Adios, 2011

Well, this is the last day of the year. It's been a good one, in many respects. No major health issues, job is fine, lots of fiction published.

I've been on vacation since Christmas Eve, so there's been no new writing done. I did pick up a copy of a book, "H. G. Wells: Journalism and Prophecy", at a used book store Wednesday. It was published by W. Warren Wagar in 1964. It is very interesting to read some of Wells' essays written in the last 40 years of his life. I think it will be valuable both for research as well as cerebral stimulation.

I also picked up a copy of the 1977 edition of Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe."

Kudos from Bewildering Stories

Don Webb of Bewildering Stories has sent word that "Tell Gilgamesh I'm Sorry" has been given one of the ezine's Mariner Awards for 2011. "The Mariner Awards are named for one of the first successful interplanetary missions. The more than 43 titles listed — out of 383 for the year — are the crème de la crème, the ones that the Review Board rated “very good” or “excellent” in 2011. They have earned Bewildering Stories’ most signal honor." says the website.

If you'd like to read the story, go thisaway:

"Rockets and Reindeer" takes off

4 Star Stories published my short holiday-themed story "Rockets and Reindeer" in its winter issue. You can find the story here.

Not much to report...

...on the genre front. Daily Science Fiction returned my flash "Wet and Wild", but noted it almost made it to the second round. When I wrote it at FenCon someone suggested I send it to them, "they use a lot of flashes." But I already had "Great White Ship" in their slush pile - which they accepted.

Much of this coming week will be taken up with cleaning and otherwise getting ready for the house sitter who will be here between Christmas and New Year's. Patricia and I will be on the East Coast visiting family.

Holiday "Bigfoot Fruit" basket

I finished up "Bigfoot Fruit" tonight. Came in at 4,488 words. This is the 99th story I've written. I submitted it to one of the major genre mags. This will probably be my last story for 2011, I can't see how I would have time between now and the end of the year to write another one.

I got a rejection today from one of the major mags. The editor wrote "It's nice to see an upbeat story - seems like everything that's coming across my desk these days is depressing." Still didn't buy the story, but that's an interesting comment.

Got suggested edits from David Gray at 4 Star Stories for "Rockets and Reindeer". Did them and sent it back. This will be my 11th story published this year, my 61st overall.

"Rockets and Reindeer" was originally published as a Christmas Eve blog post in 2004, so I suppose it would be considered a reprint.

"Bigfoot Fruit" is ripe

Finished the first draft of "Bigfoot Fruit" today. Came in just under 4,600 words. I had done most of the work by Monday, but I had to add an ending today. Ran it by Patricia and she said the ending worked fine. I will start tweaks and edits tomorrow.

Almost done

I worked Sunday and today on "Bigfoot Fruit". Almost finished, just need one scene at the end for the closing. Length just passed 4,000 words.