Aaron Polson's Blog, page 48

Can't Get Enough

I'll have a piece of flash in January's issue of Necrotic Tissue (lucky #13 for those of you counting at home). NT has become a very tough market, and I'm beyond thrilled to land my third piece with them.


"Enough" was based (quite loosely) on an experience I had with eBay this summer. Remind me to fill in the details come press time. For now...




Dance, monsters. Dance!

The Horror! (of a meme)

I'm "it"...along with a pile of other people. Natalie Sin has tagged me, and now I must share the infection with five other people. And I choose...
Cate Gardner Jamie Eyberg Alan Davidson Jameson T. Caine Kara McElhinny
What do they do, pray tell?

This: fill a post with pics from horror movies, each following a theme. Can you guess what theme we're working with? Eh?


1.
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5. (Sorry it's so tiny...I couldn't find a better screen grab)



6. (I know, WTF?)
7. (no...he's NOT a zombie)
The...

WIP Wednesday: Taking Back the Man Cave

Yes, you read that correctly. Today I take back the Man Cave.

Maybe I'll do some writing later. In the Man Cave. Ah, that's the stuff.

One of my favorite books--top five (seriously)--is Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. If you're familiar, skip ahead. If not, well, it's a collection of stories (sort of) and a novel (sort of). O'Brien served in the military during that awful tragedy in Vietnam, and The Things They Carried follows a platoon through combat, coming home, and even fictio...

Don't Let Rainbows End, 'kay?

PARSEC Ink has put together another magnificent collection of short, speculative fiction, and I'm beyond honored to have a story included in its august pages.

I received my contributor's copy of Triangulation: End of the Rainbow yesterday and skimmed a bit. Read a few stories. Read my story, "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" again...and damn it, my own story made me get all choked up. Coupled with the afterword by editor Bill Moran, I was almost in tears.

Why?

"...fiction writing is dyi...

Bollocks!

Yeah, you know what I mean. I like cursing in another country's slang; that way I don't feel so naughty.

Owen's 7th birthday was yesterday (happy b-day, buddy). I'm scarcely breathing today. My writing has suffered of late. I haven't penned a decent story in...well, at least a month. I have plenty of work to do in preparation for the new school year, too. I need a lifeline, and fast.

So, when I read this article, "Is Having Children an Unexpected Path to Publishing Success", you may think I ans...

WIP Wednesday: Blood from a Stone

The boys and I paid visit to Grandma this week, allowing me another opportunity to mine my poor ol' hometown for story ideas. How many times can I squeeze words (blood) out of these stones?

The factory building which inspired "Spider and I" is gone. Gone-gone. It used to be in front of the ugly sheds in the picture above.


These limestone gates still guard Greenwood Cemetery. I've called it by various names in the past, but the cemetery, and the creepy pond behind it, inspired various...

Meat. And Storytelling.

I couldn't help but listen to this story from NPR...a bit of human evolutionary history coupled with mention of "storytelling" as uniquely human behavior (you have to listen closely for that last bit, but it's in there).

Further proof that barbecue is good for you. Mmmmm.

"Meat, Fire, and the Evolution of Man" by Christopher Joyce

Any day I can mention barbecue and storytelling in the same post is a good day.

Fighting the Good Fight

Because if we don't save Halloween, who will?

Who's on the Dream Team?

The EIC over at Aqueous Books (publisher of my forthcoming short story collection, The Saints are Dead) asked for a list of authors I'd like her to query for blurbs.

Whoa.

How about Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and if it isn't too much trouble, raise Mary Shelley from the dead and land her thumbs up, too.

Kidding, of course.

In all seriousness, who whould I add to the list?

Moby Effing Dick

Max and Owen caught a number of smallish fish at a city "lake" this morning. We've been fishing a few times this summer with no luck. When Max (sporting the stylish Scooby-Doo fishing pole) reeled in that blue gill, you would have thought he'd caught the great white whale. We are strictly catch-and-release fishermen (as if anyone could find a half-ounce of meat on that poor little fella, anyway). Good times.

Where'd Max get that goofy smile? Must be from his mother's side.

Speaking of ha...