Liza W (she/they)

@lizawemakor

Nonfiction Editor @ Anathema Mag | Writer | English Ph.D. candidate @ UC Riverside | ‘Loving Safoa’ sapphic vampire novella available @ Neon Hemlock Press

220 Folgt709 Follower153 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir lizawemakor.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Jun 12

From Ruth Madievsky’s interview with Aria Aber in The Creative Independent — I think this is a useful framework, being someone who edits as I go

I have this theory that writers are either bleeders or pukers. Bleeders bleed over every word, cleaning up as they go. Pukers barf up a terrible draft and clean up the mess later. Which one are you?

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Jun 9

a little shade: logic like this is part of why it can be difficult to achieve mass mobilization (including general strikes) — art should continue, but it doesn’t have to continue in the same way it always has

“This is so hard to do, but so essential.
Busdrivers still drive their busses, dentists still reach for the drill.
Authors still have to be silly little bananas shilling fantasy to the masses.
In all cases, the sky is burning, but the cats must be fed.”

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Dec 14

Readers, writers and editors nominating for writing awards in 2025: please consider ‘Loving Safoa’ (Neon Hemlock Press novella) and “Undrowned Histories: A Retrospective Reading of The Deep (2019) and Flowers for the Sea (2021)” (Interstellar Flight Mag essay). #awardseligibility #SFF

2025 AWARDS ELIGIBILITY: LIZA WEMAKOR, VAMPIRE NOVELLA / CRITICAL REVIEW. Images: 'Loving Safoa' cover art (two black femmes embracing on a grass field), and a screenshot of the article 'Undrowned Histories: A Retrospective Reading of The Deep and Flowers for the Sea'

Image: 'Loving Safoa' cover art (two black femmes embracing on a grass field, where there are pink flowers dappled with blood). Published February 6th, 2024. Neon Hemlock Press. When schoolteacher Cynthia gets a tattoo at a block party in 1991 Flatbush, she doesn’t realize she’s embarking on a life-changing romance with an immortal Ghanaian vampire. Cynthia’s affair with Safoa weaves together stories from nineteenth century Ghana, late twentieth century New York and a near future reality in Maryland that defies the utopian/dystopian binary. Cover illustration by N’Kai Delauter.

Image: A screenshot of the article 'Undrowned Histories: A Retrospective Reading of The Deep and Flowers for the Sea.' Published November 18, 2024. Interstellar Flight Magazine. This essay provides historical context about Afro-diasporic cultural practices that are relevant to Rivers Solomon's and clipping's The Deep (2019) and Zin E. Rocklyn's Flowers for the Sea (2021). Following this contextualization, the essay culminates in concise close readings of the two novellas. Wemakor writes from the perspectives of a black studies scholar and a speculative fiction writer (whose own novella was recently published).

Images: 'Loving Safoa' cover art (two black femmes embracing on a grass field), and a screenshot of the article 'Undrowned Histories: A Retrospective Reading of The Deep and Flowers for the Sea.’ If you’re nominating work for SFF / Writing awards in the near future (2025)... Please consider ‘Loving Safoa’ (Neon Hemlock Press) for Novella, Romance, LGBTQ and Vampire Related categories. And “Undrowned Histories: A Retrospective Reading of The Deep (2019) and Flowers for the Sea (2021)” (Interstellar Flight Mag) for Nonfiction, Essay and Criticism Related categories.

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Aug 25

Please consider donating to this GoFundMe or sharing. I’m distraught by the despair Majd and her family are feeling. Majd is a 19-year old trying to escape genocide in Gaza. I’m fundraising via Loving Safoa trading cards — you can buy directly on my website (link in bio), or donate $9+ and DM me

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Mar 20

I’m making collages from time to time, inspired by my @neonhemlock.bsky.social novella 'Loving Safoa' (published Feb. 6 2024) Image sources are posted on my newsletter (link also on the landing page of my website): tinyurl.com/bdk6vj7f #sapphicbook #vampirefiction #blacksapphic

Collage of text and imagery inspired by ‘Loving Safoa’ (2024)

Liza W (she/they)@lizawemakor· Feb 20

substack post 1: @neonhemlock.bsky.social giveaway update, and "notes on maneaters" tinyurl.com/4yt45j54