Darin Kennedy's Blog, page 14

Today is the day – Inaugural entry of my new blog “Checkered Ramblings”

Since July, I have been waiting for a good day to restart blogging. When I get back from Scotland. When life slows down a bit. When I finish all the revisions on the WIP. Lots of different “whens” entered into the equation. Well, guess what. I’m back from Scotland, life is a little slower this week, and as of two days ago, my WIP is no longer IP. So, here we go.

This has been a big year already thus far, so let’s catch up. The biggest news is that after more hours, days, months, years, rejections, revisions, edits, critiques, encouragements, disappointments, writers conferences, etc. than I’d like to remember, I finally have acquired what until a month ago might as well have been the Holy Grail – a literary agent. Stacey Donaghy, with Corvisiero Literary Agency, fell in love with manuscript over the summer and corresponded with me about her experience as she read, even while I was across the pond visiting relatives in Edinburgh, Scotland. I had been back stateside for a couple of weeks when I received the call. July 18, 2012, while I was at my Wednesday night Writer’s Clutch at Amelie’s, I received a conference call from Stacey and Marisa Corvisiero. To those of you who aren’t as familiar, getting the call is a big deal. They offered representation for Pawn’s Gambit and after doing my due diligence with everyone else who had materials, I signed on the dotted line. (Actually, it was solid, but let’s not split hairs.) Since that time, Stacey has been nothing short of outstanding in her diligence, communication, and general awesomeness. To all of you looking for an agent, let me tell you – wait for the agent who gets you and your stuff. It is qualitatively different. I feel that I don’t just have AN agent; I have MY agent. (and to whoever sent her a nastygram last night, look out – I have enough medical know-how to put you down and make it look like natural causes…

So, as you can guess, my contemporary fantasy novel, Pawn’s Gambit, is currently on submission. And… that’s all I’m going to say about that. To paraphrase the great philosopher, Tyler Durden: The first rule of Submission Club is: You do not talk about Submission Club. The second rule of Submission Club is: You do not talk about Submission Club.

Speaking of my oh-so-recently completed WIP, I sent my manuscript which is codenamed “MR” to Stacey on Sunday (August 23rd) and eagerly await her thoughts. More on that as it develops.

To my readers out there, I have multiple short stories coming out in various anthologies and magazines in the next few months.

1) “Midnight Screening” in Pill Hill Press’s Anthology, Psycho Cinema, due out later this year. — A vampire and a werewolf stand in line for a movie and bemoan the way their respective “people” are presented on the silver screen. Went for the funny on this one.

2) “The Sicilian Defense” in the October issue of Chess Life magazine, the official publication of the U.S. Chess Federation. Think Sports Illustrated for chess players. — The chess board on Ray’s living room table starts playing a game with him, and Ray is more than willing to meet this invisible opponent across the 64 square battlefield, that is until his first piece is taken and people in Ray’s life start to die.

3) “Flight of the Pegasus” in the winter issue of White Cat Magazine, an online publication. Their fall issue is available right now – go check it out. — My first foray into Steampunk, this story is the first of hopefully many adventures of Captain Craig Carruthers who may as well be played by Buster Crabbe (look him up). Airships? Check. Automatons? Check. Mysterious foes? Check. GIANT MECHANICAL CENTIPEDE TO FIGHT ATOP SKYSCRAPER? Check, and check. Now, “check” it out…

4) “Solomon” in Kerlak Publishing’s anthology, The Big Bad: An Anthology of Evil. Edited by my good friend John Hartness (at johnhartness.com) and a new friend of mine, Emily Leverett, this anthology will be tale after tale of stories told from the point of view of the villain and should be very cool. This story is the fourth in my “April Sullivan: Necromancer for Hire” series, the first three of which will be available later this year as an e-book and will sport a cover by another great friend of mine, Roy Mauritsen. (Check him out at roymauritsen.com for his awesome artwork and his fantastic debut novel: Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder.)

To close out this inaugural edition of the new blog, I am rechristening this little corner of the internet “Checkered Ramblings” and as soon as I can get a little tech assistance, the new title will be in place. Please excuse the website not being quite done. I’ve been quite busy getting MR ready for Stacey, but now that my little 108,000 word love letter to Pictures at an Exhibition is done, you may be seeing more of me.

I look forward to reading your comments. Enjoy the website. Feel free to check out some of the old blogs from my previous website if you like. Still have to bring forward all the old publications, but that is coming soon. Any suggestions are welcome. See you back here soon.

-Darin

 

 

Endings/Beginnings

As I sit in my cousin’s lovely flat here in Edinburgh Scotland on the eve of my 41st birthday, I am thinking about how fortunate I am to have arrived at a point in my life when I can truly take some time off from work and enjoy life for a moment. Thanks to Mike, Robin, and Ben, who have been and continue to be awesome hosts. Tomorrow (actually today) apparently will involve a farmer’s market, a joust, a book signing (Lari Don and her wonderful book, First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts), a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant in New Town and dessert at The Chocolate Tree. Can’t wait. More on Scotland in future posts.

This is the last entry in the old blog. Long neglected, the pending demise of MobileMe which happens in 24 hours and change has long been on my mind, and between the 47 million other opportunities to socially network on the internet, I’ve focused my efforts elsewhere as this blog was on a slow collision course with a Jobsian demise. My friend and fellow writer, C.L. Stegall is currently building me a new website which will house what I hope to be a new and exciting blog, where an reinvigorated Darin will hopefully wax poetic/philosophic/writerific for you all and capture your hearts and minds.

See you all on the flip side. C.L., thanks. You are the man. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Best,

Darin

(Imported from original website)

Catching up a bit…

Was updating the website today and realized I hadn’t posted news in sometime.

First, a few publications. I have a story in Pill Hill Press’s Daily Frights 2012 which came in about a month ago and another in Wicked East Press’s second flash fiction anthology, Short Sips – Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2.

In bigger news, though, I had my first professional rate sale of a short story last fall. Over the course of 2011, I worked on and off on this little 7,000 word dark fantasy short called “The Sicilian Defense.” When I got it finished, it basically felt like what would have happened if Rod Serling had penned a Twilight Zone episode about chess. I know, I know, what’s up with you and chess, DK? Well, to be honest, the genesis of this story actually had very little to do with Pawn’s Gambit. I was up in Virginia with Keith and Crook for the Rush show last year and we were in the hotel about to leave. There was a big checkers board in the hotel atrium, sitting there set up. I have my chess set all set up at home on the coffee table with one of the pawns moved out as though the game has started. I moved one of the checkers out, and then we left for the show. Upon our return, I saw the board again and it occurred to me – what if someone had moved one of the opposing pieces out while we were gone. Thus came the concept of playing checkers/chess with an invisible adversary whose only evidence of existence is the moves they make on the chess board. Once the consequences for losing, and more specifically, losing pieces began to dawn on me, I knew I had to write that story. Thus was born “The Sicilian Defense.”

Now, fast forward to the end of last year. I had put the story away for months because it just “wasn’t right” and I knew it. I dug it out in November, finally figured out what wasn’t working, and put on the finishing touches. I looked around for a really good market, as I had worked harder on this story than any other so far. I thought about some of the bigger SF/F publications that pay pretty good rates, then an idea occurred to me. Why not submit to Chess Life – the international publication of the US Chess Federation. I researched them and their editor and found that they mostly publish only non-fiction articles about the world of chess. I decided to try them anyway. You never know if unless you ask, right?

I inquired on 12 November via the USCF if they would consider a fiction submission, and Dan Lucas, the editor wrote me back the next day and said he would take a look, though they rarely if ever published fiction. I sent it that night and began the wait – a wait that was much shorter than anticipated. On 16 November, Dan wrote me back and said he loved the story and wanted to purchase it – to say I was excited would be like saying Lady Gaga is a little over the top. I got him back an edited story by later that week and now, it looks like I’m going to have an internationally published short story sometime this summer. Not only that, but my buddy, Roy Mauritsen is going to do the art for the story. He’s already shown me a rough of his idea, and I am beyond excited to see the final artwork. More details coming.

Speaking of chess stories, still looking for an agent/publisher for Pawn’s Gambit. One agent has had the manuscript for 7 or so months, and I am waiting to hear back from them. Another I met back at Thanksgiving that I am really hopeful about. We’ll see.

Also, just finished my first draft of The Mussorgsky Riddle two weeks ago. At 87K, it’s not quite long enough, but by the time I finish fleshing out a few things/ideas, it will most likely be closer to a respectable 100K. Lots of work to do.

Lastly, just sent in my first short story of 2012 to Pill Hill Press for their Psycho Cinema anthology. It’s a little story called “Midnight Screening” where a vampire and a werewolf are waiting in line for a movie and bemoaning the entire time how inaccurately they are portrayed on the silver screen. If accepted, will be out later this year.

Enough for now. Will try to be more diligent this year at keeping up with my website. Hope everyone likes the new look. A lot bigger and a lot cleaner, don’t you think?

Best,

Darin

(Imported from original website)

“Leap of Faith”

Daily Frights 2012

December 2011 – Pill Hill Press

Sometimes you should take a leap of faith and accept that outstretched hand.

Sometimes you shouldn’t.

Dark Heroes Review

Found this great review of Dark Heroes.

Each story gets a shout out, including “Solstice.”

Hope you check it out, and if you like what you hear, check out Dark Heroes.

I’ll tell April to leave the light on.

Darin

(Imported from original website)

“Drink Up”

Short Sips – Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2

September 2011 – Wicked East Press

Two men. One glass filled with clear liquid rests between them.

This “short sip” is far more than it appears…