Updates: anthologies and plans

Long time no see! I may have stopped posting short stories here since I moved away from the UK and my beloved Leeds Savages writing group, but I haven’t stopped writing!

First thing: I wrote a short story for the first Treat Your Geek short story anthology, An Adventurer’s Guide to Love, Life and Villainy. This is a collection of stories mainly inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, though my particular contribution- The Path of the Monk – was inspired by Dragon Quest VIII, because all nerdery is welcome at the magazine. The Path of the Monk is a strange little story, because while it is an adventure tale about a group of people setting out across the countryside to get to port before winter sets in, it’s also really about monkhood and mindfulness meditation and the pros and cons of both.

A second anthology will be coming out later this year: A Witch’s Guide to Brooms, Swoons and Spellcasting. My contribution is An Endorsement for Taking Your Own Love Potion, a story of a Scottish witch living in the Yorkshire Dales and the mysterious coalman she drugs herself into falling in love with. Got some great feedback on this story so can’t wait for people to read it!

Around the time I stopped updating this blog, I got into reading and writing thrillers, which I have started self-publishing under a pseudonym. I also wrote two more drafts of a crystalpunk fantasy book that I’d previously finished in 2013 (two excerpts from it used to be on this site until I removed them) but, despite my love for that story, I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with it. I’d also previously queried another book of fantasy Anglo-Saxon monster killing to no avail, though I may revive it another time. Both of these books have deep claws in my heart, but the changes in the publishing industry over time have made me skeptical about my ability to sell them to an agent, since my work tends towards the grimdark and problematic and is therefore very out of vogue right now.

So, what now? I’m going to continue writing thrillers under the name Petra North, while reserving this name for my fantasy writing. I have many ideas for future novels, including a war-college/rebellion story that will really be my ponderings on authoritarianism and the hypocrisy of those who think that tough times create tough people.

I’m also going to return to the UK this year, since my visa situation has changed so that I’m unable to work in the USA, and while I’ve managed to distract myself the past few years (I had twins in December 2022) I’m now thoroughly sick of being a dependent. That, combined with the price of housing here (most expensive state!), the political situation, and missing our families back home, means that it’s really time to go.

I’ll be busy with that but until then, I’ll keep writing when I can and update here with any other news. Watch this space!