Fiction/Creative Writing

The Lilies of Dawn (fantasy novelette, 13,688 words).

There is a lake of marvels. A lake of water lilies that glow with the color of dawn. For generations Kai’s people have harvested these lilies, dependent upon them for the precious medicines they provide.

But now a flock of enchanted cranes has come to steal and poison the harvest. The lilies are dying. Kai’s people are in peril. A mysterious young man from the city thinks he might have a solution. Kai must work with him to solve the mystery of the cranes, and it will take all her courage, love, strength, and wisdom to do what she must to save both the lilies and her people.

“This book has absolutely beautiful story-telling and world building. . . if you love the feeling of good words and perfect phrases, if you love fragile, carefully-crafted magical worlds, this book is for you.”–a review at Quills and Roses

. . . this novella is a well-crafted gem,”review by writer Maria Haskins

“This was a delightful note on which to begin the year. My one complaint is that I wish the work were longer. At least I know there are more works by Fogg to explore.”review by James Nicoll at James Nicoll Reviews

Cover art by Likhain

Published as e-book and paperback from Annorlunda Books. Click on the publisher website for more reviews and press!

Additional reviews at Goodreads.

Buy it as e-book: Amazon / BN.comGumRoad / iBooks / Kobo / Smashwords

Buy it as paperback: Amazon / Createspace / BN.com 

 

FORTHCOMING: My debut collections of short stories, The House of Illusionists and Other Stories, from Interstellar Flight Press. Official press announcement here

MORE PUBLICATIONS (most available to read free online)

Upcoming

“When the Faerie King Toured the Human Realm (fantasy, 3217 words) in Lightspeed. TBA.

“The Red Queen’s Heart” (fantasy, 2294 words) in Lightspeed. TBA.

2024

“The Cold Inside” (dark fantasy, 4300 words) in Metaphorosis. March 2024.

  • Featured in Maria Haskin’s March 2024 Short Fiction Roundup: “A hauntingly beautiful and chilling (in more ways than one) story about grief and loss. . .  a delicate and profound unspooling of emotions, love, regret, and loneliness.”

2023

“Microseasons of the Dead” (fantasy/genre-slipping, 1489 words) in The Future Fire. October 31, 2023.

  • Mini-interview with Future Fire about this story here.

“Hungry Ghosts in America,” personal essay in the anthology, Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith. Published February 14, 2023. Available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book from Amazon and other retailers.

Nominated for the 2023 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction

  • Review from Horror World: Unquiet Spirits is an intimate, emotional read. . . Unquiet Spirits does the important work of providing voice and agency to the mothers and grandmothers who have stories that must be told but were never permitted to tell them. Readers are doing themselves a disservice by not picking up a copy and paying heed to those voices.”
  • Review from Midwest Book Review: “Each essay is a powerhouse of cultural revelation that examines not just the perception and presence of horror in Asian culture, but how these elements are transformed by women’s experiences, through women’s eyes, and by feminist thought that would make monsters out of ordinary progressive thinkers.”
  • Review from Library Journal: “A collection of autobiographical works that are personal, moving, and frightening, plus some recounted ghost stories, that will likely appeal to both memoir and horror readers.”

“How to Travel Safely in Faerieland” (fantasy, 14903 words). Fusion Fragment, Issue 15, January 2023.

  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ November 2023 Short Fiction Roundup:This is a stunning, thoroughly gripping novelette. . . Fogg does so much character and world building with such deft, skillful writing here, and takes us to a Faerieland that is decidedly unsafe, for good and ill, no matter how much the travel tour guides try to make it seem, and sound, safe. This novelette is a profoundly moving and quietly unsettling story, and such an awesome take on the world of the fae.”
  • Reviewed in Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction column in Locus Magazine, May 2023: “Fusion Fragment changed things up a bit for their January issue, focusing on novelettes, including Vanessa Fogg’s wonderful “How to Travel Safely in Faerieland”. . . Fogg explores loneliness and desire as Jill finds her place in the tour group and in Faerieland. . .”
  • Featured in the 2023 Locus Recommended Reading List

2022

“Blood, Roses, Song” (narrative poem, dark fantasy). Haven Speculative, July 2022.

“The Bones Beneath” (dark fantasy, 5659 words). Podcastle, June 7, 2022.

  • Story notes here
  • Translated into Spanish and reprinted on the Patreon site of Crononauta: literatura de género con perspectiva de género, October 2022. Link here.
  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ June 2022 Short Fiction Roundup: “powerful and wrenching.”
  • Featured in A.C. Wise’s Words for Thought: August 2022 column in Apex (warning: spoilers!): “The story is beautifully written. . . The characters have complicated relationships and are forced to make heartbreaking choices. . .”

“Once on a Midsummer’s Night” (fantasy, ~7500 words). GigaNotoSaurus, Winter 2022.

  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ April 2022 Short Fiction Roundup: ” Fogg writes an epic tragedy that is also an epic fantasy and an epic romance, twisting together past and present in a beautiful, heartbreaking tale. . . Fogg tells her story with a gentle touch, but that only goes to make the story more powerful and makes it cut deeper.”

“Before We Drown” (fantasy/slipstream, flash fiction ~1000 words). The Future Fire, January 30, 2022.

“An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words” (fantasy, 3357 words). Lightspeed, Issue 140, January 2022. Podcast available at link. Ebook available for purchase here.

  • Author interview/spotlight here
  • Reviewed in Nin Harris’ blog Bibliotheca Luminis: “. . . one of Fogg’s best works. It’s complex, it’s embedded and it’s got such powerful visuals coupled by the strength of Fogg’s lyrical narrative, which I’ve always loved about her fiction.” 
  • Reviewed by Kevin J. Fellows in his fiction round-up Short Reading Ephemera: February 2022: “The story echoes Sofia Samatar’s style but Vanessa’s voice and hope make this story wholly original. ‘An Address’ is lyrical, evocative, and creates a rich future history. A lovely and impressive piece I think deserves serious ballot consideration.”
  • Longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) 2022 Award for Best Short Fiction

2021

“A Vial of Electric Blue” (surreal, 1673 words). Fusion Fragment, #Issue 5, March 2021.

“Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe” (fantasy, 4094 words). Translunar Travelers Lounge, Issue 4, February 2021.

  • Translated into Spanish and reprinted on the site El Nombre del Mundo es Cuento on Jan 27, 2022. Translation available here.
  • Featured on the Lady Business blog: ” ‘Fanfiction For a Grimdark Universe’ is just this wonderful, fictional meta bundle of joy. It’s also a love letter to stories, and their importance: how they inspire; the mirrors they can hold up; the comfort they can give.”
  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ February 2021 Short Fiction Roundup at Curious Fictions: “Vanessa Fogg has a wonderful ability to write stories that are heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, and that ability is on full display here.” 
  • Featured in Charles Payseur’s X Marks the Story: February 2021 column at The Book Smugglers: “This is a fantastically meta bit of fiction. . . It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time, capturing the transformational nature of transformative fanworks. And tucked into that is a wonderfully romantic and resilient story about these characters finding strength in their own stories and potential despite all the horrible things they’ve been through. It’s a beautiful piece I can’t recommend enough!”
  • Listed on the 2021 Nebula Reading List
  • Longlisted for the 2021 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Award in Short Fiction
  • Story notes here
  • My reading of this piece for The Story Hour here

2020

“Winter’s Heart” (fantasy, 1216 words). Hexagon Magazine, Issue 3, December 2020.

“The Shadow Catchers” (fantasy, ~6000 words). The Future Fire, July 2020.

  • Mini-interview with Future Fire about this piece here
  • Featured in Paul Jessup’s July Short Story Roundup at Vernacular Books: “A wonderful fantasy premise that goes to interesting places, and the shadows mix with ghosts, and with knowing. In a way, they haunt the text itself, and plays with various folklore and fairy tale concepts.” 

“The Breaking” (fantasy, 5835 words). Mithila Review, March 2020.

  • Recommended by writer Stephanie Burgis on her blog: “. . . Vanessa Fogg’s post-apocalyptic short story “The Breaking” is utterly heartbreaking (and I really mean that), it is also gorgeous, powerful, and cathartic.” 
  • Featured in The Best Short SFF of April 2020 on the blog The 1000 Year Plan: “Fogg’s best stories are about the always frustrating, occasionally illuminating inconstancies of communication. In “The Breaking”, she fashions her pet theme into a breathtaking cosmic horror allegory for our time.” 
  • Reviewed in Charles Payseur’s Quick Sip Reviews
  • Featured in Maria Haskin’s April 2020 Short Fiction Roundup
  • Featured in Jeff Xilon’s short fiction roundup
  • Story notes here

2019

“The Red Cloak” (fantasy, 1737 words). Truancy Magazine, Ocotober 2019. 

  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ short fiction roundup, “14 excellent stories I read in October: “Vanessa Fogg puts a sharp-edged new spin on the fairy-tale here, approaching  the story from a new angle and making us see the creatures and people in it in a new light. Who would expect a child to brave the woods and its dangers — wolf and otherwise — alone? What kind of mother would send her child there? And what kind of grandmother awaits her in that cottage? There’s a real emotional depth and resonance here that I love.”

“Wings” (fantasy, 2132 words). Translunar Travellers Lounge, August 2019

  • Recommended by writer Laura E. price on her blog: “This story is beautifully written. The language is just gorgeous. . . If you like fairy tales, or love stories, read this one.”
  • Reviewed by Charles Payseur at Quick Sips Review: “It’s slow and wrenching and beautifully written, capturing a feel like a fairy tale, romantic and dark and defiant and tragic even as it finds a hope that refuses to be defeated.”

Reprint: “Traces of Us” (science fiction, 6523 words) in Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4. First published online in 2018 in GigaNotoSaurus.

“The Message” (science fiction, 4236 words). The Future Fire, February 2019.

  • Featured in the The Best Short SFF-February 2019 on the blog The 1000 Year Plan. “Fogg disperses so many thematic and narrative strands and covers so many relevant scientific and sociological issues it is an absolute marvel how she weaves them together into a cohesive whole. Inventive, intricate, incandescent; stories like this are the reason I have a “Must Read” category in this column.”
  • Featured in the Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Fiction Roundup: February 2019.  “. . . luminous and compelling, a story about our longing for contact and connection across vast distances, and about how relationships can alter our lives.”
  • Featured in A.C. Wise’s column in Apex Magazine, Words for Thought.
  • Listed in the 2019 Nebula Reading List
  • Story notes here
  • Mini-interview with Future Fire about this piece here

“The Bone Lands” (fantasy, 3821 words). Kaleidotrope, January 2019.

“A beautiful tale about the power of love”– SFRevu

2018

Reprint: “Snow’s Daughter,” reprinted in Passages: Best of NewMyths Anthology, Volume I . Ebook version also available here. (first published in NewMyths in 2013)

“The House of Illusionists” (fantasy, 7100 words). Liminal Stories, August 2018.

“The Young God” (flash fantasy, 980 words). Kaleidotrope, June 2018.

  • “Just a perfect little story”–SFRevu
  • My reading of this for the Toronto-based ephemera reading series here

“The Things That We Will Never Say” (science fiction, 1203 words). Daily Science Fiction, May 25, 2018.

  • Translated into Vietnamese and reprinted in the Vietnamese science fiction magazine, SFVN on Sept 30, 2018.
  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ fiction roundup, 10 (extra) spectacular speculative stories I read in May:”In the space of less than 2,000 words, Fogg fits in some amazing scifi world-building, creates characters that live and breathe and tug at your soul, but it’s what goes on beneath the surface, everything left unspoken, that will pierce you through and through.”
  • Featured by Merc Rustad in their June fiction round-up. “A poignant, moving story about family and silences and possible futures, some that are hopeful and true.”
  • Listed on the 2018 Nebula Reading List

“Kitchen” (fantasy, 3879 words). Reading 5X5 anthology.

  • Five stories told five different ways. Twenty-five authors. All proceeds go to charity.
  • Click on the official anthology website here for more information!
  • Story notes here

“Traces of Us” (science fiction, 6523 words). GigaNotoSaurus, March 2018. Reprinted in 2019 in Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4.

  • Featured in the recommendations column, X Marks the Story:March 2018 by Charles Payseur on The Book Smugglers blog. “It’s a healing and touching story that glows with the warmth of stars.”
  • Featured in The Best Short SFF-March 2018 on the blog The 1000 Year Plan. “A sci-fi story in the classic mold: big ideas, epic scope, and intimate detail somehow heroically squeezed into a tight space and told with nice touches of humor and pathos.”
  • Featured in Maria Haskins’ March 2018 Fiction Round-up. “Every sentence here glows with love – the love between two people, a love of science, and also love for St. Louis. So often, science fiction portrays technology as an ominous threat to humanity, but in this story, technology and science actually offer a glimpse of hope. It’s the kind of scifi I love: science-rich, yet intensely human.”
  • Featured by writer Jason Sanford in his March 2018 Reading Round-up. “A beautiful, touching science fiction story of two people embracing each other across eternity.”
  • Listed on the 2018 Nebula Reading List
  • Story notes here
  • Podcast interview with Full Worlds here

“Wild Ones” (fantasy, 2407 words). Bracken, January 2018. Reprinted in 2019 in Bracken: An Anthology From the First Five Issues.

2017

“Taiya” (urban fantasy, 4053 words). The Future Fire, September 2017.

2016

“Of Milk and Blood” (dark fantasy/horror, 2428 words). Unsung Stories, December 2016.

“All the Souls Like Candle Flames” (mythic fantasy, 6816 words). Luna Station Quarterly, December 2016.

“The Wave” (science fiction, 6306 words). The Future Fire, June 2016.

  • Selected as a “Recommended Read” by The Semiotic Standard. See review here.
  • Featured in Steve Quinn’s Short Story Showcase:  “. . . a fascinating examination of how technology can bring us closer together while simultaneously allowing its users to insulate themselves further from actual, lived experience with one another.  It’s also a tense thrill ride through near-future extreme surfing. . . “
  • Mini-interview with the The Future Fire

In Dew and Frost and Flame” (fantasy, 3301 words). Metaphorosis Magazine, June 2016.

  • Selected for inclusion in the anthology, Best of Metaphorosis: 2016. Available for purchase at Amazon here.
  • Story notes here

2015

“Knife and Sea” (flash fairy tale, 1005 words). Mirror Dance, December 2015.

“Moon Story” (fantasy, 3277 words). Mythic Delirium, Autumn 2015 issue.

Disconnected” (science fiction, 3822 words). The Future Fire, March 2015.

2014

“The Berry Girl” (fantasy, 1838 words). Lakeside Circus, Issue 2, September 2014. Reprinted here at Curious Fictions. 

Congress of Dragons” (fantasy, 5778 words). Mirror Dance, Autumn 2014 issue.

Between Sea and Shore” (fantasy, 8430 words). GigaNotoSaurus, August 2014.

Earlier Work

“Immortal Life” (flash science fiction, 929 words). LabLit, June 2013.

“Snow’s Daughter” (fantasy, 4950 words). NewMyths, Issue 22, April 2013.

  • Selected for inclusion in the anthology Passages: Best of NewMyths Anthology, Volume I (2018).  Available at Amazon in both print and ebook.

“Unicorn” (slipstream, 1776 words). Melusine or Woman of the 21st Century, Spring/Summer 2010 issue, May 2010.

“Storm” (literary fiction, 1862 words). Literary Mama, April 2009.

REVIEWS/ESSAYS/ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

Recommend: Literary PlacesThe Future Fire, July 2018.

In which I discuss the Tea Islands from Sofia Samatar’s novel, A Stranger in Olondria.

Short & Sweet Roundtable Discussion: Short Fiction Reading HabitsLady Business, May 2018.

In which I join a panel of other reviewers/writers/editors to discuss reading short fiction in the fantasy/science fiction genre.

Recommend: Feminist SF with POC protagonistsThe Future Fire, May 2017.

In which I discuss Ken Liu’s fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty.

RECORDED READINGS

Reading of “Before We Drown” and “The Young God” for the Toronto-based ephemera reading series. Link for my reading here.

Reading of “Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe” for The Story Hour. Link for my reading here.

Reading of “Wild Ones” and “The Young God” for The Story Hour. Link for my reading here.

INTERVIEWS 

Interview with the Horror Writers Association for their Asian Heritage in Horror series (May 2022)

Interview with the Full Worlds Podcast, on the science and issues raised in my story, Traces of Us

Interview for the Reading 5X5 anthology series

Interview with author Gwendolyn Kiste on her author blog

Interview with author Mary Fan at her blog, Zigzag Timeline

Interview with the book review site, Books & Strips 

Interview with The Future Fire (as part of TFF’s 10th anniversary blog carnival celebration)