I’d been thinking about it for a while and I always shied away from it. But I realized that in addition to strange writing projects that I couldn’t find a home for, there were other projects of mine that fell through the cracks — gaming/RPG stuff and, most recently, music. So I now have a Patreon. For the low price of $1/month you can subscribe to either the Stories, Songs, or Arcana (gaming) tier. Or, for the also low price of $2, you can get all three. I intend to put up original content monthly, whether that be small pieces of fiction, or original songs or lyrics, or gaming material — characters, settings, items, etc. It’s also an opportunity for me to connect directly with people who are interested in these things, which I am definitely looking forward to.

I’ll be posting free content in each tier in the coming weeks so people can get a taste of what they will get by signing up. I’m looking forward to trying something new.

It’s the start of a new year! Yes, I know, it’s the end of April as I write this, and 2019 is speeding toward the halfway point, but I see this as the beginning of what will hopefully be a good writing year. After a bit of a break, long needed after writing three novels back to back, I sold a story. My science fiction story, “Binary”, will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Analog. When I first started thinking about writing professionally, it was always the Big 3 genre magazines that I imagined one day being in — Asimov’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Analog. They’ve been on “the list” ever since. And now I get to cross one of them off. I’m really impressed with what Trevor Quachri has been doing with the magazine and I’m proud to be a part of it with him as editor.

I should mention that this story came out of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop that I attended back in 2015. I attended (despite having a terrible case of bronchitis) because I wanted to write more science fiction and I thought learning more about space and astronomy would help, and I’m happy to say that it did. Yes, it took a few years to get the story right, but I’m glad I was able to finish it and sell it and I can’t wait to see it in print. I’m hoping it’s the first of a string of science fiction stories from me.

I’ll post an update when I have an idea of when it will be out, but in the meantime you should check out the current issue (March/April 2019), particularly the story “The Walk to Distant Suns” by fellow Altered Fluid members Matthew Kressel and David Mercurio Rivera. It’s a great story and I’m happy to follow in their footsteps.

As usual, it’s been a long time since I posted here. And as usual, a lot has happened in the interim, so it’s a good excuse to dust off the blog and mention the most recent events.

One of the big writer items is that I sold a story to Lightspeed Magazine. “All In” is the third story in my Card Sharp series of weird western short stories, after “Card Sharp” and “Second Hand” and wraps up that storyline. I don’t know when the story will go up on the site, but I will update this site and shout about it on social media when I know more.

Working with the Lightspeed team is always a pleasure and I’m happy that I get to finish this series of stories (for now — there may be more down the road).

I found out this morning that my short story, “Doors”, which first appeared in GUD Issue 6, is now up, in podcast form, at PodCastle. This is now the second of my stories to appear there and I’m very happy to see it, and hear it, there. As much as I enjoy narrating for them, I enjoy having my stories up even more.

That being said, I have to say that I find it hard to listen to narrations of my stories. I have to listen to the narrations that I do – for editing purposes at the very least – but hearing someone else read my fiction produces a strange kind of dissonance. PodCastle always does a great job in selecting readers – this has nothing to do with that – I think it’s just hearing my own words which is the problem.

I am a little heartened, though, that this is something other people deal with. At a recent agency retreat I heard that other people have issues with it as well.

On the other side of the microphone, there are some other narration projects that I’m working on to hopefully announce soon.

I thought that I would take some time here to talk about all of my talented friends and the great work that they’re doing in the world of fiction.

First up, is E.C. Myers. Most of the people reading this probably know Eugene and know that he’s one of the hardest working writers around. And recently that hard work has paid off. He recently sold his YA book, Fair Coin, to Pyr and as someone who’s read the manuscript, I’m telling you that you’ll be wanting to read it when it comes out. It’s smart and fun and surprising and I can’t wait to see it turn up on bookshelves. Hell, I’m hoping that it will end up as a movie.

Eugene is also a short story writer and his story in Sybil’s Garage #7, “My Father’s Eyes”, has rightly been singled out by reviewers as one of the stand-out stories. SF Site said of it, “This was one of the most moving, and in an unforced way original, stories in the collection — my joint favourite with M.K. Hobson’s ‘Kid Despair in Love.'” Matt Kressel, Editor of Sybil’s Garage, recently made the issue available as a free download, but only for the next 2 weeks or so. You can download a PDF copy here.

Eugene is going to be leaving those of us in NY soon, but for a good reason – he recently got engaged as well. Eugene’s one of the kindest and most generous people I know and he will be missed, but I wish him and his fiancee (hi, Carrie) all the best.