'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 102

Sunday Shorts – Great Jones Street

I’m late with Sunday Shorts today (I have a good reason, I promise: I got the edits back on Triad Soul and I’ve been reading through them most of the day). Between that, taking the dog to the pit for his Sunday walk, and going for groceries, I sort of fell behind.

That said, I do want to talk about short fiction today, but instead of a particular tale, I’m going to point you to an app.

Yep, you heard me.

There’s this nifty app, Great Jones Street, that I’ve been exploring on my phone when I’m in line ups or on the bus or anywhere else when I’ve got a few minutes and want to read. It’s a short fiction app, and the curation is pretty darn solid. I’ve read a half dozen or so tales thus far, and can heartily suggest The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars by Yoon Ha Lee, and Ice by Rich Larson. Oh, and also Mono no Aware, by Ken Liu.

Anyway, if you’re looking for quick and easy, pocket-sized access to short fiction, definitely check out the app.

Writing Wednesday – The Nose Knows

 

Over the last few days, I’ve had this odd “pressure” feeling behind my nose, and today, at the dentist, I brought it up and now I have minor surgery prepped for next week.

So that’s a thing that just happened.

It’s as minor as can be, is a day-thing, and I’m not even remotely worried. I’ve had so much metal put into my jaw, teeth, and mouth that I can’t even begin to tell you how unsurprising it is that something went a wee bit sideways (well, upwards) and now I’ve got a minor repair.

Bionic jaws need upkeep.

Personally, I’m hoping for a wee bit of wobbly voice afterward. I’ll record it if it happens.

Anyway! Writing Wednesday is late because of all of the above, but here we go.

Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks

I’m still on track with EPfTF, but I had my first really frustrating day of trying (and failing) to connect with the voice of Cole yesterday. I got there, eventually, but every single word was like pulling teeth.

Oh. Hey. More teeth.

That said, I’m not worried, it’s always like this, and I’m finding more and more of the threads I was hoping to find to snarl up Cole’s life. I’ve also had a big breakthrough with my decisions about Cole’s teleportation abilities, what they mean, how they work, and how they fit into the history of the world he inhabits.

Which is our world, of course, only with a kid who can teleport.

Of Echoes Born / Short Pieces

Last week I mentioned I signed up for the 11th Annual NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge, which was so far out of my wheelhouse that I’m not even sure I know what to do to finish the metaphor about wheelhouses. I got my assignment: “Ghost story, with an admission of guilt, and a stalker character.” And then I froze. Completely.

Today, while I was learning about my bionic impairment, however, I finally came up with an idea. I’m letting it percolate a bit, but I think I’ve got a story. Fingers crossed.

Still on track with the collection, too.

Open Calls for Submission

Lastly, Writing Wednesday updates include my list off all the various open calls for submission I’ve found and/or am trying to write for. If you know of any others, by all means do drop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. If this is helpful for people other than myself, it’s even better.

Also, January is shaping up to be a great month submission wise. Thus far, I’ve sent in 5 submissions (4 of which were reprints, 1 was a new piece), and I’ve just signed an acceptance contract for one of those reprints.

Chicken Soup for the Soul – Various titles, various themes, various deadlines, 1,200 word count limit.
Clarkesworld – Currently open for art, non-fiction, and short story submissions.
Cast of Wonders – Young adult short fiction market, open to story submissions up to 6,000 words.
49th Parallels – Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures, Bundoran Press, deadline February 14th, 2017; 1,500-7k word count limit.
MM Superpowers anthology – This isn’t the only thing open at Totally Bound (you can click through for the full list), but this is the one I’m eyeing; deadline February 28th, 2017; 10k-15k word count limit, with erotic content.

Emotional labour is a two-way street

This. It comes up a bit for me with queer issues, as I know I’m a very out and public voice for queer inclusion/discussions. That said, I’ve had to tell well-meaning allies more than once: you know I’ve already discussed this a billion times. Maybe, y’know, go back through my archive and quote me? I don’t have to be physically present. That’s the whole point of education–passing on the knowledge.

And never, ever, show me links with images of people who’ve been bashed without warning me. I’ve had mor than one “did you see this?” with a link I had no idea was going to be that disturbing.

Enthusiasm makes the difference

(I share this seagull’s irritation. Photo by Dustin Liebenow)

Ethan: Hey Audra, a friend of mine is getting beat up by a bunch of MRAs… I took a swing at them but could use some help. Any suggestions? [LINK REMOVED BECAUSE IT’S SUPER TRIGGERING.]

Audra: Jesus I thought you meant actually beat up.

Ethan: Yes, sorry… on FB

Audra: For fuck sake. It’s not cool to send someone a link to a thread where there are graphic images of violence against women being posted.

Ethan: Not sure how to respond to that. Trying to help a friend not cause more problems for someone else.

Audra: Sure I guess maybe be more considerate when you are asking someone for intense emotional labour out of the blue?

Ethan: Fair enough.

[FIVE MINUTES PASS AND I NOTICE HE HAS UNFRIENDED ME]

Audra: Did you unfriend me because I was critical of the…

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Sunday Shorts – “Craving His Love,” by Kayleigh Malcolm

I’ve never read a sixty-two title series before, and if I’m completely honest, I haven’t done so yet, either.

Let me explain.

The Black Hills Wolves series is a shared world series where various authors visit the same location, share characters, and build an ever-growing tale about a pack of werewolves. From the publisher website: Dawn has come to Los Lobos and a nearly decimated wolf pack has found its feet again. Drew Tao has ousted his father, the Alpha, reclaimed his mate, and is determined to make things better than they ever were before.

Now, if the notion of a sixty-two book series is overwhelming, I want to take a second before I begin to point out I read book forty-seven first.

That would be Craving His Love, by Kayleigh Malcolm.

[image error] Stone McKie has come back to the Black Hills, the only place he’s ever felt as home. He never expected to find a mate waiting, or that the creative Omega would be terrified of him. 

Josh was raised believing that he wasn’t worth anything other than being a whipping boy for more dominate wolves. The thought of being the mate to a big, burly, tattoo artist is too terrifying to contemplate, but he can’t seem to keep his distance.

When a threat from Josh’s past catches up to him, he has to turn to the one man that scares him for protection. Can Josh get past his fears and accept the love he desperately craves? Will Stone have to leave the one place he’s ever felt at home, to follow his mate?

So, jumping in forty-seven books into a series. Crazy, right?

Nope.

Here’s the thing: I trust Kayleigh Malcolm to tell a good—and hot—story, so I figured I would have to suss out details on my own and just roll with any punches if I was missing anything from earlier books that was needed to “get” the narrative.

Which, it turns out, was foolish. Malcolm explained the specifics of the Black Hills wolves by showing (not telling), and at no point did I ever feel like I was missing anything.

Which is pretty freaking amazing, no? I remind you, forty-six other stories came before this novella.

This story is self-contained, hot, sweet, sexy, and—an added bonus that I’m really coming to love with Kayleigh Malcolm’s books—characters who are finding their way back to places of joy, trust, or love. The character of Josh is someone discovering his strengths after surviving a nightmare, and his life thus far has convinced him he’s pretty much worthless. The allegory isn’t heavy handed, but the “leave behind the family that dismissed you and find a new family that loves you” is such a quintessential queer journey that I connected with him even as I wanted him to shake him until he realized his worth.

Stone, the big burly tattoo artist who meets Josh and realizes they’re meant to be together, makes a misstep or two, but the chemistry is scorching and the journey is fantastic. More, the inclusion of a “take care of someone more vulnerable” (and no, I don’t mean Josh) as a way for Stone and Josh to bond was a great way to bring them closer together. I really appreciated it wasn’t all about Stone saying “Hey, you’re mine,” to the timid younger man.

The paranormal genre lets writers break a few rules, and one of those rules is the notion of instant-attraction/love that goes deeper than hormones. When part of who you are is a wolf with the ability to recognize your soul-mate at first scent, you get to open up new paths of narratives. How do you reconcile this bestial side with the reality of your very human brains with all their very human foibles, self-doubt, and denial?

Well, if Kayleigh Malcolm is at the helm, you do it with wit, humour, and a great deal of heat.

I’ll be running with these wolves again.

Writing Wednesday – Branded

There’s a blog post I just read that left me blinking a bit. In it, to paraphrase, the advice given was basically: “don’t post controversial opinions or express views if you think it has the possibility of upsetting readers.”

How to put this succinctly?

Hell no.

Now, granted, I’m coming at this from a different point of view perhaps, in that I’m a queer guy, so by virtue of existing, I’m already a controversial opinion expressing oxygen on a daily basis.

Given that there are readers who don’t like queer people, queer representation, or “all that gay shit you talk about” (direct quote from a blocked comment on a past blog), I completely agree that there are readers who get up set if you put forth a persona that is controversial to them.

And, again, to be succinct: Good.

The notion that I shouldn’t use whatever little platform writing gives me to express my queerness, my queer-inclusive politics, my pro-diversity, pro-#ownvoices, pro-feminist, pro-BLM, pro-whatever-the-heck-else views is anathema. Will I lose readers? You betcha. Would they have enjoyed my books in the first place?

[image error]

Yep. Still queer.

Well, given that Triad Blood is about a group of three queer misfits forming their own chosen family once the people who are the status quo shove them out—probably not? But hey, even if they did read it before they learned anything about me from my twitter or Facebook pages, it’s likely they caught the queer-positive vibe from what I was writing. What with the gay sex and all. In Memoriam? Even my bittersweet-but-far-more-lighthearted romance brings up the whole gay marriage thing. Light? Yep, even the science fiction superhero(ish) story touches on the whole isolation of the other at the hands of some religions stuff.

My brand is queer. I’m not going to hide who I am when who I am is part of the whole damn point. When I was a kid, I didn’t see anyone like me out there as a possible future. I want queer kids to see as many possible futures for themselves as possible, and one of those futures is as a queer writer using their voice to do what good they can, even if they fuck it up occasionally, swear, or admit they inhaled.

Also, there’s the opposite side to consider here. When I see a big discussion happening about #ownvoices, for example (which, again, for the record, BRING ON THE #OWNVOICES!), I also see who doesn’t speak. Silence is just as political as speaking out. I see authors who write gay romances who never once speak up when people are saying some pretty homophobic, transphobic, or biphobic shit.

That silence? That failure to correct, educate, or act in the interest of opposite hate and stereotypes? Sorry, authors, but that becomes part of your brand, too.

Silence = death.

That’s a lesson I already learned from queer history.

(With a hat-tip to Brad Vance, who pointed out the blog discussion.)

Anyway. Ranting aside, back to the whole point of Writing Wednesday, which is to keep myself honest and on track on writing projects.

Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks

I’m on track with EPfTF, and things are going well. Sub-plots are beginning to approach me to be woven into the story, and I’ve had fun working on the secondary characters. The voice of my protagonist is starting to solidify, and I like where Cole is going so far. He’s not like me in many, many ways, which is something I do strive to do in most pieces I write, but there’s just something about getting in touch with your younger teen self that brings on the amusement and anxiety and high-emotion of it all.

In some ways, there’s a wish-fulfillment going on here. Cole is a member of a queer club at his high school, and he has half a dozen queer friends. I never had that, nor anything like it, though by the end of my time at the high schools I attended, I had learned I wasn’t alone, and had met a couple of other queer people, we were silent about it, not out, and terrified.

Being Cole, even through fiction, feels very much like living a kind of “If only…” scenario.

Then again, I don’t think I could handle his teleportation problem, either.

 

Of Echoes Born / Short Pieces

 

I’m actually ahead of schedule here, which is… unlikely to continue?

I’m also finding it’s very, very hard to look at previously written and published short fiction and not want to edit them. Seriously. My first ever published piece, “Heart,” is something I’m very proud of, and will be including it in the collection, but…

There may be tweaks. Is that done? Do people do that? I mean… is that allowed in collections of short fiction?

Uh, asking for a friend?

Also: I do have something coming up that’s rather exciting, and a wee bit terrifying. I signed up for the 11th Annual NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge, which is so far out of my wheelhouse that I’m not even sure I know what to do to finish the metaphor about wheelhouses. But I’m excited about the new challenge, and it lines up with my “stop self-rejecting” goal of the year. I’m going to count it as a submission, too, even though I’ve already hit my quota for January submissions. I’m not going to let myself bank them ahead for future months, but it’s nice to be proactive and see the numbers grow.

Open Calls for Submission

Lastly, Writing Wednesday updates include my list off all the various open calls for submission I’ve found and/or am trying to write for. If you know of any others, by all means do drop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. If this is helpful for people other than myself, it’s even better. Also, to keep myself honest, I’m being public about trying to submit something once a month no matter what this year (it worked out well in 2016, so I’m keeping it alive). January thus far: 4 submissions (3 reprints, 1 new piece).

Chicken Soup for the Soul – Various titles, various themes, various deadlines, 1,200 word count limit.
Clarkesworld – Currently open for art, non-fiction, and short story submissions.
Cast of Wonders – Young adult short fiction market, open to story submissions up to 6,000 words.
Tales to Terrify – A volunteer-run fan podcast featuring short horror, dark fantasy, and other disturbing fiction, looking for works up to 10k; Deadline January 21st, 2017.
49th Parallels – Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures, Bundoran Press, deadline February 14th, 2017; 1,500-7k word count limit.
MM Superpowers anthology – This isn’t the only thing open at Totally Bound (you can click through for the full list), but this is the one I’m eyeing; deadline February 28th, 2017; 10k-15k word count limit, with erotic content.

Sunday Shorts – “Shepherd” Q&A with Jeffrey Ricker

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Foglifter Magazine

I need to offer a public mea culpa with today’s Sunday Shorts. I had intended to have this ready for release to coincide with the month of release of the magazine, Foglifter, in which the story appeared, which was—cough—last November. Then I managed to have a spectacular ice fall (among other things) and everything sort of stuttered to a stop for a bit.

But! One of the great things about great shot ficition like Ricker’s “Shepherd”? It’ll wait for you.

You should haven’t wait for Jeffrey Ricker, though, and for that I apologize.

Foglifter is a queer journal and press, but more than that. We want powerful writing, intersectional writing, that queers our perspectives; writing that explores the sometimes abject, sometimes shameful, but always honest and revelatory experience; writing that calls into question the things we believe to be true, the things we believe to be known, and turns them on their head for–at least–a moment of consideration. There are many considerations out there. We want them all to be heard.

Okay, let’s talk “Shepherd.”

NB: One of my favourite things about short fiction is how sometimes, less can be so much more. You’ve got two men escaping the city to a cabin retreat in “Shepherd,” and we find out the bare minimum about them: one is ill, one works hard, their relationship has tension intersecting somewhere in those two places. Do you find it difficult to reveal only so very much as is necessary? Or was that done on purpose at all?

JR: It’s always a challenge to figure out what are the right things to reveal, the ones that are just enough to sketch out the shape of what’s going on and provide enough details for the reader to find their way in. (Does that make sense?) It’s a balancing act, and I have to decide whether I’m telling enough or am I in too much of a hurry to get to the next part of the story? I’m always tempted to put in more, but then I have to ask, why? In the end, I try to trust that my reader is smart; although, if they don’t get something, it’s still probably my own fault.

But I try not to nail down too many of the details unnecessarily; so I don’t have to tell you that Ed is shorter than Joe or what color their hair is or their eyes or things like that, but I’ll try to pull out the details that I think might maybe make the reader wonder a bit more, like the freckles on Ed’s arms. Does he freckle because he likes being outdoors? So then, since he’s the one who travels back and forth to the city for work, does he resent that Joe gets to stay out at the cabin, and how does that make him feel, resenting that of someone who’s not all well?

NB: It’s deftly done. And now, of course, I’m going to bring up the four-legged fellow. I’ve rarely read a story with a dog in it I didn’t like, so I’m an easy mark, but what led you to using the German Shepherd in the tale as the force of change?

JR: Well, the answer to this question is closely tied to the next question, so there may be some overlap. But, I’ve been increasingly preoccupied with death lately, hence the whippoorwills and Joe’s precarious health and, at the center of things, the dog. In my reading I found dogs associated with death in European folk tales, and usually as baleful influences. (I confess that, like Joe, I haven’t gotten all the way through The Hound of the Baskervilles either.) But “dogs = evil” doesn’t really sit well with what I know of dogs. I much prefer to see them as the companions on the journey, especially the difficult ones. They’ve certainly gotten me through some tough times in my own life.

NB: Well, we all know about the dog-influence I’ve fallen under, so I don’t think I can offer an unbiased opinion, either. I know where the dog-love came from in my life. But, where did this tale come from (not just the doggy)? What brought Ed and Joe (but, okay, yes, the doggy) to your keyboard?

JR: Blame Edward Hopper. He’s one of my favourite artists, and my favourite painting, bar none, is Cape Cod Evening. The first time I saw it, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, I was a teenager and whenever I went to the museum, I’d spend a few minutes standing in front of it and wondering about the two people; how they were together yet clearly separate, about how the grass came right up to the front step and wasn’t that strange, and then, apart from even both the people, the dog standing in the middle of the yard, which was really more field than yard. He’s turned away from the people and is looking at something out of the frame. What is it? And the man sitting on the step has his hand out; is he beckoning the dog? Does the dog even belong to them? Why does the woman have such a closed-off posture?

Obviously, in my imagination, the dog is a symbol, Joe’s protestations to the contrary. What the dog hears is the whippoorwill. And in addition to that, I had to make it a little queer, of course.

NB: Of course. Thank you! I look forward to my next good sniffle over a dog story from you…

 

[image error]Jeffrey Ricker’s first novel, Detours, was published in 2011 by Bold Strokes Books. His second novel, a fantastic YA, The Unwanted, was published by Bold Strokes in 2014. His writing has appeared in many anthologies, including: Paws and Reflect, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction, Blood Sacraments, Men of the Mean Streets, Speaking Out, Raising Hell, The Dirty Diner, and Night Shadows: Queer Horror, among others. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he is pursuing an MFA at the University of British Columbia.

Writing Wednesday – Better Writing Through Novocaine

I was supposed to be at the dentist this morning for my cleaning, but at the last moment I got an e-mail that my hygienist is sick, so I’ve unexpectedly run around and cleared my morning without needing to. She’s the best hygienist ever, and people get sick, so I’m not upset in the slightest, but it’s funny how when you plan out a day a certain way and it falls through the empty part of the schedule leaves you sort of blinking and stunned.

Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, I’m back on schedule with breaking my writing up across certain days. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays belong to “The Big Project” (more on that below), and Wednesdays, like today, are for short fiction (although there’s another big project, also see below).

And since I have an unexpected morning, I suppose I should get to work on something now, rather than later…

The Big Project

This year’s big project (ie: a novel) is a YA. Yep. I’m writing a YA. Cue screaming noises of self-doubt and terror. That said, so far so good, and thanks to the wonders of Scrivener’s auto-target thingamabob™, I am aware I’m ahead of schedule.

Mostly thus far I’ve outlined, written some basic pieces of the basic framework of the main narrative, and am building up my cast of characters and considering ways to make the main character’s life all the more difficult. Much like my first novel, Light, there’s going to be a kind of “no time to stop and think” vibe to this novel for the main character.

The blurb? Why, how nice of you to ask. The working blurb is this:

Being the kid abducted by crazy old Ms. Easton when he was four permanently set Cole’s status to “freak.” At sixteen, his exit plan is simple: make it through the last few weeks of High School with his grades up and his head down.

When he pushes through the front door of the school and finds himself thirty kilometres away holding the door of a museum he was just thinking about, Cole faces facts: he’s either crazier than old Ms. Easton, or he just teleported.

Now every door is an accident waiting to happen—especially when Cole thinks about Malik, who, it turns out, has a glass door on his shower.

When he starts seeing the same creepy people over his shoulder, no matter how far he’s gone, crushes become the least of his worries.

Cole is running out of luck, excuses, and places to hide.

Time for a new exit plan.

The working title is Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks.

The Other Big (But Also Smaller) Project

The second thing I’m working on for this year is a collection. I’m going a bit against the usual, though, in that the collection is going to feature quite a lot of new short fiction—at least half the stories will be previously unpublished—and that’s the heavy lifting part of the project.

Thematically, I’m focusing on my slightly-(or not-so-slightly)-psychic stuff, with bittersweet romances, happy ending romances, and “second chance” stories. The working title is currently Of Echoes Born. Basically, if you enjoyed “Heart,” “Elsewhen,” “The Psychometry of Snow,” “Time & Tide,” or “The Finish,” you’ll know what vibe to expect from the stories. I already have a couple of them finished, and am working on more. One involves a man who can relive the last few moments of those who died wherever he happens to be standing, and another is a piece about a fashion designer with dementia that thematically was the springboard that inspired my novella In Memoriam.

Open Calls for Submission

The other thing I generally do on these Writing Wednesday updates is list off all the various open calls for submission I’ve found and/or am trying to write for. If you know of any others, by all means do drop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. If this is helpful for people other than myself, it’s even better. Also, to keep myself honest, I’m being public about trying to submit something once a month no matter what this year (it worked out well in 2016, so I’m keeping it alive). January thus far: 3 submissions (3 reprints).

Chicken Soup for the Soul – Various titles, various themes, various deadlines, 1,200 word count limit.
Clarkesworld – Currently open for art, non-fiction, and short story submissions.
Cast of Wonders – Young adult short fiction market, open to story submissions up to 6,000 words.
Tales to Terrify – A volunteer-run fan podcast featuring short horror, dark fantasy, and other disturbing fiction, looking for works up to 10k; Deadline January 21st, 2017.
49th Parallels – Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures, Bundoran Press, deadline February 14th, 2017; 1,500-7k word count limit.
MM Superpowers anthology – This isn’t the only thing open at Totally Bound (you can click through for the full list), but this is the one I’m eyeing; deadline February 28th, 2017; 10k-15k word count limit, with erotic content.

Sunday Shorts – “A Little Queermas Carol,” by Sassafras Lowrey

[image error]This novellas was the first book I finished for 2017 as part of myself and my hubby’s project to sit back and read without electronics of any kind on Sunday mornings as scheduled reading time.

A Little Queermas Carol is adorable.

It’s not the kind of thing I expected to say about a Queer Leather Little retelling of A Christmas Carol, but then again, having been lucky enough to meet Sassafras Lowrey a few times at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, it’s a combination in retrospect that makes perfect sense. Much like Leather Ever After: An Anthology of Kinky Fairy Tales envisioned familiar fairy tales with a kinky and erotic lens to amazing effect, A Little Queermas Carol takes on a genderqueer Little/Daddy dynamic and brings forth the same result: a great narrative that invites in the very people that the original version of the tale would never have dreamed to even mention, let alone include.

Even better, that spirit of light-hearted joy that so infuses a Little narrative doesn’t shy away from the hurts and pains that many queer Littles have experienced. This isn’t a story of sunshine and rainbows, much like the original Dickens, and is instead a story of someone taking their pain and finding the joys and rainbows where they can—which, as in the real world, is often in the company of others like themselves who can truly empathize.

Am I overanalyzing? Maybe. But I don’t think so. Anyone who knows me knows I spend a lot of time discussing how we queerfolk don’t inherit our cultural narratives, on account of the vast majority of us not having a genetic lineage of queerness to create a constancy. Instead, we have to find each other, have to actively seek out our histories (assuming those histories have even been told) and all of this while doing the basics we need to do to survive what can often be a very hostile world. That Tiny Tim here is a weak-but-loving puppy, that Fred is a Daddy, and Marley is a former musician and that the lending house is instead an activist newspaper is the tinsel trimming on the tree: these are the queer families we create when the biological ones walk out.

Stories like A Little Queermas Carol are exactly the kind of narratives we need: stories that remind us we exist, have always existed, and will continue to exist. The spirits of past, present, and future queerness are very much alive in this novella.

Writing Wednesday – On Your Marks, Get Set…

Getting back on track is a process, but it starts with that whole “first step” thing. Yesterday, I sat down and organized the first of two major projects ahead of me this year, a novel. Today I’ll be doing the same with a second project. Getting organized is the “On Your Marks” and “Get Set” of the writing race to me, and thereafter the “Go” becomes much, much easier.

I’m not a plotter in a grander sense, though. I do a very rough outline, gather my thoughts, and I’m a non-linear writer in my process. But that framework makes a project “real” enough that I gain forward momentum, even when I write chapter seven and then double back to chapter two before writing the epilogue.

Listen, I admire linear writers. I’m just not one of them.

That’ll be my “update on the projects” portion of this first Writing Wednesday. Next week I’ll pop in with the word counts/goals/etc., assuming I have contracts in hand. Otherwise, it’ll stay vague until there are solids.

As this is the first Writing Wednesday of 2017, I should probably also note upcoming stuff that is solid, though, so here we go.

[image error]Triad Soul

You knew this one already, but Triad Soul is up for pre-order through Bold Strokes Books right this very moment, and will be out June 2017, alongside some freaking awesome other titles (I’m personally super-stoked for Fiona Riley‘s Unlikely Match).

A brief word about pre-ordering: I had a conversation recently with a reader who asked ‘how’s the best way to get your book that helps you the most?’ Now, before I answer, I wanted to state, clearly: however you (legally) get the book is a good thing. The library, borrowed from a friend… Basically, if you’re not torrenting or pirating the book, I’m happy. That said, the truth is this: the absolute most helpful way for the author is to get the book (a) directly from the publisher, and (b) pre-order it. The why is simple: generally speaking, the author makes a better cut on direct sales, as there are zero middle-men between the publisher and the sale; especially if you’re ordering an e-book. It also shows the publisher there is interest in the book before it even releases, which might give them a nudge to pay more attention to how widely they market the book, shout about the book, and whether or not the author gets picked up for another contract.

[image error]Equality

A rare non-fiction from me, I have a piece called “Limit” in the upcoming Equality: What Do You Think About When You Think of Equality? This is, obviously, a piece close to my heart, and the collection as a whole, which I’ve been reading since my author copy arrived, has been illuminating from a bunch of different angles. There are some big names in there, too, so I get to be all chuffed about the company I’m keeping.

Equality is currently set to release this month, so you can hop on that one pretty darn quickly, if you’re at all interested. The personal essays inside range from the humorous to the angry to the bittersweet to the joyful and celebratory. It’s as varied as the people in it, and that’s the strength of the collection as a whole.

And hey, who doesn’t want to think about equality these days, what with what’s going on to the south, in the east, and even in my birth country, huh?

[image error]Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness

I’m going to be the first person to say I didn’t believe this would happen. I’m a queer writer who generally sticks to queer topics (see above), but last year I was maintaining a “submit something once per month” challenge and there was a month where I couldn’t find an anthology to which I had something appropriate, the stuff I was writing wasn’t flowing, and then I saw that Chicken Soup was looking for random acts of kindness and I remembered one of my favourite things that had ever happened in the bookstore, period, and thought, ‘Don’t self-reject.’

So, I wrote it, submitted it, crossed off my “submit something once a month” goal for the month and moved on.

And it got accepted. I’m still surprised, but come February 2017, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness will be live and you can visit the bookstore and pick up a copy about the best holiday memory I have from working retail Christmas in a bookstore.

The amusement here is also added from remembering how often I’d have to shelve the Chicken Soup books at the store, and how they inevitably got out of order and the new title that arrived was always in a location of the alphabetical order that was the least convenient for moving all the titles to make room. Now I’m going to be part of the problem.

Open Calls for Submission

The other thing I generally do on these Writing Wednesday updates is list off all the various open calls for submission I’ve found and/or am trying to write for. If you know of any others, by all means do drop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. If this is helpful for people other than myself, it’s even better.

Chicken Soup for the Soul – Various titles, various themes, various deadlines, 1,200 word count limit.
Clarkesworld – Currently open for art, non-fiction, and short story submissions.
Cast of Wonders – Young adult short fiction market, open to story submissions up to 6,000 words.
49th Parallels – Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures, Bundoran Press, deadline February 14th, 2017; 1,500-7k word count limit.
MM Superpowers anthology – This isn’t the only thing open at Totally Bound (you can click through for the full list), but this is the one I’m eyeing; deadline February 28th, 2017; 10k-15k word count limit, with erotic content.
Tales to Terrify – A volunteer-run fan podcast featuring short horror, dark fantasy, and other disturbing fiction, looking for works up to 10k; Deadline January 21st, 2017.

New Year’s Resolutions

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Ice and snow outside, which makes for a happy Husky.

Happy New Year!

I’m over at Romance Eh? Canadian Style today introducing myself and speaking a bit about New Year’s Resolutions, and I thought I’d pop in here, blow the dust off from the last two weeks or so, and get back on track.

Specifically, I’ve got two major deadlines this year, as well as my usual “try to submit something once every month” self-challenge.

Now, I don’t have contracts yet for those two deadlines, but I’ve had a verbal okay, so I’m moving ahead with them right away, and I spent today getting the files in order, outlining scenes for the novel-type-project, and considering what to include for the not-a-novel-type-project.

I’ve got quite a few things left to accomplish in both cases, but I hit my word count, and I feel the creative vibe, the one that had sort of wobbled out of balance starting with Pulse and then falling completely off kilter when the election to the south of me went, well, south.

The thing about a new year is the arbitrary nature of it might be silly, but it’s helpful to have a launching point.

So.

Writing Wednesdays will be coming back starting tomorrow. As always, please share any calls for submission you happen to see, and I’ll pass them along as best I can.

Sunday Shorts might take a bit longer. I have one ready to go (that’s way overdue) and then I’ll need to build up some backlog again, but in the interim, I can still post Short-story discussions on Sundays, including whatever I happen to be reading and enjoying. That’s a thing.

I’ve also got a few guest blogs, tip-shares, and potentially some reviews in the pipeline. Oh, and at some point edits will show up for Triad Soul, too (which you can pre-order, by the way). 2017 promises to be busy, if nothing else. I’ll begin announcing those projects as soon as I get paperwork.

The ice rain might be falling outside, but I’m just warming up.

Here’s to a great year.