Ash Vale Updates: December 2024
I really can't stay, but baby it's shit outside
Things that Happened
Okay every year Paul Fairie does a roundup of the most iconic article headlines of 2024 and this year the BEST ONE, EASILY was this and it lost to one about the pole vaulter who hit his dick and I will NEVER FORGIVE ANYONE WHO DIDN’T VOTE FOR IT YOU’RE DEAD TO ME
Ahem. Anyway, happy end of the year, we made it! We’re still here, probably!! This year has been awesome for me and I hope it was awesome for all of you if you’re here reading this. And if it wasn’t—fuck it! Go throw a watermelon off the roof, 2025 will be better or you can fight it behind a Denny’s!!!
I wrote a wrap-up of some of my favourite short stories and poems of 2024 and you can read that here if you’d like, and further below I got into my personal 2024 story submissions stats, and also my favourite books of the year!
Writing
2024 Stats!
I’ve been told people love stats, either because they’re in the short story submission business as well or because they’re lil math freaks! Whichever you are, I support you. So here’s my short story submission stats for 2024.
This was my first year ever 1) writing things with intent to publish and 2) submitting anything for publication! I started in May with a submission to Heartlines Spec so really this is about 8 months of data.
Short stories written: 10
Poems written: 6 (that I submitted places, I wrote more that I likely won’t ever submit)
# of submissions: 80
# of acceptances: 4 (all short stories. someone buy my shitty poems!)
# of rejections: 60 (52 form, 8 personal)
# of withdrawals: 5
# pending: 11 (4 holds)
In Progress
I did it. I FINISHED A FUCKING DRAFT OF MY NOVEL. It ended up being 72,111 words in the end which is awesome because through this I’ve discovered I’m an underwriter, and I need the next draft to add more words! As I was finishing I understood more than ever why people say to just finish the damn thing, because plotholes and problems became so much more apparent as I actually tied it all together at the end. Now, I’m going to take a break from it for about a month and go back with fresh eyes and start editing!!
My Recs
My 8 Favourite Books of 2024
Most of these were not published in 2024, I’ll just say it right now, but they’re all SO GOOD! I read 27 books in 2024 which was pretty good for me. I had set a goal of 15 so I’ll definitely take it. I picked my 8 favourites to share, in no particular order!
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Historical fiction set in mid-1300s China that follows Zhu Chongba as she takes fate into her own hands and pretends to be her brother after he dies. She becomes a monk and makes her own destiny. This book ROCKS. I can’t wait to read the second one, but I just can’t recommend it enough. There’s a sapphic relationship, tons of exploration of gender identity and gender roles, and the writing is just…exquisite.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This book is so bizarre and delightful! I went into it not knowing anything and I think that’s the way to go. It’s a mystery of a man named Piranesi, whose home has infinite rooms and only occasionally other people, and you follow him as things around him start to unravel. I enjoyed trying to stay one step ahead of the mystery as Piranesi solves it himself, and it just kept me riveted the whole way through.
Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell
Can a monster love? Can she learn which parts of herself to grind dull, and which parts of herself to keep sharp and stay with her girlfriend while she does it? This 2024 release from John Wiswell is a funny, gory, loving story of a monster, Shesheshen, and her baffling examination of what she thinks relationships norms are, all set amidst a toxic family of monster hunters. It’s a really lovely look at familial abuse, disability, ace love and the things that both separate and bring us closer to others.
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
I’ve read a few Meryl Wilsner books this year (when one is writing a sapphic romance, one tends to read some sapphic romance) and this was definitely my favourite of theirs. I think if you’re someone who liked Ted Lasso and likes romance, this could be a hit for you! The steamy scenes were SO good, classic Meryl Wilsner, and it’s just got this enemies-to-FWB-to-bumbling-goofs dynamic that I really enjoyed.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
If you like horror, you have got to read some Stephen Graham Jones. This book follows four Blackfeet men who committed a grave error when they didn’t follow tribal practices during a hunt, and the ways that they’re made to pay for that error. The voices and perspectives felt so familiar to me, like friends I knew from reservations where I grew up, and every time you think you have this story figured out, Jones surprises you. Usually with blood and something scary as shit.
How to Keep House While Drowning by KC David
I learned after reading this that it’s apparently a little controversial as far as questionably “self help” books go but this was hands down my favourite nonfiction book this year. KC Davis breaks down how to treat your house as a lived place and not a museum, how to stop using negative self-talk and shaming yourself about care tasks, and just…how to be kind to yourself when it comes to habits and cleaning in particular. This book is so, so compassionate and gentle.
A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves
A young, disabled lighthouse keeper goes to a strange, remote fishing town to try to find his lost mother. He’s dropped into a world of mystery and horror and mermaids, and has to fight his way (often literally) to the truth, both of the siren he keeps dreaming about, and this fucked up little town. Ooo this book is GOOD y’all. It’s what I’d call a M/M horror romance, with a trans MC and a mermaid partner. It’s spicy and creepy and really gory.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
I LOVE a fucked up fairytale and this novella does NOT disappoint in any way. We follow Veris, a 40-something year old woman who’s the only person to have ever left the forest alive, as she’s sent back in to rescue a tyrant’s children. She faces terrifying creatures and can’t trust anything she sees as she tries to escape with her life and the children in tow. This book is so eerie and beautiful, and left me with this sense of beautiful melancholy that has stayed with me ever since.
Short Stories/Poems
Would you like a little bit of creepy doomerism about a plastic-eating fungus and attempts to use it to eat microplastics out of the ocean? Of course you do. Then read Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday[2][3] by Emma Burnett in Flash Fiction Online. This short little story is written as though it’s a wiki page being edited, and I think the form really works well in this particular case.
I also read and loved Planting Trees as Graves by Rukman Ragas at Inner Worlds! This is a short story about a gravekeeper’s duties and a rewinding of time, and has absolutely beautiful prose.
Music
Every day now I live, breathe, sleep Doechii. Doechii is my personality. Doechii is everything.
Something Extra
The “fucked up AI I found on facebook” segment was a hit last time so once more into the void!!!
I love when I take a bite of cake and just eat a giant fucking mouthful of glass. Happy holidays y’all and merry new year!!
