Patrick Scalisi's Blog, page 6
August 3, 2013
BREAKING NEWS: I've Signed a Book Contract
It is with great joy that I announce that my debut book, The Horse Thieves and Other Tales of the New West, will be released later this year by Hazardous Press!
More details about the release will be made available here, and on my website and
More details about the release will be made available here, and on my website and
July 30, 2013
News: August 2013
Well, July brought with it good news and bad. We'll start with the bad, get it out of the way and clear the air. Toward the end of the month, I was informed that An Honest Lie Vol. 4, which was set to feature my short story "Salvage," was being put on indefinite production hold and that Open Heart Publishing was closing shop effective immediately. This wasn't wholly unexpected, given the missed deadlines and lack of communication. It does, however, mean that "Salvage" is free again, and I have begun submitting the story to other markets in earnest.
And now the good news: My short story "The Zumundo Cog," which previously appeared in the November-December 2008 issue of the preeminent steampunk magazine The Willows and in the fantastic anthology Penny Dread Tales Vol. 1 from Rune Wright, will be reprinted a third time in the steampunk magazine Professor Dobbs' Literary Primer for the Extraordinary. Click HERE to see the amazing cover!
More information about the issue will be posted when its official release date has been announced.
Finally, the August 2013 issue of Columbia will feature my third cover story -- a photo essay about the Global Wheelchair Mission. Accompanied by beautiful photography by
That's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
And now the good news: My short story "The Zumundo Cog," which previously appeared in the November-December 2008 issue of the preeminent steampunk magazine The Willows and in the fantastic anthology Penny Dread Tales Vol. 1 from Rune Wright, will be reprinted a third time in the steampunk magazine Professor Dobbs' Literary Primer for the Extraordinary. Click HERE to see the amazing cover!
More information about the issue will be posted when its official release date has been announced.
Finally, the August 2013 issue of Columbia will feature my third cover story -- a photo essay about the Global Wheelchair Mission. Accompanied by beautiful photography by
That's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
July 1, 2013
News: July 2013
As expected, June was a slow writing month because of all the travel I had to do for both personal reasons and work (stupid life interrupting my well-orchestrated schedule!). However, I nonetheless have a few bits of news to report.
At the start of June, I was selected to receive an advance copy of the July/August 2013 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the understanding that I would blog, post or write about the issue in some way. I chose to review the issue -- which features work by K.J. Kabza, Paul Di Filippo, Eleanor Arnason and Chen Qiufan -- in its entirety. You can find the entire review on this blog or by clicking HERE.
As part of my travels last month, I also attended a media convention for work. At the annual awards ceremony, the magazine that I work for by day received second place in the general excellence category, the highest award given by this particular organization. This was a real coup for us considering that we haven't placed in at least seven years!
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
At the start of June, I was selected to receive an advance copy of the July/August 2013 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the understanding that I would blog, post or write about the issue in some way. I chose to review the issue -- which features work by K.J. Kabza, Paul Di Filippo, Eleanor Arnason and Chen Qiufan -- in its entirety. You can find the entire review on this blog or by clicking HERE.
As part of my travels last month, I also attended a media convention for work. At the annual awards ceremony, the magazine that I work for by day received second place in the general excellence category, the highest award given by this particular organization. This was a real coup for us considering that we haven't placed in at least seven years!
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
June 26, 2013
Review: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction July/August 2013
Last month, I entered a promotion to receive a free advance copy of the July/August 2013 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the understanding that I would blog, post or write about the issue in some capacity. I have chosen to review the issue in its entirety. Thank you to the editors and staff of F&SF for letting me participate!
To this day, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction remains one of the most respected publishers of short genre fiction. Presented in a professionally edited package with beautiful cover art bimonthly, F&SF is a major milestone for both emerging and established writers. This is, after all, the publication that serialized such classics as Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” (as “Starship Soldier”), Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” and Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger.” On the eve of its 65th anniversary, F&SF retains its distinctive role as an important titan in the speculative fiction landscape.
That having been said, the July/August 2013 issue begins slowly with K.J. Kabza’s story “The Color of Sand.” I love stories about cats but couldn’t quite connect with this one. Written to resemble a fable (or perhaps something by E. Nesbit), Kabza embraces simple dialog and sentence structure that would be more at home in a story for young readers. Was there meant to be a moral at the end? If so, it was lost on me by the time the story came to an abrupt and unclear conclusion.
The second story, “Oh Give Me a Home” by Adam Rakunas, suffers from the opposite problem. A topical novelette on genetically modified food, “Oh Give Me a Home” reads like a thinly veiled satire of Monsanto and the struggle of small farmers versus giant corporations. Rakunas is a capable writer, for sure, but the story didn’t present the David/Goliath skirmish in a particularly fresh or exciting way.
It is Chen Qiufan’s “The Year of the Rat” (translated by Ken Liu) that really throws this issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction into gear. Reminiscent in tone to Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, “The Year of the Rat” chronicles university graduates who reluctantly take work with the military’s “Rodent-Control Force” for lack of other gainful employment in an unnamed (and seemingly cloistered) Asian country. Unsettling and memorable, Qiufan’s story examines the real enemies of war, especially those started by one’s own country.
For those worried that F&SF is all about “serious,” “hard” fiction without having fun of any kind, fear not. Three works placed strategically throughout the issue bring comic relief to otherwise-serious topics. We begin with “Half a Conversation, Overheard while Inside an Enormous Sentient Slug” by Oliver Buckram. This delightful piece of flash fiction is almost too short to review without spoiling the fun. Suffice to say that Buckram’s piece is very amusing. Paul Di Filippo, meanwhile, presents an “essay” on “Flipping Genres for Fun and Profit.” Again, the piece has great comedic timing, especially for readers of the magazine who are also writers. Finally, there’s “In the Mountains of Frozen Fire” by Rus Wornom. A throwback piece to the pulp periodicals of the early-1900s, “Frozen Fire” is reminiscent of a summer blockbuster: light, entertaining fare that closes the issue and allows the reader to turn his or her brain off for a little while.
The venerable Eleanor Arnason kicks off a duo of “tribal” stories that dominate the middle of the issue with her novelette “Kormak the Lucky.” Arnason, a contemporary of Ursula K. LeGuin whose fiction is equally touched by anthropology, tells the story of an Irish slave named Kormak whose trials take him through lands of myth populated by magician-landholders and Icelandic elves. Engaging to the last word with a bittersweet ending, “Kormak the Lucky” is a textured story that seems ripped from the best folkloric traditions.
“The Woman Who Married the Snow” by Ken Altabef takes us to another icy region: the lands populated by the Inuit. Altabef’s main character is the shaman Ulruk, who has appeared in a number of the author’s stories (more of which can be found at wayoftheshamanonline.com). While the piece was well written, I personally never felt a strong connection to the character of Ulruk. Those who enjoy stories that mix native peoples and fantasy elements, though, would do well to explore this and Altabef’s other body of work.
“The Miracle Cure” by Harvey Jacobs doesn’t quite fall into the comedy category, but it is amusing. When Dr. Tobey Chalmers begins to investigate a global string of miracle healings related to gallstone infections, she learns that beings from another galaxy are harvesting humans for a decidedly less-than-sinister purpose. Another delightful story and a great lead-in to the undisputed MVP of the July/August 2013 issue.
Harry R. Campion’s “The Heartsmith’s Daughters” takes the award for this issue’s best in show. Wonderfully layered and beautifully written, “Daughters” achieves a concrete sense of place in only a short span of time. Seriously, you should stop reading this review right now and flip to page 167 to reside in Campion’s brain for a little while.
Finally, there’s Tim Sullivan’s “The Nambu Egg,” which remains difficult for me to quantify days after reading it. On the one hand, Sullivan handles dialog expertly, establishing clear voices for his characters. However, the dialog was so heavy that I felt my mind wandering more than once, distracted from the winding and unclear narrative. I think Sullivan has great potential as a writer, but I never made any emotional link with this story.
As always, this issue of F&SF is littered with non-fiction content, such as book and film reviews, and a National Geographic-esque essay about the bacteria that colonize our bodies by Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty. For the sheer volume of content — 258 pages — you can’t go wrong with picking up this, or any, issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
To this day, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction remains one of the most respected publishers of short genre fiction. Presented in a professionally edited package with beautiful cover art bimonthly, F&SF is a major milestone for both emerging and established writers. This is, after all, the publication that serialized such classics as Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” (as “Starship Soldier”), Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” and Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger.” On the eve of its 65th anniversary, F&SF retains its distinctive role as an important titan in the speculative fiction landscape.
That having been said, the July/August 2013 issue begins slowly with K.J. Kabza’s story “The Color of Sand.” I love stories about cats but couldn’t quite connect with this one. Written to resemble a fable (or perhaps something by E. Nesbit), Kabza embraces simple dialog and sentence structure that would be more at home in a story for young readers. Was there meant to be a moral at the end? If so, it was lost on me by the time the story came to an abrupt and unclear conclusion.
The second story, “Oh Give Me a Home” by Adam Rakunas, suffers from the opposite problem. A topical novelette on genetically modified food, “Oh Give Me a Home” reads like a thinly veiled satire of Monsanto and the struggle of small farmers versus giant corporations. Rakunas is a capable writer, for sure, but the story didn’t present the David/Goliath skirmish in a particularly fresh or exciting way.
It is Chen Qiufan’s “The Year of the Rat” (translated by Ken Liu) that really throws this issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction into gear. Reminiscent in tone to Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, “The Year of the Rat” chronicles university graduates who reluctantly take work with the military’s “Rodent-Control Force” for lack of other gainful employment in an unnamed (and seemingly cloistered) Asian country. Unsettling and memorable, Qiufan’s story examines the real enemies of war, especially those started by one’s own country.
For those worried that F&SF is all about “serious,” “hard” fiction without having fun of any kind, fear not. Three works placed strategically throughout the issue bring comic relief to otherwise-serious topics. We begin with “Half a Conversation, Overheard while Inside an Enormous Sentient Slug” by Oliver Buckram. This delightful piece of flash fiction is almost too short to review without spoiling the fun. Suffice to say that Buckram’s piece is very amusing. Paul Di Filippo, meanwhile, presents an “essay” on “Flipping Genres for Fun and Profit.” Again, the piece has great comedic timing, especially for readers of the magazine who are also writers. Finally, there’s “In the Mountains of Frozen Fire” by Rus Wornom. A throwback piece to the pulp periodicals of the early-1900s, “Frozen Fire” is reminiscent of a summer blockbuster: light, entertaining fare that closes the issue and allows the reader to turn his or her brain off for a little while.
The venerable Eleanor Arnason kicks off a duo of “tribal” stories that dominate the middle of the issue with her novelette “Kormak the Lucky.” Arnason, a contemporary of Ursula K. LeGuin whose fiction is equally touched by anthropology, tells the story of an Irish slave named Kormak whose trials take him through lands of myth populated by magician-landholders and Icelandic elves. Engaging to the last word with a bittersweet ending, “Kormak the Lucky” is a textured story that seems ripped from the best folkloric traditions.
“The Woman Who Married the Snow” by Ken Altabef takes us to another icy region: the lands populated by the Inuit. Altabef’s main character is the shaman Ulruk, who has appeared in a number of the author’s stories (more of which can be found at wayoftheshamanonline.com). While the piece was well written, I personally never felt a strong connection to the character of Ulruk. Those who enjoy stories that mix native peoples and fantasy elements, though, would do well to explore this and Altabef’s other body of work.
“The Miracle Cure” by Harvey Jacobs doesn’t quite fall into the comedy category, but it is amusing. When Dr. Tobey Chalmers begins to investigate a global string of miracle healings related to gallstone infections, she learns that beings from another galaxy are harvesting humans for a decidedly less-than-sinister purpose. Another delightful story and a great lead-in to the undisputed MVP of the July/August 2013 issue.
Harry R. Campion’s “The Heartsmith’s Daughters” takes the award for this issue’s best in show. Wonderfully layered and beautifully written, “Daughters” achieves a concrete sense of place in only a short span of time. Seriously, you should stop reading this review right now and flip to page 167 to reside in Campion’s brain for a little while.
Finally, there’s Tim Sullivan’s “The Nambu Egg,” which remains difficult for me to quantify days after reading it. On the one hand, Sullivan handles dialog expertly, establishing clear voices for his characters. However, the dialog was so heavy that I felt my mind wandering more than once, distracted from the winding and unclear narrative. I think Sullivan has great potential as a writer, but I never made any emotional link with this story.
As always, this issue of F&SF is littered with non-fiction content, such as book and film reviews, and a National Geographic-esque essay about the bacteria that colonize our bodies by Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty. For the sheer volume of content — 258 pages — you can’t go wrong with picking up this, or any, issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
June 2, 2013
News: June 2013
June brings warm weather here in Connecticut, along with a lot of travel for me. I hope in the coming month that I'll be able to maintain some semblance of a writing schedule, especially since I've been doing so well of late. Next week I'm off to North Carolina, and I'll be in Denver the week after.
Nonetheless, I have lots to keep me busy. Besides my own writing, I've also taken on some freelance editing work for a fellow author. He's hoping to release several small volumes of horror short fiction, so stay tuned for news about these creepy tales.
In other news, Post Mortem Press has extended the deadline to purchase limited-edition, numbered copies of The Ghost Is the Machine in hardcover. This is a one-time opportunity to get a truly collectible copy of my work. A minimum of 10 books have to be ordered for the project to go forward. Click HERE to learn more and consider buying one today.
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
Nonetheless, I have lots to keep me busy. Besides my own writing, I've also taken on some freelance editing work for a fellow author. He's hoping to release several small volumes of horror short fiction, so stay tuned for news about these creepy tales.
In other news, Post Mortem Press has extended the deadline to purchase limited-edition, numbered copies of The Ghost Is the Machine in hardcover. This is a one-time opportunity to get a truly collectible copy of my work. A minimum of 10 books have to be ordered for the project to go forward. Click HERE to learn more and consider buying one today.
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
May 6, 2013
News: May 2013
No long missives this month; just an update on how things are going. My new writing schedule is working out well and allowing me to be more productive than I have been in the past several months. (In fact, I'm using my daily hour today to update this site.) I edited stories that needed additional work, submitted to 15 new markets and even did some actual writing.
I've also learned that my short story, "Salvage," is still awaiting publication in An Honest Lie Vol. 4 and that the project has not been canceled. There is, however, no definite release date as of yet.
In other news, Post Mortem Press made an exciting announcement last month. The publisher will be releasing limited-edition, numbered copies of The Ghost Is the Machine in hardcover. This is a one-time opportunity to get a truly collectible copy of my work. A minimum of 10 books have to be ordered for the project to go forward. Click HERE to learn more and consider buying one today.
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
I've also learned that my short story, "Salvage," is still awaiting publication in An Honest Lie Vol. 4 and that the project has not been canceled. There is, however, no definite release date as of yet.
In other news, Post Mortem Press made an exciting announcement last month. The publisher will be releasing limited-edition, numbered copies of The Ghost Is the Machine in hardcover. This is a one-time opportunity to get a truly collectible copy of my work. A minimum of 10 books have to be ordered for the project to go forward. Click HERE to learn more and consider buying one today.
Well, that's all for this month. Until next time, thanks for reading!
March 30, 2013
News: April 2013
The life of a writer is one of ups and downs, of acceptances and rejections, of good days of productivity and bad days staring at the blinking cursor of death. I've been fortunate over the past five years to work with a great number of talented writers and editors, and to have my work appear in some great publications.
The last few months have been a creative trough. Despite promises to myself to work diligently most days of the week, I've found it harder and hard to write in the evenings after work, especially when it's easier and more attractive to simply relax. This is coupled with the fact that the only story I had scheduled to be published (which should have been published last fall) will likely not see the light of day since there are have been no updates on the project since last December and all my queries to the editor(s) have gone unanswered. With this piece in limbo and another piece being considered by a project that I also suspect has been canceled, I haven't submitted any stories all year.
I'm not explaining all of this to complain about my situation because, let's face it, no one likes a smarmy, whiny writer. Rather, this is more of a retrospective on where I've been and where I'm going.
Things are going to change April 1.
Beginning this month, I have shifted my work schedule forward by one hour to accommodate a guaranteed hour of writing each morning. I'll be getting up at my regular time and getting ready for work at my regular time. But instead of leaving the house at 7 a.m., I'll be sitting at my computer to write for an hour, Monday through Friday.
And I'm going to need that time. Here's what I'm currently working on:
1.) My collection The Horse Thieves and Other Tales of the New West is being considered by a major Canadian publisher. If the collection is rejected, I'll begin marketing it more extensively to markets that specifically want short-story collections.
2.) I'm finishing my current edit of The Lamplighters, an urban paranormal fantasy novel set in New Haven, Conn. Depending on how the latest round of edits go, I may or may not decide to market the book. If not, it will be put on hiatus to be revisited in the future.
3.) If my short story "Hex McGowan and the Cat's Meow" is rejected by the current project where it is under consideration, I hope to do extensive edits. It currently runs 6,900 words, which is a bit much for most short story publishers. A word count of 5,000 would be ideal, but likely unreasonable. I'd be happy with 6,000 words.
4.) If my short story "Salvage" is not published in the project where it has been accepted, I hope to submit it extensively elsewhere.
5.) Finally, I've begun work on a new longer sci-fi work in the vein of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. With projects 1-4 in a better place, I hope to continue work on this novel-length work.
In the meantime, I have plenty of work out there for you all to read. Click on the stories tab at the top of the page to see some of the stuff I've published over the past five years.
Until next month, thanks for reading!
The last few months have been a creative trough. Despite promises to myself to work diligently most days of the week, I've found it harder and hard to write in the evenings after work, especially when it's easier and more attractive to simply relax. This is coupled with the fact that the only story I had scheduled to be published (which should have been published last fall) will likely not see the light of day since there are have been no updates on the project since last December and all my queries to the editor(s) have gone unanswered. With this piece in limbo and another piece being considered by a project that I also suspect has been canceled, I haven't submitted any stories all year.
I'm not explaining all of this to complain about my situation because, let's face it, no one likes a smarmy, whiny writer. Rather, this is more of a retrospective on where I've been and where I'm going.
Things are going to change April 1.
Beginning this month, I have shifted my work schedule forward by one hour to accommodate a guaranteed hour of writing each morning. I'll be getting up at my regular time and getting ready for work at my regular time. But instead of leaving the house at 7 a.m., I'll be sitting at my computer to write for an hour, Monday through Friday.
And I'm going to need that time. Here's what I'm currently working on:
1.) My collection The Horse Thieves and Other Tales of the New West is being considered by a major Canadian publisher. If the collection is rejected, I'll begin marketing it more extensively to markets that specifically want short-story collections.
2.) I'm finishing my current edit of The Lamplighters, an urban paranormal fantasy novel set in New Haven, Conn. Depending on how the latest round of edits go, I may or may not decide to market the book. If not, it will be put on hiatus to be revisited in the future.
3.) If my short story "Hex McGowan and the Cat's Meow" is rejected by the current project where it is under consideration, I hope to do extensive edits. It currently runs 6,900 words, which is a bit much for most short story publishers. A word count of 5,000 would be ideal, but likely unreasonable. I'd be happy with 6,000 words.
4.) If my short story "Salvage" is not published in the project where it has been accepted, I hope to submit it extensively elsewhere.
5.) Finally, I've begun work on a new longer sci-fi work in the vein of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. With projects 1-4 in a better place, I hope to continue work on this novel-length work.
In the meantime, I have plenty of work out there for you all to read. Click on the stories tab at the top of the page to see some of the stuff I've published over the past five years.
Until next month, thanks for reading!
March 8, 2013
Vikings and the [Insert Popular Trope Here] Imitiation Effect
This past week, I watched the premiere episode of the History Channel's new show Vikings. For History's first scripted series, it's clear that the network is trying to capture at least some of the Game of Thrones audience with a show that's at least partially "inspired" by historical figures. I put the word in quotes, though, because History has taken what should be a dynamic, exciting, and complex people and boiled them down to mere stereotype. The show is bad, not just because of its historical inaccuracies, but because it does wrong everything that Game of Thrones does right.
Vikings is simply the latest in the ever-ongoing trend of imitation book / film / television properties that piggyback off of a successful story. This trend has occurred throughout history, but has been especially prevalent in the pop-culture tropes of the 20th and 21st centuries. When Star Wars was released in 1977, studios scrambled to get sci-fi film properties into place; when Harry Potter became a publishing phenomenon, editors sought out the next great "boy wizard" tale; and when the Twilight books hit screens, film and television producers snatched up the rights to any YA property that might make for a prominent film or television series.
No doubt many authors and Hollywood executives have seen their careers remain stagnant in the wake of trying to imitate these blockbusters.
As a writer, it's important to consume books by other authors at all skill levels and, less so, to at least keep an eye on what's happening in the publishing world. But authors should never write to existing trends or try to predict what the next big trend is going to be. Publishing with a traditional printer means that your book won't be on the shelf for 12-18 months after it has accepted -- enough time for the current trend to wane, die and be replaced by two others. And predicting that werewolves will be the "next big thing" after vampires will almost certainly lead to failure if you write the story simply to capitalize on readers' current love of the supernatural.
Instead of writing to fickle publishing trends, authors should concentrate on the stories they want to tell. Maybe you do have a great "boy wizard" story to write, as Jonathan Stroud did during the whole Harry Potter craze, but make sure that you're telling the story for the right reasons, and that you have a good story to tell, before investing yourself in what will no doubt be a protracted process of writing and editing. (For the record, Stroud's Bartimeaus trilogy is far and away better than Harry Potter.)
As for trends, who can tell what the next big thing will be? Who would have guessed two years ago that bondage mommy porn a la Fifty Shades of Gray would ever have been a burgeoning genre? Don't try to predict the next phenomenon; instead, focus on telling the strongest story you have to tell with the most skill that you have as a writer. Do that, and you may just start the next craze on your own.
It's safe to say that I won't be tuning in for another episode of Vikings. But I eagerly await being able to watch the second season of Game of Thrones on DVD because I care about complex characters and stories that simply haven't been reheated by a storyteller with mediocre ambition to tell an original and spellbinding tale.
Vikings is simply the latest in the ever-ongoing trend of imitation book / film / television properties that piggyback off of a successful story. This trend has occurred throughout history, but has been especially prevalent in the pop-culture tropes of the 20th and 21st centuries. When Star Wars was released in 1977, studios scrambled to get sci-fi film properties into place; when Harry Potter became a publishing phenomenon, editors sought out the next great "boy wizard" tale; and when the Twilight books hit screens, film and television producers snatched up the rights to any YA property that might make for a prominent film or television series.
No doubt many authors and Hollywood executives have seen their careers remain stagnant in the wake of trying to imitate these blockbusters.
As a writer, it's important to consume books by other authors at all skill levels and, less so, to at least keep an eye on what's happening in the publishing world. But authors should never write to existing trends or try to predict what the next big trend is going to be. Publishing with a traditional printer means that your book won't be on the shelf for 12-18 months after it has accepted -- enough time for the current trend to wane, die and be replaced by two others. And predicting that werewolves will be the "next big thing" after vampires will almost certainly lead to failure if you write the story simply to capitalize on readers' current love of the supernatural.
Instead of writing to fickle publishing trends, authors should concentrate on the stories they want to tell. Maybe you do have a great "boy wizard" story to write, as Jonathan Stroud did during the whole Harry Potter craze, but make sure that you're telling the story for the right reasons, and that you have a good story to tell, before investing yourself in what will no doubt be a protracted process of writing and editing. (For the record, Stroud's Bartimeaus trilogy is far and away better than Harry Potter.)
As for trends, who can tell what the next big thing will be? Who would have guessed two years ago that bondage mommy porn a la Fifty Shades of Gray would ever have been a burgeoning genre? Don't try to predict the next phenomenon; instead, focus on telling the strongest story you have to tell with the most skill that you have as a writer. Do that, and you may just start the next craze on your own.
It's safe to say that I won't be tuning in for another episode of Vikings. But I eagerly await being able to watch the second season of Game of Thrones on DVD because I care about complex characters and stories that simply haven't been reheated by a storyteller with mediocre ambition to tell an original and spellbinding tale.
March 3, 2013
News: March 2013
The positive news continues for The Ghost Is the Machine, the anthology that I edited for Post Mortem Press. Toward the end of February, I learned that contributor Eric J. Guignard had been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writer's Association. That means that Ghost Is the Machine is now home to TWO authors who have been recognized by the HWA. Congrats to Eric, and be sure to check out his story "The Ghost of Ozzie Hobbs" -- and all the other great tales -- in The Ghost Is the Machine.
In January, The Ghost Is the Machine also won FIRST PLACE in the Predators and Editors reader's choice awards. P&E is one of the premiere writing sites on the Internet, and it is a huge honor to have the book recognized by the site and its users. Plus I got a cool gif prize!
In non-PMP news, I'm still waiting to hear the status of two short stories that I have out to market. I also submitted a short story collection to a publisher on March 1. Fingers crossed as I check off the weeks of the suggested response time.
Finally, I've begun work on another longer piece that exists in the Douglas Adams/zany sci-fi category. I had forgotten how much fun it was to write sci-fi -- not being too tied down to the laws of reality and so forth. Even though the writing is slow (some stories are like that), I sure am having fun discovering the story.
Until next month, thanks for reading!
In January, The Ghost Is the Machine also won FIRST PLACE in the Predators and Editors reader's choice awards. P&E is one of the premiere writing sites on the Internet, and it is a huge honor to have the book recognized by the site and its users. Plus I got a cool gif prize!
In non-PMP news, I'm still waiting to hear the status of two short stories that I have out to market. I also submitted a short story collection to a publisher on March 1. Fingers crossed as I check off the weeks of the suggested response time.
Finally, I've begun work on another longer piece that exists in the Douglas Adams/zany sci-fi category. I had forgotten how much fun it was to write sci-fi -- not being too tied down to the laws of reality and so forth. Even though the writing is slow (some stories are like that), I sure am having fun discovering the story.
Until next month, thanks for reading!
February 3, 2013
News: February 2013
January was a big month for The Ghost Is the Machine, the anthology that I edited for Post Mortem Press. Midmonth, I learned that the book had won FIRST PLACE in the Predators and Editors reader's choice awards. P&E is one of the premiere writing sites on the Internet, and it is a huge honor to have the book recognized by the site and its users. Plus I got a cool gif prize!
The Ghost Is the Machine was also recently the source of a glowing review from The Horror Zine. Reviewer Kristen Houghton, who also blogs for Huffington Post, writes that, "The Ghost is the Machine is an anthology that will quickly satisfy your reader hunger for horror stories that have a nicely sculpted beginning, middle, and end."
Finally, and most exciting of all, I'll find out this month if The Ghost is the Machine will be nominated for a Stoker Award. The book is shortlisted and is vying against several others for one of five spots on the ballot.
In non-PMP news, I'm hoping that February will also bring some good news regarding two short stories that I currently have out to market. More information about these tales as it becomes available. Thanks for reading!
The Ghost Is the Machine was also recently the source of a glowing review from The Horror Zine. Reviewer Kristen Houghton, who also blogs for Huffington Post, writes that, "The Ghost is the Machine is an anthology that will quickly satisfy your reader hunger for horror stories that have a nicely sculpted beginning, middle, and end."
Finally, and most exciting of all, I'll find out this month if The Ghost is the Machine will be nominated for a Stoker Award. The book is shortlisted and is vying against several others for one of five spots on the ballot.
In non-PMP news, I'm hoping that February will also bring some good news regarding two short stories that I currently have out to market. More information about these tales as it becomes available. Thanks for reading!
