New story out in Prairie Fire

My story “Woman Moving to the Country” is in the current issue of Prairie Fire, a Canadian literary magazine. Although I do write mostly fantasy and science fiction, I decided to venture into the mysterious realm of literary fiction for this one. Which I forgot to warn my mom about when she read an early draft: “I liked it, but I kept expecting something strange to happen.”

Those of you who live in Canada will have the easiest time finding this magazine. A friend of mine mentioned that she’s seen it at Chapters in Toronto. Libraries (especially university libraries) may also be good bets. It’s published in Winnipeg, so that’s probably the best city in which to find copies. (What? Not planning a trip to Winnipeg in February? For shame!)

It’s also possible to subscribe to Prairie Fire, saving 50% off the newstand price, and helping them to support more authors in the future.

Unfortunately I cannot yet comment on the other stories and poems in the issue, as I’m still waiting for my contributor’s copy (thank you, Canada Post and United States Postal System!). But I look forward to reading the work of all the other authors.

“Woman Moving to the Country” was originally written at Clarion West in 2008, and my workshop classmates had a lot of great suggestions for improving the story, as did that week’s instructor, Chuck Palahniuk. So, thanks! Also to my local writers group, BRAWL, who all insisted with one voice that I really needed to fix the ending. (I fixed it.)

Okay, this is starting to sound like a really dull Academy Awards acceptance speech. Enough of that!

I won’t say too much about the actual story, except that it has some funny bits, and a lot of avocados. And that there’s a sequel, of sorts, coming out in Aoife’s Kiss in December. (I’m back to fantasy with the sequel; that literary fiction stuff is just too weird!)