Alex Gordon's Blog, page 8

A New Short Story (and a snippet)

The Spring 2022 issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly is live!

This issue contains my story, “Breakaway,” which I’m really pleased with. It wound up in a very different place than initially planned–a perfectly good plot derailed and Gia’s slipped in to take its place. A story about the love of flying, flights not taken, and how the past never stays buried for long.

The joys of being a pantser. No matter how I try to work out all the details and how solid the story seems, the characters organize and mount a counterplot.

Anyway, here’s a short snippet.

***

Gia slumped in a chair, hugged her knees to her chin. Admitted to herself that she had always expected this. She remembered that morning as though it were yesterday, turning onto the control room corridor in time to see Del slip out. He had his go-bag slung over his shoulder, packed with everything he needed for a long-haul trip. They had stared at one another, and she asked him what the hell he thought he was doing.

Two minutes later, the dock alarms sounded.

“What did he say to you?”

“He said something, but I didn’t hear it. It could’ve been good morning, or hello. I don’t know.”

“What did he say to you?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did he say to you?”

“I don’t know. How many times do I have to tell you?”

As it turned out, it didn’t matter how many times she denied. They didn’t believe her, and they never would. They thought she lied.

And they were right.

::checks calendar::

Daytime highs in the 20s and 30s of late, with the occasional flake falling from the sky. One hears rumors of Spring, but it feels more like late January. Crocuses and daffs had popped greenery–I hope it all survives.

Fingers crossed that Gaby is improving. I can get her to eat a mix of treats, dehydrated foods, and kibble. Not mad for the kibble, so I will try her old frozen raw food sometime during the coming week. I prefer it because it has no fillers but for a single-digit percentage of fruits and vegetables. Also, I have a bag and a half of the stuff and would hate to see it go to waste.

Anyway, the Adequan appears to be helping–Gaby’s walking well, and seems to have a decent amount of energy for an old girl. I know dogs tend to hide discomfort unless it’s really bad, but I’ve been able to tell in the past when she’s been off her game, so hoping what I’m seeing is reality.

Not a promising start, I grant you.

 

 

In other news, yesterday I saw I was running low on fruit spread while at the same time wondering what the heck to do with the 2 pounds of peeled/sliced apples that had been residing in the freezer chest since ::checks storage bag:: 14 October 2018. I’d had good luck making spiced beet jam using some roasted beets from the same stratum, so I decided what the hell and looked up recipes for apple jam. Found this small batch recipe for Easy French Apple Jam and adjusted to suit.

 

Dried cranberries etc added.

As usual, I cut way back on sugar because 1) I have a sweet tooth like whoa and reduce when possible and 2) I eat a lot of fruit spread and find most store-bought brands to be flat sugar sweet with little if any fruit taste.  So, from 2 1/2 cups regular sugar to 1/3 cup coconut sugar, which I like for the caramel taste. Fewer cardamom pods–3, iirc. A teaspoon and a half of cinnamon because apples. Pinch of salt. A third of a cup of dried cranberries. My standby Pomona pectin–only half a teaspoon because apples have pectin enough.

A scant quart of finished product.

 

 

The result isn’t as pretty as the recipe photo as the apples had browned over time. Think “chunky apple butter.” But it has a clean apple taste. I like it.

 

 

 

In short story news, HEADS UP! I have a story coming out in the Spring 2022 issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly, which will be available the first week of April. The theme of this issue is Veterans and what happens when retirement comes along, the war is over, their time has passed. My story is entitled “Breakaway,” about a young pilot caught up in an unforgiving system. I’ll update the link once the issue goes live.

I fear it may have opened up new story possibilities because I really like these characters.

Until next time…

March Stumbles

Not a great month so far. My 15 yo pupster, Gaby, is under the weather. She has several issues–arthritis, canine cognitive dysfunction, a gall bladder issue, and now elevated liver enzymes that are likely due to the arthritis medication she was on. I’m hoping there are solutions to everything, but, well, *15*.

I wish I could stop time, but I can only do that in stories.

On the relatively brighter side, there’s a hint of spring in the air…though I know from experience that we can still get snow events in late March/early April. But the temperatures are edging up, and here and there I see bulb shoots and other bits of green. I’m ready for warmth, the chance to sit out on deck at dusk and watch the bats flit around. Listen to the coyotes’ mad yipping from the nearby nature preserve. Weed and mow and mow and weed….

I’ll close with a longish snippet from “Nest,” my story in Wandering Monsters, Issue #16 of Boundary Shock Quarterly:

Gwyn pushed through low foliage in the direction of the voice, and spotted Peter Zelinsky kneeling beside a fallen tree. “Lila’s asking for you. Tomas and Sonna have started setting up the domicile and we really need to get to work.”

Peter looked up, one hand resting on the trunk, which was decayed and partially hollowed. He was the youngest member of the team, barely out of his teens, with a face like everyone’s little brother and irritating habits to match. “One of the cat critters is inside.”

“We’re not supposed to—“

“It’s dead.”

Gwyn crouched by the opening and looked inside the hollow. At the far end of the space lay a weasel-like creature, dull gray with a vaguely feline face and fluffy tail. “What happened to it?”

“Just its time, I guess.” Peter pointed to one of the jagged red wounds that ran along the creature’s side. “Looks like it was hurt. They said in class that they’re really territorial.”

“It looks sick to me. I can count its ribs, it’s so thin.” Gwyn sniffed, then scooted back. “It really smells.”

“Yeah, I know.” Peter waved away one of the insects that fluttered out of the hollow and around his head. “I was excited at first. It’s their breeding season, and I thought it was a female with pups.”

“That was a guess, you know. They don’t know that much about the animals around here.” Gwyn stood and looked around. The woods had gone quiet again, the silence as heavy as the air. “We need to head back.” She waited for Peter to stand, then backed away as he continued to brush bugs away from his head and neck. “Maybe you should’ve used some repellent.”

“It makes me sneeze.” He followed her through the foliage. “I wanted to find what made this.” He kicked at the path, which while narrow had obviously been there some time. “Must be big, maybe like deer.”

“Or small and there are a lot of them.” Gwyn picked up the pace. “I think we should set up shelter and guardian zones before we introduce ourselves to the wildlife, don’t you think?”

They walked in silence for a time. Then Peter cleared his throat.

“Animals are easier than people.”

“If you say so.”

Snow Day and a very short snippet

Even though NE Illinois was under a Winter Weather Advisory, I hoped that they had overestimated the expected snow totals as they had on previous occasions.

Sadly, no. I awoke to the back-up *beep-beep* of the city snow plows, and knew we had probably received the 3-5″. Dragged on boots and coat BEFORE COFFEE and went out with Gaby to survey the scene. Looks like 3-4″ heavy powder–Gaby pushed her face through it, then went around the yard and christened various spots while I cleared the deck and rear sidewalk. After I finish my coffee, I’ll suit up and clear the driveway. The snow is technically light enough to shovel, but since I have a loooooong driveway I think I will try the snow thrower first.

And I need to get going, so I’ll end with a very short snippet from Echoes. This is very early in the book–I need to be careful with snippet choices now because possible spoilers.

Again, unsettled quiet fell. Jani turned to the window, squinting as the glare of the Elyan sun off the white buildings overpowered the light filters. “What does ná Feyó want to talk to me about?” As if I don’t know.

“She did not tell me,” Dathim replied, eventually. 

You’ve learned how to lie, ní Dathim. Human and idomeni really are the same. 

 

Favorite scenes

…in movies.

If I watch a favorite film often enough, I fix on certain scenes. They’re not necessarily the big, climactic scenes. In some cases, they’re short–step out to grab a cup of coffee and forget to hit PAUSE and I miss them.*

Doctor Strange: the scene in which Mordo leads Strange to his student room at Kamar-Taj. It isn’t just that First Day of School feeling, where everything is fresh and new and the notebook pages are all blank and waiting. It’s that magic can be taught to anyone with the will to learn and that world is open to everyone…who isn’t a homicidal fanatic.

RED: the scene in which Victoria (Helen Mirren) is patching up Frank Moses (Bruce Willis). “Gooey.” I also like the scene in the woods where she and Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) are getting to know each other. I just like Helen Mirren.

Constantine: All the scenes between Keanu Reeves and Tilda Swinton, but especially the one in the pool area. “Your ego is astounding.” I try to read her hospital wristbands without stopping the movie. Then there’s every scene with Peter Stormare as Lucifer. Those are special.

The Avengers: the infirmary scene in which Nat (Scarlett Johansson) supports Clint (Jeremy Renner) as he shakes off the scepter’s influence. You get some of their backstory and sense the depth of their regard for one another. And then there’s “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

The Fifth Element: those early scenes with Milla Jovovich in Ian Holm’s flat. I love her reactions, and I don’t know how in hell she rattled off that made-up language. Also, “Cheeken…good.” I know the opera scene is a classic and I love it, but the earlier scenes with Jovovich are simply sweet. I think she would’ve been great in a rom-com or a Kate Hepburn “Bringing Up Baby”-type role. Madcap/caper flick.

That’s all for now. It’s still cold and we could get snow later in the week. Until the next time, here’s a really great recipe for Double Chocolate Banana Bread courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. I used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, and it worked. The resulting bread had the consistency of pound cake and was very chocolatey.

 

*I do often forget that I can pause and rewind movies because cable. I guess that makes me an Old.

One month closer to spring…with snippets

Supposedly February is the month with the second fastest temperature increase. Can’t happen soon enough.

Virtual Capricon was fun. I got to meet new people and have great conversations, I do miss the in-person fun…Barcon…going out to eat…checking out the art show and the dealers’ room. To that end, I am pondering Worldcon. It’s in Chicago. I could drive, which means it wouldn’t matter how much I packed or how many books I bought. At the last Chicon, in 2012, I had the coolest hotel room. It was wedged in an oddly-shaped space and was split into two floors–bedroom upstairs and sitting area downstairs–connected by a spiral staircase. I wouldn’t mind something like that again.

Time to make soup. Another Mediterranean Dish recipe, this one for Easy Chickpea Soup. I cooked the chickpeas from scratch following directions from the Whole Foods site. I recommend saving the leftover liquid because in my opinion it’s some of the tastiest vegetable stock ever. I have about 4-5 cups available for this batch, and I am looking forward to the finished product.

In other news, it’s been a while since I posted any snippets. Here’s another one from Echoes. It’s from the middle of the book, where Jani meets someone she wants to draw to her side. His name is Ian Matrishi, and though he has a Family background, he can feel the tug of a different sort of life. Just to clarify, the scene takes place on a large orbiting space station. “Downstairs” means the planet surface:

***

He looked out at the gardens, the cloud-wrapped blue ball beyond, and gripped the railing as though he would tumble into the void if he let go. “I love this place. I’ve loved it since I came here—“ He cocked his head one way, then the other. “—twelve years ago. Spent uni break with Ina Nawar at their compound downstairs.” He glanced at Jani, eyes glistening. “Have you ever been down there?”

“No.” Jani relaxed a little as she watched Ian’s expression lighten. 

He cut the air with one hand. “The sea air holds this sharpness that—it’s like it rinses out your head, leaves you feeling alive. And at dusk, there are these insects, they call them skitters, they make this pinging sound like notes up and down a scale. Night music.” He sighed. “And the people here are so, I don’t know, relentless. Cheerful, but unyielding. Like, we will get through this together. One hundred eighty degrees from what I grew up with.” He grew somber. “My father told me I’d last a year. It will be ten months tomorrow.”

***

Here’s a bit from a story that will appear in the Spring 2022 edition of Boundary Shock Quarterly. It’s entitled “Breakaway,” and I think it may be the first in a series of tales. This one features Gia Solari, late of the Twelfth Expeditionary Corps, whose lousy day is about to get worse.

***

“Commander Solari?”

Commander? Use of her former Corps rank meant a potential client, which in turn meant that she needed to be civil. “Booked through the end of the half-year.” She looked up and forced her professional smile—cool eyes, no teeth—and met a mildly amused gaze that moved from her face to the line of shot glasses and back to her. 

“I would appreciate a few minutes of your time.” Tall and sandy-haired. Office pale. Good bones. He removed a card from the front pocket of his jacket and placed it on the table.

Mason Denton
Staff Investigator
Snellings-Lau

Gia picked up the card, which had the look and feel of heavyweight paper stock. An old-fashioned touch meant to imply tradition and stability, two qualities in short supply in the Outer Colonies. “If this is about the dock incident last month, I have nothing to say. Tycho fired that copilot. The insurance companies are handling the settlement.”

“No, Commander. This is about the Peregrine.”

Gia did her best to exude disinterest even as her heart stuttered. Shit.

***

And so, until next time….

…or when the soup is ready.

Soup’s on!

I think it came out well. I used jalapeño-infused olive oil to cook the vegetables, and that added some nice heat. The fresh ginger and lime juice made a difference as well. I also added lime zest because when a recipe calls for lime (or lemon) juice, I always add the zest.

A good soup for a cold winter day.

Capricon 42

Yup, I am actually participating in a convention. It’s virtual, but still. Panels. A reading. I’m looking forward to it. You can participate virtually as well–virtual registration is free, but you can also join as a booster for $10.

Here are my program items:

Vampires Hate Werewolves but Do Zombies Hate Ghosts? (virtual)
Fri 3:00 PM

Our panelists discuss fictional rivalries and how they developed. (KS: the fictional rivalries discussed during the panel sign-up phase were things like vampires: werewolves, not single characters)

The Mysterious, Shape-Shifting Genre Monster (virtual)
Fri 7:00 PM

Many writers hate assigning a genre to their works, but potential consumers rely on these same genres to find new work. How should creatives incorporate genre into their process, what are the rewards of doing it well, and what are the pitfalls of doing it badly?

Reading: Kristine Smith (virtual)
Sat 11:00 AM (30 minutes)

How I Wrote This (virtual)
Sat 3:00 PM

A panel of authors will describe the path of a work of fiction from idea to first draft, second draft, beta reader, more drafts, and finally publication. Where did the idea come from, and how did the storytelling take shape? Here’s a chance to look at the how inspiration intersects with craft in real life.

Still Winter, With Snippets

It’s cold and grey and the sun sets too soon. But the days are getting longer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Looking forward to the hellebores and the first peeks of crocuses pushing up through the snow. I know it will be a while, probably sometime in late March, but still. Something to look forward to.

Yup, work on Echoes continues. I greatly expanded the number and length of encounters with the idomeni, especially the Haárin. I was so wrapped up in the action details on the immediate plot that I forgot about the amount of background I could draw on. Besides, it makes sense for an idomeni-human hybrid to interact with a number of idomeni as well as a number of humans over the course of a novel. But it had to fit into the story organically, which meant tweaking a plot I thought was set in stone.

Snippets are risky at this point because of the chance of spoilers. But background and scene setting should be okay, she said, fingers crossed. So here’s a little of both.

***

Humans who wished to ship goods on Haárin craft worked with official liaison offices overseen by multiple ministries tasked with ensuring that no militarily or commercially sensitive materials or information were involved. Those offices made the actual shipping arrangements eliminating the need for direct human-idomeni contact between shippers and ships’ crews.

However, at Commonwealth stations like Padishah and Elyas, where the Haárin docks were located in separate wings easily reachable on foot, simple curiosity drove humans and Haárin to venture into one another’s territories. Most interactions consisted of mispronounced greetings and halting attempts at conversation, translators at the ready, which often ended in confusion on both sides. But, every so often, an acquaintanceship would bloom. Gifts of food, clothing, or artwork would be exchanged, and with every such connection the interface blurred just a little more.

***

I did have some new stuff come out in 2021 in the form of a couple of short stories. “Symbiote,” which appears in the ZNB anthology Derelict, is about a salvage team that needs a win really, really badly. Here’s the opening:

***

“I’m not even sure this is worth opening the hatch for.” Shelly Conn checked fasteners on her spacesuit and pulled on her gloves. “The Morecombe was reported missing twelve years ago. It’s probably been stripped of everything that’s worth a damn.”

“Hull could be worth something.” Danny Raice, her second, adjusted fittings and checked the gauges of his own suit, which squeaked in polymer complaint as he worked.

“We’d have to tow it. Towing can get complicated.” Shelly lowered her voice. “Last pilot we had took out part of a dock the last time we tried it, remember? Which is why our insurance premium blew up, which is why we don’t have insurance anymore.” Also why they couldn’t risk another tow job, even though they had a new pilot for this trip. The Stabler, their poor old tub, had been put on probation at every station in the quadrant. The damage deposit alone would take every spare credit they had.

Danny nodded. “So we need a score.”

“We need an easy score. In and out. Simple stuff. Cargo. Instrumentation.”

***

I’ve added the link to the ebook above, but there are also Kickstarter mass market and trade paper editions.

I also had a story in Issue #16 of Boundary Shock Quarterly, an SF magazine published four times a year by Knotted Road Press. The theme of the issue is “Wandering Monsters: Kaiju and blobs and science gone wrong. Monsters from deep space come to destroy us all or the ones quietly hiding below as colonists and Terraformers arrive.” The title of my story is “Nest.”

Be careful when exploring new places:

***

Lila unloaded the last of the equipment, the medical and fire safety gear, from the shuttle that had transported them to the site. After setting the craft on standby, they walked along the line of crates, patting each as they passed. “According to the bible, we have seven hour-equivalents to assemble the domicile before sunshade.”

“That’s like dusk, right?” Sonna had dug out measurement equipment and begun marking the outline of the building that would serve as their laboratory and living quarters. “The suns never really set here, so we’d still be able to see, with or without lighting.”

“And the critters will be able to see us.” Tomas opened the first crate and slid out pre-made wall panels followed by the free-standing fabricator. “The bat-like things and the cat-like things and that bag of blob that ingests food through its skin.”

***

That’s all for now. Stay warm or cool, depending on location. Until next time….

Happy New Year!

Oh, look–it’s the 5th already.

Winter here in NE Illinois took a while to make its presence known, but it’s here now by golly. We’re under Winter Weather Advisory thanks to the wind-driven snows–0°F wind chills and gusts of 25+mph. Gaby and I still took a walk, weather-shortened though it was. We had to stop every so often so I could pick ice balls from between her paw pads, and my face felt pretty stiff when we headed into the wind. But we got in almost 3 miles and that’s 3 miles I don’t need to bash out on the treadmill. Also, the sun is out. A hairy woodpecker and some sparrows are picking at the suet cakes, and a female cardinal is harbored in the bird feeder and picking at the seeds. Birds always cheer up a dead of winter scene.

In writing news, still working on Echoes, aka the book that is kicking Kris’ ass. Someday I will explain all the reasons why I believe this book fought me, but I will finish it and then move on from there. I have never taken a self-pub book all the way through from Idea to Published before. Everything I’ve released so far has been published before–I just needed to get new covers, format, and redo copy. The editing process is the kicker–I am hoping that any edits aren’t extensive as that will add some time to the process. At that point, probably nothing would stop me from getting a cover and doing other pre-pub set-up, but I won’t know until I know. Sorry I can’t be more precise wrt a release date, and I very much appreciate you folks who have stuck with me to this point.

One thing I did in 2021 that I had not done before was release two short works. Short isn’t my jam and I have been trying to get more comfortable with the form, and responses to the results have been gratifying. One short story, entitled “Symbiote,” appears in Derelict, an anthology released last year by Zombies Need Brains. The link will take you to Derelict page on the ZNB website, which contains multiple links to ebook and trade pb options. The second story, “Nest,” appears in the Fall 2021 Issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly (I’m not listed as a contributor b/c I was a guest author, but the story is there I promise). Again, linking to the publisher’s page because it contains multiple store links for ebook and paper formats. I would describe both stories as SF with some horror. I’ve always felt those two genres blended well.

Hope 2022 is starting out well for you. Until next time.

Several things make a post (and a snippet)

Had some Fun With Websites yesterday. It began as I checked email, morning coffee in hand, and found a message from my host service that I had exceeded 80% of my allowed CPU seconds. If I hit 100%, my site might have become “inaccessible.” Things like this give me heartburn because I’m one of those “I don’t understand how things work behind the curtain I just want them to work” people. But, I dug into my host service dashboard, and saw that something happened two weeks prior that sent usage sky-high. I hadn’t made a post or uploaded images. Pretty much all I may have done was update some themes and plug-ins. I followed the host’s recommendations and deactivated one plug-in I thought might be causing trouble, then updated caching settings. That didn’t do anything. I finally initiated a chat session, and tech service found one of the plug-ins was triggering a WordPress cron job. So I disabled that plug-in, and waited. The tech said to give it time, but after two hours with no change, I poked around again, saw other plug-ins turn up in the error log, and deactivated them as well. Checked CPU, and found that yea, it had immediately crashed to the usual low level.

I know I confounded results. But whichever plug-in was the issue, they’re disabled and will stay that way. Just happy the matter was ::fingers crossed:: resolved.

It was a chilly, grey day here in NE Illinois. Now it’s nighttime at 5pm, and raining off and on to boot. Pumpkins, autumn leaf wreaths, and my scarecrow will stay up until December, but some folks already have Christmas trees in their windows and decorations out on the lawns. Not ready for that yet.

In closing, yes, still working on Echoes of War, aka the book that continues to kick Kris’ ass. The ending that I thought I had sorted last month has been resorted and reworked. I will then want to go back and tuck various lead-ins into the front part of the book. Will I finish by year’s end? I hope so.

In closing, a snippet from the later part of the book. A bit of scene-setting, as spoiler-free as I can manage:

Jani cut through the crowds, dodging travelers and crew members, luggage skims, and the odd two-wheeled passenger cart pulled by robotic horses. The concourse mirrored the main walking street of Thomasine, the capital, the storefronts a patchwork of multicolored stucco, the air so heavy with flower fragrance that it tasted sweet, the sunshine holding enough heat to warm even a hybrid’s eternal chill. Just enough similarity to Thalassa to cause her to slow and savor a little, and let go of a fragment of the tension that had held her for days in its muscle-clenching grip.