Salena Casha

Poster announcing the contributors in the upcoming Sprawl Mag volume, featuring a fairy with wings and blue hair, a rabbit and stars.

Now announcing our contributors for the Sprawl Mag 3.1. We are so excited to share this volume with you! Featuring:

Pablo Andrés Palo
Viviana De Cecco
@francesboyle19.bsky.social
@themaust.bsky.social
@sidellwrites.bsky.social
Ivan Ndoma-Egba
@lucienrstarchild.bsky.social

Mine is one of these lucky few on the shortlist! Gah, congratulations everyone.

Line edits have arrived, coffee is in hand, and the Olympic Nordic sprint is on in the background. Teresa 2.0, let's do this thing. #amediting #amwriting

Like its name, this anthology is going to be truly epic.

So, what even is a novelette? An overview of this mysterious category of writing and some insight into my first published within that subset.

You might find yourself asking,what the heck even is a novelette?! Perhaps, the answer, or at least a chaotic attempt at one, is here: open.substack.com/pub/salenaca...

Huh, this has not reached its cap yet...

Big thank you to @havehashad.com and their Tacoma call for inspiring something new out of me in the last 48 hours. Grateful to write something new and weird that I now love.

Lille

'Lille' by Dan Deigh is playing on the speakers, coffee is steaming, and I'm reaching back into a rainy childhood memory to write for @havehashad.com's Tacoma call. open.spotify.com/track/6Hkows...

I would be SO HONORED

The image is the cover of a science fiction novelette. A barren dune-colored planet is at the forefront of the image to the left and is set against a pitch black sky with a blinding sun off in the right hand corner. The Title "A Way Back" sits above it and the author name "Salena Casha" is below.

My. Novelette. Is. Live. Which means I'm freaking out because people might read it and I might die of embarrassment but also, I'm freaking out because a person might actually read it. Huge thank you to @emergejournal.bsky.social for making my dreams come true. Order your copy here: a.co/d/0b5BfkX4.

A stack of seven sea glass stones in umber, gray, robin's egg, aquamarine, emerald, sea blue, and gold against a rock beach at sunset.

'She won't survive this' is LIVE with FLASH THE COURT this morning. A bit of dystopia, a bit of cactus POV (weird I know, but I LOVED writing it). flashthecourt.com/2026/01/23/s...

We can't afford the house either. But the story is amazing. Thanks @salenacasha.bsky.social for sharing your words.

A Conversation with One of the Many Houses in My Neighborhood that I Can't Afford | Neon & Smoke

🪧First publication of 2026🪧is LIVE with @neonandsmoke.bsky.social in their January issue! So grateful to the editors, T & J, for all their work. You will be my favorite reader ever if you check out this wonderful magazine: www.neonandsmoke.com/january-smok...

Novelette cover (black) with a picture of a red planet in the foreground and a sun in the background. A Way Back (the title) is typed in an olive green against a black backdrop. On an orange canvas around the cover are the following descriptions: an inhopsitable planet, a morally ambiguous FMC, memory as a cure, spicy team dynamics, and space & time travel

Something long form is brewing with @emergejournal.bsky.social ! New slipstream novelette (a bit fo sci-fi, a bit of fantasy) coming out in February. Some early details here elj-editions.com/a-way-back/

And a final thank you to @londonwriterssalon.bsky.social. 2025 would not have been so exemplary without the editorial eye of @jaimedilleditor.bsky.social, the grace of my first interviewees: Mira Wendham and Nina Voss, and the imagination of my writing partner, @leighloveday.bsky.social

All the appreciation for @zoeticpress.bsky.social, @foofarawr.com, @natflashfictionday.bsky.social, @100footcrow.bsky.social, @panoramajournal.bsky.social, @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social, @mosspuppymag.bsky.social, @creepypod.bsky.social, @surelymag.bsky.social, @vialofboneszine.bsky.social

A big thank you to all the editors who made this year everything it was: @belladonnacomedy.bsky.social, @writersresist.bsky.social, @theforge.bsky.social, @fiveminutelit.bsky.social, @librelit.bsky.social, @pictura.bsky.social, @micromancemagazine.bsky.social, @mgliterary.bsky.social

2025: Year In Review, text on a mint background. 32 new pieces published with the average piece length being 705 words and average payment 2.8 cents/word. 43 unpublished pieces and two award nominations, the first from F(r)iction Literary Magazine for Best of the Net and the second from Pictura Magazine for Best Small Fictions.

I know we're four days into 2026, but let's have a moment for everything that was 2025. I wrote a novel, had 32 short fiction publications, and was nominated for two writing awards! Check out the wrap-up on my substack salenacasha.substack.com/p/2025-a-yea...

What a year! Congrats, @leighloveday.bsky.social ! May next year be even more prolific!!

Big thank you to @pictura.bsky.social for the publication and nomination! Here's to hoping that third time's the charm!

DMed you some info (not self publishing but going to keep the publisher under wraps for a few weeks)!

📣Fellow Sci-Fi Writers📣: looking for 2 - 3 folks willing to write a cover blurb for a dual POV novellete (11,000 words, ~36 pgs double spaced, all about space travel & testy team dynamics), due for publication in 2026! DM me for the details (I'll pay a nominal fee for your time and eyes)🙏

"With Love" by @salenacasha.bsky.social, Fall Contest 2024 Finalist (Theme: Flirt), in case you missed it

An Interview with An Editor I am beyond excited to introduce you all to Jaime Dill, the developmental editor who saw an early version of Teresa 2.0 and brought out its beating heart.

She's live! Read all about @jaimedilleditor.bsky.social here: open.substack.com/pub/salenaca...

second window's funds raised: a whopping $2,709.32, for a total of $3,628.88. you people rule! I've got lots of reading to do, I'll randomly select the merch winners when I'm done!

Salena’s Monthly Writing Update | Salena Casha | Substack New writing from yours truly. Click to read Salena’s Monthly Writing Update, by Salena Casha, a Substack publication. Launched 3 years ago.

Psst, there's some exciting new content dropping on salenacasha.substack.com tomorrow, namely an interview with editor extraordinare and all around lovely human, @jaimedilleditor.bsky.social ! It goes live at 10AM ET, so a perfect read to have with your morning coffee.

Thank you, Sage!

a woman wearing a colorful sweater is raising her hands in the air ALT: a woman wearing a colorful sweater is raising her hands in the air

After REJECTION FALL 2025, I received not one but *two* super secret contract offers today! Cannot wait to share them once I sign on the dotted line but until then, enjoy a bit of Kristen Wiig

Running an interview series from my substack promoting female and nonbinary indie authors (and their books) who write in scifi/speculative genres! If you fit the bill, DM me and I'll add you to the series/send you the qs. I promise, they are fun!

#indie #selfpub #scifi #specfic

1266 words this morning for a short story (and maybe 100 towards a new novel). Good chaotic this November, no goal except to write something every day.