David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 137
January 10, 2017
2016 Was Actually A Pretty Darn Good Year For Me
I know a lot of people thought 2016 was pretty tough, and there was certainly a good amount of harshness, but I have to admit that 2016 was a pretty good year for me. I had 20 stories accepted, a new record. One book came out (Not Quite so Stories which also got 2016 Best Book Awards Finalist Fiction: Short Story. ) and one book got accepted (Apocalypse All the Time). As much as I’d like to avoid the bad things from 2016, I’m not even expecting 2017 to be anywhere near as big a deal for me, writing-wise. I plan to be doing more of a retrenching year, there being a lot I need to concentrate on before getting this kind of submitting going again. 2016 was just a heck of a year, in a number of ways.
Anyway, here’s to all the successes of 2016, and here are the stories that got accepted last year:
– “Hernández de Biedma Owes Me a Weekend” published May 4, 2016 in the Spring Quarterly – (Spring 2016 / 16.4) of Blue Five Notebook.
– “Marc Summers Instigated the Bloods and Crips War so He Deserves Everything He Gets” published March 23, 2016 as part of the suit theme at Pure Slush.
– “Deliberately Missing Henry Kissinger” published May 15, 2016 in Issue V, Volume VII of Connotation Press.
– “Polident Commercials for Indentured Servitude” published May 15, 2016 in Issue V, Volume VII of Connotation Press.
– “Exxon Stole my Oatmeal” published May 15, 2016 in Issue V, Volume VII of Connotation Press.
– “No Way to Run a Railroad” published April 20, 2016 in issue 24 of Literary Orphans.
– “Jesse’s Damn Bacon” published March 24, 2016 at Cheeseburger Nebula.
– “Tony Robbins Told Fred to Follow Others’ Dreams Instead of His Own Because They Thought Bigger” published June 10, 2016 in tall…ish Pure Slush Vol. 11! Available at Lulu in print, as an epub, as an iBook, for Kindle, for Kobo, and for Nook.
– “An Endless Series of Meaningless Miracles” published June 22, 2016 as an excerpt from Not Quite so Stories in issue 12 (“In the Age of Miracles”) of Midnight Circus.
– “Lord Rutherford’s Gold Foil Disco Suits Were a Big Hit in Vegas But the Beryllium Earrings Were Simply Gaudy” published June 15, 2016 as part of the mirror theme at Pure Slush.
– “Night at the Bar- A Predestination Choose Your Own Adventure” published May 27, 2016 in Five 2 One Magazine‘s #thesideshow.
– “In the Beginning, Good Always Overpowered Taxidermied Chipmunks and Free Frosting Wednesdays at Applebee’s” published August 23, 2016 in Summer Pure Slush Vol. 12. Also available as an ePub, an iBook, Kobo, Nook, and on Kindle.
– “Just Another Day” published September 24, 2016 in the Fall Issue of Midnight Circus.
– “The Fox-Trot Is Not One of the Twelve Steps” published August 26, 2016 at 50-Word Stories.
– “Turns Out The Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program Was Not for Fleeing Tax Evasion Charges” published September 22, 2016 as part of the cake theme at Pure Slush.
– “Finnegan on the Case,” to be published in This Zine Will Change Your Life.
– “Continental Breakfasts Sound Fancy so You Don’t Realize It’s a God Damned Muffin and You Should Have Just Gone to Tim Hortons” published September 25, 2016 in the September/Motel issue of Flash Frontier.
– “Ten Gallon Hats Full of Cottage Cheese and the Grassroots Movement to Free K” published December 13, 2016 in Freak Pure Slush Vol. 13. Also available as an iBook, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and an ePub.
– “Desperately Seeking Sea Level” published in the November 2016 issue of The Airgonaut.
– “Michael Rennie was There the Day I Forgot my Bus Pass, But He Told Me Which Metro Line Went to the Ziegfeld Follies” published November 28, 2016 in issue #26 of The Harpoon Review.
– “Time is to Space as Frankfurters are to that Guy Who Hangs Out at Home Depot Asking If You Want to Borrow His Punky Brewster DVDs,” to be published in Blink Ink #26 Space.
– “Big Wheel Keeps on Turning, Little Wheel Abandoned Its Spouse and Children to Pursue Its Dreams of Becoming a Part-Time Mime in Spain,” to be published January 22, 2017 in Five 2 One Magazine‘s #thesideshow.
– “90% of All Sourdough Turtles Break Apart in the Water on Their Very First Trip to the Sea” to be published in true…more or less from Truth Serum Press.
January 9, 2017
My Cup Of Coffee Is Empty
My cup of coffee is empty (while I’m writing this, not probably when you see it). You have no idea what kind of emergency this is.
Well, actually, not so much. I’m just going to go and get more. That is absolutely necessary, but still not a big problem. I’m just going to go do that.
However, y’all can understand the value I put on you all. I mean, I’m typing this out first before going to get the coffee. See that? You are more important to me than coffee. That’s pretty big in my book.
January 8, 2017
Remember! Release Event For Apocalypse All The Time and Deer Michigan Saturday January 14 7PM At The BookBar!
Remember! Book release party! BookBar (4280 Tennyson St, Denver, CO 80212) at 7PM on Saturday January 14. I’ll be reading from Apocalypse All the Time and Jack C. Buck will be reading from Deer Michigan. You should come out. It’ll be a good time.
Here’s the Facebook event page so you can let us know if you’re coming.
January 7, 2017
Reading Events This Year
I try to get out to at least one reading event or other kind of writing thing a month. I’m involved in a lot of stuff online and like having as much time to write as possible, but there’s so much going on out there and I need to see some of it. In past years, that’s involved trying to hit a reading at Tattered Cover at least once a month. Given other happenings in the area, I’ve had to cut that back a bit. Still, I’ve kept busy.
January
Stories I Tell Myself , Juan Thompson reading at Tattered Cover
Reading featuring Janice Lee and Sueyeun Juliette Lee at Counterpath
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
Also a visit to the UNMFA Winter residency to see people, attend the Winter 2016 graduation, and get to hear a number of different readings
February
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
At the Inkwell: Fiction Night
March
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
AWP 2016 (attended a number of different reading events)
April
AWP 2016 (attended a number of different reading events)
Armada , Ernest Cline
Potted Meat , Steven Dunn at at Counterpath, including readings by Brian Lupo and Lorenzo James
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
May
The Everything Box , Richard Kadrey and Mongrels , Stephen Graham Jones at Tattered Cover
The Art of Storytelling
June
The Art of Storytelling
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
July
The Art of Storytelling
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
A reading event featuring Alex Acks (aka Alex Wells, aka Rachael Acks) at my office
Also a visit to the UNMFA Summer residency to see people, attend the Summer 2016 graduation, and get to hear a number of different readings
August
The Art of Storytelling
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
September
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
October
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
November
Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series
December
The Sympathizer , Viet Thanh Nguyen at Tattered Cover
This doesn’t include a few readings where I read myself, though I got to hear some amazing authors read at those, just because I don’t keep track of things where I participate in the same way that I do when I’m just audience. It’s different in my mental accounting.
January 5, 2017
Not My Best Goodreads Year, But Not My Worst Either
Well, I ended up reading 250 books in 2016. That was well above my 150 minimum Goodreads Reading Challenge goal, but still pretty short of previous years. It beat 2 of the last 6 years for number (225 in 2015, 303 in 2014, 313 in 2013, 247 in 2012, and 318 in 2011), but only beat least year for number of pages (59,334 versus 57391 compared to 86,091 in 2014, 87,303 in 2013, 73,553 in 2012, 89,820 and in 2011). Between actual number and page number (excepting out one I can’t enter yet and books that may not have bothered listing page numbers so Goodreads didn’t count them), it was still a slower reading year than normal.
So why less this year? Hard to say. Maybe I was spending more time writing or going to local events, or more time promoting my books. Not Quite so Stories released in 2016 and Apocalypse All the Time just released this year. That all takes time away from reading too, and is something I feel justified getting less reading time for. I also worked about 250-300 hours more this year than last, so that could be a factor (and a much less acceptable one at that).
Oh well, 250 is still fine. Maybe tomorrow I’ll actually share the actual books I read in 2016.
January 4, 2017
Proof That What Happens In Vegas Doesn’t Stay There
Want proof that what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there?
This seems like proof enough.
(Photo courtesy of my wife, who took this picture in 2013 of the people with the room across the hall from us before helping drag these people inside their room so their door could be locked and closed, preventing random people from stepping over them and rifling their room).
January 3, 2017
Just A Few More Days To Enter The Apocalypse All the Time Goodreads Giveaway!
Just a few more days to enter the goodreads giveaway for Apocalypse All the Time! It closes January 5.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Apocalypse All the Time
by David S. Atkinson
Giveaway ends January 05, 2017.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Of course, I wouldn’t be offended if you wanted to buy it instead.
January 2, 2017
I Am Not The Only One The New Totino’s Package Unreasonably Bugs
I am not the only one that the new Totino’s package unreasonably bugs. I know it’s been this new way for a while. I know the old cardboard box was inefficient and misleading because it was so much bigger than the pizza and the new bag is more appropriately sized. I know I don’t even eat these anymore anyway. I know these are garbage in the first place and, though tasty, barely qualify as “food.” Still, this is wrong:
and this is not:
I am not the only one unreasonably upset about this. I have heard others pointlessly complain about this as well. My nostalgia of remembered garbage is offended.
January 1, 2017
Apocalypse All the Time Publication Day!
It’s publication day for Apocalypse All the Time!
Get it from the publisher! Get it in print or on Kindle at Amazon! Check it out at Goodreads! Do something!
Doesn’t it seem as if someone issues a new apocalypse prediction every week? Y2K? The Mayan apocalypse? The Rapture? Doesn’t it seem endless? As opposed to the traditional trend of post-apocalyptic literature, Apocalypse All the Time is post-post-apocalypticism. Marshall is sick of the apocalypse happening on a weekly (if not daily) basis. Life is constantly in peril, continually disrupted, but nothing significant ever happens. The emergency is always handled. Always. Marshall wants out; he wants it all to stop…one way or another. Apocalypse All the Time explores humanity’s fascination with the end times and what impact such a fascination has on the way we live our lives.
