g.a.costa
@cgacosta
Badges
✨Unique
🤖Very Human
I was feeling a bit frazzled with all the confusion about my grad loans this month. But now relieved as I was just approved for the IBR. Living overseas helps. So, I will live in self-exile and defer, defer until I die.
I’m still working on my new short story that’s been in the works since March. I left it alone again for another week and a half and was able to add 300 words yesterday. I’m itching to get it done soon, but I need to slow down and let it sit and ferment a bit before picking it up again. In the meantime, I’ve other stories I wrote years ago and submitted one to an anthology. devilsrockbooks.com/our-books/submission… This anthology has a good purpose. Profit will go towards a mental health charity. If you write horror, this might be a good place to submit to. Deadline is June 28, 2026.
One of my favorite short horror stories is "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. Funny title, but at the same time freaking terrifying. The story takes place after humanity has been destroyed when AI (AM in the story) became sentient. Filled with hatred and perhaps bored, it plays around with the last surviving humans. This story was published in 1967. That's 59 years ago! Long before AI. I don't want to spoil the story too much, but this is definitely a good read. It has been on my mind lately. galacticjourney.org/stories/I_Have_No_Mo… What other short stories would you recommend? It doesn't have to be horror. It can be comedy, drama... etc. I believe it's good to have a wide variety.
4
5This season Mobius Magazine, the journal of social change, published one of my poems “Butterfly Bullets.” The title was inspired by Smashing Pumpkins’ song “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” Loved that song. It really does feel like only yesterday when I watched it on MTV. mobiusmagazine.com/poetry/butterfl.html
3
2I started writing a new story late March, and as of today it’s still not finished. I’ve written only 3,227 words, and I haven’t reached the middle part just yet. I think it might be a short long story. Anyway, I used to rush stories so I can share them quickly, but I realize I should just let it sit for a while, let it ferment a bit, and then I’ll go over it again with fresh eyes. How long does it take you to write a story?
9
8The Inflectionist Review’s 22nd issue is now live! You can read the shortest poem I've ever written (very short, just 3 lines) “The Good Father.” www.inflectionism.com/22-gacosta-the-goo…
My husband and I watched Spaceballs last night. I had forgotten how funny this movie was, and I heard there's going to be a sequel. I can't wait to see Rick Moranis and Bill Pullman on the screen again. Do you have a favorite comedy film? Particularly parody or satire.
3
6This week I was in the mood to play Fiona Apple’s cover of a Beatles song, “Across the Universe.” I put it on repeat. It kind of puts you in a certain mood. Even though there are so many crazy things going on in the world, you have control of your inner world. What song were you playing over and over again this week? What kind of mood does it put you in?
I haven't done a lot of writing so far this year. So I feel a bit unproductive, but I started thinking about what I have actually been doing over the past few months. I submitted a chapbook, a full-length poetry collection, and a speculative verse novel to several different small presses separately. Now, the torturous waiting game begins. But in the meantime, to take my mind off it, I should create new work. Are you working on a book? Or have you submitted a book to a small press? If so, what was your experience like?
3
3So, I'm just curious... Where's everyone from? I'm from southern California, but I've been in S. Korea a little over a decade now.
6
13I found this passage to be too realistic: “people are talking about apocalypse and the last judgment, because they do not know that there will be neither apocalypse nor last judgment...such things would serve no purpose since the world will quite happily fall apart by itself and go to wrack and ruin so that everything may begin again.” (from László Krasznahorkai’s The Melancholy of Resistance)
9
2This weekend I am going to buckle down and read as much of The Melancholy of Resistance (László Krasznahorkai) as I can. I’ve gotten used to his style of not using paragraphs, but sometimes I lose track and have to follow along with a finger as if I were in kindergarten.