagues for this tremendous honor. I am truly awed and humbled.

Congratulations to all the winners: the amazing Lee Murray, Tim Waggoner, and Stephen Graham Jones for their double Stokers, my BLACK CRANES sister Gene Flynn, the infinitely talented Josh Malerman, my idol Nancy Holder, Chiara Di Francia, Amelia Woo, Laurie Foster, Raw Dog Screaming Press alum EV Knight, Adam Cesare, Leigh Whannell, Lifetime Achievement winners Carol J. Clover, Jewell Gomez, and Marge Simon, Silver Hammer Award winners Carina Bissett and Brian W. Matthews, Mentor of the Year Angela Yuriko Smith, Richard Laymon President's Award winner Becky Spratford, and Horror Writers Association Specialty Award for Publishing winner Crystal Lake Publishing.

A very special congratulations to Lee and Gene for winning the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. I am so proud to be a part of the BLACK CRANES anthology with my first novelette Fury and over the moon to see this groundbreaking anthology honored today.

I would like to share this award with:

My fellow nominees, Alessandro, Jessica, Cynthia, Sara, Rhonda, Kelly, and Tim, I am elated just to be in a category with you.

My publishers, Jennifer and John, my editor Stephanie, and my publicist Erin. Thank you for your unwavering support and help in bringing this dream to life. I am truly, deeply grateful.

To Steven Archer, thank you for your mesmerizingly beautiful cover which perfectly epitomizes Dreamscapes. There is this moment in time when you see a piece of art and know it is the one. This is the one.

To Marge, Linda, Grace, Mike, Ken, Lee, Gene, Jason, and Dave, my dear friends and mentors. Thank you for always believing in me and never giving up on me.

To Dad who left this world far too soon. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and always being the hero in my stories.

To my children who inspire me every day and show me the meaning of hope and love. Thank you for being my lightbringers.

A very special thanks to everyone who took the time to read my collection. You became a part of my story the moment you opened that first page. Thank you for journeying with me.

Last but not least, thank you to my many friends and colleagues who have walked this poetic path with me these long years.

All of you are the reason we are here today. I share this award with you. Thank you and thank you again.

11 May 2021: A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES is one of Inkish Kingdoms' 5 Most TERRIFYING Indie Horror Books! Thank you and much gratitude to Cesar H and Ben Long for this incredible honour!

17 April 2021: Happy 1st Book Birthday to A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES! I'm so thrilled to celebrate it with a stellar review on Cemetery Dance and an Elgin nomination.

23 March 2021: Tremendously honored to see my poems "The Deer", "All That I Have Lost", "Dark Forest", and "Hansel and Gretel" nominated for the 2021 Rhysling Awards!

My deepest gratitude and thanks to the nominators, SFPA: Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, Jennifer Barnes, John Edward Lawson, Raw Dog Screaming Press, Scott T. Barnes, and New Myths.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

1 March 2021: So lovely to be a part of Lee Franklin's Women in Horror series.

26 February 2021: David E. Cowen shares selections from the works of The 2020 Bram Stoker Nominees for Superior Achievement in Poetry.

25 February 2021: Anton Cancre reads poems from A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES and other nominated collections in Spec Griot Garage Episode 19: 2021 Stoker Award Nominations!

21 February 2021: I'm walking on clouds today!! COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES (Poetry Collection) and FINAL GIRL: A LIFE IN HORROR (Short Nonfiction) are on the final ballot of the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards, alongside many luminaries, colleagues, and friends!

My deepest gratitude and thanks to my publishers Jennifer Barnes and John Edward Lawson from Raw Dog Screaming Press and Holly Walrath of Interstellar Flight Magazine, and my editor Stephanie M. Wytovich, publicist Erin Al-Mehairi, and artist Steven Archer. DREAMSCAPES and FINAL GIRL would not be here without you. Two anthologies I've been thrilled to be a part of have made the final ballot: MISCREATIONS: GODS, MONSTROSITIES & OTHER HORRORS and BLACK CRANES: TALES OF UNQUIET WOMEN! Congratulations, Doug, Michael, Lee, and Gene, and thank you for letting me be a part of your wonderful worlds.

Congratulations to my fellow nominees, Alma Katsu, Todd Keisling, Josh Malerman, Alessandro Manzetti, Steven Archer, Gabino Iglesias, Gwendolyn Kiste, Jess Landry, Meghan Arcuri-Moran, Cindy O'Quinn, Kyla Lee Ward, Kathe Koja, John Langan, Patricia Lillie, Anna Taborska, Jessica McHugh, Cynthia Pelayo, Sara Tantlinger, Sam Kolesnik, Tim Waggoner, Kevin Wetmore, and Rhonda Jackson Garcia, and more. It's an honor being here with you.

16 February 2021: Thrilled to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES mentioned alongside books from these incredible writers and poets for Women in Horror Month by Ben Long.

9 February 2021: I'm over the moon!! My essay "The Queen's Gambit Got Me To Play Chess Again" placed first in Cinemania's January Writing Contest. Thank you so much to everyone who read my essay, clapped, and left a comment!

6 February 2021: A wonderful review of A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES by Bruce Baugh: "This is an amazing, powerful, fascinating, wonderful collection of poems working with themes of horror and fantasy.

The poems here gather into several groups: a high fantasy tale of the struggle to save a kingdom from a demon queen and her horde, riffs on classic fairy tales, life among and as monsters, the victims of violence and their revenge, and "Myths and Dreamscapes", a section rich in fantasy and wonder as well as horror.

None of these poems are very long: only a few go onto a third page, as displayed in the Kindle app on my phone. Many are a couple dozen lines or less. They vary so much in tone - some graceful and liquid, some entirely tense and urgent. There's a lot of suddenly uncovered anger and monstrosity, and not all of either is bad in its context. I read quite a few of these out loud, to myself and the cats, and each one was even better that way. These poems work magic with their words."

4 February 2021: Thrilled to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES in this amazing list on HorrorAddicts: Women Writing Horror: A Listicle of Women to Read.

3 February 2021: Over the moon to see this 5-star review of A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES by Laurie Bark!

This little book of dark poetry will entrance you with its dark magic and simmering rage. Within its pages you will find fairytale worlds filled with magic, wonder and furious brutality. If you like dark fiction, I recommend giving it a try. The poems are broken up into themed chapters that often progress from one to the next continuing in a story-like fashion.

The first section was about bloodlust, destruction and war and I'm not entirely certain my brain comprehended it all on the first go but the poems all pulled me in and created a complete story.

I mean:

"His eyelids cut in a half-moon
To ensure he witnesses every moment
Leading to his death"

What is there not to love about that?!

The Fairy Tales section was one of my favorites. They're beautifully modern but yet manage to maintain a fairytale-like mood filled with the whims of the fey, the evils of men and they are bloody and vicious as well they should be!

All the Monsters in the World brings forth devastating violation, murder, and even a quirky vampire poem that offered some sweet, much needed relief from all the unrelenting but purifying violence.

"They will arrive
With their guns and scythes,
Here we will wait
And eat them alive."

Hahahaha! Dare I say how much I love the way Sng puts words together?!

There's one poem here that will sit with me forever. It's called "The Girl and Her Wolf Dog" and It broke me into a million pieces and put me back together again. If I had to pick just one perfect poem from this collection, a collection filled with them, it would be this one.

Do something nice for you and give it a read! I doubt you'll have regrets."

1 February 2021: Honoured that my haiku "drifting snowflakes" was read at the Seashores Zoom event in Dublin where it was cited by Jay Friedenberg as example of a good haiku with mystery and more. :D

31 January 2021: Elated to discover that A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES is one of Well Read Beard's Top Five 2020 Poetry Collections!

23 January 2021: The Preliminary Ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards is out and I am elated to see A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES (Poetry Collection) and FINAL GIRL: A LIFE IN HORROR (Short Non-Fiction) included, as well as two anthologies I have been truly honoured to be a part of: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors - A Horror Anthology and Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women.

My most grateful thanks to my publishers Jennifer Barnes and John Edward Lawson of Raw Dog Screaming Press and Holly Walrath of Interstellar Flight Press, and editors Doug Murano, Michael Bailey, Lee Murray, and Gene Flynn for giving my work a home. Special thanks to my publicist Erin Al-Mehairi and editor Stephanie M. Wytovich.

I'm so honoured to share this list with luminaries and friends, Andy Davidson, Alma Katsu, Todd Keisling, Josh Malerman, Jeffrey Thomas, Alessandro Manzetti, David E Cowen, Tom Deady, Gabino Iglesias, Gwendolyn Kiste, Jess Landry, S.P. Miskowski, Jason Parent, Steve Stred, Meghan Arcuri-Moran, Larry Hinkle, Cindy O'Quinn, Kyla Lee Ward, Kathe Koja, John Langan, Gary McMahon, Lee Murray, Rob Ottone, Anna Taborska, Jessica McHugh, RJ Murray, Sara Tantlinger, Michael Kelly, Sam Kolesnik, Jeani Rector, Tim Waggoner, Kevin Wetmore, Rhonda Jackson Garcia, and more.

19 January 2021: Incredible news to wake up to!! :D

A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES is one of Tor Nightfire's 10 BEST HORROR POETRY COLLECTIONS OF 2020!!

I'm so honoured to be on this list alongside my esteemed friends and colleagues Cina Pelayo, Marge Simon, Mary A. Turzillo, Michael Bailey, Angela Yuriko Smith, Ashley Dioses, and K.A. Opperman.

16 January 2021: Incredibly honoured that A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES is one of Reading Vicariously's Must-Reads from 2020! Thank you so much, Ben!

1 January 2021: 2020 was undoubtedly the most difficult year of my life but there were many good things that happened for me too and I celebrate them on this last day of the year:

A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES was born! Thank you, Jennifer and John, Stephanie and Erin, and to Steven, for bringing it into the world!

My first novelette FURY was written for the stellar anthology Black Cranes. Thank you, Lee and Gene, for taking a chance on me.

THE GIFT OF DEATH, a short story I love, was published in Space and Time. Thank you, Gerard and Angela, for giving it a home.

I began writing essays again. The one I worked hardest on was FINAL GIRL: A LIFE IN HORROR. Thank you, Holly and Sydney, for taking it on.

In the anthology Midnight Under the Big Top, I shared pages with my favourite author Robert McCammon! Thank you so much, Brian, for making this possible.

A huge thank you to all the reviewers and readers who read and reviewed my work, and much gratitude and thanks to the editors and publishers who accepted my work this year. You brighten my day, every day.

Other cool things that happened:

I completed my first Poetry Half Marathon!! Thank you, Caitlin and Jacob, for organising it.

My poem "Together" was featured in The Fox Poetry Box. Thank you, Tricia, for the wonderful honour.

I saved a lizard from a sticky wrapper.

My first virtual panels at C'monfluence 2020 and the Singapore Writers Festival were thrilling!

I received my first Pushcart Prize nomination for Poetry! Thank you so much, John.

My poems received 4 nominations for the Dwarf Stars and 3 for the Rhysling Awards. Many thanks to the Science Fiction Poetry Association and award chairs, Robin and David.

Finally, I taught my first art class on Zoom. It was a lovely, peaceful session and it made my day to know the participants enjoyed it. Thank you, Stephanie! Everyone was awesome!

I am so deeply grateful to all of you for being here for me during this impossible year. Thank you and thank you again!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year! Here's to a better 2021 for everyone!

*

2021 Releases

30 December 2021: Happy to see my poem in this week's Haiku Dialogue on Ad Astra at The Haiku Foundation:

one day
we will be together again
stardust

23 December 2021: Glad to be in the latest edition of Haiku Dialogue's Ad Astra by The Haiku Foundation!

time dilating
past the event horizon
that first bite of chocolate

16 December 2021: So/lovely to see my haiku in this week's Haiku Dialogue on Ad Astra, among friends.

freediving
I am adrift
in space

11 December 2021: Elated to receive my contributor's copy of the fantastic anthology WERE TALES with my poem "The Fragility of Birds"!

11 December 2021: Happy to see my story "One Dark Night" alongside the splendid work of so many friends and colleagues in the December 2021/issue of Penumbric!

8 December 2021: So lovely to be in the latest Haiku Dialogue with my poem about Dad.

as if
he was never gone
photo of dad at age 38

Many thanks to guest editor Alex Fyffe and The Haiku Foundation.

4 December 2021: Happy to see my poem "What's Left of Me" in The 2021/Poetry Marathon Anthology.

4 December 2021: Happy to be in this week's Haiku Dialogue on Ad Astra at The Haiku Foundation. Many thanks to guest editor Alex Fyffe for his selection and commentary.

no longer certain
of my place in this world
Pluto

From the outlier "Martian" of the ballet class, we move on to the outlier "planet" in the solar system. Like the planet itself, the word "Pluto" hangs at the tail end of the poem, isolated from the rest of the words --/perfectly placed to describe the feeling of uncertainty that Sng explores in this haiku. For the greater part of a century, Pluto was considered a planet -- I was taught that it was the ninth planet from the sun when I was in school -- but that all changed around the time my current students were born. Pluto didn't change, but our definition of a planet did, and now he's just drifting out there, a dwarf circling giants.

1 December 2021: Lovely to see my haiku in this month's brass/bell:

late night
the cat and I
prowl for intruders

1 December 2021: Much gratitude to editor Roberta Beary for including my haibun "Clouds in a Deep Blue Sky" in the latest issue of Failed Haiku. It was so lovely and precious to document that special day.

CLOUDS IN A DEEP BLUE SKY
22nd November 2021, Lazarus Island

The soft sand feels familiar beneath my feet. It comforts, not frightens, this adult version of me, as the cool water holds me in a gentle embrace.

At age two, on a trip to Port Dickson, my first encounter with sand terrified me so much that I stayed indoors the entire trip, my mother recounts with great despair.

/Now at age 49, I let my feet sink into the sand, melding once again with nature. I walk slowly into the deep and let the sea encapsulate me.

I float on my back, weightless, arms outstretched, a Vitruvian Man. Before my eyes lies the great expanse of sky, the world of possibilities.

For the longest time, I've disconnected with this world. But today, adrift in the sea, in complete bliss, I am, once more, one with the universe.

cloud cover
the embrace
of a mother

1 December/2021: Elated to be in SHADOW ATLAS with my poems "La Sayona", "El Culebron", "The Massacooramaan", "La Ciguapa", and "Yacumama". Thank you so much, Josh, Carina, and Hillary for including my work in your incredible anthology!

29 November 2021: At Interstellar Flight Magazine, I speak with a man of many talents, Mike Allen, who wears the hats of a journalist, publisher, editor, poet, and writer,/on his incredible decades-long career, and his solo and collaborative projects that have been catching the eye of award committees and critics alike. Read A Man of Many Hats.

27 November 2021: So lovely to see my haiku in this week's Haiku Dialogue on Ad Astra at The Haiku Foundation:

orbiting me
as I wander the mall
tiny/satellites

18 November 2021: So lovely to see my haiku in this week's Haiku Dialogue on Ad Astra at The Haiku Foundation:

star clusters
my children and I
huddle together

9 November 2021: Missing the 80s? I sure do. Grab a copy of ATTACK FROM THE 80s! I'm super thrilled to be in this awesome anthology with my 4 November 2021: Elated to see my haiku selected as one of the Haiku University's Weekly Best:

woven into tapestry
grandmother's memories

3 November 2021: Absolutely thrilled to see my tiny tale "One Day at Recess in the ConventPROFESSOR CHARLATAN BARDOT'S TRAVEL ANTHOLOGY TO THE MOST (FICTIONAL) HAUNTED BUILDINGS IN THE WEIRD, WILD WORLD (2021 EDITION) alongside many friends and colleagues from around the world.

3 November 2021: Happy to be in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue this week with my poem "old friends".

old friends
not a word spoken
between sunsets

31 October 2021: How has COVID-19 affected how we celebrate Halloween? In my article A New Halloween at InterstellarlFlight Magazine, I talk to members of the Horror Writers Association to find out how their Halloween celebrations have changed since the pandemic.

26 October 2021: Thrilled to see my poem "Anchors" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash Project.

18 October 2021: Happy to see my poem "Whales" in the latest edition of EYE TO THE TELESCOPE edited by Akua Lezli Hope!

6 October 2021: So lovely to have a haiku in this week's Haiku Dialogue curated by Marietta McGregor on an old ship's chain.

arm-in-arm
with my son and daughter
crossbars on a chain link

1 October 2021: So happy to be among friends in this month's brasspbell on the topic of numbers:

page 7
I wonder
why I exist

I keep to
even numbers
10 earppiercings

what have I
gotten myself into
1200 piece jigsaw

30 September 2021: Lovely to be among friends again in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue:

a reminder
of what I survived
old scars

25 September 2021: Happy to see my poem "Night of the Aurora" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash Project!

21 September 2021: Thrilled to be a part of this incredible lineup in the Brigids Gate Press anthology WERE TALES with my poem "The Fragility of Birds".

20 September 2021: At Interstellar Flight Magazine, I interview the incredible Gene Flynn who co-edited the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award-winning BLACK CRANES: TALES OF UNQUIET WOMEN on her stellar year with much more to come in The Trailblazing Ms Flynn.

17 September 2021: Elated to see that my poem "Other Fears" will be included in OTHER TERRORS: AN INCLUSIVE ANTHOLOGY alongside many friends and colleagues. My most grateful thanks to editors Vince Liaguno and Rena Mason for giving my work a home.

15 September 2021: At Interstellar Flight Magazine, I talk to Jason Erik Lundberg, an American author and editor living in Singapore about his work and how moving to Southeast Asia has changed the stories he tells in Jason Erik Lundberg: An American Writer in Asia.

3 September 2021: At Interstellar Flight Magazine today, I speak with award-winning filmmaker and poet Jamal Hodge about his incredible film Mourning Meal and how it was born from a poem in The Incredible Mr. Jamal Hodge.

2 September 2021: Happy to see my haiku up at brass bell this month! Thank you so much, Zee.

unable to forget
your words
the tartness of tangerines

27 August 2021: Happy to see my poem "Three Candles" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash!

17 August 2021: Lovely to see my haiku selected and translated in Haiku Column:

passing by
the lingering aroma of roses

en passant
l'arôme persistant des roses

16 August 2021: Thrilled to see my tanka included in Nadine Leon's beautiful video on lavender!

after a long day
shopping for our groceries
my daughter heats up
an old lavender pillow
and puts it on my shoulders

après un long jour
passé à faire nos achats
ma fille réchauffe
un vieux coussin de lavande
et le met sur mes épaules

12 August 2021: My painting "Eva" appears in Penumbric.

6 August 2021: Absolutely elated to be a part of this incredible lineup in the 2021 Halloween issue of Southwest Review with my poem "Unbreakable" alongside some of my favorite people: Jeff Strand, Gabino Iglesias, Philip Fracassi, John Edward Lawson, Nadia Bulkin, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Linda D Addison, Sara Tantlinger, Peter Salomon, and more. Thank you so much, Andy Davidson!!

2 August 2021: So lovely to see my 2 haiku on family and friends in this month's brass bell!

a chat with cake
the perfect afternoon
with a friend

hand in hand
our little girls walk
instant best friends

25 July 2021: Take a walk on the dark side with my poem "The Carnival" at the Ladies of Horror Flash Project.

24 July 2021: Elated to be a part of ATTACK OF THE '80S about my favourite era of all time with my poem "Welcome to Hell" by Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Eugene Johnson and published by Raw Dog Screaming Press! I'm super excited and tremendously honoured to be in the TOC alongside one of my favourite authors F Paul Wilson and so many luminaries in the industry.

10 July 2021: Delighted my haiku has been selected and translated in Haiku Column for the Haiku University!

marguerites
la naissance de ma fille

daisies
the birth of my daughter

tournesols
les sourires éclatants de ma fille

sunflowers
my daughter's bright smiles

framboises
les doux bisous de ma fille

raspberries
my daughter's sweet kisses

8 July 2021: Lovely to see my haiku selected and translated in Haiku Column for the Haiku University!

chaleur légère
mon chat devant le climatiseur

light heat
my cat in front of the air conditioner

arc-en-ciel
je prépare un dîner sain

rainbow
I make a healthy dinner

1 July 2021: Happy to see my two haiku in this month's brass bell!

sitting in the shadows
I invent new worlds
with stuffed animals

daydreaming
I sit on my swing
after school

1 July 2021: Lovely to see my poem "Elizabeth" in the 54th edition of The Sirens Call.

29 June 2021: Thrilled to see my art pieces "Into the Woods", "Twigs Across a Puddle", and "Together" displayed in my first virtual exhibition A COLLECTIVE REUNION WITH REALITY organized by The Rice Company Limited here in Singapore. They are in Room 3.

27 June 2021: Finished my first poetry marathon today with over 24 poems written in 24 hours! Thank you so much, Caitlin and Jacob for organizing this incredible challenge.

11 June 2021: Thrilled to see my microfiction "The Eternal Fire" in the latest issue of Penumbric.

7 June 2021: Lovely to be a part of Haiku University's Saijiki winter!

dead lotus
winter burial

1 June 2021: Lovely to see my 2 haiku in this month's brass bell:

pitch black
my daughter calls out
"Momma"

grandma's
last breath
the still wind

8 May 2021: Thrilled to see my mixed media art "Family Tree" on the cover of Marcie Lynn Tenchoff's latest collection MIDNIGHT COMES EARLY and "Indestructible" on the cover of this month's online edition of SCIFAIKUEST, and my pastel painting "Bird Girl" on the cover of the Spring 2021 issue of ILLUMEN.

Lovely to see my 2 food haiku in this month's brass bell:

childhood cereal
reading the box
like a newspaper

love or hate
there is no in-between
durians

26 April 2021: Happy to see my story "The Last Train" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash Project! During this truly difficult time, these prompts are what keep me writing. I am immensely grateful for them. Thank you so much, Nina and Erin, for curating and hosting my work every month. Grief makes time move differently but deadlines keep me grounded.

22 April: Overjoyed to see my pastel painting "Starry Night" in Penumbric this month!

14 April 2021: Thrilled to be a part of this stellar cast in the charity anthology TALES OF THE LOST VOLUME TWO edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Steve Dillon.

Tim Waggoner * Lisa Morton * Neil Gaiman * Joe Hill * Heather Graham * Christopher Golden * Tim Lebbon * Christina Sng * Vince Liaguno * John Palisano * Kaaron Warren * Chris Mason * Greg Chapman * Tracy Cross * Stephanie W. Wytovich * Alexis Kirkpatrick * Ben Monroe * Lucy A. Snyder and Matthew R. Davis.

1 April 2021: So happy to see my 2 haiku on happiness in this month's brass bell.

dad and my daughter
popping bubble wrap together
my best memory of him

curled up safe
under my duvet
small dumpling

31 March 2021: Thrilled to see my story "86th Birthday" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash Project! Thank you ever so much, Nina and Erin.

29 March 2021: Tremendously honored to interview the Lao Minnesotan Poet Laureate and President of the SFPA: Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association Bryan Thao Worra in The Enduring Power of Heritage at Interstellar Flight Press.

24 March 2021: Thrilled to be a part of LIKE SUNSHINE AFTER RAIN, a Raw Dog Screaming Press charity anthology edited by Heidi Ruby Miller in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Hardcovers are almost sold out so if you'd like a copy, please head to http://rawdogscreaming.com/books/like-sunshine-after-rain/.

12 March 2021: My cat sumi-e "Pensive Cat" and 2 haiku "morning song" and "metronome" appear in the latest issue of Akitsu Quarterly alongside many friends!

22 February 2021: So lovely to see my essay "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" in Cinemania for their February Writing Contest on the theme of love on TV and film!

5 March 2021: Glad to be a part of this month's brass bell on the theme of women and girls for International Women's Day!

kaleidoscope
girlhood memories
of the carnival

4 March 2021: Happy to see my poem "Snow Child" in this month's Ladies of Horror Flash Project! Friends who enjoyed A COLLECTION OF DREAMSCAPES may enjoy this one.

23 February 2021: I'm thrilled to present "How Heritage Affects the Stories We Live and the Stories We Tell", an interview with Lee Murray, multiple award-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories and editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, on Interstellar Flight Magazine!

18 February 2021: Lovely to see my poem "Mothers and Daughters" in Write Like a Girl!

17 February 2021: I'm so excited to see my poems "Safe", "Mother of All Things", and "Fairies from the Twilight Forest" in Spectral Realms #14 alongside many colleagues and friends!

5 February 2021: So lovely to see my haiku "spider silk" in brass bell:

spider silk
strands of silver
on my skin

25 January 2021: Thrilled to be in the Ladies of Horror Flash Project this month with my poem "The Long Days Before Winter".

14 January 2021: My haiku "movie night" appears in brass bell!

13 Jnuary 2021: So excited to see my latest essay "The Queen's Gambit Got Me To Play Chess Again" in Cinemania!

4 January 2021: My first published essay in 2021, "A Journey into the Darkness of a Violent Mind: A commentary on the American horror movie Becky (2020)" appears in Cinemania.

1 January 2021: My scifaiku "all this rain" appears in Star*Line 44.1:

all this rain
stuck in my coffin
all night again

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2021 Sales

24 February 2021: My art "Eva" and "They Cut Me Up" were sold to Penumbric.

22 January 2021: My poem "Our Brief Time in the Sun" was sold to the anthology Age of Uncertainty.

14 January 2021: Tanka "Every Dream", "The Newfangled", "Digging Up", and Joined Poem "Time Slows" were sold to Scifaikuest for their February 2022 issue.

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