Teaser from "Laurel Finch, Laurel Finch, Where Do You Wander?" (steampunk short story)

There’s plenty of room left in my upcoming online classes.
The big news is that I will be guest-editing the Women Destroying Fantasy issue of Lightspeed. We are still working out details, but it will be open subs.
I provided a teaser from WIP Laurel Finch, Laurel Finch, Where Do You Wander?
I made it onto this list of women horror authors you need to read. (Here’s the book they suggest, which is serendipitously 2.99 as part of promotion for next week!)
I talked about good things on the 27GoodThings Blog.
I sold a story to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, huzzah! Also, ten stories completed so far this year, which feels terrific.

For Writers:

• If you’re writing a character who is experiencing a particular emotion, this article may be useful.
• Great post from Teresa Frohock about Being a Woman and Writing Dark Fiction
• Bud Sparhawk talks about our recent collaboration
• Please consider supporting this Kickstarter of bisexual fiction.
• A writing book Kickstarter worth supporting.
• Mary Gordon on writing by hand
• Kurt Vonnegut teaches.

Books I Talked About for You Should Read This:

• My favorite YA novels of 2013, including books by Holly Black, Chelsea M. Campbell, Sarah Beth Durst, Em Garner, Lydia Kang, Cori McCarthy, and Sean Williams
• Science fiction classic Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Things of Note:

• Victoria Strauss writes about a recent SFWA controversy in On Petitions and Flame Wars: My Thoughts About SFWA and Change
• Charles Coleman Finlay also talks about some aspects of the controversy.

Timewasters!

• Kids read to shelter cats. Heartmelting.
• Photos of a dikdik, the world’s smallest antelope
• Pictures of rats with teddy bears

This is what I’ve been working on today. It’s a lot closer to being done that it was.

This is how Renee lost her phone and gained an obsession.

She was in the park near work. It was a sunny day, on the edge of cold, the wind carrying autumn with it like an accessory it was trying on before settling for it for good.

She set her phone down on the bench beside her as she unfolded her bento box, levering back metal flaps to reveal still-steaming rice, a quivering piece of tofu.

Movement caught her eye. She pulled her feet away as a creature leaped up onto the bench slats beside her, an elastic band snap’s worth of fear as it grabbed the phone, half as large as the creature itself, and moved to the other end of the bench.

The bento box clattered as it hit the concrete, rice grains spilling across the grey.

She’d thought it an animal at first, but it was actually a small robot, a can-opener that had been greatly and somewhat inexpertly augmented, modified. It had two corkscrew claws, and grasshopper legs made from nutcrackers to augment the tiny wheels on its base that had once let it move to hand as needed in a kitchen. Frayed raffia wrapped its handles, scratchy strands feathering out to weathered fuzz. Its original plastic had been some sort of blue, faded now to match the concrete beneath her sensible shoes.

The bench jerked as the robot leaped again, moving behind the trash barrel, still carrying her phone. She stood, stepping over the spilled rice to try to get to the phone, but the leaves still on the rhododendrons thrashed and stilled, and her phone was gone.

Enjoy this sample of Cat’s writing and want more of it on a weekly basis, along with insights into process, recipes, photos of Taco Cat, chances to ask Cat (or Taco) questions, discounts on and news of new classes, and more? Support her on Patreon..