December 2017 –
Hello all!
Happy Solstice! Merry Season! Where I live, the days are dark and the dog walks are muddy, so I’m looking forward to the return of the light.
Speaking of mud: do you have shower thoughts? I have shower thoughts. My mind wanders furiously in the heat and steam. My Main Squeeze has come to expect (and probably dread) the moment I step out of the bathroom, clutching my towel, and start pacing around the house. As I drip water across the floor, I ramble through a story that washed over me or describe a character or concept that elbowed its way under the shower head. I’m not sure why inspiration strikes so persistently while I’m bathing, but I’ve come to expect a visit from the Shower Muse almost every morning.
My friends all know that I have a third or fourth draft of a novel sitting in a closet awaiting a “final” re-write. Well, it’s still just sitting there, under a pile of shoes and an old forgotten hat, fermenting. My procrastination has, however, spawned other projects:
Over the last year, I’ve completed several short stories which I’ve added to my rejection queue, starting them on an approximately nine-month journey through the hands of professional readers and editors. The first of these will be surfacing in early 2018, in one format or another.
My first novella – 4:17 – inspired by the short film by the same name. Is with beta readers as I type. I will push it through the rejection queue in early 2018. Not many publications consider stories of that length, so it should only take a month or two to make it out the other end. Stay tuned!
For those of you who’ve been sucked into World Eater, expect the universe to expand significantly over the next year.
I also have a Noir-fantasy novella – tentatively titled “Some Kind of Bluff”- currently in the works. It’s a grand expansion of the flash fiction piece A Quiet Beat that I wrote for Rachel Ritchie’s Blog Battle earlier this year.
The “rejection queue?” What the heck is that?
Last Spring, I decided that I would push some of my work through the submission process for a number of magazines and journals. Posting on a blog disqualifies a piece for consideration by most professional-level publications so I chose not to remove that possibility before offering my stories their opportunity at fame, fortune, and a life of libertine excess.
I was recently informed that at least one submission has made it past a publication’s first readers. This is a milestone for me and feels like significant validation in itself because these magazines accept only about 1% of submitted stories and fewer than 20% make it past the front-line “slush” readers.
I highly recommend my queue to those interested in quality short-form fantasy and science fiction, including:
Moving forward, I’ll share links to stories that I particularly enjoy. I’ve included a few examples below.
From Clarkesworld:
The Sum of Her Expectations by Jack Skillingstead
And a couple very short works from Daily Science Fiction:
Between the Lines by Wendy Nikel
Metal and Flesh by Marie Vibbert
I hope everyone is enjoying the season and wish you all a delightful year to come!
Carl