2022 Wrap-up

Another year almost done and dusted. This one actually felt pretty… normal? I know the Covid pandemic has changed things in so many dramatic and complex ways, but here in the UK we’ve had no lockdowns at all this year, and things like hybrid working and optional masking have become a part of everyday life.

As for me, I moved out of shared housing and into my own flat that I only share with the rats in the walls (Bristol housing for the win). As someone who’s spent most of her adult life living alone, I really feel the need for my own space. But yeah, this place is not ideal. Gonna pretend I’m a writer in the olden days, wasting away from consumption in a mouldy garret.

Which brings us to…

Publication

I got two things published this year.

VOCSS is my first attempt at a proper horror story, and I managed to get it published in Electric Spec. Give it a read if you’re in the mood for vampires.

My poetry chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost was published by Lapwing Publications. If you’re in the mood for ghosts, have a UK address and a spare £8 (postage included) I’d love to send you a copy. Just message me on Twitter @corastillwrites or Instagram @badfanartforgoodbooks.

Writing

I spent most of 2022 working on the first draft of my supernatural mystery novel The Redmaid Witch. I had that completed by November, so instead of doing NaNoWriMo, I did NaNoEdMo and spent the month doing some much-needed edits.

I’ve now handed it over to some beta readers and am anxiously awaiting their feedback. My first beta reader already got back to me and gave the story a big thumbs up, so I just need to hang on to that when the others give me a mile-long list of things that need fixing.

Alongside The Redmaid Witch, I managed to squeeze in three short stories. I was clearly in a Fantasy mood, because two of them involve characters travelling to fairy realms to retrieve stolen items/people. The third one took a slight departure and involves a young woman dealing with the fact that her dad is a serial killer.

Reading

I’ve read 26 books this year, exceeding my modest target of 24. A large chunk of my reading consisted of historical fiction, and a large chunk of that consisted of nautical fiction. I’m thinking of creating my own nautical fiction reading challenge for 2023, so if you like adventures on the high seas, watch this space…

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I’d love to hear about your writing and reading shenanigans this year. Favourite book? Least favourite? Wrote some poetry? Got anything published? Read 60 books and want to brag about it? Tell me in the comments!

Three Poems

OK, here we have some aromantic feels, some accidental sexiness, and a poem that is just a little scrap of weird. Enjoy!

***

Here is What I Know of Boyfriends

They are mostly called Dave.

They start out small and badge-shaped

but grow like Japanese knotweed.

They wrap around you like vines, wrist-thick,

tendril-slender, sticky as ivy.

They take you places.

Restaurants. IKEA.

Their kisses are cigarettes and brandy.

They are very important.

They have very important eyes.

***

Chaperone

Did you know that if you snip the stem of a small, white rosebud, it will bounce on the hard ground like a marble? You can’t kill those soft, sweet things – they only harden in a blink, turn the texture of teeth, take on the lustre of pearls like they were born to it. A thwarted flower is worth a baker’s dozen bouquets and that is God’s honest truth my girl.

***

Old Heat New Thunder

We sleep and we don’t sleep on the deck

under an unfaithful sky.

My wideawake hands seek hipbone

whalebone

scrimshaw.

They are a bunch of thumbs, all idle.

I could dip below deck, catch us some rum.

I could dip below sea like a ladle,

pour the waves on your hot feet.

I feel like the inside of a seed.

I feel like the bit of air that lightning runs through.

I feel like the itch sealed up inside a mermaid’s tail.

I feel okay, all things considered.

The sail fills right up and the heat breaks

loud enough to wake the whole ocean.

***

Comments are welcome! I know people get shy about commenting on poetry because there’s a misconception you’re supposed to say things like “Oh, I enjoyed the classical pastoral imagery in the second stanza but found the excessive use of assonance a little grating”. It’s a myth! Poetry is for everyone, regardless of how familiar you are with it.

If you enjoyed these poems, I have poetry for sale here and here. If you have a UK address and would like a paper copy of my chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost, message me on Twitter @corastillwrites. It’s on special offer throughout the month of October, so it’s yours for just £3.65 (postage included).

“16 Flavours of Ghost” is on Special Offer for Spooky Season!

Just a quick post to say that my poetry chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost is on special offer throughout the month of October. If you live in the UK, you can grab a copy for just £3.65, postage included! That’s the price of a pumpkin spiced latte and I can assure you these poems will linger longer. Though they may not be quite as comforting!

Each poem is written from the perspective of a ghost adjusting to the afterlife in their own unique way. Some are hung up on old loves and old habits. Others are embracing their newfound freedom. Others died in a rather unsavoury way and have some trauma to work through.

If you fancy a copy, message me on Twitter @corastillwrites.

A Sneak Peek for “16 Flavours of Ghost”

Here is a little sneak peek of my new poetry chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost.

***

The Ghost with a Thousand Suits

Workdays: Dark grey suit, wool tie

Weekends: Cords, jumpers, jeans

After I died, I decided to get a piercing.

Set my heart on a big, Roman nose with a ring

through the right nostril.

Slipped into that youngster and wriggled

his fingers. His skin was like soft leather gloves.

Maybe it should’ve felt wrong

to push my face into the mask of his skull

and peep out, but I did it anyway.

My new nose caught the light.

I went to bars I’d always avoided

and moved through the crowd,

body to body, borrowing

tattoos of tigers

hair in great spikes and waves

black nail polish

breasts.

Each outfit had something new –

an unfamiliar ache, itch, gravity.

A way of being looked at.

A way of growing, shrinking, swelling, tensing

under different pairs of eyes.

Now and then, I take a moment

to dance badly in booze-laced flesh.

I am sweat-drenched, ecstatic.

I have never been or seen so much beautiful.

***

I hope you enjoyed that. Many of my ghosties are pretty much the same person in death that they were in life, but I also liked the idea of someone being liberated to try things they’d always feared – in this case, experimenting with appearance and perhaps exploring gender identity.

If you would like to read more about the post-death shenanigans of my sixteen spooks, I am selling chapbooks to anyone with a UK address for £8 (postage included). You can message me on Twitter @corastillwrites if you’re interested.   

My Poetry Chapbook “16 Flavours of Ghost” is Published

You may remember that back in May, I was cautiously excited about having my chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost published by Lapwing Publications. The big day has arrived and my ghosties are now out in the world!

If you fancy reading a lovingly crafted collection of character poems about a spirited (sorry) bunch of dead people, you’re in the right place. ‘Super Ghost’, ‘Glitter Ghost’, ‘Thief Ghost’ and all the others are eager to meet you and share their stories of life, death, and life after death.

I have some author copies, so if you are in the UK and would like to buy a copy for £8 (postage and packaging included), you can message me on Twitter @corastillwrites.  

Poem – ‘Hold On’

It’s the middle of summer and I’ve just enjoyed a solid week of gale-force winds and heavy rain. So here is a poem about the depths of winter.

Hold On

There’s a cookfire burning somewhere

under this dirty fleece of snow.

We ration, we nibble each brief, bitter day.

We chip our teeth on icicles

and the long dark dries to swallow

our inedible stories.

The sky is full of bright snakes,

striking at cheeks and hands, fangs

filled with a soft death.

Old scars burst.

Fine limbs waste.

But under the tarn’s lid of ice

we hear all the elves of spring singing.

Summer lives in the sweat

of splitting wood.

Sometimes our very bones glow,

sending sparks to our eyes

and heat to the tips

of our fingers, to be passed

to those who need it.

Hello to New Work, Goodbye to Old Work

Guys guys guys I have exciting news! My chapbook 16 Flavours of Ghost is going to be published by Lapwing Publications – a Belfast-based publisher that specialises in poetry. No idea when it’ll be available yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

16 Flavours of Ghost is made up of “character poems”. Each one is from the perspective of a different character, and while they’re pretty diverse in terms of background, occupation and identity, they one thing they have in common is that they’re all dead.

These ghosts are a spirited bunch (see what I did there?) who each deal with the afterlife in their own way. A busy woman develops a new relationship with time, a thief takes advantage of his invisibility, and an elderly man finally lets himself experiment with his appearance.

As thrilled as I am to be getting published by Lapwing, there’s a note of caution mixed in with the excitement. Last year, Dancing Girl Press published my chapbook Monster Hunting for Girls (Ages 8-14). I didn’t receive my author copies, and people who tried to buy it told me of ridiculously long waits and receiving copies with printing errors.

I hoped this was a temporary blip. It’s not easy running a small press, and rough patches happen, but other poets and purchasers have confirmed that the press just isn’t functioning adequately. I’ve taken the chapbook off my “Published Work” page and won’t be encouraging people to buy it anymore, because I don’t want readers wasting their money.

I’ve also had to take my novella The Misfortunes of Oscar Goldberg off the Published Work page, as it can no longer be accessed. The online magazine it was published in, The Fantasist, is now defunct and links to the stories no longer work. It’s a bummer to have one of my longer works disappear like that.

This is one of the issues writers encounter when publishing with small presses. Sadly, not all of these presses thrive. Still, large publishers and self-publishing have pitfalls of their own, and I’ve come to accept that there’s no easy way of getting your work out there.

Onwards and upwards my lovelies! I’m excited to see my new chapbook in print, and I’m keen to hear what’s going on in your writing journeys. Feel free to share any writing news – good or bad, big or small – in the comments.

Two Poems

Here are a couple of poems about fairy magic and mischief. They didn’t make it into Monster Hunting for Girls Ages 8-14 because fairies aren’t (usually) spooky enough to be considered monsters.

Thistledown

Weight-wise, we are somewhere between

feather and smoke.

Smallest, roundest, floatiest bird.

Flightiest spider.

We rip free, rise up, whip away and out of reach.

But don’t think we tease –

we have our own wishes to grant.

If you must, hold us lightly.

Nothing vicious, the kind of pinch

you’d give to pepper or salt.

Wish quickly

Wish us well

Be patient

__________________________________________

Promises, Promises

We will clean your kitchen.

We will eat your sugar.

We will hide behind lampposts

to sprinkle starshine on your dancing shoes

on a Friday night.

We will start bar fights.

We will mend your socks.

We will break every clock in the house.

We will lead you astray like a good whisky,

wrap you up in the mist

like a gift

for the queen.

We will grant your wishes

in the most inconvenient way possible.

We will make such sport of you

that you’ll wake laughing,

hair tangled

and every inch of skin singing.

‘Monster Hunting for Girls Ages 8-14’ – A Taster

My poetry chapbook Monster Hunting for Girls Ages 8-14 is now available to buy from Dancing Girl Press. If you’d like a taster of the kind of poetry it contains, here is one of the poems. It’s about the Wulver, which is a wolf-ish, human-ish creature from Scottish folklore.

The Wulver

There’s fish on the windowsills this morning.
Tins of tuna, cans of salmon,
fresh and cold in the dawn chill.
Nan says it used to be
whole fish, straight from the net,
shining like silver and glass.
She says half the town is broke now.
Covid cutbacks, withered businesses,
universal bloody credit.

On telly, there’s American towns with werewolves.
Nice towns, big houses,
beautiful bedrooms for the girls,
beautiful cars for the boys.
Vicious werewolves that bite very sexily
the bit between a boy’s ribs and hip.
Mysteries that grip like jaws,
murders that don’t feel permanent.

Us, we’ve got the Wulver.
A man’s body, buck-naked,
beer gut and hairy chest.
Three crappy tattoos, arms full of fish.
A wolf’s head, teeth soppily smiling.
Wet nose, soft ears, always here
to help out
and to howl for us
when we’re too busy or tired to howl.

I was wondering how many different monsters and mythical figures there are in the chapbook, so I made a list. It contains:

• Witches
• Changelings
• Spring-heeled Jack
• Leprechauns
• A whole bunch of ancient Greek gods and monsters
• Zombies
• Ghosts
• Mermaids

So, if you’re looking for poetry to read this Spooky Season…

Monster-Hunting for Girls (Ages 8-14) is Published!

Having been delayed and then un-delayed, my poetry chapbook Monster Hunting for Girls (Ages 8-14) is now published! Check it out here if you’d like to buy a copy or get a taste of the kind of poetry it contains.

I’m slightly in love with the front cover. Dancing Girl Press wanted to make it look like a vintage biology textbook, which works well with the horror elements of the book. Though I’m anticipating having to answer the question “Why is there sperm on the front cover?”

As the title would suggest, this chapbook is about childhood and early adolescence. Specifically, it’s about the slow realisation that monsters exist outside the pages of Goosebumps books and episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Contrary to the title, it is suitable for all genders but probably not suitable for eight-year-olds!