First acceptances of 2018--New Reader Magazine

I haven't been sending out poems as often as I used to, so it was very heartening to receive my first acceptances of the new year from New Reader Magazine, an Arts, Literature & Cultural Quarterly. They have an exciting mixture of prose and poetry from writers all over the world. Their site is very fresh and visually pleasing as well!

My two poems, The Little Sunfish and Mistress Prynne Dreams of Her Youth were accepted for their June issue. The Little Sunfish is my latest poem, written about the robots used to clean up after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2017. The robot they called Manbo, which means "little sunfish", was the one that helped discover the source of the leak and thus saved many lives.

Mistress Prynne refers to the epilogue about Hester Prynne's later life in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter which not everyone remembers after reading the book, but which obviously made an impression on my imagination!

K.M. Peyton, an old favorite discovered anew!

Frankly, I thought K.M. Peyton (of Flambards fame) was no longer with us, but I just found out she's still here and still writing!! Her most recent novel, Wild Lily,

was a very enjoyable read. Peyton has not lost her fascination for me, after all these years. Her books have a quality unlike any other (which may not be to everyone's taste) and over the years I've tried to analyze exactly what that quality consists of. For one thing, her books are always about love: whether it's love for another person, an animal (frequently horses), an occupation (flying, sailing), or a place. And it's the kind of all-encompassing love that one sacrifices everything for--the kind of love that few people seem to experience but which Peyton knows all about. Sometimes it's reciprocated, but sometimes it's just a unrequited devoted love for another that never fades.

Another distinguishing trait: her characters--there is always a mad, bad, fascinating character who dominates--for better or for worse. There is always a character who is quietly strong and good to the core. But none of her characters are totally black and white--the good ones can be silly, the bad ones often humane, and the clash of good and evil takes place in at atmosphere where luck sometimes favors one over the other.

The last two books by Peyton I read were _Small Gains_ and _Greater Gains_, a two-part series which thankfully ended happily! When Amazon describes something as a "tragic saga set at the turn of the 18th century," you have to worry! Granted, the happy ended was a bit forced (and unlikely) but I'll take it.

My all-time favorite of hers, besides the Flambards series, is _The Right-Hand Man_, which Wikipedia describes as "the book is set in 1818 in Essex and London, during the Georgian era. It tells the story of Ned Rowlands, a talented stagecoach driver who meets the three creatures he loves best on the same day: a horse, a woman, and the man who will become his employer."

Catherine Asaro, where have you been all my life?

Nothing's sweeter than discovering an author, who, unbeknownst to you, has been writing exactly the type of novel you love to read for years and yet somehow has managed to remain under your radar!  We're talking about an extensive backlist of titles waiting for my reading pleasure!

I've heard Catherine Asaro's name before but finally chanced upon her book, Primary Inversion, recently and had a great time immersing myself into its colorful characters and world.

Kick-ass female protagonists ready to take over galactic empires, political machinations, worlds in conflict, star-crossed lovers...it's all there for your reading enjoyment!

To top it all, Asaro is one of the few well-known hispanic female science fiction writers and she's a scientist and dancer as well!

FIU campus authors reception at Barnes & Noble

At the FIU Provost's office reception for faculty authors. I got there late (I was on the desk) and was the last one to get my picture taken! Thanks to the campus Barnes & Noble for hosting the reception and purchasing two of my books!

The Dean of Libraries, Anne Prestamo, gave a speech and mentioned both librarians who had books out this last year and the faculty authors book display I had put together the night before! As I was leaving the desk to go to the event, there was already a faculty member looking for the display and happy to find his book there.

2017 publishing year in review (a bit late!)

I usually post these "year in review" columns in January, but I just realized I hadn't written one for 2017.  It was the year of the sonnet for me!  Four sonnets published, one reprinted in an anthology, one featured as a weekly read, one winning a sonnet challenge, one nominated for the Pushcart Prize and both the latter published in a mini chapbook!  (Something's telling me I should be writing more sonnets!)  

It was also the year I broke out into fiction and published the first flash fiction stories I attempted, which became the Sara's Siren Song Trilogy.  

And last but not least, it was the year my second chapbook, The Ocean Between Us, got accepted and published by Backbone Press!

2017: Year in Review


Jan---“Calle del Cristo” in the Arte Latino Now exhibit from Jan17 to Feb 17.

Feb—“Point of No Return” (sonnet) reprinted in Shabda Press’s Nuclear Impact anthology on Amazon. 

—“Seagrapes” appears in The Australian Times, illustrated.

March --“Origins” (sonnet) on Red Bird Chapbook’s Weekly Read feature page/and fb. 3-14-17

April – “Wings” in The Ghazal Page 4-15-17 

          --  “The Surest Poison” in Thirty West Publishing’s website as winner of their sonnet challenge!

May – “The Surest Poison” and “Blood Pacts” (both sonnets) in a16 page chaplet by Thirty West Publishing with other formal poetry winners.

June—“The Astronomer’s New Eyes” in Whale Road Review.

----“The Last Thing I’ll Lose” repubbed in Highland Park Poetry’s The Muses Gallery (Birds-themed issue.) (6-4-17).

—“Plague Graffiti” featured on Songs of Eretz 6/28/17

— “Story of the Stones”  in The Ginger Collect

----“Under a Graveyard Sun” in The Ginger Collect. 

July—“Sara’s Siren Song,”“Sara’s Second Chance” and “Sara’s Love Song” a flash fiction trilogy published by Alsina Publications on their Lingobite language learning app.  Selina Fenech’s illustration “Saviour” is the cover.

Aug—The Ocean Between Us chapbook accepted by Backbone Press on 8/14.  It consists of 26 poems, some previously published, in two sections: Puerto Rico poems and Florida poems.

Oct 22— The Ocean Between Us published. 
 Nov--"Blood Pacts” nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Thirty West Publishing House!

Dec—The Ocean Between Us  added to the FIU Faculty publication collection at the FIU libraries!

Historical murder mysteries for the fantasy lover

I'm on a roll of excellent historical mystery/fantasy reads that shows no signs of ending!  Due in part to my ill health the last week, I finished

The Hanged Man by P.N. Elrod

the first of a series, I'm pleased to note!  This mystery laced with magic takes place in an alternate Victorian England any lover of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy.  In this novel the magic makes perfect sense and posits preferable criminal investigative techniques than our present ones, that's for sure!  Her characters are well-developed and I look forward to reading more about all of them.

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

In this novel, a time traveler from the present encounters a serial killer in Regency England.  Fast-moving and led by a very unique female protagonist, this novel satisfies to the very last, (the very last) word!  I liked that the author zigged where the reader would zag.  I heartily approve of zigging!

More glowing book recommendations...

Mentioned by many as one of the best non-fiction books of 2017,

The Radium Girls: the dark story of America's shining women by Kate Moore (Sourcebooks)

definitely deserves that distinction.  The story is old, as there have been a few books written about it (and a play, These Shining Lives!) but Moore's approach is fresh.  She focused on the women and their personal lives, which makes the story of their suffering and struggle for justice even more poignant.  The book reads fast and makes a lasting impression.  What strikes me the most is the courage these very young women had in the face of unbelievable setbacks, indifference on the part of both employers and industry, and the hopelessness of their situation.  They really did shine like beacons in the dark history of industrial safety in this country, making it safer for generations to come.

This book led me to

The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation,
by Gayle Greene (University of Michigan Press, 1999). 

Another incredible story:  a pioneer female doctor who became an epidemiologist who saved countless lives by first discovering the danger of x-raying fetuses before birth, a formerly common practice, and later in her careet, at an age when most people are retired "challenged international nuclear safety standards."  An amazing woman who has not been celebrated enough.

My fiction recommendation is another Jane Austen world spinoff:

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (2011)

This is the first of a series of regency/fantasy novels by this author, who very skillfully weaves the working of "glamour" as she calls the magical essence into an Austen inspired world.  This particular novel derives inspiration from Austen's Sense and Sensibility but does a nice job of making you forget that fact!  Entertaining, enchanting, and fun.  Even though I enjoyed this novel tremendously, I find I don't feel the need to read the next one, which is strange but maybe a tribute to the satisfying ending of the first!

Happiness is seeing your own book in your library!

Today I walked into the Green Library at Florida International University, where I work, and found that some nice person had displayed my new poetry chapbook, The Ocean Between Us, in good company on the New Books shelf!  They obviously intended that I see it, since I'm the one who usually organizes the display shelves!  A few minutes later it was gone...maybe someone's actually reading it?  Uh, oh!

Call number:  PS 3606. E7334.O33 2017

Pushcart Prize nomination surprise!

Thirty West Publishing House just nominated my sonnet "Blood Pacts" as one of their Pushcart Prize nominations for 2017!  I am floored and very honored!  I never imagined it would happen again so soon.  Many thanks to editor Josh Dale and others who took the time and effort to make it happen!
Congratulations to my fellow nominees, too! 

Book Reviews--Two feel-good books: one from the past, one from the present

This blog has become less and less about books and frugality and more about my writing and publications, so I thought I'd break the pace and recommend some books.

Over my blessedly quiet Thanksgiving holidays, I've completed two very different books that nonetheless have been very satisfying reads and somehow seem to complement each other well. I think a Jane Austen reader would heartily approve of this first book:

Mrs Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, was first published in 1938 and has been reintroduced by Persephone Classics books.  My copy has a 10 lb price on and it's worth every penny (pence?)--it's 10 lbs of utter satisfaction.  Mrs. Watson, who like Jane Austen (foreshadowing next book review here) published six books upon which her fame was made, but who unlike Ms. Austen, lived a long and healthy life afterwards, was interviewed by the person who rediscovered her book and urged it upon the publishers.  Since then, a film starring Frances McDormand, which is also stupendous, has been made.

Mrs. Pettigrew has been described as a frothy confection of a novel with a Cinderella theme, but I think the reason it is so touching and enjoyable is because the author herself experienced a version of the Cinderella dream she confers so entertainingly on her book's eponymous heroine.  Watson herself was an "overnight" success with her first novel and was widely feted and celebrated, so she knew first-hand how it felt.  What distinguishes the novel from other fun reads is the author's deep sense of compassion for the frantic desperation behind all the bubbly adventures and witty repartee.  Watson's insight into the human heart makes her novel timeless.

-------

And, speaking of time, the other book I devoured over the break is a brand new one (though also about the past):

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn (who, by the way, had the same idea as I had had a while back for a story but she made it into a novel!  In my story, it was the Great Lives Project)   In this time travel novel, two researchers go back to Jane Austen's time ostensibly to retrieve the lost full manuscript of The Watsons (ha! another link to Mrs. Pettigrew book) and the letters Cassandra destroyed but also end up doing something else (no spoilers!) that of course, alters everything in unpredictable ways.

My only objection to this novel is that I was led to believe by the blurb writers that it had a surprise ending, which it didn't. Not unless you count the present being changed by the time travelers' actions in the past as surprising, which it shouldn't be to anyone who has ever read a time travel novel!  Also, the author keeps dropping what I thought were really obvious hints about certain things which never came to pass--ok, so maybe that was me reading things into things but still, I think it would have made for an interesting twist if what I thought was going to happen had happened.  Oh, and I thought the main character acted quite against character in the end, which threw me a bit.

But all these comments don't detract in any way from it being a most wonderful read.  I don't even bother thinking up all these objections to novels that don't have meat to them.  I love when novels give you food for thought and raise all these questions in your mind.  Few novels are even worthy of a second thought and this one will certainly provide lots of discussion fodder for an Austenite book club!

The Ocean Between Us cover reveal!

Backbone Press just published my new poetry chapbook The Ocean Between Us along with Faisal Mohyuddin‘s The Riddle of Longing.  Faisal’s book The Displaced Children of Displaced Children just won the 2017 Sexton Prize for Poetry from Eyewear Publishing; I’m very honored and excited to be published alongside him!

Many thanks to editor Crystal Simone Smith for the beautiful cover design and to editor Daniel Romo for his blurb!

Backbone Press will publish The Ocean Between Us!

I'm excited and honored to announce that Backbone Press chose my chapbook The Ocean Between Us as one of their two Fall 2017 publications from 120+ entries.  It will be in the pre-order stage for a few weeks ($9 via paypal).  The Riddle of Longing by Faisal Mohyuddin is the other chapbook chosen. Faisal just won the the 2017 Sexton Prize selected by Kimiko Hahn! 

Backbone's description: 

The Ocean Between Us is a collection of poems wrapped in memories and language. Beatriz Fernandez artfully weaves together dazzling imagery and alluring sounds to create concrete visions of Puerto Rico, Florida, and a geography of loss. With the ability to use the perfect words to describe imperfect times, she poses questions that pierce the human spirit. Unsure of the answer, this is a book of poetry that is rich with the “embryonic code of things to come.”

I'm really happy to have another chapbook published so soon after my first, Shining from a Different Firmament, in 2015 (Finishing Line Press).

The Ocean Between Us is very different than Shining, which was mostly a collection of persona poems about historical, literary and legendary women.  Ocean, as I described in my last post, is a collection of 25 poems about my personal experiences in Puerto Rico and Florida, from childhood to the present.  The first poem, Calle del Cristo, is an exception in that it is a persona poem.

The suffering of all Puerto Ricans as the island has endured two hurricanes is omnipresent in my mind these days.  My family members are safe and being very brave about the circumstances but I can't imagine living through that.  We were in Miami during Hurricane Andrew, but it did not hit our area directly.  Irma again sideswiped us, leaving only fences and trees down, mostly.  We are so lucky to have our homes and our lives to go back to.

Backbone Press finalist!

I'm very happy to learn that my chapbook, The Ocean Between Us, is a finalist in Backbone Press's Spring open reading session.

Backbone Press is a small press for ethnic poets and is interested in:

language that is elegant and provocative; poetry that informs and engages us in broader cultural conversations.

Even if my chapbook doesn't get accepted for publication, it is an honor to make it to the final round!

The Ocean Between Us is a 25-poem chapbook divided into two sections: Puerto Rico poems and Florida poems.  The journey begins with a brief visit back to Puerto Rico that brings back many memories of my childhood spent there. I’m the daughter of an immigrant and an islander whose ancestors also immigrated to their respective homelands.  Within every generation of my family there came a decision: to leave or to stay, and my ancestors always chose to leave, for their own sake and for their children’s.  From this restless heritage I derived a curious lack of home sense—I’ve always been neither one thing nor another, neither native nor alien.  These poems are an attempt to gather all these emotions together into a cohesive whole—to define what we mean by “home” and to highlight that perhaps it’s the ocean between that really matters:  that ever-changing, ever-the-same body that divides us and yet also unites us into a single body.

Alsina Publishing to present my flash fiction trilogy

I'm excited to announce that Alsina Publishing will present my fantasy fiction trilogy via LingoBites, their app for language learning via story-telling.

I'm also so pleased and grateful that Selina Fenech, an incredible Australian artist and author, agreed to let me use her beautiful artwork for the trilogy cover!

This gorgeous piece, entitled "Saviour" perfectly illustrates my stories! Check out Selina's website for all her fiction, artwork, coloring books, figurines, etc. You will be amazed!

Update on this post:  LingoBites is in Beta launch mode and I have a limited number of free trial codes to give out--contact me if you are interested!

Rejections can be sweet...

However, their critique of the manuscript let me down very easy!  I am going to frame it and post it by my writing desk for encouragement!  Thank you, Thirty West Editorial panel!

Excerpts:

"These pieces are unique, fresh, and beautifully written. The muses here have constructed some unique narrative voices and superbly distinct pieces ..." "Supremely creative."

"...one must be widely-read and knowledgeable of literary, artistic, and historical touchstones to fully catch all of the allusions here. That makes the target audience for these pieces much less universal than some other pieces."  "The unique thoughtfulness and dedicated execution of these pieces far outweighs any audience concerns."

"Not only is this magnificent on a conceptual level, but the beauty in the writing lies in its use of literary devices throughout. For instance, the internal rhythm and rhyme in “Guinevere to Arthur” is so seamless as to seem easily done..."

"..the level of intellectualism and foresight, the knowledge and exploratory nature of poetic structure and elements, and the skill and artistry in execution make this a great piece that any publishing company should be honored to print."

Whale Road Review publishes my poem "The Astronomer's New Eyes"

Many thanks to the Whale Road Review for their May publication of my poem:

 "The Astronomer's New Eyes" in their Summer Issue 7.

Whale Road is a unique journal that publishes poetry, short prose, chapbook reviews and pedagogical papers!

This poem was written in honor of my husband, astronomer James R. Webb, of course!

June publications!

June has been a good month for me!

First, Alsina Publications accepted two flash fiction fantasy pieces, with a view to a third to complete the trilogy.  Alsina is launching a new language learning app, LingoBites, that will help students and other customers learn languages by reading stories!

Then Highland Park Poetry republished my poem "The Last Thing I'll Lose" in their Muses Gallery bird themed summer issue.

The Ginger Collect, self professed publishers of "The Weird, the New Age and the Strange" were kind enough to publish two of my poems in their Issue Two:  "The Story of the Stones" and "Under a Graveyard Sun."

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review also featured my poem "Plague Graffiti" on their page.
This poem was based on a BBC news article:

(Songs of Eretz Editor’s Note:  "This is a unique and moving elegy that resonates as much today in the age of indiscriminate terror attacks as it would have 500 years ago during the black plague that struck Cambridgeshire.")

Thirty West Publishing House's beautiful hand-bound chapbooks!

Thirty West Publishing House produces hand-bound chaplets and chapbooks.  As I previously posted, they recently chose my poem "The Surest Poison" as winner of their sonnet challenge (part of their celebration of National Poetry Month) and now editor Josh Dale is publishing a chaplet of all the weekly challenge winners!  It will include work from four different writers and four different genres/forms, and will include my winning sonnet as well as a second sonnet "Blood Pacts."  Many thanks to TWPH for their support of poetry and writers!  I would like to learn to make hand-bound chaps like these!  In Josh's picture, you see some of the tools he uses and the resulting chapbooks.

P.S.
If you look closely at the picture, you will see that my two poems happened to fall in the middle pages of the chaplet!

Retirement vs. Jubilación

Although I haven't posted about any financial/frugal ideas lately it doesn't mean they haven't been on my mind.  With the house paid off, now my main focus is building up our liquid savings and saving for our mythical retirement.  Since my husband and I enjoy our current occupations so much, I have a feeling that retirement will not be our choice, but something forced upon us by circumstances beyond our control, but we'll see.  In any case, someday either one or both of us will be officially retired, at least partially.  I guess one could say I've been semi-retired for 10 years now, since I began working part-time, but the difference is I have not considered myself retired.  I have come to realize retirement is a state of mind, not just a financial one.

In Spanish, we say a retired person is "jubilado" which technically means "freed" or "released" rather than "retired."  I have felt released and freed most of my life, so in that sense I've been retired all along! "Jubilación" sounds a lot like "jubilation" in English, which of course means great joy and elation, so I guess the term is a more positive-sounding one than "retirement" which sounds like you're retreating from life.

Anyway, in the effort to save for retirement I try to keep frivolous, impulsive purchases on a tight rein but I also like to keep track of low-cost purchases that deliver high satisfaction and make life more pleasant.

This year my frugal winners are:

A Cool Gear thermos on sale at Tuesday Morning that keeps my iced tea cold for 24 hours.  (The first one we got for free but its top eventually broke so I needed a new one--I now use the old one at home but I needed one with a tightly sealed top for work)  Cost: $10  (normally this type of thermos goes for $25-30 at the supermarket).

A cushioned zero-gravity chair for Jim--the removable cushion alone was worth the price I paid for both the chair and cushion.  It's a sueded material that makes the chair look much more living-room-worthy. Cost: $80

A Hamilton Beach room odor eliminator Cost $25.  Wow, this has really helped cat-related odors in my room and doubles as a personal fan and gray noise generator as well!

The Ghazal Page published my poem "Rilke Returns to Ronda" -- late to report

For some reason, I never announced the publication of my latest favorite poem,

"Rilke Returns to Ronda,"

a ghazal in an earlier issue (number 63) of The Ghazal Page.

This poem was inspired by my visit to Ronda, Spain last year.  I found out that Ernest Hemingway had famously visited Ronda, and so had Rainer Maria Rilke, one of my favorite poets. Rilke had been experiencing terrible writer's block and stayed a few months in a hotel in the hills there, during which he experienced a re-awakening of inspiration and began writing again.

I had been toying with the idea of writing about Rilke in Ronda but had not hit upon a way to approach the theme when I heard of The Ghazal Page's "places" challenge and realized it had to be a ghazal!  I had not written a tercet ghazal before but this one seemed to demand to be one, maybe because Rilke wrote his famous "Spanish Trilogy" in Ronda! 

Rilke's real first name was "Rene" so I used "reborn" in the last stanza, according to the tradition.
I make a passing reference to Hemingway as well!  While I was in Ronda, my travel companion wanted to see the bullring, which is the oldest existing one in Spain, so I saw that firsthand.  And the carpark we used was called "Poeta Rilke!"