Meanwhile…

I’m delighted to present “Aftershocks: The Musical” over at Everyday Fiction. I kid, I kid. It is, however, an audio reading of the story, read by M. Sherlock of the UK’s own Storm the Gates.

Sherlock enjoyed chewing me out a little for writing a story with such difficult names, and deservedly so. I can check “get called a git by a real Briton” off my bucket list. Next: Piss off Alan Moore with a film adaptation of Captain Britain.

Anyway, you should go give it a listen, even if maybe you read the story back in the day. Audio podcast markets are something I’d like to penetrate more, when I get around to it. I never seem to have something that’s the right length.

The second Every Day Fiction Anthology is out, featuring my story, “Apotheosis Cake,” as well as stories from Erin, Jens, Stephanie, KC, Gay, Frank, Kevin, and a whole slew of other great writers. You can order it directly from the good folks at EDF right here. It should be available at Amazon and other fine booksellers soon.

I unfortunately can’t make the official release party/reading in Canada (next weekend, I believe – if you’re in the Vancouver area you should check it out). But, I will be attempting to organize a local reading and signing, since there are several of us locally who have stories in the book. I didn’t get much response from the big booksellers last year, but I have found a local bookstore that might be amenable. Now that I have info on the book I’ll head over there sometime and see about scheduling an event.

My rock ‘n roll story IN SPAAAAACE! story is up over at Every Day Fiction. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

And now I’m off to work for another 11-hour day. Guh.

Update – I immensely enjoy that Jim Hartley left a curmudgeonly “get off my lawn, damn kids!”-style comment. It fits the story perfectly.

After a minor rewrite, “With the Band” has been accepted by Every Day Fiction! It’s a fun story, I think. There is a band, and someone is with it. More info on publication date when I know it!

In the meantime, enjoy as I brutally devour Stephanie.

I received word over the weekend that “Apotheosis Cake” was chosen for the Every Day Fiction Best of 2009″ Anthology!

Erin is featured as well, with a staggering four stories. I think that might be it for the Writer’s Inkers this time around – we had a fairly light presense on EDF this year compared to last year.

EDIT: Oop, apparently Jens and Stephanie are in as well! Yay! Perhaps we can do that book signing we tried to put together last year?

The full list hasn’t been posted yet, but I expect a lot of familiar names to be featured. It really is a great anthology. If you missed last year’s you can still find it at Amazon or order it directly from the good folks at EDF.

I’m seriously considering making the trip up north this time to make the launch party. I think it would be a blast. I’ll just have to see if I can put the money together for the trip. I’ve never been to the barren tundras of Canada before, though. Do they have cars up there? Should I bring my own food? Or perhaps a weapon with which to hunt for game (and if so, will the natives be frightened of gunpowder)? Someone let me know.

I have a new flash piece up over at Big Pulp. It’s fun! Check it out here!

In case you are interested, there really was a train called the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr, it was the overnight return trip from Nebraska to Chicago. They just reversed Nebraska. I suppose they should have also reversed Zephyr, just for consistency, but wants to try and explain how to pronounce Ryhpez? This, of course, was all back in the first half of the 20th century, when trains still had personality.

At any rate, let me know what you think! These are characters I wouldn’t mind returning to. I love the scientist-adventurer archetype.

New story up! “Stragglers,” a dramatic piece of crime fiction, is up over at the excellent 10Flash. I’m pretty happy with this piece. Check it out and let me (and superstar editor KC Ball) know what you think by leaving a comment over there (and here, too, of course, if you want).

Make sure you check out the other stories as well. There are some great authors featured there.

Speaking of KC, she’s got an awesome piece of crime fiction of her own up today over at Every Day Fiction.

I have a new short story up over at The Future Fire, “The Overdue Protocols.” Check it out!

This one was inspired by the Beverly Cleary book mentioned in the story (though if I recall correctly it was initially launched from a writing exercise). I hope I captured at least a little of the spirit of Cleary’s novel. Let me know what you think!

This is also my first illustrated story, which is fun.

My short story, “Big in Ak-Sar-Ben,” in which a stalwart scientist battles giant monsters with math, has been accepted by Big Pulp. I’ll post more when it comes out in October! That’s a story I’m pretty happy with. It was hard to sit on it, waiting for Big Pulp’s submission period. But the patience paid off.

I managed to pull off the nigh impossible – well, okay, perhaps it was only the slightly difficult, or even moderatedly challenging – task of winning the writing group’s July contest. I wrote the last piece with about 25 minutes to spare. I may have a couple of publishable works out of it, actually; maybe I should just be dashing things off without putting so much thought into them. Maybe I’m overthinking things. For first drafts, anyway. I would post an excerpt but I don’t have them handy.

Also on the to-do list: send in submissions for the Norton Anthology Hint Fiction contest. I’ve got one ready to go, and ideas for a couple more. Competition will be fierce!

Best of all, I think I have a solid piece that I can send to 10Flash. Once it’s been through the ringer at the writing group I’ll send it in.

I just noticed that my steampunkish story “Four Liars” is live over at the premier issue of 10Flash. Check it out and let me know what you think, over there or here.

There are some other awesome writers featured there as well, including Jordan, Gay, and Erin, so you should find something you like. I need to check them all out myself.