An update

The folks at Strange Horizons said “no” to Stuff of the Old Gods, the story I brought back from Jim Gunn’s SF Writers Workshop.  So I tweaked the ending a bit and pushed it back out into the cold to go knocking at the door of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.

I’ll let you know whether of not they let it in.

And Downunder, Upon Whom the Pale Moon Gleams, made it through to the third round of review at Australia’s Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.  So more waiting and the editors there say only about one in three stories make it through the third round and into the magazine.

More to come there.

And the winner is …

Winners of the 2008 Writers of the Future competition were in Los Angeles this past week for a writers workshop conducted by SF novelists K.D. Wentworth and Tim Power.

Part of the pay-off for winning the contest.

The folks at Author Services, which sponsors the competition, have been posting pictures of the proceedings but it’s too late to catch the best part.  The awards ceremony for the winners was shown live Saturday night via streaming video.

I watched the whole thing and it was a classy operation.  Tuxedoes and evening gowns and speeches.  Choreography and film clips.  Trophies and some tears.

My buddy, Jordan Lapp, who won 1st place in the 4th Quarter 2008 segment of the contest, looked dapper in formal wear and offered up a great thank-you speech.  But he didn’t win the gold prize, which means a second, bigger trophy and an extra $5000.

Oh, and the 25th edition of the Writers of the Future anthology, in which Jordan’s story will appear, was presented for all to see.  Pick up a copy when it hits the store shelves.  It’s going to be great reading.

All the ceremony had me day-dreaming about next year, when it’s my turn to head to L.A. for the hoopla.

Have I mentioned how much I hate waiting?

What is the plural of flash?

The last few words of Wayfarer still elude me, so I focused on a couple pieces of flash this past week — The First Time and The Maple Leaf Maneuver.

Two stories couldn’t be any more different.

The First Time is somber and melancholy.  It’s about one of my most returned to topic, death and the process of dying.  Rachael says I focus on it so much that I should change my name to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

The Maple Leaf Maneuver is a snarky bit of fun that uses Canada’s recent changes it its Citizenship statutes as a jumping off point.  This is one of those stories that if you asked how much of it is true, I would have to say all of it — except for the parts that I made up.

I sent it off to a flash fiction contest at Gemini Magazine.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I haven’t figured out where to send the other piece yet.  We’ll see.

The rider and the kid

Ninety days has passed since Nosing with the Four-Stroke Kid appeared in Murky Depths #8, so I can let you read it here.

Neil Stuthers, the Irish artist who painted the kick-ass art that appeared with the story, has given me permission to show you that, too. Thanks, Neil.

I think the story is my own personal favorite and I get goose bumps when I look at Neil’s painting.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Off it goes

Finished Neon Knight this morning.

It’s a 2,000-word short about Arthur’s round table and vampires and revenge.

How, you may ask, do those three things fit together? I’d tell you, but then I’d have to drain every last drop of blood from your struggling body. So why not wait and see if it finds a home.

I sent it off to the folks at Abyss & Apex. I’ll let you know what they say.

Meanwhile, I’m still working on Wayfarer. It’s one of those pieces that goes into the word processor kicking and biting. Not that I’m having trouble finding words, quite the opposite.

I’m writing it for a specific market — Beyond Ceaseless Skies — that has a preferred maximum count of 10,000 words. The story’s at 6,000 words so far, I’ve already cut it back twice, and the end isn’t in sight yet.

The characters in Wayfarer keep whispering to me that they want more. Greedy bastards. I’ll let you know who wins.