Anniversary coming up

Next Tuesday, March 18, is the fifth anniversary of when Gardner Dozois bought my story "A Rocket for the Republic". When I started writing s-f in the fall of 2002, I quickly realized - after a little research - that Gardner was the most respected editor in the field, so I set a goal to sell him a story.

That's one of the few times in my life I actually succeeded in a lofty goal. Let's face it, folks, we seldom get what we want in life. That's usually for the best (I can't help but feel, just from a cumulative sense of intuition, luck is not random and most of us have more bad luck than good. Then again, considering how estranged we are from the Deity - whether you call him Jesus, Buddha, Mo hammed or whatever - I guess what we get what we deserve.)

Although Gardner retired right afterward, Asimov's agreed to honor his buys, and "Rocket" was published in Asimov's in Sept. 2005.

I've had some pretty good pubs since then, and some good reviews. "The Witch of Waxahachie" - Baen's April 2008 - is probably my most prestigious publication (also, the best paying). "Avatar" in the Brit ezine Dark Matter (April 2007) got the best reviews of any story I ever wrote; its the only story I ever wrote that received unanimously positive reviews.

Right now, I seem to be a period of clearing out the trunk. The acceptance of "The Man Who Machine-Gunned the Lady of the Lake" for the anthology being published by the North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop, "The 28th Dimension: Tales from the Texas Zone", is my 46th.

Alienskin is publishing my flash "Airy Chick" in its June/July issue. M-Brane SF will publish "Business as Usual in Issue No. 3; I think that will be coming out next month. Science Fiction Trails will be publishing "Professor Malakoff's Amazing Ethereal telegraph" in its annual issue later this year.

Those follow the publication of "Acroscaphe", "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "The Silver Dollar Saucer" in December and January (by respectively, Planetary Stories, Apehelion, and Ray Gun Revival).

Ahh, just scribble, scribble, as they say.

"Dance with Me, Henry" is available via Kindle

If you have an appropriate device, you can download "Dance with Me, Henry" via Amazon through its Kindle system. Since I'm using "Dance" as a promotional item, I set the miimum price - I'm not taking any profit - and so you can download the entire story for 80 cents.

What a deal!

Austin in August

I received an invite to be a guest panelist at ArmadilloCon this past weekend, and I have accepted, so I will be there Aug. 14-16. Last year was the first time I was able to attend as a panelist. Before that (in 2004) I attended as a fan, one of the few times I ever did that.

Here is the line-up so far for guests:

Guest of Honor - Scott Lynch
Two-time nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer

Artist of Honor - Stephan Martiniere
Winner of The Children's Hall of Fame Award, The Humanitas Award, The Parent's Choice Award, The ACT Award, The Spectrum Gold Award, The Spectum Silver Award, The Expose Master Award, The Expose Excellence Award, The BSFA Award, The Chesley Award, The Hugo Award, The Grand Master Expose Award, The Expose Excellence Award, The THEA Award and nominated for an Emmy Award

Editor of Honor - Chris Roberson
Finalist for a World Fantasy Award, nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer and winner of the Sidewise Award.

Fan of Honor - Karen Meschke
Chair of LoneStar Con 2, BoucherCon and ConMisterio 1 & 2

Toastmaster - Scott A. Cupp
Winner of the Golden Pagoda Award, nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer, finalist for a World Fantasy Award and honorable mention for a F&SF Competition

Special Guest - Joan D. Vinge
Winner of the Hugo Award, nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer, nominee for the Nebula Award, winner of an American Library Association award and best-selling author.

My next con will be SoonerCon in Oklahoma City June 5-7. I will also be at FenCon in Dallas in Sept.

Another sale

Just got word that my really weird Texas tall tale, "The Man Who Machine-Gunned the Lady of the Lake" has been accepted for an anthology being published by the North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshops, called "The 28th Dimension: Tales from the Texas Zone".

I really am clearing out some stories...

"Henry" shoves off

If hope those of you who followed along with my serialization of "Dance with Me, Henry" enjoyed the story. I got some useful feedback. This was my first stab at a book, and my goal was pretty much to write 100,000 words and see if I could do it and not make your eyes bleed.

For the sake of avoiding over-exposure, I have zapped the chapters from the blog now. It's no longer available here. As I mentioned earlier, I've made a hard copy available via Lulu's POD system (another first for me). I have a few books on the way; I want to see how these look. I will probably continue to tweak the book. In the meantime. I think it may be a useful promotional tool.

With this under my belt, I feel much more focused about approaching another book. (I guess a lot of you went through this when you were, like 14.). Fifty-one is probably late in this genre to write that 'first novel'. Then again, I was writing newspaper stories when I was 14. This fiction writing is a second lifetime.

I may possibly rework some of the stuff in the book into other works. The business with Mier Kahane ready to drop the Big One on the Egyptians over Ashdod, and the later demonstration of the bomb in the Negev, has the makings of a solid novelette or novella, IMHO.

As for my next work, I would suspect it would be an expansion from "The Witch of Waxahachie" - surprise, surprise - but who knows?

The latest sale

Got word yesterday via email that Alienskin will be publishing my flash "Airy Chick" in its upcoming June/July issue. That's the third story now in line pending publication. Science Fiction Trails is slated to publish "Professor Malakoff's Amazing Ethereal Telegraph" later this year, and M-Brane SF will be publishing "Business as Usual" in Issue No. 3. Its Issue No. 2 just came out March 1.

With the publication during the past three months of "Acroscaphe" by Planetary Stories, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Apehelion and "The Silver Dollar Saucer" by Ray Gun Revival, it looks like my inventory is starting to drop. I may need to hit the writing table more.

"Airy Chick" will be my 45th story published since June 2003.

Hard copy edition ready

BTW, today's chapter of "Dance with Me, Henry" is the climax. Wednesday I will publish the epilogue. If you liked the tale, and would like a hard copy, I've uploaded the story to Lulu where you can order a POD paperback. It is Lulu Item No. 6273265. Since I'm in the newspaper business, it was easy for me to typeset the story in an easy-to-read format. I even went to the trouble of making up a funny cover. Go over to Lulu and take a look.