Rosalind's Siblings is available now
In late 2018, I sat down to write "LDR" in response to a call for submissions for a new anthology about scientists. It was to be edited by Bogi Takács, whose stories and poetry I really admired (of course). At the time, I was kicking around a project I had been calling "Rocket Man" but it was a formless story that was pretty much just "trans man online dates from space." The call for submissions was the kick in the pants I needed to work through its problems. I thought, "Astronauts count as scientists, right?"*
*Between this thought and actually writing, I did do research on astronauts, lol.
Around that time, I was living in Sacramento, California and we were dealing with smoke and severe air quality issues from wildfires that resisted containment for weeks and weeks. We were told to stay inside as much as possible and my work supplied me with masks to wear outside, then an alien concept. My view of the street out my front door was transformed into a strange, post-apocalyptic seeming landscape, gray and brown air blurring my view of my next door neighbors. Social media was packed with near-live images of blue skies from around the world while our smoke turned the sun into an angry red eye.
It was pretty easy to picture a mission to Venus. "LDR" found its shape in the images I was seeing and the feelings I was having at the time, and a narrative emerged of a trans man astronaut enduring the isolation of a long-duration mission in Venus' clouds, trying to distract himself with online dating.
I was thrilled to receive an acceptance letter in January of 2019, and I posted an acceptance announcement blog a few months later.
From what I understand (and what I remember), the anthology was on the verge of being printed when everything closed down in early 2020. Unfortunately, that spelled the end of the anthology, and its publisher ultimately shut its doors.
I revised the story a few times over the years and was kicking around sending it out again when, zombie-like, Rosalind's Siblings returned from the grave. Bogi didn't give up on it and found a new publisher, Atthis Arts, who was excited to get this anthology out in the world.
I'm really excited for this little time capsule to emerge and reach its audience. Go get your copy and I hope you enjoy it!
I am going to launch a giveaway of two copies of Rosalind's Siblings soon for subscribers to my newsletter, so if you are interested, sign up for my newsletter!