James Dorr's Blog, page 52

Third Sunday Write “Sweetness” Comes Closer To Fourth For September

So, yes, it was late as is this “report” insofar as the Facebook post (cf. September 10, et al.) came on September 26.  The prompt, or perhaps more accurately what I took from it, had to do with “sweetness.” Thus:

(September prompt #2) “Sweets to the Sweet”

He always said he had a sweet disposition.  Sweet, sweet, sweet.  And he loved to eat sweets.

He loved cookies the best, big sugar cookies, the kind as large as small dinner plates.  He could munch them all day.  But he liked especially to remove the flour — he accomplished this by using a special blender [image error]that reduced the cookie to its liquid components, then letting the various parts settle out into layers according to density.  Then all that was needed was to decide which was the flour level, which all the rest, siphon out the flour — rather than waste it, he’d put that into a bowl for the cat — pour the rest into rough oval shapes on a cookie sheet, and re-bake the flour-less part in the oven.  Or else, alternatively, if he felt he couldn’t wait that long, he might simply drink it out with a straw cut into a length where it would reach down to just the right level.

This second had an advantage in that it didn’t have to be chewed — he could just drink it down bypassing his teeth which saved him immensely on dentist bills.  Though it didn’t mean teeth didn’t come into his life at all, in that we live in a “dog eat dog” world.  In his case this meant that, after he’d snacked, he’d have become so sweet that vampires would gather from miles around to bite him for dessert.

Unfortunately relatively few in the Writers Guild seemed to respond to these this time, possibly because the prompts were late, or possibly just missing the immediacy of the live pre-corona face-to-face sessions, the latter of which I can appreciate as well.  But I rather like one aspect of this “virtual” format myself:  that I don’t have to respond to every prompt given, but can pick the one I think “speaks to me” the most (in itself a reasonable way to approach writing prompts), though with watch on the table still try to write quickly, getting everything down in more or less the allowed ten minutes.

After Kool-Aid Contract Signed, Sent Back

A very quick note for Sunday.  Yesterday the contract came from D&T Publishing for the anthology AFTER THE KOOL-AID IS GONE, and my story “Invisible People” (see September 5).  This is an earlier tale, originally published in the Winter 1992-3 DARK INFINITY (which is to say just a few years after the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies), set to reappear now in a new book of politically inspired science fiction and horror — and why politics may also be especially important today.

So this afternoon the signed contract went back, with, if all goes well, the book to be out next month, in October, just prior to Election Day in the US.  More to be announced here as it becomes known.

Corona Quells Latest Royalty Riches?

As is my custom, I am stating neither the publisher involved nor the exact amount of royalties received in order to avoid embarrassment on both sides.  Suffice to say the report I received yesterday afternoon referred to sums in the modest single digits.  But wait, there’s more — for reasons having to do with differently formatted reports from sellers, this had to do with royalties for a full year rather than just for a six-month period.  But there may be excuses.[image error]

That is, this one was for anthology stories for which, a whole royalty being split between perhaps twenty or so individual authors, are always going to be . . . well . . . underwhelming.  But moreover this is a small press publisher that has a strong presence at SF/F/H conventions and many of their sales come from direct (that is, through the “huckster room” and/or hand to hand after panels) transactions, but due to COVID-19 few conventions are “live” in 2020, so one may look for especially small returns for the next few reporting periods to come.  (sigh)

So, we write because we like to, yes?  Or, if maybe not really that much alone, still one must remember that every little bit counts.

Birdcatchers Accepted For October HWA News?

October, the month of Halloween, an important time for us in the horror profession.  This, then, was the call from HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER Editor Kathryn Ptacek:  i would really like to include poetry in the honkin’ huge october issue, as we did last year.  you probably all know that i am a big supporter of poetry, and i think it’s important for writers to see what horror poetry looks like now!/  so, if you have ONE poem or maybe TWO [maximum 25 lines each] that you would like to send to me, i’d love to run them.  it can be new or it can be old . . . just please do not send the one you sent last year, if you [image error]were in the poetry gallery.

Okay, so which one?  I decided on a 16-line sort of list poem “The Birdcatchers” (ah, but what kinds of birds . . . and why?), originally published in THE TOME as well as reprinted as part of the story “The Birdcatchers” in [*PLUG*] my collection THE TEARS OF ISIS, and in my all-poetry VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE).  It gets around, yes?

So this is the reply received late Sunday — and about as terse as they come:  thanks, james, for letting me use your poem!  So, while not actually saying “acceptance” in so many words, I think I can assume is.

Thirteen Science Fiction/Horror Films Off The Main Track

This, I think, is a first:  a list of potentially worth seeing films in which I’ve only seen one myself (the “one” being CUBE, about a group of people trapped in a giant . . . well . . . cube).  Be that as it may, the article, via THE LINEUP, is “13 Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Horror Movies You May Not Have Seen” by Orrin Grey, and [image error]has quite a few which I think I might like to take a closer look at.

Thus it begins:  Sure, you’ve seen ALIEN.  Maybe you’ve even seen SPECIES or GALAXY OF TERROR or some of the other imitators that Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic spawned.  But chances are you haven’t seen all 13 of these sci-fi horror films that go far beyond outer space — and sometimes much closer to home — to remind you of how scary science can be, especially when it’s literally getting under your skin.  And it then continues with mini-descriptions of SEA FEVER, EUROPA REPORT, THE PLATFORM (one I’ve at least heard of!), AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, and SHIN GODZILLA, to cite just under half — more on which, with the others, can be found by pressing here.

Country Doctor, Fake News Final Edits OKed

The email was short and to the point, as will be this post:  We’re almost ready to launch (finally).  I’ve included the current edits.  I need the ok from you to either print as-is or any changes you wish to make.  If I don’t hear back from you by the 19th, I will assume that everything is acceptable.

The publication is the anthology FAKE NEWS with my story “Country Doctor” (see August 31, et al.), a saga of medicine and UFOs in the American southwest.  So tonight, as requested, I emailed back that I had no changes, thus doing my part to help keep the book on schedule to hit the market in October, during election season, when the phrase “fake news” and “#fakenews” should be trending.

Surprise! A New Flash Acceptance — No, Really

Funny story:  I sent a piece I was rather fond of to an anthology and after awhile, as sometimes happens, it came back.  The editor mentioned, however, that she was still open for flash and I happened to have another tale, not one of my favorites, but that would fit the theme.  It was one of those shorties, just 400 words, that I’d never really even marketed but why not?  So Saturday the answer came from Editor Terrie Relf:  Quite the flash piece!  It reminded me of an old TWILIGHT ZONE or TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE episode.  If you agree to this contract, please send an updated bio and mailing address.  So. . . .

Well, the initial call had looked like fun.  The anthology title:  IT CAME FROM HER PURSE.  And “Purse” is not limited to a bag one carries around.  It can be a wallet, a billfold, a coin purse, a sachet.  It can even refer to the prize for winning a horse race.  . . .  If you’re looking for inspiration, think Roger Corman and what he might have done with this.  If you saw the movie MY STEP-MOTHER IS AN ALIEN, remember the purse in that one, which carried a living computer shaped like a snake.  By these standards my tale may be almost conservative, but it is still only 400 words and even if the money’s not all that good, authors do get a copy.  So early Sunday, agreement went back along with the other items asked for.

Publication time, according to the contract, should be about the first of next year.  And the story’s title?  Subtitled “A Fable for Our Times,” it’s called “SUPRISE!”

Moons Of Saturn Edits Received, Returned To Canada

October 1 is the hoped for publication date for Canadian magazine PULP LITERATURE (cf. August 29, et al.) with my story, “Moons of Saturn,” in it.  So lateish last night the email arrived from Editor Jennifer Landels:  Hope you’re well.  Our copy editor has been through “Moons of Saturn” and has a few word [image error]change suggestions I’d like you to take a look at  . . .  well, we know the drill, though I will add that they have a copy editor who, in my opinion, is quite good.  This can be a sign the editing in general, story selection, the whole publication may be quite good too.  But, cut to the chase, with very few — and minor — actual changes and, including the few I asked to have changed back, in all cases being for sensible reasons.

Of course, the vintage computer’s limitations made working with the editing program adventurous in places, but that’s its own story, and soon enough it was done and sent back.  “Moons of Saturn” itself was originally published in the July 1993 prozine TOMORROW, a tale of 1980s space probes with a fantasy/mythological twist, and, should you read it and like it, also appears in my 2013 collection THE TEARS OF ISIS.

Here’s August’s (Why Not?) Third Sunday Write For September

So what the heck, I don’t expect to post my results in the Bloomington Writers Guild’s “Third Sunday Write” (Virtual Edition, cf. July 18 — yes, we post them sometimes a day or two in advance — et al.) every month, but one evil of Facebook is that you might on occasion keep being reminded of certain things beyond their time.  And, this being one, I’m becoming fonder of what I had posted for August 16.  [image error]The prompt had been, simply, “Tell me a story”:

I told her a story about a story, that is to say the second level above the street of the world’s tallest building, the Basketball Tower in Lazy City.  As you might imagine, it was the nation’s top choice for committing suicide, except that Lazy City had gotten its name because all who came there were . . . well, lazy.  Few were willing to climb as far as even the third floor, so the building’s owners, always accommodating, enlarged the second story’s windows, fitting them out with diving boards, slides, even bungee cords for those who might have last-minute second thoughts. It was on their part a noble gesture, but the suicide success rate was strangely mixed, many trying twice, ten times, even a hundred times or more before finally giving up due to continued unsatisfactory results.  For them, you see, it had become a story that had no end.

And so there, for better or worse, you have it.  The next third Sunday will be September 20, ten days from today, so perhaps I shall have something here for then.

Or, again, maybe not.

Invisible People Snagged For After The Kool-Aid

In the world we live in today, what is more horrific than true life?  Seems everyone has a view and a stance.  So, what will happen after the kool-aid is gone, when decisions have been made and eyes have been opened?  Send us the most political horror story you can imagine.  Specific information:  Stories should be 3,000 – 5,000 word count.

Thus began the guidelines for D&T Publishing’s upcoming anthology, AFTER THE KOOL-AID IS GONE.  So on August 8 — well in time for its August 31 closing — I offered a 4800-word reprint, “Invisible People,” first [image error]published in Winter 1992-3 in DARK INFINITY.  No relation to BLACK INFINITY (cf., coincidentally, August 8, et al.) — I just now noticed the similarity in names myself.  But the story, anyhow, one of how we can become dependent on jobs as defining our place in the world, as well as how we become attuned to ignoring people, like panhandlers, who don’t matter to us.

So, long story short, the word came today from Editor Dawn Shea:  Thank you for your submission to AFTER THE KOOL-AID IS GONE.  We are pleased to inform you that your story has been selected.  Congratulations on your acceptance.

More to come as it becomes known — and, hey, don’t forget to vote in November!