I think “A Tale of Two Tarōs” — out now in issue #14 of DreamForge Anvil — is going to be the last of my publications in 2023. So 1) it’s out now! Go take a look! Yes, it’s based on a very famous Japanese folktale!, and 2) this seems like a good time to look back at my publications in 2023.

Friends, there was a LOT.

For a whole slew of reasons. I actually wrote very little short fiction this year, but since I produced a ton of it in 2021 and 2022, this is the tail end of that flood. And then on the novel front, one of my them was originally drafted many years ago — having three books out this year doesn’t mean there was a year where I wrote three books. But still and all, it adds up to a very satisfying pile!

All links go to places where you can either read it online or purchase it (those latter are marked).

Flash fiction
• “Guidelines for Using the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library” — Lightspeed Magazine #153, February 2023
• “The Merchant With No Coin” (as M.A. Carrick) — Flash Point SF, June 2023

Short stories
• “Silver Necklace, Golden Ring” — Uncanny Magazine #50, January 2023
• “Constant Ivan and Clever Natalya” (as M.A. Carrick) — Beneath Ceaseless Skies #373, January 2023
• “At the Heart of Each Pearl Lies a Grain of Sand” — Sunday Morning Transport, April 2023 (requires subscription)
• “Oh, My Cursed Daughter” — Dream of Shadows, April 2023 (market unfortunately folded and took the website with it, so this won’t be available again until I republish it in a collection)
• “A Mighty Huntress” — Frivolous Comma, June 2023
• “Your Body, My Prison, My Forge” — On Spec #124, July 2023 (requires purchase)
• “999 Swords” — Interzone #296, November 2023 (requires purchase)
• “A Tale of Two Tarōs” — DreamForge Anvil #14, December 2023

Novelettes
• “Pearl’s Price” — When Swords Fall Silent, ed. Bryce O’Connor, March 2023 (anthology; requires purchase)
• “The Naming of Knots” (as M.A. Carrick) — Beneath Ceaseless Skies #388, August 2023

Novels (all require purchase, natch)
• The Game of 100 Candles — Aconyte Books, March 2023
• Labyrinth’s Heart — Orbit Books, August 2023
• The Waking of Angantyr — U.K. edition from Titan Books, October 2023; U.S. edition from Book View Cafe, November 2023; audiobook edition from Podium, December 2023

Poetry
• “Damnatio Memoriae” — Fantasy Magazine, August 2023 (Baby’s First Published Poem!)

In addition to all of the above, I also republished all four novels of the Onyx Court series (Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie, A Star Shall Fall, and With Fate Conspire), and put out the sixth collection of the New Worlds Patreon. And ran a successful Kickstarter for the Rook and Rose pattern deck.

. . . yeah. On the one hand, I feel very pleased with all I accomplished this year, and on the other hand, no wonder I feel burned out. I hope 2024 is a good year for my writing, but I’ll kinda be okay if it isn’t quite this packed.