"Bette Davis Ice"

Spent the day the Ben Wheeler Book Fair in Ben Wheeler, a small town here in East Texas. Like most small town book fairs in these parts, it was well organized but poorly attended, and most authors sold only one or two books, if any.

I didn't sell any, but I expected that. I took my typewriter and banged out the first draft of my latest story, "Bette Davis Ice", between 10 and 2. It was a good use of my time, and a promotional trick I've used before. Here is a photo Patricia took of me at the keyboard.

The book fair was at an old historic school that is now used as the town library. Patricia did school work on her laptop (and also brought me lunch, since I was in my throes of creativity).

One author who DID do well was his-own-self was Joe Lansdale, who was there with Kasey. Some people showed up and bought STACKS of his books. Joe and Kasey were also guest speakers.

The first draft of "Betty Davis Ice" is ten pages, and when I finished Joe was nice enough to read it. He said it was fun, and definitely showed Howard Waldropian influence. Kasey thought it was a hoot, too.

Despite the lack of sales, it was a fun day, and we enjoyed the chance to meet Joe and Kasey again.

Now I need to run "Bette Davis Ice" through OCR software and start editing it. BTW, the Maguffin of the story is that a Brit can't tell the difference between the way a Texan pronounces "eyes" and "ice".

"Hearts Made of Stone"

Just signed my contract for Wakefield Mahon's Song Stories anthology. It is slated to come out via e-book on Feb. 15 and paperback the first of March.

The anthology is composed of stories inspired by songs. My contribution is entitled "Hearts Made of Stone"

Here is the description that was used on the Song Story Press website for the call for submissions:

"Music is one of the fundamental experiences of the human condition.  Music has the power to calm or excite, to evoke the full spectrum of emotions as few other tools can.  A few simple lyrics backed by an earnest melody can tell an epic tale of tragedy or triumph.  That is, in part, where the idea for Song Stories came from.  For some of us, music is not just part of life, music IS life.  It permeates our waking thoughts and our dreams and often appears in our stories. What songs remind you of your childhood? of high school or college?  Your first love and your first broken heart.  Now take those memories and wrap them in your imagination.  Give us your gripping horror, your mind blowing fantasy and your farsighted science fiction and transform those songs into something new."

Wakefield adds: "With so many excellent submissions, we are accepting submissions to complete a second volume."
* Submission Call Starts:  12/1/2012
* Submission Call Ends:  3/1/2013

"Unsubstantiated interpretations"

Eric Cline, another author featured in the current issue of Stupefying Stories, flogs the issue on his own blog, and makes this nice comment about my story, too.

"I just got my sample copy (that is, a PDF) this morning, and I'm already smiling over some of my fellow authors' contributions.  For instance, "The Relic," by Lou Antonelli, shows the trivial, incidental creation of the title object and the unsubstantiated interpretations heaped on it later.  I suspect that famed archaeologist Eric Cline (the other Eric Cline, whom I mentioned in a previous post and who kindly commented on this blog earlier) would nod ruefully at the events that unfold."

The Stupefying Stories line-up

I'm reposting from its web page the rundown of the December issue of Stupefying Stories:

---

Hard to believe it's December 2012 already. Depending on who you listen to we only have about three weeks left before the world ends, either from magnetic pole reversal, crossing the galactic ecliptic, the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, a collision with Planet X, global warming, global cooling, the return of Quetzalcoatl, President Obama and Speaker of the House Boehner joining hands, flooring it, and going full Thelma & Louise off the edge of the fiscal cliff, or the regrettable and wholly inexplicable failure of the Ancient Mayans to invent the perpetual calendar.

In any case, as we were putting together this book, we thought: what better way to go out with a bang that with a bunch of great stories exploring the end of the world—and what might come after? From ecological catastrophes to alien invasions; from tyrannical overreaching central governments to dangerous unfettered cowboy capitalists: It's the End of the World, As We Know It!

And the stories in this book will make you feel just fine.

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.11 (a.k.a., "the December edition"), is edited by award-winning writer Bruce Bethke and features:

   "We Talk Like Gods," by Jon David
   "Tiny, Tiny Hungers," by Mark Wolf
   "Moonbubble," by Eric Cline
   "The Relic," by Lou Antonelli
   "Mr. Non-Existent," by Paul Malone
   "Blue Stripped," by Gerry Huntman
   "HoPE," by A. A. Leil
   "Avocado Rutabaga Aubergine," by M. Bennardo
   "In the Shadows of the Empire of Coal," by Shaun Duke
   "Measure of Intelligence," by Torah Cottrill
   "The Gods of Sand and Stone," by Joel V. Kela

If you want to go to the web page (which has all the Amazon and Barnes & Noble links), the link is here:

The record set

With the publication of "The Relic" in Stupefying Stories, I have 12 stories published this year:

1. "The Centurion and the Rainman" - Buzzy Mag, March 2012

2. "Encounter in Camelot" - 4 Star Stories, Spring 2012

3. "Great White Ship" - Daily Science Fiction, May 11, 2012

4. "Accidental Witness" - Planetary Stories, Spring 2012

5. "Double Exposure" - Daily Science Fiction, June 11, 2012

6. "The Starship Theodora" - Nova Science Fiction, Summer 2012

7. "Pirates of the Ozarks" - Science Fiction Trails No. 8, Fall 2012

8. "Barsoom Billy" - Science Fiction Trails, No. 9 All Martian Spectacular Fall 2012

9. "Damascus Interrupted" - Phantasmagorium, Sept. 2012

10. "The Way of the Heretic" - 4 Star Stories, Fall 2012

11. "Snow Globe" - Bewildering Stories No. 500 Fall 2012

12. "The Relic" - Stupefying Stories Dec. 2012

That brings me up 73 stories since my first publication in June 2003.

Spinning the plates

For someone who is only a casual writer, and who only writes short stories, I'm amazed how busy I get sometimes. Yesterday I was dealing with four different editors and publications.

As previously noted, I finished "Riders of the Red Shift" and sent it to an anthology that deadlines Dec. 1.

I still have to proof the short story I wrote in collaboration with Edward Morris, "Uncle Gumball Saves the World," which Shelby Vick is planning to publish in his mag "Pulp Spirit".

I had to review and approve some terms for an kickstarter agreement with the anthology, "Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For A New Age" which is being edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. It is a collection of best of stories from Ray Gun Revival’s multi-year run combined with new stories from headliners who include Mike Resnick, Ann Crispin, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Sarah A. Hoyt, Robin Wayne Bailey, Brenda Cooper, Allen Steele, and Seanan McGuire.

It will also include reprints by Milo James Fowler, Michael S. Roberts, Michael Merriam, TM Hunter, Robert Mancebo, Alice M. Roelke, Paula R. Stiles, Jenny Schwartz, A.M. Stickel, Shaun Farrell
and Jennifer Campbell-Hicks.

I'm part of it because it will include a reprint of my story "The Silver Dollar Saucer" that was published by Ray Gun Revival in 2009.

"Raygun Chronicles" will be having a Kickstarter campaign January 14 through February 22 to fund the anthology. It will be published November 2013 by Every Day Publishing with a launch at OryCon in Portland, Oregon.

Finally, I got an email from Bruce Bethke at Stupefying Stories. He said that, as they are preparing the December edition, they can't figure out where to place my story, "The Relic", in the TOC.

He said he came up with a "crazy idea" - since the story has four vignettes (which are widely separated in time) - to space them at the beginning, early middle, late middle, and end of this edition as "The Relic (Part One)" (Part Two, Three, etc.)

"I think it would put a really cool arc on the book as a whole," he wrote.

I told him I love crazy ideas and I loved his idea, go right ahead.

Like I said, I'm amazed how busy I get sometimes.

"Riders of the Red Shift"

Banged out an estimated 3,600 word (I used a typewriter, so the word count is approximate) first draft of a short story Sunday, working towards a Dec. 1 submission deadline. The story is called "Riders of the Red Shift". I started at 2:30 p.m., finished five hours later.

I put my typewriter on a table outdoors, the fall weather was so nice. I moved inside for the last two hours as the light grew dim.

Monday night I took the 12 typewritten pages of the first draft of "Riders of the Red Shift", photographed them, then ran them through OCR software to make a Word file. I also started editing and revisions, I'm maybe one-third of the way through.