Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction

It’s been a busy stretch, with two new short stories and a guest podcast appearance in the past 10 days or so! Let’s take it in chronological order.

• Late last month the episode of Writing Excuses aired where I talked translation with Mary Robinette, Dan, and Lari. I’m really pleased with how this podcast turned out, loads of fun anecdotes and good banter. This was actually recorded several months ago and I’m glad it’s out in the world now. Listen to the episode here.
• My short story “Chronicle of the Mender” was published at Daily Science Fiction. I’m very pleased with the reception this story got so far, including this very nice review. The story is dark fantasy and I although it is not set in the universe of Eridani’s Crown, I think it’ll appeal to the book’s fans.
• Today is the book birthday of Weird World War III, an anthology of alternate cold wars edited by Sean Patrick Hazlett. My story, “A Thing Worth a Damn,” is a grim look at the Socialist Republic of California which has seceded from the collapsing United States in the 1990s. With the USA once again on the rise as a global power it is seeking to reacquire its lost territories, and the Soviet Union sends in specialists to assist them in thwarting such attempts. This is mostly background and the protagonist of the story is a Soviet soldier, fighting a proxy war he’s been disillusioned with, far away from home.

• Later this month I will be a guest at Capclave, where I will participate on a panel and host a launch party for Unidentified Funny Objects 8. This is a virtual event so you don’t need to travel to the outskirts of Washington, DC this year to attend.
• Author and Klingon language expert Lawrence M. Schoen hosts an Eating Authors feature on his blog, where writers talk about their most memorable meals. I wrote an essay for him and it will appear on the blog sometime in the next month. He also enjoyed it enough to include in the upcoming book, 100 Writers’ Most Memorable Meals, which is currently on Kickstarter. So check it out, and read the essay when it comes out. I guarantee you, my choice of restaurant to write about will surprise you.

#SFWApro