Alyx Dellamonica lives in Toronto, Ontario, with their wife, author Kelly Robson. They write fiction, poetry, and sometimes plays, both as A.M. Dellamonica and L.X. Beckett. A long-time creative writing teacher and coach, they now work at the UofT writing science articles and other content for the Department of Chemistry.
They identify as queer, nonbinary, autistic, Nerdfighter, and BTS Army.
Comments Off on Another tale from the Clawback: “The Immolation of Kev Magee,” in @Clarkesworld
Those of you who know about my formerly sekrit other life as L.X. Beckett may already know about my novelette, “The Immolation of Kev Magee” which appeared in Clarkesworld, both in print and as a podcast. It’s about three teens trying to make it in our increasingly precarious near-future. Two are trying to chase their dreams in the slices of time when they’re not keeping body and soul together; the other has gone full predator.
This particular novelette is one of three I’ve written (so far!) about the period after “Freezing Rain, a Chance of Falling,” takes place and before the events of my 2019 novel Gamechanger, which will be out in trade paperback just about any minute now, and the sequel, Dealbreaker, which will be out in January.
This weekend I am headed with Kelly to CanCon, where I will be on a number of panels in my (decreasingly) secret identity as L. X. Beckett, author of the solarpunk thriller Gamechanger. The two of us have grown to love Ottawa; and it is always a treat to go. We will see so many friends, and I expect to come back charged with creative energy and inspiration.
If you are only just hearing about Lex, here’s a link to my webpage, newsletter, Twitter, and Gamechangerbuy links. A lot of my online activity has been focused there lately, so if you’ve been wondering why it’s been quiet here, and what I’m up to at any given moment, check there. It’s also where I’ll post my scheduled panels for the con!
Folks have also been asking about the Creative Writing MFA I am doing at UBC. The story so far: classes are done, and I am in the thesis phase, working on a screenplay for a full length horror movie entitled Jackpot. I hope to wrap up my degree soon, and maybe even graduate in 2020.
One knock-on effect of the MFA was that I wrote a bunch of poems and I’m happy to unhumbly brag I have now sold one, an exciting achievement badge that allows me to refer to myself as a Poet. I’ll post more details about that when I have them.
The school year is about to start again, but before summer wafts out the door, I wanted to look back at my vacation-packed summer and give it a long kiss goodbye.
In July I went to New York for a few days of whirlwind-I saw my agent Caitlin Blasdell and my editor at Tor, Christopher Morgan, as well as friends galore and art galleries even more galore. Galore-er? I also went to shows: the whole trip was initially instigated by kick-ass multi-genre superauthor Jeffe Kennedy, and her decision to see Hamilton while she was in town for RWA. I added Beetlejuice to the mix a day later. I went alone, but by the grace of Twitter I realized Matthew Kressel was seated fifteen feet away from my seat.
View from the roof garden on the Whitney Museum.
This has been the year of some wonderfully fancy shows, because just a few weeks after that, Kelly and I went to London, where we went to see Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe! London was our prelude to the Dublin Worldcon-a few days of walking, seeing art, drinking in the history. We saw the desk where Charles Dickens wrote multiple books and the prison in Reading where Oscar Wilde was banged up for homosexuality. And then we went to the MERL, home of many a fascinating farm implement (no, really, I’m not joking!) and one of the best voices on museum Twitter.
you may think that a tractor demonstration in 1949 might not have been your cup of tea
In Dublin the pace changed to convention time: we saw writer friends, talked shop, appeared on many panels, attended the Hugo Awards ceremony, where Kelly’s Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach was a nominee and committed a bit more tourism. I was especially excited to see Dublin Castle, where many of my favorite Tana French mysteries are set. Dublin is a beautiful city and I’m glad to have seen it.
This year has also taken me to LA twice, Ottawa a bunch of times, and there will be a dash to Vancouver in the near future. It’s been a lot of hours on the road, and with a lot of wonders seen. I feel extremely fortunate and blessed, and more than a little boggled at how jet-setty it has all been!
