Publishing Again.

Did I mention I have a new story coming out? I'm just not sure when.

I sold it earlier this year, and I think I blogged about it at the time. It's a good fantasy story - which isn't a genre into which I delve all that often. I originally wrote it for a themed anthology - unfortunately, I had missed the words "urban fantasy" in the original guidelines, and there was nothing urban about this fantasy. Once the submission period had closed, I realised my error. I emailed the editor, apologised, and asked for the piece to be withdrawn.

At least I looked like a good guy in front of that editor.

It's had some close calls at some really good markets - received positive personal feedback at a pro-market, but never quite got there. Until this sale.

The editor likes it. He told me so. He also suggested it might end up in either an anthology in October, or a magazine in January. Well, it's almost October, and I haven't heard anything, so I guess we'll see it at the beginning of next year.

Keep your eyes out. I'll let you know when it's out.

My Own Collection?

I've recently had a number of people suggest that it's time I compile an anthology of my own stories and publish them on Amazon, or Smashwords or whatever.

Anyone who knows me will no doubt be aware that I am quite averse to self-publishing my stories anytime soon. I recently had the opportunity to read a couple of self-published stories and was generally underwhelmed by them. As I've stated before, I recognise that traditional publishing values are shifting rapidly and the future world of e-books is wide open, but there's still too much white-noise out there at the moment. How we end up filtering this and finding the gems is yet to be determined.

Amazon reviews are of limited value. Some of the stories I read had been given a number of 4 and 5 stars, but were actually poorly written. (To be fair, I have also found one or two that were pretty good.) I believe that it's wise to reach a certain standard before inflicting your work on others. For me, that standard is a couple of professional sales and regular appearances in semi-pro markets. I'm working at building a reputation, and editors and respected publishers are the benchmarks in reaching that goal.

If others will invest time, effort and money in regularly publishing my stories, then perhaps it will be time to put together a collection. But in the meantime, I'll let the editors judge my work. After all, people keep telling me writers are rarely the best judges of their own writing.

Now Available.

Don't worry, I'm not going to be mentioning After Death every post, but I do need to let you know it's now available.

The editor of this anthology, Eric J. Guignard (Bram Stoker nominee for his previous collection), has done an amazing job in collecting and whipping these stories into shape. It's already garnering excellent reviews and fantastic comments. This is an anthology not to be missed.

It's available here, here and here.

A reminder of who's in After Death.

Andrew S. Williams — Someone to Remember
David Tallerman — Prisoner of Peace

Steve Rasnic Tem — The Last Moments Before Bed
Lisa Morton — The Resurrection Policy
John M. Floyd — High Places
Kelda Crich — Circling the Stones at Fulcrum's Low
David Steffen — I Will Remain
Aaron J. French — Tree of Life
Sanford Allen & Josh Rountree — The Reckless Alternative
Brad C. Hodson — The Thousandth Hell
James S. Dorr — Mall Rats
Ray Cluley — Afterword
Jonathan Shipley — Like a Bat out of Hell
Edward M. Erdelac — Sea of Trees
Jacob Edwards — The Overlander
Bentley Little — My Father Knew Douglas MacArthur
Jamie Lackey — Robot Heaven
John Palisano — Forever
Robert B. Marcus, Jr. — Beyond the Veil
Alvaro Rodriguez — Boy, 7
William Meikle — Be Quiet At The Back
Christine Morgan — A Feast of Meat and Mead
Simon Clark — Hammerhead
Peter Giglio — Cages
Kelly Dunn — Marvel at the Face of Forever
Trevor Denyer — The Unfinished Lunch
Steve Cameron — I Was The Walrus
Larry Hodges — The Devil's Backbone
Benjamin Kane Ethridge — The Death of E. Coli
Emily C. Skaftun — Final Testament of a Weapons Engineer
Joe McKinney — Acclimation Package
Josh Strnad — Hellevator
Allan Izen — In and Out the Window
John Langan — With Max Barry in the Nearer Precincts

At The End Of The Week.

The last few weeks have been hectic.

Exam marking, writing reports, finishing university assignments, making sure the semester comes to a clean end. But that's all done now, and I'm free to get some writing done. For the next couple of weeks at least.

I finished the Jack Dann workshop yesterday. I tweaked the story they critiqued last time and re-subbed it. It had a generally favourable reception, and some more excellent comments and advice. The five month program has been excellent.  I'd like to thank Jack and my fellow attendees.

I also wrote a story that I am very, very pleased with. It poured out of me easily in a single three hour session and needed little work afterwards. I commenced a second story, but have now put it on the back burner. It was for an anthology that closes this weekend. Unfortunately I was going to run out of time, and - more importantly - I realised the aspects I'd tried to incorporate (in order to match the anthology's theme) were not central to the story and so would probably not be suitable anyway.

And so, the results of this week.

One new story written.
One other new story half-completed.
One story re-written and subbed to the workshop.
Two other stories re-written.
Three submissions.

A successful week.  Now we wait!

I Guess I'm Hooked.

So last night I dreamed that I was attending the launch of an anthology in which I had a story.

As I entered, I bumped into a couple of small press publishers, and we spent some time chatting about writing. They congratulated me, and said nice things about my work, (OK, so most writers are insecure and our egos need attention from time to time) and then I told them how impressed I was with their latest anthologies.

Someone once told me that if,  eighteen months after you commence, you are still writing and submitting, then you will likely be around for the long haul. Most people give up well before that, after receiving a few rejections.

It's been three years or so for me now. And now I'm dreaming of publishers, sales and book launches. I check my email every morning anticipating a sale that has arrived over night but more often receiving a rejection. I research markets looking for places to sub. I keep an eye on recent activity at subbed markets over at Duotrope. I long for those times when I get to hold a new anthology with my writing inside. And I am delighted when I see favourable comments and reviews on my work.

Yeah, I think I'm hooked. And it's exactly the way I wanna be.