Okay, folks! One last piece of good news before we close out 2025 with its ever-increasing bevies of bewilderingly bad news. My author copy of Planted by Ironclad Creative has arrived, featuring my short story, “Cleaning House.” I don’t mean to brag (she says, lying), but mine won first place!
Fair warning: this is most definitely one of mine. Seriously, I sent this off assuming my fairly horrifying story wouldn’t be accepted by the judging panel who set such a wholesome-sounding prompt, but they totally got what I was going for and so will you! Trigger warnings include but are not limited to: references to mass death, references to a pandemic, graphic descriptions of the handling and disposal of corpses. Before I put you off entirely, yes it is on the horrifying side, and it’s bleak, but it’s also strangely heartwarming.
There are of course other stories in this anthology, and they’re brilliant. Some are bleak, some are funny, some are poignant and just about all of them hold a note of positivity… because what is planting a seed if not an act of hope for the future?
It’s been a while since I had good news to share on this site, so I’m hoping to close out the year with some joy for a change! My author copy of Midnight Menagerie by Wolf Singer Productions has arrived.
I have previously mentioned some issues that I have with this book. Well, one issue: after being accepted for this anthology, I realised that the cover was designed by AI. I of course have many, many issues with AI and especially its use in creative fields. However, I feel like I’ve covered that in my previous post, so I’d like to devote this one to just enjoying having a book out.
The stories in Midnight Menagerie explore the world of fairs, carnivals and zoos in a variety of science fiction and fantasy settings. There’s aliens. There’s goblins. There’s shapechangers, sentient clouds and a retelling of Jurassic Park where the exhibits may seem just a little familiar…
My story, The Menagerie of the Milky Way, obviously leans towards the sci-fi end of the scale and features an orbital zoo full of aliens. I had a lot of fun writing it (at least until I read out parts of it in my writer’s group and had to actually pronounce the names I’d come up with for all the alien species. Pro tip: consider these things while writing!) and I hope other people have as much fun reading it.
I’m excited to announce my inclusion in Planted, the latest anthology by Ironclad Creative! In fact, my story, Cleaning House, won 1st place! 2nd place went to Sophie Petrie with Seedling 12.0, and 3rd to Susie’s New Ears by Angelique Talbot.
Planted was a lot of fun to write, but I was surprised that it won because, well, it’s pretty dark. It does also have a hopeful undercurrent of revival, but the setting is literally postapocalyptic, so trigger warnings for extensive mention of death, including mass death.
On that cheerful note, please feel free to rush out (digitally) and buy yourself a copy! Planted is available now from Amazon to buy in Kindle or paperback.
I have not been having the very best time with technology lately. That’s not the newest thing, but when something I’ve been using with no particular problems for I-literally-can’t-remember-how-long suddenly decides I’m persona non grata, it’s hard not to take that personally.
Meta’s explanation of “Account Integrity”. As you can see, it explains everything.
The evening started like any other: doomscrolling and sharing the odd funny animal photo while chatting to a friend and browsing my many other open tabs, as you do. Only, suddenly Facebook developed a problem with me. An email, and the tab I had open to my account, informed me that my account had been suspended.
The only “explanation” I was given were two words: “account integrity.” By following that hyperlink, I got the general impression that something in my account, or something that I had shared, was deemed harmful. Facebook declined to inform me what material, exactly, this might have been.
The last post I shared was a photo of a tortoise with a baby tortoise on its head. It was adorable. In terms of understanding how I offended Facebook’s Community Standards so badly, I was precisely no better off.
I was offered the chance to appeal… at least, that’s what Facebook calls it. However, I think most of us would imagine an appeal would involve the chance to speak in one’s own defence, or at least ask a single question. “What’s the problem?” for example. Facebook has a different understanding of the concept. After requesting an appeal and proving that I wasn’t a robot, I was told that my appeal was pending.
The Community Standards page. See those strikes and chances listed up there? Yeah, those didn’t happen.
So, I went about my business (more tab browsing), telling myself everything was fine. This was clearly a misunderstanding. After all, I hadn’t done anything. I wasn’t impersonating anyone else: I hadn’t posted any content that anyone but a rabid fundamentalist would consider inflammatory. I share funny animal photos and cool facts about space, for crying out loud. An overzealous bot had probably flagged a random word out of context. As soon as a human being looked at it, this whole thing would be dismissed and I’d be back in business.
An hour later, I was told that my appeal had been declined, and to kindly quit darkening Facebook’s doorstep.
That was it. No explanation of what caused this decision, no explanation of the appeals process or why my appeal was declined, just “goodbye.” I can no longer log in or access anything Facebook-related. The emails I received were from no-reply accounts. I was given an option to download my information (again, no explanation of what that means), but using that link doesn’t appear to actually result in anything downloading. The only control I can now access is the language option. If rendering the information that my account no longer exists in Urdu would be helpful, I’ve got the goods. Otherwise, nada.
Some checking around reveals that I’m far from the only person who’s experienced something like this, and there doesn’t seem to be a way forward. Plenty of people have been booted off Facebook with no idea of why, and creating another account will only result in that being deleted too. It was from these people that I got the idea that my account may have been hacked – the forbidden content may have been in an Instagram account that was linked to my Facebook without my knowledge – but, obviously, I have no way of verifying that.
Luckily, the good people of Youtube were there to help me in my hour of need! A quick search resulted in a plethora of videos explaining what to do in situations like mine. The ones I viewed gave three basic methods to access Facebook’s customer service… two of which don’t apply to me as I’m not a business, just a person trying to use my account, and the third of which only led back to the same pages that didn’t explain anything before.
The general takeaway seems to be that the Facebook era of my life is over, and I’ll probably never know why. Those running Facebook do not seem to think they owe the people using their platform anything resembling care, a fair hearing, or simply not being punished for being the victim of cybercrime.
Perhaps I’m just naïve, but in my little world, if you don’t ask for someone’s point of view, you didn’t give them an appeal. And if you can’t be bothered to tell someone why you’re mad at them, you don’t have a reason.
This all leads me to consider a question that came up more than once in my search for information. Do I, at this stage, even want my account back? Why would I want to frequent a community – online or otherwise – that treats me this way?
There’s a pretty simple answer to that. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. Like most people, whole swathes of my life rest upon technology, because we’ve built a world where it’s just about impossible to get anything done otherwise. And, just now, the technology on which it all rests is looking a little shaky.
Is WordPress likely to delete this website if someone leaves a rude comment? Will Youtube kick me out if it doesn’t like the lyric video I look up for a song that’s stuck in my head? Am I going to log into AO3 one day to find my account gone, and never understand why?
Don’t get me wrong: I am all for tech companies taking responsibility for the content that is posted on their platform. However, “draconian” is not the same as “better,” and “penalising the victims of hacking” is not the same as “taking responsibility.” While Facebook’s account control people pat themselves on the back for their grand victory, the actual perpetrator will shrug and go hack someone else… and Facebook will probably delete them too.
After something of a hiatus from the world of having news, I’ve been looking forward to announcing my inclusion in the upcoming anthology from Wolf Singer Publications. I was particularly excited to receive that cover art, which is absolutely gorgeous. But something about it set off an alarm bell for me. So I checked the copyright page of the e-book, which confirmed my worst suspicions: this cover art was generated using AI.
Yeah.
So, instead of doing my usual gushy post about the new anthology I get to be a part of, and how much fun I had writing The Menagerie of the Milky Way, I ended up in a massive emotional tailspin, because I am of course ethically opposed to the use of AI in creative work. At the very least, it needs a lot more regulation than it has or seems likely to have any time soon. So. What’s a person to do?
Well, what I did is discuss the situation with a friend who shares my concerns, and then contact the editor and calmly ask her some questions. And I’m glad I did, because she was able to reassure me that the use of AI in more than pre-publication placeholder covers is not usual practice for Wolf Singer: this one came about as a writing prompt that turned into more. In other words, the anthology itself came from this image, so work wasn’t taken from a human artist. The editor also assures me that she would never use AI to copy an existing artist’s style.
That’s all nice and reassuring. There are a lot of complex issues surrounding use of AI, and people feel a lot of different ways about it. However, what I’m feeling right now is that I’ve accidentally sorta-kinda endorsed something I really don’t agree with, and that makes me pretty uncomfortable. Instead of celebrating, I’m reaching for the headache tablets.
So, where do we go from here? I guess my next step is to continue as normal, but try to pay more attention in future, I guess? (Not my strong suit)
There are still many things to be happy about. There are many, many excellent stories in Menagerie and it’s an excellent anthology. Don’t judge a book by the AI that generated its cover, right?
It’s nice to close out the month with some good news, and luckily I have some! My author copy of Space Brides LLC has arrived! You long-time readers know how much I love this part!
Can I take a moment to enjoy a couple of things? First of all, look at that gorgeous cover. The bride in her flowing gown and that neat little bouquet, set against the backdrop of space… that is beautiful. Secondly, my story, which I had a lot of fun writing, is mentioned in the blurb. It’s a bit of a strange story that explores what marriage might mean in a society drastically different from our own, and I’m more than happy with the result. Ever want to visit a place you created in your mind?
There are plenty of other contributors besides myself, of course. I haven’t read all of them yet, but the ones I have read are brilliant. They’ve all done such different things with the concept, and results are touching, epic, funny and – of course – romantic.
Space Brides LLC is a short science fiction anthology by Wolf Singer Publications. It’s due out on December 5th, and available for pre-order as an ePub or paperback direct from the publisher, where you can use the code NR2023 to save 15%. Alternatively, find it in ePub form from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. So if you have a person in your life who enjoys fun and quirky science fiction, consider grabbing them a copy for whatever upcoming holiday you prefer!
Today I’m happy to announce that the upcoming Wolf Singer Publications anthology Space Brides is slated for a December release! I’ve seen the proofs and can now happily share with you the final cover art!
Prompts can be funny things. I’d usually be put off by a prompt as specific as this one, but somehow the idea of a matchmaking agency that serves a spacefaring humanity as it spreads through the solar system worked for me. It sent my brain to a fairly weird place as I tried to imagine the ways marriage might evolve in such a setting. I had a lot of fun writing my entry, Runaway Bride, and I’m so happy it was accepted.
If a diverse cast of science fiction characters finding love in strange new places sounds like something you ‘d be interested in, then please keep an eye on this site! I’ll be posting updates as I get them.
Just looking at their main page, it looks like Alpha’s Court really know their horror. That’s why I’m so flattered to have an entire paragraph of their review devoted to ‘Enid’s Dollhouse’ and how “absolutely terrifying” it is! Three of Toybox‘s authors have been given a spotlight and I’m thrilled to be one of them.
It’s that time again… the part of an anthology’s publication when I get to hold a copy of the book in my actual hands! That’s right: Terrors from the Toybox is now available in both Kindle and paperback formats, and my author copy has arrived!
I think I’ve mentioned before that there’s no feeling quite like this. My brain-baby is out there, on actual pages that, just maybe, someone is reading right now!
Yes, I’ve done this before. But it just never gets old!
I’ve been reading some of the other stories in Terrors, and I can say without (too much) vanity that there is some brilliant writing in here. So, if you’re looking for some short fiction to get you in the Halloween spirit, consider giving this one a try!
I’m happy to announce my inclusion in Terrors from the Toybox, an upcoming horror anthology from Phobica Books! The anthology is due on the 1st October (in good time for Halloween!) and will be available to buy from Amazon. A great gift if you have a tradition of gifting people horror fiction for Halloween, and I’ve certainly heard of worse ideas.
Enjoy this cover art and title page illustration, courtesy of Phobica’s editing and publicity teams. I think someone had a lot of fun creating these. Seriously, how brilliantly creepy are they? Yeah, those are just old toys spilling out of a trunk… but then you see that clown. Somehow, for me the smiling clown in the attic is creepier than the jack-in-the-box below. It’s that smile. THE CLOWN KNOWS THINGS.
It’s always exciting to be accepted in an anthology. In a totally cool and professional way… someone likes my writing who isn’t my mum! They like it enough to put it in a book! Check it out: I’m on their Author Bios page!
Toy-themed horror is definitely fun to write about; specific enough to give a feel for what they want, but open enough to leave plenty of leeway. I can’t wait to see what everyone else has done with it, and I’m proud to say that my entry, ‘Enid’s Dollhouse,’ wouldn’t be out of place on Supernatural.
Harriet Phoenix 