Adriana Kantcheva

Catching Words

Dispatches from a writer of speculative fiction.

Hello, ,

It’s now deep summer over here in the northern hemisphere and life is slowing down; the days are meandering and gaining a dream-like quality even if—or perhaps because—it’s been raining a lot.

Welcome to the next installment of Catching Words.

New story published: "Beyond the Hills They Passed"

"Beyond the Hills They Passed" was published in Lucent Dreaming (the cover of the issue is lovely). The timing fits the season at my geographical location perfectly because this story takes place in a desert.

In the Unforgivable Desert, the Diviners read auspices to protect the people. One day, the High Diviner takes Urti’s little sister. No auspice bearer has ever left the Augrium alive.

Buy the issue here.

What I've been up to

• I’ve received feedback on the rough draft of my novel from trusted alpha-readers to see if the story works at all—it seems it does. The next stage is to organize this feedback into something that I can apply and embark on the first revision with.

• My plans for my novella cycle have grown. I’ve written down extensive notes, but since this project has inflated, it needs to go on the back burner while I focus my attention on my novel.

Awards eligibility

After a couple of years of a dry spell (yes, I’m admitting it—it can happen to any writer for any period of time, and I wish us writers would stop being so shameful about it considering the nature of the publishing industry today), I’ve had three stories published this year so far (let’s be optimistic).

Hence, if you’re planning to vote for any speculative fiction literary awards (such as Locus, Nebulas, and Hugos, among others) I’ll appreciate it if you consider my works published in 2025.

If you’re to consider only one of my pieces, please read "Vedritsa of the River". This is my favorite story by far, and it’s free to read.

I’ll keep an updated page of eligible works here (because let’s remain optimistic—even if I’m on a hiatus from writing short stories while I focus on longer works; I still have a few outstanding submissions to magazines).

A recent snapshot

My husband took this picture near where we live. I'm not sure if I ever want to return to living in a big city (though I acutely miss having a proper library within easy reach).

Books and music

• Reading: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. The female rage embodied in dragons embodied in words. A thrilling read despite its slower than slow burn. It might make some people angry. If it does, I hope these people question deeply and thoroughly where these feelings come from.

• Music: Back to piano instrumental music. Right now, I love Ludovico Einaudi (his website is the kind of website one doesn’t want to leave). His works are lyrical and introspective and great for focus and inspiration or simply daydreaming.

A question on my mind

Is anyone ever just one thing, just one passion?

A nugget of honesty

The recently received feedback on my novel in progress sent me on a not entirely pleasant but very valuable trip of realizations and coming-to-terms. The funniest thing is that it had nothing to do with the person who gave me the feedback or even the exact content of their feedback. Most of it I agree with, anyway. It was all me and how connected I am with what I write and how much of myself I’ve put in that particular piece.

One-Sentence Story

Nobody can leave this island, so I dip my toes in the ocean, which has touched everything, seen everything, and let it tell me of lands formed and flooded, of monsters afoot, of disasters untold, of explorers I’ll never meet, of treasures lost and found, of the thousand lives I’ll never live.

Until next time!

Adriana

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Read my fiction here.

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