James Dorr's Blog, page 72

Scary Snippets Contract Received and Signed

The story was titled “Silent Scream,” and the anthology SCARY SNIPPETS (cf. September 21).  This was to be a “Micro-Horror” collection, seeking horrific short stories that feature the theme of anything creepy for the Halloween season.  Ghosts, goblins, any and all horror is accepted.  The major constraint, the word count must be 500 words or less.

And so things progress, the contract arriving today from Suicide House Publishing, now signed and sent back.  The story in question was just under 500 words itself and is about silence.  The virtue of silence.  Its desirability.  An absolute need for silence . . . or else.  Hopefully, if all continues on schedule, to be out by or before Halloween.

Battered Shrimp Kickstarter Still On Its Way, Hoped for October Startup

Let us go back toward the end of August, and BEER-BATTERED SHRIMP (see August 21, 4, et al.).  Remember?  This was the anthology of super-short stories of which [s]illiness and weirdness will abound.  Moreover it’s to be illustrated — in color, no less — but these things all take time.  A kickstarter had been planned for the start of September.

Well, we know the story.  Delays breed delays.  But now we do have a new starting date (or thereabouts).  From Editor/Publisher Jaleta Clegg:  The Kickstarter package is finally finished and under review.  I’m [image error]hoping to be able to go live October 1st.  I’ll be putting together something you can share once I get approved and have a url for the project.  Please start talking this up on your social media.  Let’s get people excited!  More will be reported here when it’s ready.

My part in the porpourri, incidentally, is a tale called “As Fine as Frogs’ Hair,” a 75-word saga of beauty and magic (and perhaps with an ilustration primarily in green — we shall see when we see).  The book’s full title is BEER-BATTERED SHRIMP FOR COGNITIVE RUMINATIONS (or words of that sort, at least last I’ve heard), and despite production problems it is still on the way.

Midnight Sun Shortlisted for Crystal Lake September Flash Fiction Challenge

This was the pitch:  This month’s theme is Travel Horror, so any stories taking place on planes, trains, boats and goats.  Or any other medium of travel you can think of.  The prize includes a $20 token payment, publication in an upcoming Shallow Waters anthology, and an Author Spotlight on the Crystal Lake Patreon page and newsletter.  Stories had to be under 1000 words and sent by September 19 at the latest, so why not thought I.  Other information from Crystal Lake Publishing’s Joe Mynhardt included:  For those not familiar with the challenge, it’s open to all authors, and you don’t have to be a Crystal Lake Patreon supporter/patron to enter.  I’ll personally read the stories and choose the best stories, which I’ll then post to the Crystal Lake [image error]patrons.  They’ll read and vote for a winner.  And even if you don’t win, the most popular stories will be invited to one of our Shallow Waters anthologies.

So Wednesday the word came:  Congrats, James, your flash fiction story is moving on to the Patreon voting stage of our flash fiction challenge.  A list followed of thirteen titles (of about 40 entered) with mine the last of them, which means it will be the last to be posted on the Crystal Lake Patreon page.  So those who are patrons take notice, and perhaps think of giving my tale your vote (though, alas, I cannot vote for it myself, or even I think read the rival stories, not being a Patreon member myself).

But it’s the thrill of the chase that counts, no?  My story is titled “Midnight Sun” and is the tale of an ER night nurse’s pre-Christmas journey to the far, far north.  But why, one might ask (hint: it’s not to meet Santa)?  For that you will have to read it yourself, with a link to come when the story is up which will be posted here.  But as publisher Mynhardt also reminds us, [p]lease take note that only subscribers/patrons can read and vote.  Hopefully folks who follow your link will like what they see on our Patreon page and join (and vote for your story, of course).

Zombie Works Monsterthology 2 Proofs Received, Corrections Returned

And so the writing life continues.  Tuesday’s email brought a missive from Zombie Works Publications Editor Alan Russo:  Me, Randy and Dave have really worked hard on this and are[image error] at the final stage of this project.  Attached you will find a digital copy of MONSTERTHOLOGY 2.  Please look through it thoroughly and either send me corrections to make or your approval to print.  The story in question is one set in New Orleans, with zombies and vampires (but not “Casket Girls” ones) called “Beefcake and the Vamp” (see July 31, February 19, 12), a humorous tale of detectives and coffins including a vindictive vampire hunter.  One might note also that there was once a first MONSTERTHOLOGY and, aha!, that I had a story in that one as well, a cryptobiological outing titled “Stink Man” (cf. September 12 2012, et al.), of cow parts and man parts and an accident on the highway and . . . well . . . togetherness.

So anyway fair’s fair, corrections going back later Tuesday evening, with more to be reported here as it becomes known.

First Mammoth Royalty Logged In for Fall

Come the autumn solstice and, ho!, the first fall royalty take emerges above the horizon.  This time not the iconic one penny payment of a few seasons back (see March 13, below), but not much over an order of magnitude more than that either.  Also a discussion with the publisher on ways of payment — PayPal will be okay so postage can be saved.  Every bit counts, eh?

Thus the life of the short story writer.  Actual publishers and amounts are not reported to save embarrassment on either side.  But in the interest of truth, this is for one story in an anthology which has been out for almost seven years — and a seasonal one at that (and not this season) — so that it’s still reporting sales at all is actually rather nice.

At least I think so

Silent Scream Snapped Up for Scary Snippets

A Saturday snark, too, a weird computer glitch preventing the previous post from going up late Friday.  That fixed though, there is one more thing to report re. an email coming late last night too.  A short post, let’s say, for a very short story.

It is an odd story at only about 500 words, very atmospheric.  Very much in the head of its narrator, claustrophobic, almost, in his mind.  A story of warning, of a need for quietness, but not perhaps for a [image error]“normal” reason — the story’s title:  “Silent Scream.”  So, that time of year coming, off it went to SCARY SNIPPETS:  HALLOWEEN, a Micro Horror collection  . . .  seeking horrific short stories that feature the theme of anything creepy for the Halloween season. Ghosts, goblins, any and all horror is accepted.  And also, exclusive stories only.

The word came just about 24 hours ago as I write this, from SCARY SNIPPETS Editor Kyle Harrison:  CONGRATULATIONS!  Your story, “Silent Scream” has been accepted into the Halloween edition of SCARY SNIPPETS!  Be on the lookout for contracts within the next two weeks.  In the meantime, promotional graphics are being made up to share your success!

And there we have it.

The Perils of Porkers: Fun and Pathos Bedevil Dead Pigs

A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an ambitious expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly modernizing Shanghai, China.  Based on true events.  (From IMDb)

I don’t know about how true the events are, but the movie is called DEAD PIGS, and here’s the IU Cinema’s take on it:  Filmmaker Ash Mayfair is scheduled to be present.  A mysterious stream of pig carcasses floats silently toward China’s populous economic hub, Shanghai.  As authorities struggle to explain the phenomenon, a down-and-out pig farmer with a youthful heart struggles to make ends meet, while an upwardly mobile landowner fights gentrification against an American expat seeking a piece of the Chinese dream.  Like a mosaic, their stories intersect and converge in [image error]a showdown between human and machine, past and future, brother and sister.  In Mandarin with English subtitles.  Contains mature content.

Ms. Mayfair, a Vietnamese filmmaker herself, was on campus for one of her films as well, but she also acted as docent for this one, adding, of DEAD PIGS, “So funny, so moving, very sophisticated.”  And yes, the funniness often was buried within the absurdity of the situations, though in details also, but I at least began to feel sorry for some of the characters — not always all that innocent themselves — but trapped in an overall context that, laughs aside, wasn’t likely to end well for most.  But family, and love, became stronger than than one might have thought at first and over the closing credits was a an upbeat chorus, in English, of “Everybody Celebrate” (there’s also a group sing near the end in the movie proper, but that one in Chinese).

So to me, DEAD PIGS wasn’t entirely a laugh fest, but was surprisingly good as a movie.  Or, for a little bit more of the flavor, here’s the first paragraph of a Sundance review by Jessica Kiang, from VARIETY.COM (which can be read in its entirety here):   In the Chinese zodiac, the happy-go-lucky pig stands for good fortune and wealth.  So an inexplicable epidemic that decimates the porcine population in a developing part of China still heavily reliant on pig farming, could be symbolically as well as literally disastrous, and it provides Cathy Yan’s sprawling, bouncing, jaunty debut with its darkest images.  Along the wide river that flows sluggishly to the nearby city, thousands of discarded pig corpses keep bobbing to the surface like troublesome metaphors.  But despite tracking with forensic rigor the domino effects of this sudden aporkalypse, the surprise is the light sureness of Yan’s touch.  “Dead Pigs” is delightfully uneven, eagerly see-sawing between screwy and serious, occasionally even daring to be ditzy — not a quality usually associated with Sixth Generation maestro and executive producer Jia Zhangke.  If anything, Yan’s film, with its dancing girls, pigeon-fancying beauticians, Westerners-on-the-make and spontaneous musical numbers, is an antidote to China’s weightier arthouse output, settling the stomach after too much stolid social realism, effervescent as an alka-seltzer.

Dark Infinity Cover Revealed — Guess Whose Name Is on Top!

Well, at the top of the list of names at the lower right, but you get the idea.  And . . . appearing just above Philip K. Dick?  Not shabby at all (and look farther down on the list as well)!  The magazine is DARK INFINITY #5 (see September 15, August 11), the “Derelict” issue, and my story is a reprint to[image error]o, “Ghost Ship,” harking back to TECHNO-GOTH CTHULHU (Red Skies Press, 2013) and set in the universe of TOMBS:  A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH.

But as for the magazine itself, let’s let Editor Tom English do the honors:  Cover of BLACK INFINITY #5, (the DERELICTS issue) out in early October.  Stories by Gregory Norris, David VonAllmen, Douglas Smith, James Dorr, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Stewart C Baker, Jason J. McCuiston, Philip K. Dick, Andre Norton, Jack Williamson, Alan E. Nourse and others, with art by Allen Koszowski and others.  Plus:  retro movie reviews by Matt Cowan; weird science by Todd Treichel; a classic SF comics story from the 50s; a special tribute section to the original Lost in Space series; a brief survey of derelict spaceships in SF; and a free music download (details inside the mag) created especially for BLACK INFINITY by Mac of BIOnighT.  — with Jason Krueger.

And out well in time for Halloween — I’m looking forward!

Golden Age Early Acceptance for House of Zolo

HOZ are looking for literature that explores possibilities for the future.  We want challenging short stories that are character driven, that reimagine the world and our place in it.  We are looking for radical authors, feminist authors, LGBTQ2S authors, authors who experiment.  Themes that thrill us:  transhumanism, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, new systems, resistance, activism, queer perspectives, feminist perspectives, nature.  This was the call from independent Canadian publisher House of Zolo for the HOZ JOURN[image error]AL OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE, a new literary magazine featuring quality works of speculative fiction and poetry.  I was interested in the humanist slant to the themes they cited and, they being open to some reprints, I thought of a story originally published in Spring 1994 in Catherine Asaro’s magazine MINDSPARKS (also reprinted in ZIPPERED FLESH 3, see February 3 2017, et al.), “Golden Age,” about surgical life prolonging procedures that might lead to physical immortality — or, to the point, the effect on the person who’s the first to try these.

So I sent it out and today a reply came, that while the process is still in flux, [w]e wanted to accept your story right now, though, because it is exactly what we are looking for, with specifics to come in the next few weeks.  The HOZ JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE is expected to be published twice a year, with the first, I think, scheduled later this year.  More will be reported here as it becomes known.

And the Good News Is . . . Grifty Shades, a Not-Quite Rejection

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill fairy tales.  The stories in this anthology are all about conniving creatures.  We didn’t limit the genre, so expect humor, horror, romance, and tragedy.
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Really, we hope, by reading these stories, you will avoid making the mistake of trusting any type of Fair Folk.  Still, if you do make that mistake, we’d sure love to include your future unfortunate story in volume two of this anthology.
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So the full title of the anthology was GRIFTY SHADES OF FEY, and the story I’d sent was called “The Kerry Pipers,” an original tale but with perhaps fey folk a little bit nastier than the guidelines suggested.  That is, these weren’t exactly into just fun tricks and jokes.  Then came the email today from Fiction Vortex Editor/Publisher Mike Cluff:  Thank you for your submission!  I really love the story.  However, I have decided to not include it in this first GSOF anthology where it would not get enough deserved attention. [image error] So that’s not so good, though perhaps not entirely unexpected.
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But the email continued:  I do want to include it in the next anthology as one of the primary stories.  GRIFTY SHADES DARKER is set to hit Kickstarter in Spring 2020.  The theme will be horror and the much darker side of the Fey.  If you are interested, and willing to keep the story out of the market until then, I would list you as one of the authors on the Kickstarter campaign page and the re-designed Fiction Vortex homepage.
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So, long story short, this afternoon I sent back my “yes.”