Some updatery

My review of City Slab #12 is now live at The Fix Online. Go on, check it out.

I worked on artsy stuff for most of the weekend. Got some comics done for the ones for The Stars Down Under, as well as MyLifeComics. I even doodled! It's been ages since I just sat and...doodled!

Today I went to the park for the first time in many months. To say it was divine would not even come close to describing the experience.

I still plan on submitting a story to the new open submissions period for Sword and Sorceress, but I started another piece for the time being. Sci-fi and about food. Everyone knows I'm a foodwhore. So, yeah, I'm working on this one for a bit.

And lastly, Battlestar Galactica has been great so far. I only wish it was back on Sunday nights.

There you go. Five random things makes an entry.

Look, ma, progress notes

Ah, so I couldn't not start a new story. I'm telling you, it's an addiction at times...

Progress notes for 03 April 2008

"The Surviving Skalds"

New words: 223
Total wordage: 223
Deadline: May 16
Reason for stopping: Just plain ol' tired, folks.

Actually, I need to figure out how the surviving skalds actually play a part in this thing. See, I originally wrote about 500 words from the title itself, my muse, and then scrapped them. I was starting in the wrong place. But I still really like the title and now have to figure out where they are and what they are going to do once Luann and company stumble upon them.

Must think, think, think...

Darling du jour: The dockside inns of Anlaegar welcomed Luann and her brother's men by locking all their doors. (First sentence, too!)
Tyop du jour: ...as if fleeing from the plaque.
Number of curse words so far: Just one. I must be growing up or something.
Character quirks: Someone can't count too well. Mathematics, it seems, is not a necessity for a mercenary that can swing a sword, I suppose.
Words Microsoft Word squirms at: sellsword, skalds
Words Microsoft Word loves, but should probably have a problem with: NA
Sustenance: Coffee with hazelnut creamer, some fat free Rocky Road ice cream coming up next...
Mean Things: The horror that is sleeping outside on a cobblestone street. Also, some shoving.
Other writing-related work: Signed the contract from Farrago's Wainscot for "Pigment" and sent it back, woo. Somehow, contracts are fun to read. I think I like all the technical jargon.
Other work not related to writing: I colored in tomorrow's comic for MyLifeComics, as well as wrote down notes for next week's batch.
Mail: Just a bill, yawn.
Animal Crossing: Wild World update: This section here is for Bitsy. I know she's dying to know. Today, I spoke with Pascal and he hooked me up with a ship's compass. Kind of neat. Also, if you need it, I got an ivory piano in my house. Finally.
The Internet is Full of Things: Oh, don't you know it! Too bad I'm eating ice cream and don't have time to search it for neat thingies.

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?

More stuff pertaining to the mail

Yes, another grand post about...mail! Settle down, settle down!

• Received my contributor copy and check (mmm money) for the beach-themed anthology Strange Stories of Sand and Sea, which contains my short story "Birds, Gods, and the Naming of Things"...and boy is it a big book. Over 300 pages. Lots of stories in here and I'm looking forward to sitting down with it and checking the others out. I don't re-read my work. But if I was to I'd probably describe the piece as an in-and-out hallucination trip under the boards of Atlantic City where an angry boy learns a mighty lesson from a talking seagull. Yup.
  
• Received my review copy of the latest issue of the urban horror magazine City Slab, #12, which I'll be handling for The Fix Online sometime in the near future.
• I mailed out my latest entry into the Writers of the Future contest this weekend. Go, little story, go! Shine on you crazy diamond! Er, I'll keep my fingers crossed that it makes it to California safely.

And that's that for now. I suspect I'll be getting a few more interesting items this week, but most of them will be bills. Ah, the bane of my existence! Bills! And CVS ads!

Black Box has arrived

Click the above image to head over to the Brimstone Press website where you can learn more about the 2-disk Black Box e-anthology edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, which features my horror piece "Something" as well as some 99 other stories from a whomping gathering of 80 kickass writers like Lucy Sussex, Mikal Trimm, Jay Caselberg, Lee Battersby, Jason Sizemore, and more! (I feel like a tiny speck in the presence of some of these people, yo.)

This isn't just some run-of-the-mill e-anthology though; it's a complete multimedia experience. There's art galleries provided, and the second CD contains music from the best of Australian alternative, gothic opera, metal, and hip hop artists. The box is selling for $12.95, and all the proceeds will be donated to the Australian Horror Writers Association.

So do yourself a favor...and open up the box. Don't you want to know what's inside?

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.

Editing as I go

Up to about 1,600 words on the WOTF story. I'm aiming for maybe 5K or 6K, knowing that this contest actually prefers longer stories over shorter ones. Basically, I'm really writing this one specifically for them. Normally, it'd be darker or harsher, and a lot more concise. I prefer brevity over longwindedness. Not that my current writing is longwinded. Eh, you get what I mean.

Anyways, the writing is slow going, if only because I'm actually editing as I go. This is pretty new to me in that I'm studying prose a lot more than I normally do. I sit and think about modifiers, try out a few, read it out loud, try another, read it again, re-read the paragraph above to see if it flows well, edit it, edit the dialog, and so on. I hope this isn't making the piece worse. I like it so far, but then again...I'm my biggest fan.

Here's an oddity. For some reason, I used the verb scanned three times already. No, no, no. I think once will be enough, even for a futuristic SF piece.

Tangent thoughts

This has been bothering me lately, but I'm not sure why, and I'm pretty sure no one else will know why either...

What happened to Tangent Online?

After being diligently run by Eugie Foster, Dave Truesdale came back in mid-September 2007 to reclaim his baby. Dismissed from her editing job, Foster strolled over to head up the revitalized Fix Online, where I now review short fiction and the like. There was no pressure to pick one site over the other or anything. Some said they'd stick with TO, others jumped ship and swam for a better fix (get it?), and a handful found it hard to side and chose to work for both review sites when the materials presented themselves. Fair is fair, but I've never dealt with Truesdale personally and only know what I do of him from online flamewars. So I went with the boss that I knew and trusted.

Within a month and some days, FO went live, downright swimmingly. The site has continued to publish reviews on a steady and excellent schedule, especially when one considers that this is a labor of love for reviewers, that their time and effort is spent because they know they have readers and a respectable place to post such thoughts. The site itself uses a Wordpress theme, looks very shiny, and does what it needs to do: get short fiction in people's faces. I'm fairly sure no one thought, "Gee, let's take five months to make the prettiest most elaborate site ever, that way when we post blocks and blocks of text it'll have a really nice border around it and people will love us dearly so!"

What has TO and company been up to since Truesdale's pillaging?

Nothing.

Not a single peep, unless you count an excuse-heavy post about what might or might not be happening in the future. Which is a shame, really. You ever have a friend that can kill a conversation immediately? That's what this feels like.

Truesdale says:

In all humility, Tangent and now TO changed the face of short sf/f reviewing for the *entire* field when it debuted in July/August 1993. That was almost 15 years ago. Even Locus, and then Locus Online changed demonstrably since Tangent came on the scene. Fact.

Okay, sure. Not arguing facts. But we're not living in the world that existed fifteen years ago. Things do need to be a bit speedier these days, and yes, there's irony there considering this is the publishing business and all, but come on. So long as the site is functional and not littered with Geocities ads then it is fine to continue posting reviews and such.

So much time has been wasted, so many missed opportunities, and for what? A little bit of "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Thankfully, there is the Fix Online and even IROSF seems to have resurfaced. Sure, took longer than expected and it isn't completely finished, but they aren't worried about that. They want discussion, they want people's attention, they want to give something back. Not take it away.

Books in 2008, #5

#5. Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross

"Lace and blade," as per Vera Nazarian in the publisher's note, is a term meant to cover a softer subform of the subgenre of adventurous sword and sorcery that is synonymous with names such as Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard. Aggression and over-the-top violence is left behind in preference for a more romantic look on the form. She also used the phrase "girl cooties," which is both comical and still appropriate. I will say upfront that this is not the sort of fiction I normally read, but was initially intrigued due to the inclusion of Tanith Lee.

In "Virtue and the Archangel" by Madeline E. Robins, Velliaune meCorse risked being banished from her family and its fortune for one night of fun in bed with Col haVandron at the Bronze Manticore. Unfortunately, amidst all the sweat and lustful desires, she loses the Archangel, a necklace that is precious to her parents. She writes to Nyana, a schoolmate from the past, pleading for her help. From there, the story follows Nyana on a short detective-like search for the missing necklace. Along the way she'll meet the mysterious Col himself, deal with an inn's less-than-helpful staff, and find herself in a brazenly bold swordfight. All in all, a good start to Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross. It's a strong mix of romance and swordplay though two aspects confused me: the reasoning behind everyone's last name (meCorse, haVandron, and meBarso) and the kiss at the end. It felt somewhat tacked on.

"The Crossroads" by Diana L. Paxson shared many similarities to the previous story, namely ending with a swordfight and a confusing introduction of some character named Exu that came, seemingly, out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure it went right over my head. Anyways, Claude DeLorme has sailed to a colonial Brazil to inquire about the status of a family emerald mine. Once there, he meets the seductively pleasant Corquisa and ultimately finds himself in a card game for the deed of his family's mine and the right to keep the cabaret she works for in safe keeping. Paxson has provided all the right ingredients to "The Crossroads" to make it an enjoyable, fast-paced piece of lyrical lace and blade. Despite a minor quibble with the ending, it's a fine story that builds tension well and delivers on the action.

If you were to guess that "Touch of Moonlight" by Robin Wayne Bailey was a werewolf story just off its title, you'd be absolutely correct. Elena Sanchez y Vega is on her way to deliver the ransom for her brother's life to Joaquin Cortez, the dark sorcerer that made her the beast she is under moonlight. Along the way, her carriage is robbed by a man claiming to be Ramon Estrada, a ghost of lore for their whereabouts. The story then takes leaps and bounds with credibility and the task of behooving the reader any sense of "being in the story." How so? At one point or another, both Elena and Ramon are butt-naked and fighting an inviolable werewolf. I kid thee not. The jump from Ramon the thief to Ramon the loverboy made me frown. It might've worked in a longer piece, but I didn't buy it here. Otherwise, the story goes on very much expected with a buildup to a fight before everyone achieves happiness.

Ah, the story that got me interested in reading Lace and Blade. Oddly enough, I couldn't finish her heavily S&S debut The Birthgrave. But this, yes, this was much more enjoyable. "Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest" by Tanith Lee tells the story of a shipwreck and three of the travelers it was carrying across the sea. They survive, but a previous promise onboard permits that two of them will duel at once. Well, as soon as they can find some new swords. This multilayered tale is classic Lee: action, intrigue, wonderfully colorful characters, a hint of the unexpected, and well-written. I enjoyed it very much, especially the somewhat silly determination between Vendrei and Zephyrin to hate each other so devoutly despite just surviving a nasty shipwreck. Definitely one of the better stories in the anthology.

The titular queen in "The Beheaded Queen" by Dave Smeds is exactly that: beheaded. However, she is bound to her husband's life, as he is bound to the demon that allowed him to keep her still talking. As it turns out, her son Bredden is to marry a girl from another country and begs for his mother's opinion on the matter. I was surprised to find this piece to be so serious, focusing on politics and lovers' betrayal. Sure, the joke itself is there, that we're reading about a talking head, but strangely the queen is quite sympathetic. Strikingly different from a previous Smeds read, "Bearing Shadows," but still just as rewarding.

One small spell completely shatters Tanzi's life in "The Topaz Desert" by Catherine Asaro. She only did it to calm her owners' screaming baby. She is quickly discovered, bemoaned as a town witch, and sent to the Holding House for punishment. Lucky for her, she narrowly escapes but now must live in fear of those that hate her so. And she soon meets men who may or may not be helpful. Asaro does a good job of capturing Tanzi's innocence, as well as giving us some gray characters that keep us guessing. Rocks and gems seem to be a staple in fantasy stories, yet here they are treated a tiny bit differently, which is appreciated. I'd have liked to see more magic, but what can you do?

Highwaymen are the focus of "Night Wind" by Mary Rosenblum. Alvaro's entourage is ambushed, and he soon learns much about the brigands. They don't care to bargain, only take what they demand. When he arrives at the home of His Lordship Salvaria, Alvaro hears of the legendary Night Wind, the very same highwayman that robbed him of his money and horses earlier. Eh, I feel like this sort of story has been done before. Revealing that a mysterious robber or thief or bandit is a woman is not exactly original. Sure, it rounds things out for the anthology so Alvaro can feel like he's met his soulmate, but for plot purposes it just turned me off. No thanks, even though the worldbuilding and talk of horses were quite enjoyable.

"In the Night Street Baths" by Chaz Brenchley takes two side-characters from his novel Bridge of Dreams and shows us what they've been up to. This would probably be more, uh, neat if I'd read his book. But I haven't, and so I must enter a world already realized and try to figure out just what is going on. Set in a world similar to Arabian Nights, the streets are home to many a people: dwarves, eunuchs, and people that Shine. And Teo and Djago mean to unearth a city secret. Or just have an adventure. I don't really know. Maybe it was just me, but this felt rather pointless, almost aimlessly written for more of the author's enjoyment than that of his readers.

In "The Rule of Engagement" by Sherwood Smith, Ren Desvransa and many other prominent ladies are attending the Blue Moon Masque, a ball of celebration before the king of Duen Lesc went home for the winter. His court is divided and it shows. That's why he's implemented Ren and her brother Yvo into his court with hopes of solidifying everyone. The introduction teases us that this is "a story of choice, about honor, about the transforming power of love" and then goes on to blast a boastful rendition of the Huey Lewis pop song. Okay, maybe not true about that last part. Either way, it's a complex story, one that seems to truly define what Lace and Blade is all about. That is, courtly intrigue, brave deeds, and romantic, subtle fantasy. Plus, dueling. Always with the dueling. It's a good ending to a somewhat decent anthology.

While the entries from Tanith Lee and David Smeds were enjoyable, the remainder of the tales felt far too similar to really impress me. No country felt particularly fresh or different from any other medieval/European locale, every plot seemed to rely on a duel fight at the end to close things up, and too much emphasis was placed on soulmates or true loves upon characters just meeting members of the opposite sex for the first time. Not bad, but not great. Then again, as I mentioned earlier, this is not at all what I normally like to read about and could be way off on all accounts.

Review on a slab

Surfacing briefly to let y'all know that my review of City Slab #11 is now live over at the Fix Online. If you like your horror stories subtle, atmospheric, and not there simply for people to bleed and have their intestines ripped out, well you just very well might like this magazine.

Tomorrow I'll probably post a review of a book published in 2001 that no one will be truly interested in. I don't know why I sometimes put so much effort into everything I do. Anyways, stay tuned. It's worth ignoring, really.

(Ignore any snarkiness above; I'm currently sick.)

So there.

Sporty Spec reviewed at The Fix

Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic edited by Karen A. Romanko has just gotten reviewed over at The Fix. Of my story, reviewer Kimberly Lundstrom says the following:

Sporty Spec opens with Paul Abbamondi's "The Sport of Kings," in which a young man bets against the odds on a natural born horse, untainted by "enhancements or cyber-widgets." This tale is interesting enough, but relies on a deus ex machina that spoiled it for me.

Swing and a miss, if I was to use a sports phrase.

I'm brainstorming my latest to-do-list, which I'll probably post later. It'll have a brand new feature this time around: a not-to-do-just-yet-list. Wow! Aren't you excited?!

Done and done, said the doctor

"The Brazen Bug-blesser"

New Words: 1,318
Total Words: 3,359
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Reason for stopping: DONE!
Stimulants: Two cups of coffee, plus a cup of yogurt
Songs played loudly: "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner" by Fall Out Boy, "Hold Me Down" by Motion City Soundtrack, "Samson" by Regina Spektor
Exercise: Nothing, been sick all morning, might go for a quick walk soonish
Mail: 60-day rejection from Interzone with some nice comments and a market suggestion. Oh, and I subscribed to Shimmer as well!
Darling du Jour: "Feeling grand, m'lady!" The termite emitted a colorful puff of steam.
Mean Things: Josephine got bit again, and well...betrayed
Research is for Writers: Victorian names are cool though they do, on occasion, have their stinkers. Maude? Uck.
Words that Microsoft Word argues with: grizzling
Other writing-related work: Nada
The Internet is full of Things: For those that don't have the luxury to play Flash Focus every day, practice focusing on these double vision photos. I promise they will make you squint.

Phew, glad to have reached a draft with only a few words to spare for the submission limit. Going to let it sit overnight and will give it a fresh read tomorrow night. I know there's one spot in particular that could use some tweaking. By that, I mean cutting erroneous crap.

And then once this is all out of my headspace I can return to the Novel.

I've got your voice on tape

"The Brazen Bug-blesser"

New Words: 541
Total Words: 2,040
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Reason for stopping: End of scene, a scene brimming with exposition so yeah, that needs some work
Stimulants: Four cups of coffee in total for the day, y'ouch
Songs played loudly: "Fewer Moving Parts" by David Bazan, "The Feelings Show" by Colbie Caillat, "Voice on Tape" by Jenny Owen Youngs
Exercise: A walk, some sit-ups after I post this
Mail: Nothing (grumble, grumble)
Darling du Jour: Finding herself homeless and without a family, Josephine searched for any that shared Blanchard blood.
Mean Things: Drowned a man, stole a house, steered a young girl wrongly
Research is for Writers: Looked up stuff about England, found some cool county names
Words that Microsoft Word argues with: sideroom
Other writing-related work: Looked over edits for "She's a Hearth," which is scheduled to appear in Kaleidotrope #4 (April 2008)
The Internet is full of Things: Traffic in India is, quite possibly, the scariest thing known to the world of Men. Don't believe me? Check it out:

---

So, the story should make it under the word limit of 3,500. I just need to wrap things up with the bugs, make it a bit more like a fable, and tightening up a few loose threads. Didn't write too much tonight because I had to draw the remainder of the week's comics.

Some days I feel like I have half a dozen jobs.

---

I wish The Office was back on TV.

Homage is where the heart is

About a week ago when I announced that Aoife's Kiss was buying my short story "After Effects" I made a side reference that the piece contained "a teeny homage to the Robot Man." Since nobody asked me what that meant, I figured I'd talk a bit about what I like to do with my short stories. Namely, I like to put in little bits of adulation for writers, musicians, artists, and a thousand of others whose work I've come to respect over time.

This is why I absolutely lurve the show LOST. Details, details, and details, along with the quick a-ha moments where they show you something obvious yet make it so transparent that you don't realize what you are seeing. LOST absolutely bounces in delight when it showcases books (Carrie, Catch-22, Heart of Darkness, Rainbow Six, and Stranger in a Strange Land to name a few), makes light of philosophers (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau), and lets slip those seductively damning numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42, in case you forgot). It cares about these things, making it important that they are mentioned, that they are carefully revealed with respect and attitude.

Sure, the producers must like it when a fan picks up on a reference...but whether they do or don't, it truly doesn't matter. The deed is done, and its meaning is out there for whoever to take it in. I like that. I like looking for those sorts of things, linking one and two to make three, understanding the why and how of a creator's intent.

Now where was I? Oh right. Homages. I suspect I'm not the only one.

I won't reveal all of my secrets now (I'll wait until I'm insanely famous for that, of course).

So, who is the Robot Man then? To me, that'd be Isaac Asimov.

And how did I bend my knee? I named the spaceship that the story's events transpire on The Foundation. Plus, there's some robots on board (though they do not adhere to the Three Laws of Robotics). There ya go.

Be my lovebug

"The Brazen Bug-blesser"

New Words: 529
Total Words: 1,499
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Reason for stopping: Need to figure out exactly how to distract our dear Josephine long enough for a termite to bite her hand. No, really. I mean that.
Stimulants: A diet snapple, w00t
Songs played loudly: "Nth Degree" by Morningwood
Exercise: Going for a quick walk, right now!
Mail: No snail mail on Sundays, and no e-mail yet but I should be hearing back soonish from some markets
Darling du Jour: Josephine studied the sheet of paper. A list of design features and technically advantageous modifications covered the paper's length, prices printed small next to each item. Mood organs, phosphorous ticklers, eagle eye lenses, voice mockers, rainbow-swirl skins. She could afford none of them, certainly not yet.
Mean Things: Breaking a woman's heart, evil bugs lurking in corners, liars
Words that Microsoft Word argues with: lovebug
Other writing-related work: Nothing, though my mind is slowly drifting back to the Novel
The Internet is full of Things: NO TIME PEOPLE!

Checking in

"The Brazen Bug-blesser"

New Words: 521
Total Words: 969
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Reason for stopping: End of the first scene, pondering the look and opening of a skittish, evil bug-blesser's pad
Stimulants: Two cups of coffee
Songs played loudly: "Bad News" by Owen, "Clouds" by The Morning Light, "So Much Love" by The Rocket Summer
Exercise: None yet, but tis early. Will walk later today.
Mail: A nice, 1-day rejection from Lone Star Stories. I also received Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie for review
Darling du Jour: Josephine cradled Lawr and left the park, allowing Path to steer her to salvation.
Words that Microsoft Word argues with: voicebox, gruebulb
Other writing-related work: Nada, woo-hoo!
The Internet is full of Things: Curious as to how punishment was dished out in China back in the day? Check out scans here.

This story is weird. I mean weird. Which, seeing what I normally write, is kind of funny. It's being aimed at the Clockwork Jungle Book themed issue of Shimmer, with the word count definitely below 3,500 words...but it might go longer than that. In which case it'll just be a new story. So far, I have both aspects of the theme down. Just need to make it more like a fable.

My latest to-read pile

73-day rejection from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, personal and with some comments that the ending felt too abrupt. I have a feeling that January is going to be the month where editors everywhere return to handle any and all submissions in their inboxes. Bring on the responses, I say!

And now, my to-read pile:



I'll list them in their appropriate groups since I seem to not understand that using a flash on glossy books means bad business.

For pure, bibliophilish enjoyment
A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin
Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (a re-read after seeing the film)
The Beach by Alex Garland (interest sparked after seeing the film)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007 edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant (I'm taking many, many notes on this one)
Isaac Asimov's Halloween edited by Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams (still reading even though I started back in October, gah)

For the Hugo list
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

For review
The Servant of the Manthycore by Michael Ehart
Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross
Killswitch by Joel Shepard

Hmm, that should keep me busy for a bit. Once this stack is done I think I'll go through my shelves and find other unread books and make a new pile. But I will not make that pile now! No! I must wait! WAIT!

Rejectomancy shtuff

20-day rejection from Fantasy Magazine that reads, "No on this one, I'm afraid. For me the most effective part of the story were the roommates - they managed to be funny and weird and interesting in a really nice way."

I think tonight I'll take some time to send out the stories that have come back to me or the ones that are just sitting around collecting dust because I'm too hard on myself and reject my own work before they can even go out the door. That's a no-no. Must stop, must stop.

Oh look, I'm writing

"The Brazen Bug-blesser"

New Words: 448
Total Words: 448
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Reason for stopping: I want to upload photos from my camera while simultaneously set up my new iPod alarm clock thingy
Stimulants: Cup of coffee
Songs played loudly: "Cuts Marked in the March of Men" by Coheed and Cambria, "Givin' It Up" by Josh Rouse, "Something Isn't Right Here" by The Juliana Theory
Exercise: Grocery shopping, short walk, and a dozen and a half trips to and from my car unloading everything
Mail: Lots and lots of mail! Being away from my apartment for nearly two weeks really allows the shtuff to pile up. Nothing terribly writing-related, but I got a few books in the mail for review.
Darling du Jour: The twittering bug started showing signs of juice failure in the morning, leaking yellow-green headguts and smelling atrocious.
Words that Microsoft Word argues with: headguts, m'lady, gawkers
Other writing-related work: Organizing books and updating my submissions spreadsheet
The Internet is full of Things: But I have no time to look for a single one!

So, this is the last short story I'm going to work on before returning to the Novel (with hopes of finishing it once I get back into it). Strangely, writing about bugs is fun. Steam-powered ones are even doubly so...

Ugh, I have a thousand things that need doing. I think I will just tackle them one at a time and see how that goes. Yah? Yah.