James Dorr's Blog, page 60

Midnight Sun Becomes Midnight Dark, Shallow Waters Edits And Contract Sent Back

So today the governor of Indiana has ordered residents, with a few exceptions, to stay holed up at home until April 6.  That is, for two weeks (well actually thirteen days), with April 6 also the tentative date for the public library to reopen (see March 16, 14) — though when the time comes both closures could of course be extended.  Meanwhile the writing life, even if curtailed, continues.

Thus yesterday, from Crystal Lake Publishing Editor Joe Mynhardt, came the email:  I’d love to publish “Midnight Sun” in the next SHALLOW WATERS anthology, out around Mid-April. . . , but with one small catch.  We may recall that “Midnight Sun” scored last fall in a three-way tie for third place in Crystal Lake’s Flash Fiction Contest for “Travel Horror” (cf. October 15, 11, et al.), part of the prize being prospective future publication.  So the time has come, but the catch was an up-front request for possible editorial changes.

Well, that’s part of the writing life too and, as I looked the story over, I did see one thing that bothered me about it, a passage justifying the title that otherwise didn’t seem to make that much sense.  So I changed the passage — but also the title, the story of a Los Angeles vampire’s Christmas journey to the far north now renamed “Midnight Dark.”  Then a round of small changes from the publisher’s side, my okaying some, re-changing some others, all taking far longer than they otherwise might have due to the underpowered Cave Computer at this end.

But then nobody said it would be easy, right?  The changes went in Monday night, a contract came today (more problems for the Cave Computer), and a photograph of the signed contract plus an RTF copy of “Midnight Dark” with its final changes went back to Crystal Lake this evening.  The book, when it comes out, will be SHALLOW WATERS:  A FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY, VOL. 5, with more to come here as it becomes known.

Unreal Road To Publication Continues: Contents Announced, Up On Amazon For Kindle Pre-Order, New Bio Request Received

The process continues, with UNREAL (see March 19, just below) and my story “The Garden” available now for pre-order on Kindle, for which one can press here.  Also the contents have been revealed, or as Amazon has it:

UNREAL is the inaugural anthology of The Great Void Books celebrating the sheer awesomeness of speculative fiction.

The twenty stories featured in this anthology have been selected after careful consideration.  Each story is set in its own independent world.  So this single book is your ticket to twenty diverse lands where mind-bending things happen.

Speculative Fiction is a vast genre, but we have got delicacies from almost every subgenre.  We have got AI, magic, talking monkeys, time travel, oppressive governments, ancient temples, weird futuristic tech . . . even aliens!*  These short stories (btw none of them are very short) are some really serious works of art.  And since this is an anthology, you’ll get to meet a bunch of some really terrific authors. . . .

The stories featured:

A Door For Miriam by Jeff Sullins

The Hidden Entity by John Campbell

Monaro Goes On A Walkabout by Steve Carr

The Runners by Lorenzo Crescentini

Blood Of The Swan by Vonnie Winslow Crist

The Wizards Of Snails And Woodlice by David Donachie

The Garden by James Dorr

Camp Napanoo by Angelique Fawns

Checkpoint by Elana Gomel

Undo by John Haas

The Monkey’s Tale by Carlton Herzog

Dark Wings by Tom Jolly

The Alien Emissary by Shawn Klimek

Dottie by W. T. Paterson

Full Integration by Sophie Jupillat Posey

Beyond The Spires by Frank Sawielijew

Abrama’s End Game by David Shultz

Sunbringer by Abiran Raveenthiran

The Gale At Quiet Cove by Austen Worley

Food For The Moon by Todd Zack

And  finally a new request came today for a biographical statement and picture, items not expected to be needed quite so soon.  Or as Editor Aditya Deshmukh emailed:  Please send me your bio and author photo ASAP (like today, if possible).  Sorry for such a short deadline.  I was thinking of putting together a Who’s Who booklet of accepted authors, but found a better way to do this within the anthology.

So, not to worry, these things were on hand and off they went this afternoon, with more to come here as it becomes known.

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*Also, not to forget, cutting edge invertebrate biochemistry.

Unreal, Garden Proceeds Apace; An Apology To LinkedIn Requesters

A short note on the Writing Life, and a “cave computer” coda.  The first is a new update on The Great Void Books UNREAL anthology, featuring my biochemical horror novelette “The Garden” (cf. March 7, et al.).  To quote Editor/Publisher Aditya Deshmukh, I’m currently formatting the first edition.  Will send it in a day or two.  Amazon listing has also been made.  It’s currentl[image error]y under review and should go online in next 72 hours.  (I will email again when it’s up.)  So new news should come around the weekend and, internet connections (and the struggling cave computer) holding up, will be reported here.

Then a second note, while I now have to cut and paste blog reports onto Facebook myself, they still presumably go automatically to my LinkedIn page.  I say “presumably” because, through the mysteries of technology and “older” computers, I’m unable to get onto LinkedIn myself and most likely won’t until the public library, with its current century computing equipment, reopens.  So those who may be reading this on LinkedIn, and others, an apology.  I’ve received several requests lately to join my network, but I’m unable to act on them, so if you’ve been trying to do so and I haven’t responded that’s why.  But once post-coronavirus conditions have hopefully normalized somewhat, please just send LinkedIn a new request then.

As Life Must Go On, Triana Says “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

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(Though she’ll be drinking her green beer at home.)

IU Shutdown Extended To End Of Spring Term

Monday’s local newspaper headline:  IU Classes to be Virtual Rest of Semester.  So over the weekend Indiana University has added about a month to the shutdown, from previously the first week of April (that is, I’m not all that up on the academic schedule, but I believe spring semester normally ends in early May).  I don’t know if this means non-classroom activities won’t reopen until May either, but some things like ongoing experiments in laboratories would presumably at least be open to individuals involved.  Then on TV this morning the President was saying the whole coronavirus pandemic as such may last to July or August, though that doesn’t necessarily mean things would be closed (if at all) that long.  And the County Library — I did look this up — is still saying they will tentatively reopen on April 6.

So hopefully that will be the worst.  With students not coming back from spring break (with its opportunities for out-of-town infections) Bloomington is probably about as “safe” as anywhere in the US.  One meeting I wanted to go to downtown still went on on schedule though with a lower-than-usual attendance, which I expected.  But the trip downtown, usually about a twenty minute walk, was a little bit eerie.  My normal route takes me through the center of the IU campus and, granted that it has “officially” started spring break, I saw only four people as I passed through.  Discovering that I’d left home a bit early I also stopped in the student union which was still open, where I saw only one other person, and one of the restaurants there that I passed also seemed to be open (menus displayed outside by the entrance) though I didn’t notice anyone inside.  Then moving on downtown, I only saw four or five more people on the streets, although passing the closed public library I saw some people had taken advantage of its now-uncrowded parking lot.

Then on the way back, I went a bit out of my way to pick up some things at the supermarket I usually shop at, finding it more crowded than might have been normal, but got the things I wanted with no trouble — some vegetables, bagels, a package of frozen meatballs, a few other items.  I did pass the toilet paper section though and the shelves there did appear to be empty.

While Triana Slept . . . Posts May Be Slowed Until April 6

Saturday the 14th.  A bit of history:  as a result of the coronavirus, Indiana University had decided that following spring break, technically beginning tomorow for a week, classes would be only taught online for two weeks more, or in effect the University would remain closed until Monday, April 6, the notion being to allow self-quarantining if needed for students returning, e.g., from overseas.  Other things followed.  Non-classroom functions would be curtailed too — no more IU Cinema movies for me for the rest of the month!  Local schools also, with their own spring breaks on similar schedules, would be closed for the same time, and non-vital local government meetings would be postponed.  And then, for me, the hoped-against drop of the Friday the 13th shoe:  the Monroe County Public Library would also be closed until April 6th.

The problem is I do most of my internet work at the library, the Computer Cave equipment (including the World’s Second Slowest Computer on which I’m composing this post now) being too old and underpowered to cope well with much of what must be done.  It can do some things — and actual new writing that I do is done offline, for which it works fine — so I won’t be completely out of touch with the world outside, but it can have troubles with certain downloads, for instance, or, more to the point, is not at its best dealing with things like Facebook.  Or blogs like this either.

So, bottom line, my own activity may be curtailed for the rest of the month — or possibly more if emergency measures have to be extended.  That most likely means fewer blog posts, and those I do post sometimes not being quite as up-to-date as I might prefer, to some extent due to my not getting new messages at this end as quickly as I might like — not to mention not being able to send work out as easily to publishers, et al.  So I’ll still be around, but possibly a bit more hermit-like than I’d want.  And on the good side, not being in places like public libraries, where already infected people may lurk, might have an effect in keeping me healthy (I being old enough to be in an at-risk demographic).

But then who said the Writing Life would be easy?

The Almost Black Cat Triana Wishes All A Happy Friday The 13th!

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(Triana plans to sleep through the day herself)

Blood Apples Contract Received And Signed

The full title actually is TWISTED FATE VOL. I:  APPLES RED AS BLOOD (cf. January 6), to be published by Fantasia Divinity, whose magazine of the same title we’ve met before.  The call had been for retellings and retakes on the fairy tale “Snow White,” with no nods to Walt Disney (at least ones that might cause copyright problems).  We want you to elaborate on the original short tale, give depth and feeling to the characters, motivations, desires, hope, and despair.  The stories can be told from the POV of any character, not just Snow White.  Reprints being okay, I sent a tale from the “Tombs” far future, dying Earth universe called “River Red,” originally [image error]published in the anthology ESCAPE CLAUSE (Ink Oink Art, Inc., 2009) and also appearing in my collection THE TEARS OF ISIS.

That was last September with the acceptance coming in January this year.  And so the wheels turned deliberately, slowly, the myriad details of publication each in its own time being addressed until, at last, today, the contract arrived, was read by me, electronically signed, and sent back this afternoon to Editor/Publisher Madeline Stout.  As for “River Red,” the names have been changed along with the setting and a ghoul added as well as, maybe, a sort of zombie, the ending cribbed from (I admit it!) the Greek tragedian Euripides (well out of copyright by now), but there is still a magic mirror.  Or a mirror, anyway.  So while maybe not obvious, the roots of Snow White are there.

Or more to the point, the Writing Life continues.  An edited copy will come next for my approval or possible re-tweaking, maybe an updated bio sent. . . .  A date for publication set?  More to be here as it becomes known.

True Stories Movie Not really, But What A Ride!

Talking Heads singer David Byrne plays host to this bizarre patchwork of tabloid-inspired tales, set in the fictional town of Virgil, Texas.  Cruising the streets in his cherry-red drop-top, Byrne introduces viewers to the local eccentrics gearing up for the town’s 150th anniversary.  They include a community leader (Spalding Gray) with a thing for veggies, a woman (Swoosie Kurtz) so lazy she won’t leave her bed, a lovelorn country singer (John Goodman) and more!  (Google blurb)

Not the Indiana University Cinema blurb this time, for a change of pace.  But what can you say?  It was Monday night’s showing at the Cinema, and it was fun.  Except of course the tales in TRUE STORIES aren’t really true, but they almost could be.  They’re tales of middle American individuals and families that ought to be true, the eccentrics and characters you likely met yourself when you were growing up — and that you still might be now if you [image error]pause to look.  Well, maybe not quite the fashion show at the local mall, but even it sort of.  And it’s clean, gentle fun, enhanced this time, I thought, by seeing on the big screen in the theater partly because of the people around me, picking the humor up, laughing out loud at times but never raucously, always with its own kind of politeness.

It was a good film for an unseasonably warm day at its afternoon best, but for which the rains had come when we got out.  A residual warmness on the walk home, and even the rain more of a friendly drizzle.  And one thing I noted, but kind of strangely:  The film, really a series of vignettes, has at its closest to a plot the fictional town of Virgil, Texas preparing for its 150th anniversary, culminating in a parade and a nighttime talent show, the latter of which gave me a sudden reminder — and maybe a new understanding as well — of President Trump’s inaugural concert three years ago.  Small town acts in spirit, yet for the performers a kind of love too.  But in overall context still with a touch of weirdness that gave the feeling that this is a film that might be most enjoyed if one watches it having been mildly soused.

Unreal, Garden Delayed — But Only A Little

The best laid plans, and all that.  Right?  We know by now that stuff happens, books are projected for certain release dates, but. . . .  So the email came from Aditya Deshmukh of The Great Void Books Saturday, about their upcoming anthology UNREAL (see February 6, December 17).  Publication had been expected in a week, on March 14, but . . . therefore we are postponing the schedule . . . and ask for your understanding.

So that’s the bad news, but the good news is this.  It’s for only two weeks, with pre-ordering still coming on the 14th and the book itself to be out March 28.  And looking to the near future beyond that, I’ll also be running a series of interviews to feature our authors.  I’ll send you the interview questions soon.

So my part in this is a 10,000-word novelette, “The Garden,” first published in an edited version in chapbook form by Damnation Books in 2009, more about which — plus interview info — as it becomes known.