Introduction: Daniela Tomova

Hi fellow writers, I can't wait to meet you all. Here's a picture of me from my sister and some information about me:

Do you have a nickname?

Quite a few: I'm prone to some idiosyncracies so my family has plently of nicknames for me, including  Dani the Menace, Keyser Soze, Alf, and Kenny (since I go Pokemoning around in my parka until late Spring), Major Tom(ova) ,etc. but most friends call me Dani.

What do you like to read?

Classics (including Balkan and other non-Western ones), classic sci-fi (including non-Western), slipstream, new weird, poetry, noir. My all-time greatest obsessions are Master and Margarita, Bradbury, Gene Wolfe, Poe, Gerald Durrell. I have also read my way through Greek and Eastern mythology, fairy tales, Middle-Eastern tales, Roman novels, James Hadley Chase (I know, I have no shame) and the fiction sections of 4 medium libraries. I basically only dislike lazy bestsellers and stories where animals die.


What kind of stories do you write?

Science-fiction, slipstream and new weird, mixed in with fairy tales. I started writing properly a few years ago in an online workshop called Science Fiction Fairy Tales and discovered I loved writing interlinked stories set in the same (usually post- or barely-pre-apocalyptic) worlds.

How would you describe your personality?

Geeky, enthusiastic, compulsive about fixing thing I see that are wrong.


What would you do this summer if you hadn't been accepted to Clarion?

Work and write. Take a three-week car trip from Norway down to France, Italy and Angora.



Who will miss you most while you're in San Diego (cats, kids, partner, boss, coworkers)?

My cat (who is American, by the way) and my boyfriend.


Have you participated in an intensive writing workshop before?

In a way. I have been taking workshops with a group of writing friends where we had to deliver a story each week on top of critiquing 3 other stories and, well, work. That was quite intensive. 


What scares you most about Clarion?

Not being able to finish the stories. I am SLOW.


What do you do to relax or for recreation?

Walking in nature, long-distance swimming, photography, making dishes that require a lot of chopping of vegetables with very sharp knives. Also, writing is my form of meditation after work.


What 1-2 essential things will you bring to Clarion besides your laptop, watergun, and espresso maker?

My phone and my camera.


What is your ideal career?

If Elon Musk's career met Dorris Lessing's and they had a wee little baby career, that is what I want.


What else do you want us to know about you?

I have spent a lifetime explaining tech stuff to non-tech people, so I can explain complex technical stuff to anyone.   

 I come from a city that has been inhabited for over 6000 years, so I take my region's history very seriously. Actually, one thing about my region's history. Yogurt. Like, I won't fight you if you start claiming yogurt comes from Turkey or Greece or whatever, but never, ever, offer me Danone. 

 There's probably other stuff but I need to keep myself interesting for a whole six weeks so I'll portion it out like bread in 90's Eastern Europe. 

Edited to add a picture and that I am an immigrant to Norway so you can ask me all the questions about  Scandi food because I have opinions. I also went to "the" OSU, so I am a Buckeye.