With just over a month before we hit the 21st century’s third decade, I thought I’d take a quick look back at a few things that happened in 2019. Good things. Things that aren’t hiding myself away in a neon-lit room, feverishly pounding away at my laptop like I’m trying to appease the furious gods of the Protestant Work Ethic. Stuff like…
Short stories!
First up, we have my speculative short story ‘Bricklets’, which was published in Booth’s 13th print anthology.
”They’d kept afloat, just about; they hadn’t realised they were drowning—that they were all drowning, in stress and car exhaust and meat. Sometimes the thing least visible is the thing most around. A house so flimsy the wind could knock it down.”
‘Brickets’ follows Mr. Beard, a traumatised survivor rummaging through a ruined Disneyworld park, as he carries around a bricklet of his husband’s body. It’s a fun story that plays with some of my deepest fears, so check it out online or prove your devotion to me by buying a precious, precious print copy.I’m still thrilled that ’Shelter’, a historical story set in Berlin’s Reichsbahnbunker, was published in the 40th annual edition of Passages North.
”Think of what is lost, for it’s always something. Even when we cannot see it. Even when we do not want it.”
Set in 1943, 1972, 1994, and 2018, ‘Shelter’ follows the lives of four of the bunker’s inhabitants, as it’s transformed from a Nazi air-raid shelter, to a communist food storage facility, a nightclub, and finally a private art collection — each reflecting an epoch of Berlin’s modern history, from the hopeful to the deeply disturbing.Another speculative story, ‘Closure’, was published in issue 02:02 of Yes & No magazine, after making the longlist for the Royal Acadamy/Pin Drop Short Story Award. It’s accompanied by a fantastic illustration by Simon Foxall.
My flash fiction story ‘They’, published in Crack the Spine last year, has been selected for their upcoming print anthology (release date still to be announced).
Interviews!
I can prove that I have had at least some human contact in 2019, because I was recently interviewed by Nicholas Kameniar-Sandery for The Informer on Joy 94.9 — Australia’s only LGBTQI+ radio station, where we talked about inclusion and gatekeeping in queer circles:
Redfern Jon Barrett on standing up for everyone in our communityNot only that, but in September I was also interviewed by the delightful Daniel Aldridge for Rainbow City on Radio Alex, a Berlin-based station, where we talked about my novels, my experiences of polyamory, and that ever-widening sinkhole named Brexit. The interview is available in English with a German transcript.
Other stuffs!
I’m still reviewing for Strange Horizons, and recently had the opportunity to explore Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton — which, as an obsessive fan of speculative social fiction, was exciting. At least at first.
The full review can be viewed here.I’m really pleased that my theory of ‘Ambitopia’, as I described in this Gizmodo article by the ever-excellent Eleanor Tremeer, really seems to be sparking imaginations, prompting discussion from the Netherlands to Japan. I’ve even been working on some ambitopian fiction, so stay tuned (or, in less romantic 2019 terms, “stay connected to this blog via an RSS feed”).
And with that we bring 2019, and the Tens, to an almost-close. While we may mourn for a decade which brought us so much exciting existential dread, we can at least look forward to what will surely be an action-packed 2020s. In the very least there may be a new novel hurtling toward us…
- Redfern