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Checking In: October Stuff

I’m off to Multiverse Con next week – it’s their first year, and I’m there as Industry Guest of Honor along with Seanan McGuire and John Piccacio. Come say hi if you’re there! Two weeks after that I’ll be up in Surrey BC as a presenter at the Surrey International Writers Conference.

In writing stuff, I am working hard this month on EXILES OF TABAT, which should go to beta readers on November 1. THE FIVE OF US, my middle grade space opera, just went off to readers at the beginning of the month. Next up in writing is the sequel to the Tor space opera, which will be my November project. In December, I’m going to focus on short stories and outlining three of my 2020 projects: a horror novel, a novella project, and the third space opera book.

I just got the advance reading copies of CARPE GLITTER, my novelette coming out on the 29th with Meerkat Press. It’s a slim little book, and contains the story of a young woman who finds more than she expected when cleaning out the accumulated belongings of her stage magician grandmother, and asks the question – what do we do with unwanted inheritances when they’re part of our family?

Here’s a lovely early review from Sebastian Doubinsky:

Really enjoyed this family drama cum magic (mostly black) taking place in a late Not-So-Fairy-Grandmother’s house. Trying to find some interesting (and probably sellable) stuff in her deceased granny’s house, Persephone stumbles on stranger and more dangerous things than she had hoped for. A short, enjoyable and beautifully mastered anti-fairy tale novella, which offers more than its glittery surface indicates. Highly recommended for the readers who like true complexity hidden behind apparent simplicity.

One thing that’s helped keep me productive is working with the new Rambo Academy Critclub, our online community for fantasy and science fiction writers who want to exchange critiques, market news, advice, and pictures of their pets. Want to join us? You can by being a supporter on Patreon or by subscribing through Paypal. Here’s the details. Critiquing is not mandatory! Come hang out and see what you think. 🙂

This weekend, the Rambo Academy presents two new live online writing classes that I’m excited about. The first, Writing in the Cracks: Finding Time to Write with Diane Morrison, is aimed at people prepping for NaNoWriMo next month, and provides guidance for making and defending writing time. It’s $49 (or $39 for Patreon supporters and former students.) If you can’t make it, don’t despair! Next week the on-demand version will be up as well.

The second class on Sunday is a timely one if you’re thinking about Halloween fiction. Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: How to Write Gothic Horror is a session where Catherine Lundoff will provide lecture and writing exercises designed to help you incorporate gothic horror into your own writing. It’s $99 (or $79 for Patreon supporters and former students.)

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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Fighting Back the Jungle

I figured that spending a Sunday morning pruning wasn’t the worst way to use one’s time, so I went out to do battle with the various plants along the entryway to our building. The rhododendron had grown out so aggressively that there was (literally) less than a foot clearance when trying to get through there.

I like pruning. When I took Master Gardening training, it was my favorite part. I like the idea of coaxing shape out of the wood, of encouraging it in a particular direction, coaxing it up and out. The rhododendron was pleasant to do, particularly since it hadn’t been done in a LONG time and I could use my little hand saw to clear some undergrowth out. The opposite facing hedge was much less so, and held a number of g’normous (but pretty) snails and a baby bird’s skeleton (luckily I realized what it was -after- I’d dropped it and it was so fleshless that it was actually kinda neat.)

I trimmed back a lot of stuff that was encroaching on the sidewalk and it all looks much more tidy and like people instead of ghosts live here.

Now I feel I have been productive as well as gotten me some exercise so I am going to go in search of a burger.

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Reflecting on the Past Year

Overall, 2010’s been a much better year than 2009, although it’s had its less pleasant moments, such as special assessment convulsions in my condo complex, my Grandmother’s death in November, and the usual array of rejections implicit in being a writer and sending stuff out. 🙂

On the bright side, my collection was a 2010 Endeavour Award finalist and I had fourteen stories published in 2010. Here’s the list, with a notable reprint and two podcasts to boot:

  1. 2020 VISIONS, edited by Rick Novy. Therapy Buddha.
  2. A dark story of data herds and contraband foods, edited by a fellow Codex writer.

  3. CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 3, 2010, edited by Mike Allen. Surrogates.
  4. An R-rated absurdist story telling of Belinda and Bingo’s love.

  5. TRIANGULATION: END OF THE RAINBOW, 2010, edited by Bill Moran. In Order to Conserve.
  6. A reprint from the collection, which also appeared as a podcast on Podcastle. A slim little political fable.

  7. M-BRANE, January, 2010. Fire on the Water’s Heart.
  8. Far flung tragedy of alien species interacting and sparking a doomed romance.

  9. MOOT MAGAZINE, April 2010. Biosapiens.
  10. Who is V-man, what does he want, and why does he glow under certain conditions?

  11. MOOT MAGAZINE, April, 2010. The Strange Case of Maya Andaluz.
  12. Graduate student and artist Maya is abducted by a strange alien light, leaving behind a fishbowl filled with desiccated fish and half-melted glass pebbles.

  13. EXPANDED HORIZONS, June, 2010. Coyote Barbie.
  14. Contains a favorite line of mine, “Barbies who run with the wolves”.

  15. EXPANDED HORIZONS, July, 2010. Swamp Gas.
  16. This was originally written for the Apex magazine contest asking writers to combine urban legends with UFOs – it’s my version of the vanishing hitchhiker.

  17. EVERY DAY FICTION, August, 2010. The Investigation.
  18. Flash fiction detailing events in a mythical location that I think of as vaguely French.

  19. PODCASTLE, August, 2010. Sugar.
  20. A Tabat story that originally appeared in the first Fantasy Magazine sampler and was later reprinted in my collection.

  21. LIGHTSPEED, September, 2010. Amid the Words of War. (Kindle version)
  22. One of my Clarion West stories, the first set at the brothel The Little Teacup of the Soul.

  23. DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, September, 2010. Seeking Nothing.
  24. 2010 was a year for dark SF, and here’s another example of that.

  25. CROSSED GENRES, September, 2010. Centzon Totochin.
  26. Horror set in a small Mexican town.

  27. EVERY DAY FICTION, September, 2010. Love Affair.
  28. Written during my grad student days at Indiana University.

  29. TOR.COM, October, 2010. Clockwork Fairies
  30. Perhaps my favorite of the 2010 publications, this is my attempt to talk about some of the problems implicit in the steampunk genre. I -love- the accompanying artwork by Gregory Manchess.

  31. REDSTONE SCIENCE FICTION, November, 2010. Not Waving, Drowning
  32. A final dark story of a marriage between telepath and non-telepath to finish out the year.

In 2011, I have stories coming out from ABYSS & APEX (Bots d’Amor), BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES (Love, Resurrected), BULL SPEC (The Coffeemaker’s Passion), GIGANOTOSAURUS (Karaluvian Fale, which Armageddon players should note is set in Allanak), DAILY SCIENCE FICTION (Pippa’s Smiles), LIGHTSPEED (Long Enough And Just So Long), SHADOWS AND LIGHT II (Aquila’s Ring, another story that Armageddon players will be interested in, since it takes place in Allanak and Tuluk). Podcastle will be doing an audio version of my collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon’s Tale.

I got a Kindle and discovered the joys of e-readers, and even converted my collection, EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT, into a Kindle version, as well as one for other e-readers.

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