Story Details
Categories Science Fiction
As the world grows warmer and wetter, other species will undoubtedly take advantage of our changing climate, and the most evolutionarily successful group of organisms in the universe may be...
Author Details
Angelique Fawns is a journalist and speculative fiction author. She started her career travelling the world and interviewing the most bizarre people. Now she interviews publishers and authors on horrortree.com and Mythaxis.com. (Also some wonderfully bizarre people.) You can find her short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and upcoming in DreamForge Anvil and Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores. Learn more at www.fawns.ca "Invasive Species" is almost the very first fiction story I penned. (There was another alien story published in Blood & Aphorisms magazine back in 1997, but I didn't write another story again until 2017.) I thought short story writing was going to be easier. It took me over 36 tries before I found this piece a home with DreamForge Anvil. "Invasive Species" collected 33 rejections and I rewrote it dramatically 9 times. (Sometimes my rejections came with advice and I used the editor's notes.) The story got better. It earned an "Honorable Mention" in the Writers of the Future Contest. Unreal magazine gave it a "blue ribbon". It was even accepted twice by other markets but I withdrew it before publication. One editor wouldn't allow me to sub in my updated version. (I'd rewritten it twice between submitting it and hearing it was accepted.) I couldn't bear an inferior version going to print. The second time it was accepted by a non-pro market, but I had too much blood in the game now. I wanted a GOOD home for it. Someplace like DreamForge Anvil. A place where the editor would help the story lift right off the page. They say "write what you know." My main character, Cass, works in a media company writing headlines downtown Toronto. I work for Corus Entertainment as a Television writer/producer. Cass's boyfriend is a bug expert. My husband works as a township supervisor and is responsible for the fight against invasive species in our region. I'm a firm believer "we are not alone", and naturally love science fiction and horror. When all the ash trees on my farm began dying from an invasive species called the Emerald Ash Borer, I immediately thought aliens must be behind it. (Obviously) So "Invasive Species" was born.
Invasive Species, by Angelique Fawns
Author Details
Angelique Fawns is a journalist and speculative fiction author. She started her career travelling the world and interviewing the most bizarre people. Now she interviews publishers and authors on horrortree.com and Mythaxis.com. (Also some wonderfully bizarre people.) You can find her short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and upcoming in DreamForge Anvil and Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores. Learn more at www.fawns.ca "Invasive Species" is almost the very first fiction story I penned. (There was another alien story published in Blood & Aphorisms magazine back in 1997, but I didn't write another story again until 2017.) I thought short story writing was going to be easier. It took me over 36 tries before I found this piece a home with DreamForge Anvil. "Invasive Species" collected 33 rejections and I rewrote it dramatically 9 times. (Sometimes my rejections came with advice and I used the editor's notes.) The story got better. It earned an "Honorable Mention" in the Writers of the Future Contest. Unreal magazine gave it a "blue ribbon". It was even accepted twice by other markets but I withdrew it before publication. One editor wouldn't allow me to sub in my updated version. (I'd rewritten it twice between submitting it and hearing it was accepted.) I couldn't bear an inferior version going to print. The second time it was accepted by a non-pro market, but I had too much blood in the game now. I wanted a GOOD home for it. Someplace like DreamForge Anvil. A place where the editor would help the story lift right off the page. They say "write what you know." My main character, Cass, works in a media company writing headlines downtown Toronto. I work for Corus Entertainment as a Television writer/producer. Cass's boyfriend is a bug expert. My husband works as a township supervisor and is responsible for the fight against invasive species in our region. I'm a firm believer "we are not alone", and naturally love science fiction and horror. When all the ash trees on my farm began dying from an invasive species called the Emerald Ash Borer, I immediately thought aliens must be behind it. (Obviously) So "Invasive Species" was born.
