Julia Rios, writer, editor, narrator, podcaster. The OMG Julia Podcast explores creative lives and processes. Worlds of Possibility collects stories and poems by others.
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Julia's Work

Julia's Work
Some books in which work I have edited or written appears.

Writing

  • "Take Me Out to the Soulgame" (writing as Finley Peterson) – A story written as part of the Inkfort Press Publishing Derby in 2023. The Derby assigns authors a premade ebook cover and a pen name and requires anonymity during the length of the challenge.
The cover for "Take Me Out to the Soulgame" featuring a grim reaper wielding a scythe like a baseball bat.

Editing

Worlds of Possibility

The August 2022 cover for Worlds of Possibility, featuring art by Julia Kim of a chunky orange cat riding a rocket powered bike. 

In the Worlds of Possibility project, Julia Rios buys original stories, poems, and art by other creators to display on this website. Paid subscribers directly sponsor these pieces with their subscription fees, and get bimonthly ebook issues! Worlds of Possibility collects uplifting, happy, and hopeful science fiction and fantasy. Come race a cat on a rocket powered bike, visit a doctor who is a literal elephant, eat a magic cupcake, watch a lucha libre match where the wrestlers use magic, and more!

Cover for the Worlds of Possibility anthology featuring art by Grace P. Fong

Full color print and ebook versions of the first Worlds of Possibility anthology are now available! The anthology contains 49 original stories and poems by authors from all over the world, with cover art by Grace P. Fong, and many beautiful full color interior illustrations by various artists.

Why Didn't You Just Leave

Not feeling the hopeful vibe of Worlds of Possibility? Want to feel scared, sad, and horrified instead? You're in luck! Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios co-edited Why Didn't You Just Leave, an anthology of ghost stories about haunted houses, and the reasons people stay in them. Four of the stories are accompanied by original illustrations.

Why Didn't You Just Leave is available in ebook and paperback formats from Cursed Morsels Press.

It's the question asked of any story about a haunting: why didn't you just leave? But if accounts of people who have stayed in haunted houses are any indication … it's never that simple.

In this book, you’ll find twenty-two all-new stories about the reasons people don’t leave scary situations—parents who stay in haunted houses to protect their children, convicts who literally can’t leave their prison, retail workers who need a paycheck even if it’s from a haunted workplace, trauma survivors suffering from agoraphobia, and more.

Featuring Shauntae Ball, I.S. Belle, Die Booth, Max Booth III, Christa Carmen, Raquel Castro, Alberto Chimal, Gabe Converse, Lyndsey Croal, Victoria Dalpe, Alexis DuBon, Corey Farrenkopf, Cassandra Khaw, Joe Koch, E.M. Linden, Steve Loiaconi, R. Diego Martinez, J.A.W. McCarthy, Suzan Palumbo, Tonia Ransom, Rhiannon Rasmussen, and Eden Royce. With illustrations by Luke Spooner, Yves Tourigny, and Yornelys Zambrano.

Bridge to Elsewhere

Alana Joli Abbott and Julia Rios co-edited Bridge to Elsewhere, an anthology of stories set on the bridges of spaceships.

print copy and ebook cover of Bridge to Elsewhere

Contributors include: L.X. Beckett, John Chu, Rin Chupeco, Zig Zag Claybourne, C.S.E Cooney, E.R. Donaldson, R.S.A. Garcia, A.T. Greenblatt, Carlos Hernandez, SL Huang, Justin C. Key, Mari Kurisato, Malka Older, Anjali Patel, Alexandra Pitchford, Jennifer Lee Rossman, R J Theodore, Peter Tieryas, Valerie Valdes, & CG Volars.

If you like, you can read Julia's short explanation of all the stories.

Mermaids Monthly 2021

A monthly magazine all about mermaids! For all the issues in 2021, Julia Rios was the Editor, Meg Frank was the Art Director, Ashley Deng was the Assistant Editor, and Lis Hulin Wheeler was the Logistics Wizard. All issues from 2021 are free for everyone in web, PDF, and ebook formats. The PDFs are the prettiest because Meg designed the the magazine with those in mind. But also you can read them just on the web or you can download ebook versions, which won't have the same careful design as the PDFs, but will still be totally readable on your ereader of choice.

A collage of the January-June Mermaids Monthly covers, featuring art by Nilah Magruder, Aqua Moon, Nivedita Sekar, Dianita, Che Gilson, and Sara Eileen Hames
A collage of the July-December 2021 Mermaids Monthly covers, featuring artwork by Julia Jeffrey, Mariana Palova, Aylin Sophia, John Picacio, Sadagat Aliyeva, and Lauren Raye Snow

Cast of Wonders Banned Books Week Showcase 2019

Cast of Wonders Banned Books Week 2019 logo

Cast of Wonders is a YA speculative fiction podcast. Julia Rios was the guest editor for this showcase, and selected original and reprint flash fiction and short stories. They also hosted one of the three episodes, and narrated a story for another. More details on all the episodes, contributors hosts, and narrators in this post.

Fireside Magazine

Julia Rios was the Editor of Fireside from 2017 - 2019. The magazine was a finalist in the Best Semiprozine category of the Hugo Awards in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Julia was a finalist in the Best Editor Short Form category of the Hugo Awards in 2019. "STET" by Sarah Gailey was a finalist in the Best Short Story category of the Hugo Awards and the Locus Awards in 2019. "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by Phenderson Djèlí Clark was a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 2019, as well as being a finalist in the Best Short Story category of the Hugo Awards, the Nebula Awards, and the Locus Awards. It won the Nebula Award and the Locus Award for Best Short Story that year.

Spider Road Press Spider's Web Flash Fiction Contest

Title card for The Book You Find When You Really Can't Afford to Get Pregnant by Jeana Jorgensen

In 2018, Julia Rios was the judge of the Spider's Web Flash Fiction contest for feminist flash pieces about women. Jeana Jorgensen's "The Book You Find When You Really Can't Afford to Get Pregnant" was the winner, and there were also a few honorable mentions. You can find all of them at the link above, including an audio version of the winning story, read by Julia.

Uncanny Magazine

Julia Rios was the Poetry and Reprints Editor at Uncanny Magazine from 2016-2017. The magazine won the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2017 and 2018. "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (originally published in The Starlit Wood, co-edited by Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien, and reprinted in Uncanny) was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in Best Short Fiction, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 2017. It won the Locus, Hugo, and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story that year. "Rose Child" by Theodora Goss won the Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem in 2017.

Strange Horizons

Julia Rios was a Senior Fiction Editor at Strange Horizons from 2012-2015. The magazine was a finalist in the Best Semiprozine category of the Hugo Awards in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. "Selkie Stories Are For Losers" by Sofia Samatar was a finalist in the Best Short Fiction category of the World Fantasy Awards and the Best Short Story category of the Nebula Awards in 2014. "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind" by Sarah Pinsker won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 2014. "Good Hunting" by Ken Liu won the WSFA Small Press Award in 2013.

Year's Best YA Speculative Fiction

Julia Rios co-edited three wolumes of the Year's Best YA Speculative Fiction with Alisa Krasnostein for Twelfth Planet Press. The 2015 volume was the Aurealis Awards, best anthology, winner in 2016.

Kaleidoscope

Julia Rios co-edited this anthology of diverse YA science fiction and fantasy stories with Alisa Krasnostein for Twelfth Planet Press.

The cover for Kaleidoscope

Contributors include: Garth Nix, Sofia Samatar, William Alexander, Karen Healey, E.C. Myers, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Ken Liu, Vylar Kaftan, Sean Williams, Amal El-Mohtar, Jim C. Hines, Faith Mudge, John Chu, A A McNamara, Tim Susman, Gabriela Lee, Dirk Flinthart, Holly Kench, Sean Eads, and Shveta Thakrar

Awards and Honors for Kaleidoscope:

  • Aurealis Awards, best anthology, winner, 2014.
  • Ditmar Awards, Best Collected Work, winner, 2015.
  • Tiptree Award Honor List, 2014.
  • "The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar: Locus Awards, Best Short Story, winner, 2015. Read Amal's acceptance speech!
  • "Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart: Aurealis Awards, best young adult short story, winner, 2014.
  • "The Legend Trap" by Sean Williams: Ditmar Awards, Best Novella or Novelette, winner, 2015.

Narration