When Unlikely Story first announced their “Journal of Unlikely Academia” issue, I thought it would great to write for it. But I could not write anything until I read Amal El-Mohtar’s wonderful short story “Pockets,” in Uncanny Magazine. Warda, a music librarian, is one of the characters. When I talked to Amal about this story, she said, “Warda gives narratives to others.”

I love this story so much.

A few weeks later, I wrote a story about alt!Warda, who is younger than Warda in “Pockets”, and who is a sociolinguist instead of a musicologist. I asked Amal if that was ok; she was delighted.

My story is called “The Shapes of Us, Translucent to Your Eye.” It’s magic realism about a woman academic’s life, complete with budget cuts and  ghosts. There’s nothing unlikely about it; but it will indeed appear in the Journal of Unlikely Academia. Here is the full ToC!

I cannot wait to share this story with you!