Matthew S. Rotundo's Blog, page 5

First Stop on the 2015 Rotundo World Tour: ConStellation

The 2015 Rotundo World Tour kicks off this weekend with ConStellation, just down the road from me, in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Here’s my schedule:

Saturday, 5/9/15

12:00–Vega Room–Star Wars:  The Fans Awaken.  You’re J. J. Abrams. Disney has handed you the reins of the Star Wars franchise. You have many of the original cast members back. You have a script by Lawrence Kasdan. You have an unlimited budget. What do you do with it all? Where do you take the series from here?  A discussion of our hopes and fears for the future of the franchise. Can it regain its past glory? Or should it even try?

3:00–Reading Room–Matthew S. Rotund0 Reading.  Remember my motto:  Come for a treat, stay for a tale!  (Hint:  That means there will be treats.)

Hope to see you there!

Current Music: "Heartbeat"--Bad Company

Progress Report, in which there are pluses and minuses

Minuscule verbiage, but hey, it counts.  Magic Meter says so:

In the plus column, I’m into that second chapter I was so apprehensive about, and it’s going better than expected.  Sometimes, you just gotta, you know, do the work.

In the minus column, my schedule of late has been unforgiving, and that has to change.  Rearrangement of priorities is in order.

Meanwhile, your snippet:

In a moment’s lull between shellbursts, a stray report sounded, much fainter than the others.  Kane would have dismissed it, except that it had come from the wrong direction, from somewhere behind him.  He turned in his chair, just in time to hear shouts of alarm.

He had to crane his neck to see past the crowd.  Several others, mostly toward the rear, were looking in the same direction as him and pointing.  They had heard it, too.

Kane stood, frowning.  Whatever it had been, it had been a bit further away than the fireworks display.  He peered into the surrounding darkness, unsure what he was looking for.

He saw it a moment later.  A gout of flame appeared in the night, highlighting black, billowing smoke.

Write Club updates:

Fifty days to a personalized bounce from Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  And as previously announced, 3 days to a sale (yay!) to Eldritch Embraces.  More pluses and minuses, I guess.

Onward.

Current Music: "Stone Free"--Jimi Hendrix

Eldritch Embraces gobbles “Take This, and Eat”

A couple of days ago, I mentioned I’d found an anthology whose theme was a perfect fit for a story of mine.  Seems the editor of said anthology–titled Eldritch Embraces–agrees.   Three days from submission to sale.

Eldritch Embraces will be published Dragon’s Roost Press.  The anthology aims to “put the love back in Lovecraft.”   Yes, folks, it’s all about love, romance, and Elder Gods.  And if that isn’t cool enough, it’s a charity anthology, to raise money for a canine rescue operation.

My story is called “Take This, and Eat.”  Here’s a (*cough*) taste:

A kind of chicken teriyaki dish, Leah had said.  And it certainly looked promising at first—generous portions of noodles and meat, without too many vegetables for Darren to pick around.  It smelled spicy, sparking a bit of an appetite in him.  Using the tongs the waiter had brought, he optimistically helped himself to a heaping plateful.

Then he caught a glimpse of the tentacle in his food, and his appetite vanished.

At first he thought he might be mistaken, but a second glance confirmed it—long, black, rubbery, with small suckers running down its length.

Eldritch Embraces should be out sometime next year.

Been a long dry spell.   Happy to break it.

Current Music: "Freewill"--Rush

Progress Report, in which there isn’t a total loss

As expected, Real World stuff ate most of my productivity last week, and whatever was left, I destroyed on my own.  Like I do.

But!  I did some database updates and put some manuscripts into circulation—including one piece that I shipped to an anthology whose theme is pretty much a perfect fit.  It doesn’t pay well (which, for genre fiction, is saying a lot), but the story seemed so right for this market that I just couldn’t pass it up.

So the week wasn’t a total loss.  I know you’re relieved.

No updates for Write Club.

And now, back to productivity.  I hope.

Current Music: "Can't Get This Stuff No More"--Van Halen

Progress Report, in which heels are dragged

Slow progress on Petra Rising, but such as there was, I share it with you:

This is the result of some poor time management on my part, combined with rude interruptions from the Real World.  Also, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m a little afraid of the next few chapters.  I’ll be introducing a new viewpoint character that I don’t know very well, and then I’ll have some tricky timeline issues to deal with.  So I may be dragging my heels.  A bit.

But hey, words is words, and here are a few for you:

Of course, he had hardly been the only one separated from all he had ever known and loved that night.  But if it bothered any of the others present, they hardly showed it—likely because many of them were not celebrating the Liberation at all, but something else entirely.  And none of them gave any hint that they bore the slightest concern about the trouble that was inevitably coming their way.

But he had promised Loren he wouldn’t say anything.  Not on this night.  Not until the skies above were filled with enemy bombers intent on total eradication of the place formerly known as Petra, now called Haven.  Maybe then they’d be inclined to listen.

Write Club update:  Tier one rejection from Daily Science Fiction.  Response time, 24 days.

The Real World will be impacting word count next week, too, I’m afraid.  But we’ll see what we can muster up.

Onward.

Current Music: "All Hell's Breakin' Loose"--Kiss

Progress Report, in which I teach you a lesson

I warned you, but you didn’t listen.  I said I would start drafting Petra Rising.  Soon.  And you didn’t believe me, did you?  Well, now look what’s happened:

Maybe next time you’ll heed me.  Let’s hope you’ve learned your lesson.

Target word count is, of course, just an estimate at this point.  And I don’t mind telling you, folks, that I was really nervous about starting this thing.  But after months and months of note making, foot dragging, and second guessing, nothing else remained except to write the damned novel.  So that’s what I’m doing.

No updates for Write Club.

And we’re off . . .

Current Music: "Houses of the Holy"--Led Zeppelin

Progress Report, in which I name names

You know I mean business about starting to draft a new novel when I get to naming my characters.

Seriously.  Names are usually one of the last things I do.  I’m not sure why, really.  That’s just my process.  And not to say that I consider it an insignificant task, either.  I often agonize over character names, and I usually learn something about them as they are christened.

As Petra Rising is the third volume in the series, I don’t have as many personages upon which to bestow monikers, but I do have a few new folks—mostly minor but nonetheless important players.  So the great Naming proceeds, to be swiftly followed by—gasp and swoon!—actual fresh verbiage.

I have to admit, folks, I’m nervous.  In addition to the usual first draft jitters, there’s the fact that I haven’t played in the Petra universe for several years.  And this will be the concluding novel of this story arc, which is a new thing for me.  Can I stick the landing?

Time will tell.  Soon.  Magic Meter is coming.

Write Club update:  Personalized note from Shimmer.  Not a good fit, basically.  Response time, six days.

Deep breath . . .

Current Music: "Afterglow"--Black Country Communion

Progress Report, in which I channel Victor Frankenstein

The subplot issue that I was working on last week?  I think I have it resolved.  Kind of.  Enough for me to believe it’s not so insurmountable, anyway.

It’s been that way thus far with Petra Rising.  The obstacles I’ve discovered while making my notes, some of them quite daunting at first, have all just sort of worked themselves out.  I’m telling you, friends, there’s life in this story.  (Cue Victor Frankenstein voice:  “It’s alive!  Alive!”)

(Ahem.  Sorry about that.)

So it appears that I have the first act fairly well in hand, and I have a pretty good idea about the ending.  The second act is a tad murky.  But what the hell; I’ve started with less than this before.  One more week, and then drafting begins.

(It’s alive!  Alive!)

(Ahem.)

Write Club updates:

Tier one bounces from The Dark and Clarkesworld. Response time, less than 12 hours each.  Speedy!

And a form reject from an agent on a novel query.

Onward.

Current Music: "We're Not Gonna Take It"--The Who

Progress Report, in which the joke may be on your faithful correspondent

So I figured while I was paused on my notes for Petra Rising, I might as well take the opportunity to update my database and get some manuscripts back into circulation.  Which is what I did.

Now I’m back to my notes, trying to work out a subplot issue.  But I think I’m ready for a bold prediction:  the new novel will roll on April 1st.

That’s right–April Fool’s Day.  There’s actually some precedent for this:  I had started the first draft of Petra Released on an April 1st, too.  So if it’s worked before, I figure it will work again.  Time will tell if the joke is on me.

A few more weeks, then, and we’ll see the long-awaited return of Magic Meter.  I’m sure the anticipation is killing you.

Write Club updates:

A tier one bounce from Fantastic.  Response time, two days.

And a bounce from an agent on a novel query.  Response time, one day.

So it goes.

Onward.

Current Music: "These Colors Don't Run"--Iron Maiden

Progress Report, in which I have a good excuse (for once)

Still haven’t started drafting Petra Rising yet, but I have a good excuse:  I was working on a rewrite.

That’s a good excuse, right?

See, I’d gotten some useful editorial feedback on “The Winter Palace.”  The opening needed trimming, and I thought I had a good idea how to do it.  And I wanted to get that out of the way before I dove headfirst into the first draft of a new novel.  So that’s what I did.

Now “The Winter Palace” is back in the wild, and I can return to Petra Rising.  At least one more subplot bears further examination.  Then the novel rolls.  For realz.

Write Club update:  31 days to a bounce from BuzzyMag, which is going on hiatus, citing medical issues.

Onward.

Current Music: "Think for Yourself"--The Beatles