Austin Worley's Blog: Writing, Reading, and Living with Austin Worley, page 6

Update: June & July 2024

The last two months have been busy, so I have a lot to share in this blog post!

For the first half of June, I continued work on The Captain and the Crown. Chapter Two went much slower than Chapter One, simply because there was hardly any reusable material from the novelette version of this story, but I did manage to carve my way through all the convoluted emotions whirling around inside Prince Luis.

Worldbuilding dominated the next scene, as I took the opportunity of Luis being en route to ELS Taurus to very briefly showcase some of the technologies at play in this setting, especially related to starship design. Weaving characterization into these moments to avoid massive info dumps was fun, but tricky. So tricky my progress almost ground to a halt.

Around mid-to-late June, I stopped at the point where Luis and his bodyguard Ziva have boarded Taurus, right before the face-to-face meeting between him and Captain Korzh. I do intend to circle back around and finish this chapter, but I haven’t done so yet, due to a call for submissions for an anthology entitled Sword & Scandal.

Thanks to the daily calls for submissions posted over on The Horror Tree, I stumbled across this listing around June 20th. My creative mind already felt like it was swinging back to fantasy because of the recent reveal of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and for whatever reason, the notion of NSFW heroic fantasy–with a dash of humor and even horror–really stuck with me. In just a few days, I had rough mental outline and started the story now entitled “He Who Sows”.

Quite a bit of my worldbuilding around Tyria, its religion, and its festivals featured some elements that are maybe a little too racy for most mainstream markets who want sword & sorcery-style short stories, so this seemed like my best chance to show them off in a work that could actually be published. “He Who Sows” is set during the time when Arlise was an adventurer and gladiatrix in Tyria, but she isn’t the main character this time around. That distinction goes to archaeologist and thief Tanis of Byrsa.

It’s been a long time since I wrote an MC in Anura who wasn’t either Arlise or Earc, but I had a lot of fun with Tanis. She’s clever, adventurous, dangerously charming, and comes with a wicked sense of humor. The latter was especially fun–and challenging!–as I’ve never really written humor or comedy before, but the bawdy, unrestrained nature of this call for submissions allowed me to throw in some off-the-wall stuff. Apparently, the jokes landed, because “He Who Sows” made it into the second round of consideration with a bunch of other stories the editor said he’d love to include in Sword & Scandal.

“He Who Sows” centers on Tanis and her sister-in-arms Sunna–an adventurer, sellsword, and gladiatrix who should be immediately recognizable to anyone who’s read my other stories set in Anura–as they use the orgiastic festivities of Diluculum to infiltrate a temple to the fertility god Yarhib and steal a sacred…implement called the Phallus of Our Forefather. Aside from the aforementioned humor, this tale is soaked in sex, action, adventure and crowned with some gnarly body horror.

If the maximum word count wasn’t set at 7500, I would’ve added in more of all those elements. Alas, I had to leave a lot of wicked ideas on the drawing board because I knew there wouldn’t be room to do them justice, and even then, I still had to make some serious cuts. I ended up squeaking under the max with a final word count of 7492. Yikes!

I’m not sure what to expect for “He Who Sows”. Just making it to the second round of consideration is awesome, because I wasn’t sure if my first efforts at comedic writing would suit the editor’s tastes, but I know he has over 80,000 words of submissions he loves and funds for only 60,000. I wouldn’t be surprised if a nice, regretful personal rejection comes down the pipeline. At the same time, after a little reflection, this story turned out to be solid.

I doubt I’ll be able to sell it anywhere else if I do receive a rejection, just because there are virtually no markets in this niche (and building one is half the idea behind this anthology), but after over a year working on major projects with no end in sight, it’s so nice to finish something again!

After finishing off “He Who Sows” around the middle of last week, I unleashed a fresh wave of other submissions. One of them was Folk of Rock and Water. I dusted off that fantasy novella and submitted a query to Of Metal and Magic Publishing on Friday; Sunday brought me a full request, and I sent the manuscript yesterday. Hopefully they like what they see!

I doubt the first half of August will be very productive, since I’ll be recovering from oral surgery to remove two wisdom teeth, but my goals for next month are to finish Chapter Two of The Captain and the Crown before returning to “In the Web of Fate”. The latter strikes a very different tone from “He Who Sows”, but I love the first few scenes of that story, and I can’t stand to let them go to waste by never writing the rest. Meanwhile, I’ll continue outlining and worldbuilding for Seven Tears on the Tide.

With my interest in fantasy at a fever pitch thanks to all the hype around Veilguard, I doubt I’ll be able to concentrate on any other genre!

For most of June, my reading trended away from fiction and toward naval history. World War II at Sea: A Global History was an excellent book, detailing a lot of aspects of naval warfare in the era that don’t receive much coverage. While I would’ve liked a little more granular detail on some of the battles, it jams a lot of material into a single volume.

July saw my fantasy kick go into full swing, so I used what time I had outside of writing “He Who Sows” to finish Tevinter Nights. There are so many good short stories in this anthology. I was especially fond of “Horror at Hormak”, “Eight Little Talons” and “May the Dreadwolf Take You”. Can’t wait to see how all this ties into Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

Some of the naval history I picked up is on Audible, and I’ll be listening to those during my recovery. Aside from Ian Toll’s Pacific War trilogy, I also grabbed Castles of Steel to learn more about naval warfare in World War One. Jutland and the U-boat war grab most of the attention, so it’ll be fun to hear about some of the lesser-known aspects of the conflict.

Just scheduling the operation has been an ordeal, but it’s finally happening. I’m finally getting my wisdom teeth out on Thursday!

Well, two of them. I’d prefer to do all four at once and be done with it, but when insurance is covering the whole thing based on medical necessity, I can’t complain. I’m guessing recovery will cost me at least a week, maybe more, before I’m up to doing actual creative work again, but it’ll be nice to have these teeth out before serious issues arise.

So I’ll see you all again next month…with two less teeth!

Update: April & May

Ah, the blog slipped through the cracks again! Not quite as bad as earlier this year, but I still hate to leave everyone hanging like this, so let’s dive right in.

About two-thirds of March went to Wed to the Warrior Queen. I settled on names for the main characters (Tigratava and Bek-Mekri), fleshed out their character sheets, and did some world building on the geography of this new fantasy world and the inner workings of magic. But as I worked my way deeper into developing the story, the novelty started to wear off and I realized I didn’t have a clear vision beyond the first few scenes. For a book to be centered on the intrigues that drive this couple closer, that could be fatal.

So I decided to move this idea to the backburner and return to Seven Tears on the Tide.

March and most of April went to the outline. Although the Midpoint proved to be farther off than expected, I worked my way to it and a little beyond. All the events originally covered by “The Gale at Quiet Cove” have been adapted into the novel, and so have those of “Enough”. I also have a fairly clear idea of the Third Act Crisis–a break-up doesn’t make sense for this book–the climax, and the resolution, as well as some clues and minor plot points building towards those events.

What’s given me trouble is how to advance the romance for the next 10-20% of the book, where external threats are at their lowest ebb. My main idea at the moment is for Arlise to be fretting over her past, particularly the events at Laufenden, and what Earc might think of her if he ever learned about them. Would he still love her?

While grappling with this knot, I returned to reading To End in Fire so I could be all caught up on the Honor Harrington series, and the climactic battle really fired my imagination…and made my mind wander again!

Those of you who’ve followed this blog for a while know about my sci-fi setting featuring the Eleutherian League. You might also remember the military sci-fi romance I started outlining last year, The Captain and the Crown. The outline is about as far along as the one for Seven Tears on the Tide, maybe not quite so far into the plot, but you know what? I decided it didn’t need to be finished and jumped straight to drafting!

Ah, it’s good to be writing actual prose again. The tail end of April and all of May so far have gone to The Captain and the Crown. I managed to finish the first chapter in just over a week, which is a fantastic pace compared to the agonizing crawl of writing pretty much everything last year. Some of that is due to the fact I could reuse a lot of text from the first scene of my abortive novelette version of this story, but lots of it still needed to be reworked and a good chunk of the chapter was totally new. All in all, I’m very happy with how things have gone so far.

The real test will come with Chapter Two. Prince Luis’s POV gave me a lot of trouble last time around because he starts off the story listless and uncertain of what he wants, beyond not being forced into an arranged marriage to Duchess Ahuja. His broodiness made it difficult to advance the scene, and the whole things fell apart on me as I tried alternate approaches and kept slamming into brick walls. If I can conquer his introduction and the meet-cute (which isn’t very cute at all, since this is enemies-to-lovers), I’ll aim to finish a draft of this book. If not, there’s always Seven Tears on the Tide.

As you can tell, my reads for the last couple months have all been military sci-fi. First To End in Fire to get all caught up on the “modern”-era of the Honorverse, then A Call to Duty and A Call to Arms to start off the Manticore Ascendant series of distant prequels.

Overall, To End in Fire was decent, but I wish there weren’t so many meetings! A lot of them felt redundant or unnecessary, and the book probably could’ve been half as long. But the fluffy character-drive moments with Honor and her family and the climactic fleet battle–with all its tantalizing hints for what the future holds–saved the book for me and made it a very respectable three-star read.

Manticore Ascendant is set so far in the past that the setting feels entirely different, in large part thanks to Manticore being a technological backwater and the RMN being a total mess that never would’ve been tolerated in the mainline series. This difference in tone is refreshing, and so are the differences in weapons technology and tactics. Manticore’s domestic politics are frustrating, which is surely the intent, but it does wear after a while. I cannot wait to see Chancellor Breakwater’s fall from grace, which must be spectacular given the trajectory necessary to bring Manticore in line with the later stories.

Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been kind to me on the astronomy front. Lots of rain or clouds, and now the sun sets so late it’s hard to work around family on weeknights. I did manage to bag Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, though, which was very awesome. Pons-Brooks is only my second comet, and I had to fight light pollution and the glare of a neighbor’s garage lights to find it, but the thrill of catching that little fuzzball made the effort worthwhile.

Even better, I managed to snap a photo. The camera wasn’t quite as good as my eye, and light-pollution definitely cuts down on the splendor, but the coma is clearly visible and so is a hint of the tale. Of all the targets I’ve found as an amateur astronomer, this was one of my favorites!

Another unexpected development on the astronomy front is that someone contacted me about buying a high-resolution version of one of my eyepiece sketches, which took me by total surprise. We’re still talking about details, but just the request has me flattered beyond words.

Hopefully, once summer arrives, we get clear skies, and I can share some new shots. Until then, take care. I’ll see y’all in June!

Update: January, February, & March 2024

Hey, everybody! It’s been a long, long time since my last monthly update, and for that I apologize. The last few months have been hectic, allowing this blog to slip through the cracks. But now that there’s time to breath, let’s talk about the year so far…

My main focus over January and February was on pre-writing for my romance novelization of “The Gale at Quiet Cove”, which has a title now: Seven Tears on the Tide. This references selkie folklore, in which a woman who wishes to contact a male selkie cries seven tears into the sea. Those of you who’ve read the original novelette know Old Man Reil has Arlise do this rite at the beginning, and it’s how she comes to meet Earc. The gist of this meet-cute will carry over into the novel, though I’ll be making some adjustments to the opening scene.

Character sheets consumed most of January. After years of writing stories about the core cast, I’m familiar enough with them that it was mostly smooth sailing. Fleshing out Earc and the selkie supporting cast took more work than Arlise and her fellow Watchers, but the only real challenge was the new villain who’s critical to sustaining external conflict in the second half of the story. Their nature, motivations, and schemes really tie everything together, but they’re a brand-new character, so I had to start from scratch.

Outlining consumed the end of January and first half of February. Earc acts as a guide in this version rather than the mere “quest giver”-style supporting character he was in the novelette. This allows him to actually take part in the investigation on Ruby Isle…and enjoy some tantalizing romantic moments with Arlise. To nurture the romantic and sexual tension between them–and flesh out the world–I’ve added a lot of material to their time on Ruby Isle.

At the moment, it looks like this bulked out version of “The Gale at Quiet Cove” will constitute roughly the first half of the novel, with Arlise defeating the sea monster Carmun around the midpoint and the events of my unpublished erotica tale “Enough” taking place shortly afterward. The last half of the book will be entirely new ground focused on characterization, the romantic relationship, and hints of a threat that bursts into view at the climax.

As it stands, I’m just under halfway through the outline.

Why not more? Well, around mid-February a fantastic new idea absolutely blindsided me. Last year, Total War: Pharaoh piqued my interest in the Late Bronze Age, and Eric H. Cline’s 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed only intrigued me further. Now and then, I’d roll the idea of a Bronze Age-inspired short story around in my head, but nothing grabbed me.

Then I started my re-read of A Game of Thrones. What immediately leapt out was the relationship between Daenerys and Drogo; it hews very close to the classic romance trope of a “civilized” woman forced to marry a barbarian warlord, and it got me wondering whether the reverse exists. Searches turned up only a handful of examples, but the wheels were turning, and they’ve yielded a new WIP tentatively entitled “Wed to the Warrior Queen”.

This fantasy romance is designed to invoke classic sword and sorcery tropes. The FMC hails from a steppe nomad culture and crowns herself the ruler of a nation patterned on New Kingdom Egypt after slaying its king. She’s very intentionally based on Conan, specifically Robert E. Howard’s stories featuring him as King of Aquilonia. Meanwhile, the MMC is a novice sorcerer and the sole-surviving son of a major nobleman. His father arranges a marriage between, ostensibly to bind their house to the new monarch.

In truth, he’s to father an heir and use his abilities as a sorcerer to assassinate her when the time is right, allowing his family to claim the throne through their child. Given she killed all three of his brothers in battle, he’s onboard with vengeance…at first. Time draws them closer and closer, until even he doesn’t know where his true loyalties lie. And all the while, other threats lurk in the shadows.

After this framework hit me, I just couldn’t concentrate on Seven Tears on the Tide. So instead of fighting my brain, I decided to see whether the idea had legs. It seems to so far, and I’m already working on character sheets and worldbuilding. I’m tempted not to use a detailed outline on this one and just wing the first draft, which would be a new experience for me.

We’ll see what the future holds. I need more research and worldbuilding before I can start the first chapter, but I’ll be grabbing a new audiobook soon that should help with that, so drafting in late March or early April is on the table.

As you can probably tell, most of my reading the past few months has been focused on research and inspiration for “Wed to the Warrior Queen”. Lots of nonfiction centered on the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, then fantasy heavy on the politics and intrigue.

It’s been almost a decade since I first read A Song of Ice and Fire, and it holds up remarkably well. In fact, I’m enjoying the reread more than the original, though I’m dreading…certain events. If only the series was finished!

The First Law trilogy is also a compelling read so far, though the end of Before They are Hanged made so much of the book feel kinda pointless, and it definitely put a damper on my urgency to continue the series. I’ll get around to Last Argument of Kings sooner or later, but it’ll probably be later.

We’ve been dealing with a lot of turmoil lately, but things seem to be settling down–at least for now–so hopefully I’ll be back to monthly updates in April. See y’all then!

Update: December 2023

Well, here we are: the last day of 2023. This year’s had its share of ups and downs, so it’s only fitting for its final month to be the same, right?

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Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good month for writing. COVID slammed me right after my birthday, and that was the nail in the coffin for my efforts to finish “In the Web of Fate”–or even its third scene–in 2023. I lost about a week bedridden and another recovering. By then, there was this sense of disconnection from the story, as if all the passion had bled away. Plus it was almost Christmas. So, I’ve made the decision to set aside “In the Web of Fate”. Hopefully I’ll be able to return to it after finishing my romance novelization of “The Gale at Quiet Cove”.

Speaking of which, I started working on character sheets for Arlise, Earc, and the rest of the cast. Arlise’s ended up being something like fourteen pages? Maybe the longest one I’ve ever written, which makes sense considering all the details from other stories I need to keep straight. Some things may change–obviously the novelization will completely overhaul the plot and render the original non-canon, and there may be changes to the timeline described in “Rekindling–but I’m hoping to avoid inconsistencies and major retcons.

I’ve also done a little more work revising my notes for the Faith of the Mother. Most of it’s ancient history stuff, with minimal relevance to the plot, but I’ve enjoyed forging a more connected backstory for the world itself.

2024 will be all about this book. I’d really like to start the actual writing in February, with January dedicated to worldbuilding, character development, and an outline, but I wouldn’t be surprised if pre-writing takes a few months. Building a firm foundation should make things flow much more smoothly.

One good thing about COVID is that it gave me tons of time to read!

Since I grabbed Paladin’s Faith as a sort of birthday present for myself, it came first. Fluffy romance, excellent action and humor, some tantalizing plot hooks for future installments…T. Kingfisher doesn’t disappoint! I’m especially intrigued by the fact our next paladin lead will probably be Wren. She seems really different from most fantasy romance FMCs.

I’m still chugging along with His Sacred Incantations. A nice balance of sweet and spicy, but the relative lack of romantic tension it easy to get distracted by other books, which brings me to His Orc Charioteer Bride. Not many romances focus on the male perspective or feature non-human FMCs, so well-reviewed ones always catch my attention. And M/F romance by a male author? Sign me up!

Both leads are fairly fleshed out, the setting is unique, and I can’t way to see where the story goes.

COVID also totally wrecked my astronomy dreams this month. And in the days I haven’t been sick, it’s been cloudy! Figures this would happen after getting a couple new eyepieces and a lunar filter

Football was a bright spot, at least. Texas did trounce OSU in the Big XII Championship, but that wasn’t unexpected. While I would’ve liked a better berth than the Texas Bowl, I’m glad we got a chance to avenge 2019 with a rematch against Texas A&M. The game came right down to the wire, but OSU held off the Aggies. Ten wins, beating OU in the final Bedlam, competing for a Big XII title and winning a bowl game against a team from the SEC…not bad for a season that started 2-2 and included a blowout loss at home to South Alabama.

Hopefully I have some good news and clear skies in January!

Update: November 2023

Where has the year gone? It feels like we just started 2023; now we’re looking at the end of November! It’s been a tumultuous month for me, so there’s a lot to cover.

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“In the Web of Fate” continues to be my main focus. The first two scenes are done. In fact, I ended up merging them. The third is giving me trouble. While action and some tense dialogue loaded with subtext build a lot of momentum at the start, what is now the second scene relies on a lot of inner monologue and description in the beginning to set the stage for what’s coming. This slower pace is trickier to work with, especially given all the moving parts. There’s a sensual setting, sex, a steady rise in tension, a chase on foot, and three-on-one knife fight to finish things off.

Present Me curses Past Me for devising such a complicated scene.

Fortunately, it’s almost done. I’m near the end of the chase, and the fight might be the most straightforward part of the whole thing. Unfortunately, it’s taken the last half of October and all of November to make it this far. I have serious doubts over whether or not I’ll be able to finish the entire story by the end of December, which is the deadline for Magic and Mischief, my target anthology over at Three Ravens Publishing.

I do have some other markets in mind–Savage Realms in particular–so it’s not catastrophic if I don’t finish “In the Web of Fate” by New Year’s Eve, but I’d also like to dedicate all of 2024 to my romance novelization of “The Gale at Quiet Cove”. If writing doesn’t flow more smoothly once this scene is done, I may set the story aside at a scene break and come back later. Leaving major projects unfinished doesn’t sit well with me, but novels are a much better time investment from a career perspective.

If you follow this blog, you likely already know, but just in case you didn’t see the post, it seems Paperm!nd Press is no longer moving forward with the anthology that would’ve featured “What Good Fathers Do”. Devastating news, but at least my contract includes a rights reversion clause and allows me to keep all payments. I feel this story could sell to other pro-rate markets, but I’ll be happy to find it a home anywhere. It’s currently under consideration in Allegory‘s flash fiction contest. Fingers crossed!

Submissions in general have been rough this month. Lots of rejections along the lines of “This story is great, but we get more than we can take, so we had to make some hard choice. We hope you send us more!” Which is gratifying. Maybe the best way to get rejected. But it’s still a rejection. “Warden of the Wex Wood” doesn’t have many markets left. Adekon may yet take it for Brief Encounters, but if they don’t, I think my best shot is Sword & Sorcery Magazine.

On a brighter note, I did find a new market for “Good Boy”. They don’t open for submissions until January, but Gazmyk looks promising. If Nobilis Erotica seriously considered this one, it should have a decent shot at a brand new magazine.

Other than writing and submitting, I’ve also been overhauling my worldbuilding notes for Tales of the Watchers. Most of them date back to the very beginning of my writing career, so they don’t necessarily mesh with my current view of the setting. Tyrism received a revision earlier this year, so now I’m giving a similar treatment to the Faith of the Mother. Most of the broad strokes aren’t changing, but I want to add detail to make it more distinct from your average “Fantasy Christianity”. One of the bits I intend to hammer is the focus on creation as an act of worship, building on the idea of sub-creation advanced by Tolkien.

After revising the Faith, I intend to design a new map–geography has only come up in general terms–tinker with the notes on magic, and detail selkie culture for the first time. All of this will lay the groundwork for novelizing “The Gale at Quiet Cove”.

Paladin’s Faith is the fourth book in my favorite fantasy romance series, The Saint of Steel, and it’s coming out next week, so I decided to brush up on the World of the White Rat by reading Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine. I’m already done with the former and about two-thirds of the way through the latter. They lean more towards fantasy than romance, but romance maintains a very strong presence throughout both books. I’m really enjoying the “RPG-style adventuring party” vibes. I’d love to see more of them in fantasy romance. Paladin’s Strength and Paladin’s Hope come really close, but it would wonderful to see a slightly larger party across more of the traditional “classes”.

Hmm, maybe it’s something to look into writing myself.

Life outside of writing goes well enough, though not for astronomy. If it’s not cloudy, it’s cold! A shame, because the sun sets so early these days. I’m hoping we hit an unseasonably warm stretch with clear skies soon, especially since a couple eyepieces and a filter are on my Christmas list. The winter sky is lovely, so I really want to try them out!

One area I can’t complain is football. I came into this season expecting OSU, at best, barely make bowl eligibility. I hoped they could beat OU in the last Bedlam. Making a bowl, winning Bedlam, and making the Big XII Championship Game against Texas were never on my radar. Whatever happens Saturday, I consider this season a resounding success. Go Pokes!

Win or lose, I’ll be back with another update in December…if I’m not lost in writing, the holidays, and Paladin’s Faith!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, so it’s only fitting to mark the day with a haiga.

To all my American readers, I hope you have a wonderful day full of family, football and food!

Fantastic Detectives hardcovers available now!

I held off on this announcement for a while just to be sure everything was in order, but the hardcover edition of the fantasy mystery anthology Fantastic Detectives–which includes my novelette “The Skull in the Tree”–is out now on Amazon!

Since this is only the second time my work has ever appeared in hardcover, I’m ecstatic! Of all the magazines and anthologies where my work is published, Fantastic Detectives is probably my favorite. The only thing that could make this better is an audiobook version.

About Fantastic Detectives

From worlds like our own, except for a touch of magic or the supernatural, to completely unique fantasy realms, there will always be those who use their powers for murder and mayhem.

Come meet the stubborn detectives who simply won’t let those crimes go unsolved…

• A Duelist-at-Law intervenes in the matter of a deadly affair of honor.
• A private detective who takes on ghosts for clients…provided their estate can pay him.
• A poet attempts to avert a man’s unjust execution…using strategically applied haiku.
• A rabbi wizard has a Hell of a hard time tracking down an undead murderer.
• An albino nun investigates a murder that could only have been committed by an angel.
• A knight-mage atones for her past sins by tracking down the source of an evil blood curse.
• After wizards battle…someone has to clean up the mess.

Plus even more stories from some of the finest crime and fantasy writers in the field!

Contributors include: Reed Bonadonna, Gregg Chamberlain, Robert Finegold, David Keener, Emma Melville, Jeff Patterson, Maria Prokopyeva, Daniel Robichaud, Donna Royston, Shannon Taft, David Tatum, Martin Wilsey, and Austin Worley.

About “The Skull in the Tree”

A skull glares at the cottage from its perch in an old oak tree. A skull whose terrible carvings promise ruin for an innocent family.

Knight-Mother Arlise Dun knows the power of curses bound in blood. Even better, she knows how to break them. But how can she hunt down the hexer responsible for so much misery without endangering her own infant daughter?

If you’re interested, you can find the hardcover here

Happy Halloween!

Whether you’re trick or treating, watching scary movies, or heading out to a party, I hope you have a wonderful holiday! Here’s a little haiga for the spookiest time of the year:

“What Good Fathers Do” no longer moving forward with Paperm!nd Press

Some sad news to report today: my military sci-fi flash fic “What Good Fathers Do” is no longer moving toward publication in Sour Spaghetti and Other Stories. Paperm!nd Press informed me this morning that they aren’t going to be able to publish the anthology

Map of the Eleutherian League

“What Good Fathers Do” would’ve been my first published work in my new sci-fi setting, so it’s especially disheartening to learn there’s a new roadblock to sharing it with the world. Nevertheless, Paperm!nd has encouraged me to go ahead and seek a new market for the story, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. I already have my eye on a few magazines and flash fic contests. Hopefully one of them will yield some good news soon!

Update: September & October 2023

Fall officially started last month, but it’s only just beginning to feel like the season has arrived. Shorter days, longer nights, and a new story with some terrifying monsters. Let me fill you in!

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I dedicated most of September to outlining The Captain and the Crown. Ten chapters are laid out in detail so far, which places me somewhere between a third to two-fifths of the way through the entire book. Bohdan and Luis are starting to understand each other, and the hostility between them is beginning to transmute into something very different. I look forward to seeing where this story goes, but I might need to make some worldbuilding adjustments before getting too deep into the outline.

While working on my outline, I realized an anthology on my radar–Heathens and Heroes from Three Ravens Publishing–would be closing to submissions soon, and an idea for a sword and sorcery tale featuring Arlise during her time as a gladiatrix quickly took shape, so the end of September and all of October so far have been dedicated to this story, currently entitled “In the Web of Fate”.

This is my first story digging into Arlise during the time after the Battle of Laufenden but before she joined the Order of Watchers. Ensuring the reader can understand her ennui and self-destructive tendencies during this period is proving tough, and I doubt I’ll be able to finish by the deadline for Heathens and Heroes. Nevertheless, there’s another anthology from Three Ravens that I have my eye on, along with some back-up markets like Savage Realms.

After a long, long wait, I finally heard back from Nobilis Erotica about “Good Boy”. They praised it as “a fine story and well-written” and said it meets all their criteria, but they could only publish twelve stories a year. This is simultaneously the best and worst kind of rejection. The best because you know there wasn’t anything actually wrong with your work, and the worst because the factors leading to the rejection were entirely out of your control. The fact this story is niche enough there might not be other suitable paying markets makes it even tougher. At least self-publishing is an option, if all else fails.

On a brighter note, I’ve enjoyed a couple successes in the last few months. “A Helping Hand” is finally out in Brief Encounters, and “Decisions” has been reprinted again, this time in Flights of Fantasy from Iron Faerie Publishing! The former is especially gratifying, since there was a year or two after I finished writing “A Helping Hand” where I seriously doubted I would ever be able to sell it, as nobody seems to want superhero short fiction. And after all these years, it’s really nice to see an e-book edition of an anthology featuring “Decisions”!

Right now, my focus is on finishing “In the Web of Fate”. It’s shaping up to be my longest story in the last year or two–likely since “The Skull in the Tree”–and leaving such a milestone unfinished doesn’t seem right. Once it’s done, I’d like to finish the outline of The Captain and the Crown before dipping my toes into writing a romance novelization of “The Gale at Quiet Cove”. Arlise is a familiar character, a joy to write, and those factors could ease me into finishing my first full-length novel in this genre.

With fantasy and fantasy romance on the brain, my latest reads shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Robert E. Howard is the father of sword and sorcery, a master of vivid action, so who better to channel for “In the Web of Fate”?

Meanwhile, I picked up where I left off in His Sacred Incantations. While the pacing is a little slow so far in comparison to His Secret Illuminations, the romance is just as strong, and threads of external conflict are coming together nicely.

After hearing a lot of praise for this recent release, I decided to check out Halfling by S.E. Wendel. I’m not usually one for monster romance, given the tropes that tend to predominate, but the setting brings a nice, more traditional fantasy feel, and the character work the author did in just the prologue and first chapter already have me hooked. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Astronomy has been slim pickings lately, with the weather changing. We didn’t even enjoy clear skies for the annular eclipse. However, I have managed to snag a couple gorgeous sights, including the Andromeda Galaxy. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to see it through all the light pollution, but its core and the satellite galaxy Messier 32 stand out quite clearly if you know where to look.

Hopefully my next update will be accompanied by some new astrophotos…and more good news about my work!