I just found out that issue 4 of Steampunk Tales is out, containing my story, “The Juggernaut”. The issue is available as an iPhone app, a PDF, or a MobiReader ebook. I’ve been a fan of Steampunk Tales since it’s first issue, so I’m very happy to be in the latest issue. It’s only $1.99 for 10 stories, so please check it out.
It’s also available for the Kindle.
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.
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.
I haven’t announced it here, but last week I got word that my story, “Pumpkinhead”, was accepted for the Shadows of the Emerald City anthology from Northern Frights Publishing. Since I first read about the call for stories, I knew I wanted to write something for it. I grew up reading the Baum Oz stories – I went to the public library one summer and started with the first book (The Wizard of Oz) and worked my way through the whole series. You can probably guess who one of my favorite characters was. Adding a touch of horror to the Oz mythos seemed a natural thing to do (so much so that it’s been done before, for example in Tad Williams’ Otherland series). But when I figured out who I would write about, I refreshed myself on the character and what was said about him in the books, and from there the story just grew, very much like some of the things in the story itself. It was one of those rare stories that just unfurled from within my mind and pretty much came out on the page in one fluid piece (though stretched out over days). I’m glad it will be seeing print and I’m looking forward to the finished anthology when it eventually comes out.
This, together with two other projects that I’m not ready to announce yet, would bring my total publications to 5. Which is nice seeing as last year this time I was just about to hear about my second ever acceptance. At Clarion West we set goals and I committed to six published stories by around this time. For a while it was looking like none. If all four that I’m expecting happen, that will be a decent percentage of my goal.
But regardless of the submissions or the acceptances, right now I’m having a lot of fun writing and finishing and revising and submitting. For the first time since Clarion West, I am having fun with the writing and I think it’s having an effect. I’m doing it because I am getting such a thrill out of it.
This post is more rambly than I’d intended, but I’m just feeling good about writing right now and I wanted to say something to balance all the times I’ve felt shitty about it.
A few things that are interesting to note – if I count the non-confirmed acceptances I’ve received, four out of the five were for themed publications (this includes the two Shimmer sales). I find myself wondering why that is – is it the theme that helps focus me? Is it the inspiration that creates a different kind of story? Or is it just that those stories have deadlines and so I write, revise and send them by a certain date? I think maybe a little bit of all of them (though especially the last).
Also to note – only one of the stories was workshopped. Which is not to say that I didn’t get feedback – and all of them were critiqued by at least one person in my current writing group – but I think the closeness of deadlines meant I couldn’t always put them through a group. Which doesn’t say to me that stories are better when not workshopped – again it comes down to focus. I’m still trying to figure out which are the best paths to take with revision and I think that the better I get at that, the better my workshopped stories will end up.
I plan to send out a few more stories in the coming weeks. So we’ll see if they bear any fruit. But in the meantime I’m having a blast doing it.
To date my writing group, Altered Fluid, has appeared on Jim Freund’s most excellent radio show, Hour of the Wolf, on WBAI, five times. Three times since I’ve been with the group. But today was the first time I’d read one of my stories on the air and had it critiqued. The show started at 5 AM, which I call an obscene hour, but I felt remarkably rested and invigorated thanks to my own coffee and that brought in by fellow Fluidian Mercurio Rivera.
The show went even better than I’d hoped and while my reading wasn’t everything I wanted it to be, I didn’t think it sucked. The critique was lively and insightful and from the discussion I’ve already got some ideas on how to proceed. Additionally, we were able to take a few phone calls and it was great to be able to interact with the listeners*.
I had a great time and I feel good about the experience. If you’d like to check out the broadcast without having to get up at that ungodly hour, you can check it out here.