Not an imaginary sale

Well, here's some Hump Day news:

79-day SALE of my short story "Imaginary Puissance" to Fictitious Force.

Editor Jonathan Laden has asked for a light rewrite, which will be no problem at all. His eyes caught some parts of my story's world that could be strengthened and I'm glad to have the chance to touch it up. I also just found a Word file that I saved where I defined over a dozen of terms used in the story. Yeah, I'm kind of crazy ADD like that...

So I have that to do. I finished the civilized cannibals story last week and it has already gone out to its market. I'd really like to try and write a new story for the next open submission period for Sword & Sorceress 23. Let's see, I know there's something else short fiction-wise I want to be doing. Oh right, review the newest issue of City Slab for the Fix Online.

So, I feel pretty productive. Also, if I keep selling stories at this rate I might actually begin to think of myself as a Writer, capital w and all.

Sailing away in March

I was going to post about something else, probably book-related because gee I don't talk about books enough y'know, but this is cooler...

40-day SALE of my melting animals short story "Pigment" to Farrago's Wainscot.

Yay! Don't know the exact issue it'll be in, but when I do I shall most certainly let y'all know. Between the sale to Black Gate, finishing a few new short stories, and getting a bunch of free stuff in the mail, March has turned out to be a pretty good month. Who would've guessed?

Hooray, sale time

So, I woke up to good news this morning (and not that it was the greenest day of the year):

469(!)-day SALE of my short story "So Go the Seasons" to an upcoming issue of Black Gate!

Whew. I think I can finally exhale. And yes, I'm a very patient man, and I think, in this business, one really needs to be in order to stay sane. A long wait, but completely worth it. Black Gate is a great magazine, and I love all the articles about SF mags from the past by Rich Horton. The fiction is always great, accompanied by illustrations that reflect back to a more golden age of storytelling. To sum up, I am relieved, excited, and ready to continue waiting.

New year yo

Happy New Year, everybody! 2008 is in the house...

"After Effects," a somewhat dark outerspace drama with a teeny homage to the Robot Man, has sold to Aoife's Kiss #24, March 2008 issue. ::throws confetti::

Short story sale, hot

"She's a Hearth" sold to the April 2008 issue of Kaleidotrope. Neat! This slight tale of high school drama and fire swallowing has been making the rounds for about a year now. Glad it has a home. Makes up for that magazine death a little whiles back.

Sporty sale!

Nine-day sale of a dark fantasy horse racing piece, "The Sport of Kings," to Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic. The planned paperback anthology will be published in late 2007. You can see others that are going to be included here.

And here's an excerpt:

Wesley took a chance, betting on Autumn Spirit, and all his friends hooted and howled. The warstallions and hyperpulse c-steeds zipped forward at the sound of the gunshot, leaving the slow-trotting horse and rider half a mile back in a dusty haze.

"Come on!" Wesley stood from his seat and shook a fist at the track.

"You could've just given me the hundred chips, you know," one of his friends said, slapping him on the shoulder. "Or, you know, bet on something built for speed."

He shook his friend's hand away. "I don't care about enhancements and cyber-widgets--"

"Or money, for that matter!"

"Whatever."

Progress notes for April 29, 2007

I've been reading Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow, and you know what, it's fun and the sort of reading experience I really enjoy. Fast-paced, amusing dialogue, and compelling characters. Aspects that I'm coming to rather demand in a book than expect more times than not. There's a lot of interesting details about the different classes of folk: Leontines, Hawks, Wolves, Dragons, and so forth. At first, I thought it was going to be very cut-and-dry, but it turned out to be much different.

Sagara moves the plot along very fast--sometimes too fast as I want to know more history and why things are happening--and I can't help but plow through the book. Funny, I had trouble just getting through Brasyl by Ian McDonald and yet here I can read easily. I do have a problem with her holding back information about Severn from the reader for almost half the novel, but meh, it's all right. I'm enjoying the worldbuilding and caste system so much that it's forgiveable. Aren't I just the nicest?

Some progress today, in which main character Emily gets the tingles to tangle with teleportation.

"The Songs He'd Sing"

New Words: 618
Total Words: 1,349
Pages: 3
Deadline: None
Reason for stopping: End of scene
Stimulants: Coffee is my friend
Songs played loudly: "Grand Theft Autumn" by Fall Out Boy
Mail: Found out that a short story of mine, "Ash Fish," had been accepted to a benefit anthology called SALT. Also, received contracts for "Birds, Gods, and the Naming of Things" for the Strange Stories of Sand and Sea anthology. Other than that, nomail. Tis Sunday!
Darling du Jour: "I have an idea." Emily stood, scratched her cat thanks under his chin, and hurried over to her computer. "Thanksgiving might come early this year."
Other writing-related work: Nopers
The Internet is full of Things: I like this blog a lot. Old photos galore!

Three things!

Well, here's some good news. "The Weatherbugs of Mr. Grady," a truly strange short story I wrote last July, just sold to Grimoire. I believe it's slated for the debut issue in August 2007. Cool, cool.

I received Gradisil by Adam Roberts in the mail the other day. Looks interesting. Cover shows spaceships, some sort of futuristic satellite, and explosions. Well, I'm sold.

And lastly this video, featuring Will Ferrel and a less-than-respectful landlord, is pretty funny. Well, funny enough that I've watched it more than once. That means it's good enough to share.



EDIT: Scratch that. Seems the video is being removed from YouTube due to copyright issues.

Fastest acceptance ever

Well, I heard back from Shane Jiraiya Cummings this morning: he's accepted one of my five drabbles, "Something," for publication in the Black Box e-anthology. Very cool, and it looks like I'm in excellent company so far. Lucy Sussex, Amanda M Hayes, and Jason Sizemore, among others. I wonder if I can find a market for the other four drabbles...

Now I can get back to the other two short stories that are having me consider my sanity on an hourly basis. One is a rewrite that seems to need to be submitted by April 1, and the other is for a submission period that opens on March 23. No rush on the second one but I'm trying to balance my writing time between them both and it's starting to make my left twitch. See? Being a writer has its perks! Oh wait...nevermind.

Children of Men comes out on DVD next week. Since I missed it in the theatres, this is one I'm definitely going to be picking up. Blade Runner-esque + Clive Owen + Michael "I Can Do No Wrong" Caine = happiness/life/fill in your own term of bliss. Remember, kids, don't buy Eragon! Buy good DVDs!

Sea sale

"Birds, Gods, and the Naming of Things" has sold to the Strange Stories of Sand and Sea anthology forthcoming from Fine Tooth Press in 2007. Very pleased about this one.

Oh, and happy Presidents' Day!

Here's an update (somewhat!)

Philcon was fun though a bit different than what I was expecting. Met some good folks like Neil Clarke, John Joseph Adams, Diane Turnshek, and others. Bought some mags and drank some beer. Overall, not terribly bad for my first con but I've quickly learned that other (bigger) cons are more about socializing than just panels. Those are the ones I really want to attend.

29-day sale of the dark robot story "67442" to Murky Depths for Issue #1 in September 2007. I think this makes me an official international author.

And lastly, check out the Thanksgiving/LOST-themed comic at Greenhorn. Hurley stars in it, which should be reason enough to go lookie at it.

I think that's it for now.

Lake sale!

154-day sale to The Blue Lady for my short story "Love Under the Lake," which is scheduled to appear in issue #2. This is my second horror story dealing with creepy lake things and I'm happy to see it find a home.

Sale to Apex!

51-day sale to Apex Digest for my flash piece entitled "Sonorous," which is slated for publication in issue nine! Very excited about this one. :)

In other news, my list of stories I'd like to write is getting longer and the actual amount of stories being written is fairly low. This is because of a secret project I've been working on, which, hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be able to reveal to you all.

Hooray for sales!

Just learned that my piece of horror entitled "The Feet Eaters" sold to Aberrant Dreams for publication sometime in 2007. I'm very happy about this one as I've always enjoyed AD's stories, and this tale of creepy turtles and things under lakes is a personal favorite of mine.

Fourth sale of the month!

Back Roads has decided to buy my short story of bad diner food and coyotes, "Never Order the Midnight Special," for either their September debut or December issue.

Hooray! So far, July's been a great month in the sales department. And there's still six days left to go...

Saleee!

After several blah form rejections, a 24-day SALE to AlienSkin Magazine for a piece of flash fiction titled "Night Fairies." It'll be appearing in their August/September 2006 issue.

Great news!

Got some belated birthday presents:

- My story "Curling Tendrils of Love" got second place in the RLD/Apex contest, which means it will be forthcoming in Apex Online and a print anthology that will debut at World Horror Convention 2007 in Toronto.

- My story "To Make a Friend" sold to Dark Jesters for their debut issue in October 2006.

Happy, happy writer here!

Woo, another one!

Just made an 87-day sale of my story "Chance on Catella" to AlienSkin Magazine for their June/July 2006 issue! Happy happy joy joy...

I wrote this story after reading a ton of Lovecraft though I doubt anyone will see a connection. It is a symbolic piece of dark science fiction. I like all things dark...

Story sale!

My Romero-esque zombie story, "With the Dead, Change is Inevitable", sold to Dead Letters for their 2.2 issue!

Woop woop!

Second sale!

"Always Greener" to Shimmer for their Summer 2006 issue.

Woot, woot!