It has been a while since the last time I posted some news here.
My latest post was in March 2020. The date is not accidental. It is when the pandemic started for good.
From that moment on, nothing remained the way it used to be, putting an enormous strain on everybody, me included. And when, two years later, we thought we could resume, more or less, life where we have left it, the Ukrainian war started, and in Europe, it felt –still does– different, closer and more threatening than from any other place on the planet, Ukraine itself apart. Writing seemed suddenly not so essential.
There has been some good news to share here, had I had the mind at it. I got some acceptance in outlets I had always dreamt of, such as Lightspeed, and Pseudopod, just two mention two. I got nominated in 2021 for both Pushcart Prize and Best of the Web. One of my stories was included this year in the 2021 Best of British SF collection. And my first novella, a historical horror, came out with Luna Press Publishing in February 2022.
Still, I feel the sadness that has accompanied me these years still lingers. But maybe, just maybe, writing is what I — we — can do to offer our support to people who fight around the world for making a better place for all of us. A free world, a more just world. A world with a future less bleak than is today.
It is well worth trying.