Joyce Chong

Dream-Like Houses was release on June 1st. All my gratitude and love and thanks to everyone who has been reading, sharing, and supporting Ghost City Press’ Summer Microchap Series! 

Additional thanks to CJ Eggett for writing a little bit about DLH in his TinyLetter. It’s absolutely fascinating to see your work through someone else’s eyes, and to see what translates over the most. Thanks for the observant examination of DLH.

Thanks also goes to Jasmine Cui for reading and sharing the chapbook online, and also for creating this beautiful quote graphic for one of them poems. So thankful and lucky for everyone’s support and time and eyes.

Huge, eternal thanks to Sarah Shields for allowing me to use her artwork for the chapbook. I honestly don’t think I deserve such a gorgeous cover, and I’ve been such a fan of her work for a long time, so this is an immense privilege for me. 

AKA, what I’ve been up to lately when I’m not updating this website.

"a guide to anatomy: the mandible" and "(re)assemble" published in Datableed’s fourth issue (June 5, 2016).

“how to discern dream from reality”, “chalkdust”, and “houses like lungs” will appear in Hypertrophic Lit’s Fall issue, out September, 2016.

“e(lipse” and “this poem is not a poem” accepted by Spy Kids Review for their second issue, out Fall 2016.

My micro-chapbook “Inventory” is out from Ghost City Press (with beautiful cover design provided by the wonderful Georgia Bellas), available for free or with the option to donate. Check out the other chapbooks in their summer series, they can be found at https://gumroad.com/ghostcitypress.

My micro-chapbook “Inventory” is now available from Ghost City Press! This is part of their summer micro-chap series. Everything’s available for free with the option to donate to the author. I highly recommend you check out all the other chapbook’s, since there are a lot of talented writers lined up for this series!

Huge thanks to the wonderfully talented Georgia Bellas for providing the cover artwork and design. I was extremely lucky to be able to work with her on putting together this little project. Also, thanks to Jasmine Gui for helping me proofread and make editorial decisions with the manuscript!

1) Poem published in Wildness Magazine.

     The wonderful Wildness Magazine, run by Platypus Press, published my poem “your hands are graceless” in their third issue, titled Fragments. It’s a beautiful issue filled with so many other talented folks. I highly recommend you read Brandon Taylor’s “Grief as Mythos”, Christine Kitano’s “Insomniac, poems”, and Jay Dodd’s “Knowing Good & Well”. The entire issue is actually so good, I’m tempted to list every piece in there, but I think these ones are a great place to start. So many thanks to everyone who shared read, and had kind words to say about this one. I really appreciated that.

2) Social Media Internship at Winter Tangerine.

     This month I began a three-month internship with Winter Tangerine, where I will be helping out with reading submissions and running promos on their twitter. I’ve already learned a lot about how the other side of Submittable works and I’m enjoying seeing all the work that comes through their doors. It’s also a great way to keep busy (or, busier) and to satiate my workaholic tendencies.

3) Essay published in Smokelong.

     A couple months ago I was invited to write an essay for Smokelong’s new Why Flash Fiction? series running on their blog. I wrote an essay called “On Frayed Ends and Open Doors”, where I spoke about some of my favourite and some of the most influential flash fictions I’d read in the past. I also spoke about metafiction, experimental formats, and brevity, some of the main things that consistently draw me to the form and influence how and what I write.

     Many thanks to the Smokelong Blog editors, Virgie Townsend and Annie Bilancini, for reaching out and giving me the opportunity to waffle on about writing for a little bit. Also, huge thanks to everyone who read, shared, and left nice comments about this essay.  

4) Short story/questionnaire published in Outlook Springs.

March Update

Am I doing a March update a quarter of the way into April? Yes. I have no idea where March went, although I’m pretty sure it was consumed by a flurry of late nights at work. The recommended reading list is a bit shorter this month because of a lack of reading time, so I just combined the update and the list in one post.

1) Poem published in Liminality Magazine.

“inventory: the ghosts in the bedroom” was published in the spring issue of Liminality Magazine. I’m in spectacular company here and get to share the issue with Nolan Liebert, Chloe N. Clark, Aaron Boothby, and S. Qiouyi Lu, among others. I highly recommend you read them all. This is probably one of the best TOC’s I’ve ever been a part of.

2) Poem published in Reality Hands.

I had some work solicited for inclusion in the ninth issue of Reality Hands. “how to exacerbate the mundane” can be read here. I’m also in some really great company here, so be sure to check out the rest of the writers including S. Kay, Carmen Brady, Luis Neer, and more.

3) Sing That Like Dovesong Workshop.

I was lucky enough to be accepted into Winter Tangerine’s week-long workshop for writers of colour, and while it was an intensive week, it was also one of the most valuable learning experiences I’ve ever had. Being in a supportive community filled with so many other extremely talented POC writers was a huge motivator and source of inspiration for me. 

Not only that, but being in an environment where we were explicity encouraged to explore our identities in our writing, where we knew that it was a safe space to do so, is something I have never had the fortune of being able to do before. I’ve read the work of so many talented writers in this workshop, and learned so much. It was an extremely rewarding and productive experience.

Recommended Reading

Fiction:

A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong in Tor.

The Henson Curse by Paul A. Hamilton in Shock Totem 10.

Beneath the Floorboards (There Are Bones) by Julia Dixon Evans in Corium Magazine.

Leonardo or Lenin or Princess Diana by Kendra Fortmeyer in Smokelong.

The Consumer’s Guide to Goth Feminism by Deirdre Coyle in Luna Luna Magazine.

Poetry:

bedtime story, age 96 by Nolan Liebert in Liminality Magazine.

Rat-Infested Ship Off the Coast of Britain by Chloe N. Clark in Liminality Magazine.

Trevor by Ocean Vuong in Buzzfeed.

Energy Series: Surface Mining by Laurel Albina in Briarpatch Magazine

Essays:

The Slow Fall of the Hot Herorine by Tabitha Blankenbiller in The Rumpus.

Catapult ran an essay series called Adopted, edited by Nicole Chung in March. A lot of fantastic and fascinating essays came out of it. I’ll mention a few here but I really think you should read them all.

Guilt by James Han Mattson.

Mama by Jasmine Sanders.

1) “Aurora” published in Gravel Magazine.

My poem “Aurora” was published on January 29th in Gravel Magazine’s February issue. You can read it here. Be sure to check out the rest of the February issue!

2) Two poems published in The Mondegreen.

“an inventory of temporary deaths” and “letter #1″ was published in The Mondegreen on February 1st. The former is a dream journal/sleep paralysis poem.

3) Poem accepted by Wildness Magazine.

“your hands are graceless” has been accepted by Wildness Magazine and will appear in their April issue. Their past issues are full of a lot of tremendous talent, so I’m excited to be a part of this magazine and can’t wait to see who I share the April issue with.

4) Poem accepted by Reality Hands.

In January the editor over at Reality Hands solicited some work from me for their next issue, so I’m  “how to exacerbate the mundane” will be appearing in their next issue.

Fiction

The Earth and Everything Under by K.M. Ferebee in Shimmer Magazine.

Angel, Monster, Man by Sam J. Miller in Nightmare Magazine.

The Missing Guest by Alice Sola Kim in Lenny Letter.

Bethlehem by Chika Unigwe in One Throne Magazine.

Carry What You Can Kill by Jared Yates Sexton in Lockjaw Magazine.

Nine by Kima Jones in Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume Two from Undertow Publications.

Flash Fiction

Other Babies by Meredith Alling in The Fanzine.

Pillow-Talk of the Late Oneirocalypse by Vajra Chandrasekera in Lackington’s.

The Contents of Her Stomach by Chelsea Laine Wells in Cease, Cows.

Secondhand by Sam Martone in Wyvern Lit’s Haunted Issue.

Spatial Awareness by Zachary Doss in Lockjaw Magazine.

Poetry

Choi Jeong Min by Franny Choi in Poetry Magazine.

I’m Not a Racist by Cortney Lamar Charleston in One Throne Magazine.

Today by Emily Jungmin Yoon in Reservoir Lit.

When a Person Says Go Back to Your Country by Roy G. Guzman in Reservoir Lit.

Paleontology and Third Law by Samiya Bashir in The Offing.

Three Micros by Emily Zhang in The Offing.

Essays

A Tale of Two Author Photos by Nayomi Munaweera in Electric Lit.

Buzzword by Alyssa Wong, for POCDSF.

You Don’t Have to Write Autobiography by Ken Liu for POCDSF.

It’s been a seriously hectic holiday season, but things have finally calmed down this January. Here’s everything of note (that I can remember) that’s happened since the last update.

#1) “Resurrection” published in One Throne Magazine.

One Throne’s 8th issue (Winter 2015) was published on December 21, 2015. This is a magazine that I hugely respect and still can’t fully believe I was published in. The first thing I ever read from them was an essay by Wyl Villacres called Constant Motion, and I thought “damn, this is a good essay” (And it really is. If you haven’t read it yet you should). They’ve been publishing quality work,  always accompanied by beautiful artwork, ever since. They’re also one of the few lit mags that genuinely seems to value publishing diversely. And not just racially diverse, but also geographically, showing a variety of different voices and perspectives in every issue. The quality is always stellar. Like, I share space in the Winter issue with Chika Unigwe’s powerful short story “Bethlehem” and Cortney Lamar Charleston’s brilliant poem “I’m Not a Racist”. I think I read both of these and concluded that there had been a mistake. There was no way I could have been published next to this kind of talent. They also submit and nominate for most major prizes and awards in Canada, the US, and Africa. They submitted “Resurrection” to the National Magazine Awards, which was sort of baffling to me. I’m seriously so grateful for how supportive they are of the writers they publish.

#2) “An Inventory of Bones” published in Ghost City Review.

Another one of my inventory poems was published in Ghost City Press’ first issue of their new literary journal, Ghost City Review on January 19th, 2016. You can get Volume 1 here. There’s a lot of fantastic writing and beautiful artwork in here. Make sure to check out Deirdre Coyle’s “Mall Goth Movie Rewrites”, which I think is pretty genius and amazing.

#3) “How to Extract Residual Ghosts” accepted by Milkfist Magazine.

Milkfist is a gorgeous print magazine that publishes writing and art with a strange and experimental bent. “How to Extract Residual Ghosts” is something I’d started probably over a year ago but could never quite finish properly. I re-worked it before sending it off again and gave it a new title as a “how to” poem. Their second issue is due to be published in the Summer or Fall of this year. To see the other artists and contributors that are going to be in this issue, check out their instagram where they post announcements.

#4) Edits are complete for “Midlfell Wine and Spirits”.

I had the pleasure of working with the editor for Tiny Owl Workshop’s “Lane of Unusual Traders” world-building project to finalize the story for publication. The story was originally accepted October 2014, but since they have a lot of projects going on at once, this became a longer process than anticipated. I’ve been told the anthology should be out early this spring. I’m glad to see movement on this project and very excited to see all the amazing final products that come out of it.

Acceptance/Rejection Stats

23 individual poems and short fictions accepted by 15 different magazines/publications this year.

A total of 16 poems and short fictions will be published in 10 different magazines by the end of 2015.

21 rejections. Since I don’t log my submissions in a spreadsheet anymore, I just went through my submissions email folder. 15 of those rejections are on Submittable with maybe more to come before the end of the year.

>25 withdrawals. I don’t keep track of this either, but I know that in one day I had to make almost 17 withdrawal letters after 3 poems were consecutively accepted by different 3 places. This is also probably why rejection numbers were so low this year, they all got funneled into withdrawals instead.

6 forthcoming publications coming in 2016 so far.

Of the 23 acceptances, ~40% of them are paying (9 poems/stories in 7 mags), and of those that pay, 5 of the mags also provided contributor copies (that I know of as some are still forthcoming). Another acceptance did not pay (as the profits went to charity) but did provide a contributor copy.

I have 6 pieces published/forthcoming in 4 Canadian lit mags.

*(I didn’t include any reprints in these acceptance counts, but had a poem included in After the Pause’s Year One anthology.)

Nominations

First Best of the Net nomination from Gone Lawn for “Entomophobia”.

First Pushcart Prize nomination from Noble Gas Quarterly for “roots”

Second Pushcart Prize nomination from Flapperhouse for “the things that are left behind”.

Other

First time my work has appeared in audio format when a poem (”insomnolence”) and short fiction (”Scorch”) of mine were read on the brilliant Mr. Bear’s Violet Hour Saloon, ep #62.

First guest blog post for Alternating Current (for Poet’s Day). This was a lot of fun to write and I’m still quite proud of it. :)

Guest post for Projectx40C’s My Asian Artist Experience series.

Artist spotlight in Rain, Party, & Disaster.

Bests

Best Acceptance Letters: Noble/Gas Qtrly, Outlook Springs, Flapperhouse.

Nicest Mags to Work With: Noble/Gas Qtrly, Flapperhouse, Looseleaf Magazine, untethered.

Best Rejections: Lockjaw Mag, Sundog Lit, Witch Craft Mag.

Publications

My poem, “vertebrate” was published in Maudlin House’s November issue, alongside some fantastic company.

My strange list poem, “an inventory of instruction manuals”, went live on Flapperhouse’s website on November 4th.

“the things that are left behind” was published on Flapperhouse’s website on November 23rd.

Acceptances

A ghost poem called “aurora” was accepted by Gravel Magazine and will appear in their December issue.

A couple more strange poems, “letter #1″ and my sleep paralysis/dream journal poem “an inventory of temporary deaths” are forthcoming in the next issue of The Mondegreen. I actually like these poems, which is a rare enough occurrence as it is, so I’m extra excited to see them published in a mag that I admire.

I was asked to send something over to Outlook Springs, since the editor enjoyed “an inventory of instruction manuals” in Flapperhouse. I was expecting an awkward rejection, but instead my experimental checklist, “An Inventory at the End of the World”, will be published in March 2016. It’s a bit of a wait, but more so because I’m excited to share it. They also sent one of the nicest acceptance letters I’ve ever received, so I highly recommend sending something over to them. They look like a wonderfully surreal and strange literary magazine.

Other

And in totally unexpected, but awesomely flattering news, my poem “roots” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the wonderful Noble/Gas Quarterly. The fact that I’m in such great company here is way cooler than the fact that I even got a nomination, so go read the work of the other, super talented nominees.

After I posted this, Flapperhouse also nominated “the things that are left behind” for a Pushcart prize. This particular poem means a lot to me personally, so I’m very thankful to Flapperhouse for believing in my work enough to give it a home and to nominate it for anything at all.

I’ve fallen behind so I’ve sort of been dreading this update post. Here goes.

- The Fall Issue of Flapperhouse is available now and includes a couple of my poems, “the things that are left behind” and “an inventory of instruction manuals”. I got my contributor copy the other day and it looks beautiful and is filled with some wonderfully strange work. You can grab your copy here.

My poem, “inventory: the ghosts in the bedroom” will appear in the winter issue of Liminality Magazine.

“on yearning/on indifference” was accepted by Looseleaf Magazine for their inaugural issue set to come out early December. Looseleaf is run by Projectx40, a Toronto based Asian Canadian Arts Collective. I also contributed a blog post to their “My AA Experience” series, so I’m very happy to be working with them again.

My poem “weeds”, originally published in the inaugural issue of After The Pause, has been selected for their annual print anthology, “After the Pause Year One” which is set to come out November 12. All proceeds will go to To Write Love on Her Arms.

Maudlin House has accepted “vertebrate” for publication in their November issue.

One Throne Magazine has accepted “resurrection” for publication in their winter issue, due out December 21.

Ghost City Review has accepted “an inventory of bones: i)” for publication in their inaugural issue. This is a tri-annual anthology run and released by Ghost City Press.

A couple poems of mine were accepted for publication in alien mouth’s September issue, called “hard animals” and “dissonance”.

A guest post I wrote for Alternating Current’s blog, The Spark, was published on August 21. It’s called “Recommended Reading for Poets’ Day”. I’m really proud of this post, I got so many great poet and book recommendations from all these talented writers and readers and it turned out really good, and the blog editor over at the Spark made the post look great!

Gone Lawn nominated “Entomophobia” for the Best of the Net anthology. I’m happy to be in such good company, it’s so weird to think that an editor would like something I wrote enough to nominate it for anything, but

Quick update post!

Acceptance from Liminality Mag for an inventory poem that I’m very excited to have published there, they’re a great speculative poetry magazine that have published some great work and talented folks. This one’s called “inventory: the ghosts in the bedroom”. 

Acceptance from Flapper House for a poem called “an inventory of instruction manuals” (which I really liked, but had trouble figuring out where to submit to because of its slightly nontraditional nature), and another called “the things left behind” which is a strange mix of the personal and the fictional.