Oct
24
Writing Update
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Since my last post, there have been a few developments in things I mentioned. The first of these is that I’m no longer going to be attending World Fantasy in San Jose. Things with my mother have become progressively worse so much so that traveling at this time, and being away from the family for more than a day at most is ill-advised. It’s a shame – I’ve been looking forward to it all year for many reasons, and I’ll miss seeing all the distant friends I was hoping to see, but some things trump all else.
In the positive category, however, the Shadows of the Emerald City, which some are probably sick of hearing me mention, is now available to buy, both from the publisher, Northern Frights Publishing, and from Amazon. Links are below:
There seems to be a good amount of buzz for this anthology, as seen in the reviews I posted last time. I’m looking forward to reading the other stories in the volume and seeing how people like it.
Okay, that’s enough pimpage for now. More news when it comes.
Oct
20
Writing News
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Between work and the situation with my mother, I haven’t had much time to even compose a blog post lately. But I have some writing news to share, despite not being quite as productive lately as I’d like to be. The next few months look like a good time for my fiction.
Most recently, I found out that I sold a story to Steampunk Tales, the digital magazine for steampunk fiction that launched for the iPhone with a rather attractive application and is also available in Mobireader and PDF formats. I did a review of Steampunk Tales Issue One for Tor.com and I was impressed with it. When I found out they accepted fiction submissions, I knew I had to submit to them. I’m really excited about the opportunity, especially as it’s a different form of distribution than I’ve seen.
Prior to this news, I received word that my pirate story, “The Furies”, previously in Shimmer’s Pirate Issue will appear as a reprint in the Skulls and Crossbones anthology due out in January 2010 from Mindancer Press.
My story in Shimmer’s Clockwork Jungle issue, “The Emperor’s Gift”, should see print some time in November along with the rest of the issue.
Then there’s the Shadows of the Emerald City anthology which includes my story, “Pumpkinhead”, which should be releasing any day now. The anthology has been getting a number of good reviews (some of them collected below) and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.
Strange Weird and Wonderful.com Review (PDF download)
Finally, I will be attending the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, California next week. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Oct
8
My Mother
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I haven’t updated for a while. Which isn’t necessarily anything new. But this time there’s a good reason for it.
I believe I’ve talked about it here, but last year my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. Over the course of the last year and a half she’s been receiving treatment for that – first with chemo, then radiation, ending up on a treatment of Tarceva, a daily pill that has actually helped to reduce the tumors in her lungs drastically.
Unfortunately, she also has metastases in her bones. This hasn’t responded to the treatment and has spread as her lung cancer has dwindled.
Since July she has been having spells of headaches and nausea that eventually became so bad that she was barely active and couldn’t eat on a regular basis. The initial MRI showed nothing suspect, but her condition continued to deteriorate.
All this led to last Thursday (when she was supposed to get another MRI) when she had a seizure. In a stroke of amazing luck, my father was there with her when it happened and he helped her otherwise I don’t know what would have happened. Since then she’s been in the hospital.
Another MRI showed that she had hydrocephalus. Cerebrospinal fluid was accumulating in her ventricles and pressing on her brain.
This past weekend was tough as she was heavily medicated as they tried to stabilize her seizures. Thankfully, on Monday they were able to start treating her with radiation therapy and with a spinal tap which helped to reduce the fluid accumulation. Since then her headaches have stopped and she’s been feeling much better, though her stomach is still a bit touchy (which would seem natural after weeks of not being able to eat solid food).
It looks like she will be able to come home tomorrow. Things will have to change, of course. She can’t move around like she used to. She’ll most likely have to sleep on the ground floor because of this. But she is coming home and she’ll be out of the hospital and she’ll be better able to have something approximating a normal life.
To say that this has been hard on the family is a massive understatement. I can’t think of many things worse than watching someone you love deeply, someone who has always taken care of you, subjected to something as horrible and as painful as this. But we’ve been doing our best to be there for her and with her and we will continue to do that for as long as it’s needed.
In the meantime, if I’m a little quiet, or unresponsive, you know the reason why.
Thank you to everyone who has expressed their sympathies and have offered their thoughts, prayers and well wishes. In a time like this, it’s humbling to realize how much love and support I have and it’s something I continue to be awed by. I suppose it’s one of life’s contradictions that in the middle of terrible misfortune, you can be simultaneously confronted with how lucky you are.