Sarah Pinsker

On Saturday night, my story “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” won the Nebula Award for best short story. This was my fourth Nebula win —and my third consecutive, in three different categories!— but my first for short story. The ceremony and the conference were online, also for the third year in a row. The Nebula is given by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association— my fellow writers, and the ballot is always full of wonderful work. 

As someone who has now accepted three Nebulas and a…

My 2021 in Fiction and Music 

So I think 2021 happened? March 2020 was a year long, and 2021 felt like a month, but it must have been longer, because somewhere in that month time expanded to allow a book, a couple of stories, and an album to happen. And my third Nebula, for my 2020 story "Two Truths And A Lie," which also brought my first Stoker nomination, as well as Hugo and Locus nominations. Also a puppy. If you want to know what happened to my productivity, all my focus went into keeping a tiny rescue…

I have a non-book-related surprise:

MY MYTHICAL FOURTH ALBUM! 

I have wanted this to exist in the wild for so long, and there were so many things that stood in the way. I think we recorded the first track for this in 2009, and the rest over several years after that. There were several times when I thought I was almost there, and something got in the way.  I finally said okay, if I want this out there, I just have to do it. 

It's called Something to Hold. My longtime collaborate/producer/friend John M. Seay…

I have so much to tell you, and I'm full of exclamation points and news, both book and music related! 

And now I'm back to tell you that I have a new novel coming out next week. It's called We Are Satellites and it's a story about one family and the near-future tech fad that divides them. The reviews so far have been pretty great, but I'm excited to get it in the hands of readers after it's been in my head for so long. It's being published by Penguin Random House's Berkley imprint in the US and Canada, and…

My 2020 year in fiction  

(Skip to the bottom if you just want the eligibility post, like a recipe; the beginning is reflection) 

Well, I just looked back at what I wrote last year, and my 2019 summation post ended with "My wish for all of us is to have as good a year in 2020 as this dog did in 2019." Ha. Haha. Sob. In fact, for another year in a row, I don't think any of us had it as good as Sprocket did. This time, he didn't even have to deal with me leaving to travel. I'm still on the tank of gas I…

(If you're just here for my list of original fiction for 2019, just scroll to the bottom)

2019 has been one interesting year for me personally. For starters, when our Bo dog died in October 2018 at 17 years old, we swore we wouldn't get another dog for at least a year. It seemed like it would be a lot to deal with in a year where my first two books were scheduled to come out, but we only made it to the first week of February before we adopted Sprocket. Bo was a character and a half, and I still miss…

What a year. I find it harder and harder to write these year's end wrap-ups because it's hard to talk about what's happened in my life without the larger context. Many American writers I know are still looking for ways to be productive while our own government inflicts trauma after trauma; for others, it was always like that. When I make this list of my own accomplishments, I'm conscious of the ways I'm still struggling, the ways I'm lucky, and the ways luck and hard work combine.

This was the year I…

Hi folks,

It's been a ridiculous year, hasn't it? I usually put together a summary of what I've done over the year, but looking back at this one feels strange. I edited a novel that you won't see for a while, put together a collection that you won't see for a while, wrote a few stories, played shows and went to some great cons and readings. Still, it's all kind of hazy, with highlights trapped between the traumas of phone calls and marches and rallies begging the government not to take our health…

I am a science fiction writer. I can name planets. I can invent futures. I can sound the warning bells, in the best traditions of the genre.

I'm a singer-songwriter, raised in folk and punk. I know the power of three chords and the truth.

I'm also a person living in this moment, a moment when hope has crumbled into terror and anger and hatred and disgust. A moment where the party that has been handed the reins is full of individuals who say "my heart goes out to you" but mean "I will work toward your…

I always drag my heels at writing a year's end/eligibility post. It's awkward to write something that amounts to "and now, here's me talking about me." This year, it felt particularly small in the face of everything that's going on in the world. On the other hand, it can be a great way to reflect on personal progress and milestones.

2016, majorly horrible under just about any lens (David Bowie AND Leonard Cohen AND Sharon Jones, 2016?) (Trump, 2016?)  was fairly good to me from a writing and publishing…