Falling Forward: The Town Vampire in My Dining Room, and Announcements
A local asked me if the town vampire still haunts my house. What. What do you mean.
Fellow Creatures,
It has been a while! I’m sensing that life has thrown many unpleasant things our way, and I hope that my announcements and new stories bring at least some sense of escapism and reprieve (it is what I can offer):
1. NEW WEBSITE, NEW STORIES
My work has moved to its own, shiny new website. While I am still hovering in the corners of writer social media as a way to connect with you, you can find Falling Forward’s collection of short stories here: www.birdiefalling.com
Look, Lola, it even has my name.
The website includes a collection of POSTCARDS, human connection in unexpected moments and places, wherein a plucky woman is thrown into the secretive world of East Asia playboys and intrigue.
2. NEW HAUNTS, A PAID CONTEST
NIGHTINGALE PRESS
I’ve been cheering on a couple new author-led platforms. One is Nightingale Press, a dark fiction, author-first press that I’ve joined hands with. Nightingale has just announced a PAID writing and art contest HERE.
If you have writing or art that “inhabits the space where morality fails,” we are looking for you. Nightingale has been quite busy. Keep up with us HERE.
In the meantime, I will be joining Nightingale on a Substack LIVE TODAY, May 15th, at 6 PM EST to read the winning entries of our recent flash fiction contest, No Good Deed.
Congratulations again to Verdant Butterfly, LM Sypher, and Ana Rotea for the winning entries! Fantastic job all around.
Come join us on this LIVE. You’ll also get to peak into my old Victorian home. A town elder just told me that a vampire used to live here. Full pause. Yes. COME SEE WHERE A VAMPIRE USED TO SLEEP IN HIS COFFIN.
But his curtain situation wasn’t situating because the whole town saw his vampire setup. No secrets kept around these parts, apparently.
ONLINE WRITING CAFE
I’ve also been cheering for Gil Nobodi’s WRIZZIT, an intimate reading and writing platform where I hang out. It has chill cafe vibes with no competitive edge and, unlike many social sites, no Nazis or Tates. Just writing and blabbing and, for my part, hearty giggling at the interactive, vote-your-own adventures featuring high school nightmares.
(A NOTE: I’m not a huge fan of private equity’s takeover of Substack, the platform through which I am currently emailing you. But I also understand the platform’s importance for author visibility. If you are on Substack, cool! Your experiences matter, and you deserve to be seen in all community spaces.
I am also still hanging around Substack’s neck of the woods for Nightingale Press, ongoing collaborations, and you lovely horrors. I will just be posting my own work elsewhere, for me. Birds often migrate, you see.)
3. WHERE TO FIND ME
I am based at www.birdiefalling.com, where you can find my internal world and story collections. You are encouraged to join my permanent mailing list there, especially if you think you may leave Substack or other social sites where we may be connected.
You can also find me enjoying www.wrizzit.com for the interactive online writing community.
If you do nothing and stay subscribed here, you will receive my seasonal updates and story links on this Substack-based mailing list.
We have options, and I’d love to keep on touch.
Okay, I’m off to sage my house in case the vampire left any traces. Wish me luck.
Xo,
Birdie, Falling Forward
Well, it's your house now and vampires can't enter uninvited. So you should be fine!