I’ve been having website difficulties lately, so I haven’t had a chance to mention this here yet, but while I was at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus last weekend, I had the opportunity to see The Way of the Wizard anthology, which has my story, “Card Sharp”, in it. It’s definitely a worthwhile anthology, with stories from writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Jeffrey Ford, George R. R. Martin, Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link and more. It’s still a pre-order on Amazon, but I expect it will be available there, and in stores, soon.

However, if you don’t want to wait, several of the stories are available online in their entirety, including my story. The site also has more information and interviews with some of the authors.

I also read Card Sharp at World Fantasy in my first ever solo reading and I think it went pretty well. I think the high point for me was someone who came to the reading, who I didn’t know, who told me at a party afterward how much he liked the story.

If you check it out, hope you do, too.

GUD issue 6, which contains my story, “Doors”, is now available for purchase from the GUD website. You can buy it in PDF format (available now – also with a gift PDF you can send to someone else) or in print version (which also comes with the PDF). The print issue, as far as I know, is printing now, and will ship to you when available.

You can also buy just my story if you want, but don’t. In addition to my story, the issue contains work from Lou Antonelli, Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, and Ian McHugh, among others. I’m looking forward to reading the issue myself because of all the other contributors.

Hope you enjoy it.

I have been remiss in not mentioning the Clarion West Write-a-thon which is going on right now. Some of you may remember this from last year. The idea is simple – during the weeks that the workshop is being run in Seattle, alumni (and others) set writing goals, get sponsors to sponsor them with cash money, and then work toward those goals. Many people share the results with those that sponsor them. It’s like one of those charity walk/run things except with writing instead.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of good causes out there that need your money. Causes that are bigger than whether I write chapters of my novel or not. But I think of it this way – you’re investing in the future of good writing. You’re helping to keep a workshop going that has a history of producing strong genre writers. A workshop that has helped writers like Kij Johnson (who is awesome), Daniel Abraham (also awesome), Cat Rambo (yes, awesome), Rachel Swirsky (very much awesome), Margo Lanagan (super-awesome) and more. So, the way I see it, if you take the money that you would spend on a book or a magazine or other fiction and donate it to the workshop, that’s guaranteeing you good fiction in the future. And it means another group of writers to keep writing the fiction we love, no matter what shape that fiction comes in.

So, my page is here, where you can sponsor me quite easily with Paypal. I’ve committed to writing a chapter a week in my work in progress novel. I haven’t quite managed to stick to that so far (the first week I wobbled) but I’ve been getting back on track recently. But even if you don’t want to sponsor me, consider sponsoring someone else. I think it’s worth it.

Thanks for listening.

I just got word this morning that my story, Flowing Shapes, is currently up and available to read for free at the brand new magazine, Basement Stories. This is their first issue and I’m happy to appear there. I hope the magazine has a long future.

Please check it out.

Last year I had the good fortune to be an Associate Editor for Sybil’s Garage, a small press genre fiction magazine that I greatly admire. The magazine has quickly established itself as a source for great fiction under the leadership of Matthew Kressel. So when I was asked if I wanted to be an editor again this year, I had to say yes.

The reading period opens on January 15 and the guidelines have changed slightly:

Sybil’s Garage publishes a wide variety of speculative fiction, including traditional science fiction, fantasy and horror as well as more atmospheric/slipstream stories. For issue no. 7 we seek to cast a wider net and encourage contributors to send us both atmospheric/slipstream stories as well as those with traditionally strong plots and characters.

We also will look at stories with little or no speculative element, but with speculative tendencies (e.g. weird but not-necessarily supernatural.)

In addition, we are very interested in seeing stories written by and/or including varied ethnicities, social classes, and nationalities. We’d like to see more stories featuring under-utilized cultures and settings as well. Our editors and readers represent a variety of backgrounds and we’re always working to ensure that our publication reflects that as well.

Please send us your best work.

Full guidelines can be found here.