FEATURE INTERVIEW IN ON SPEC

My newest published story has just appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic. It’s a light fantasy story called “A Taste Of Time” about a little girl who loves to pick blueberries, but something strange is going on—she knows things she has no right knowing. Equally exciting, the story is accompanied by a feature author interview with me—an extensive interview done by Roberta Laurie. Thanks for making me sound interesting Roberta!

Since On Spec is a top-notch fiction magazine that consistently presents a very high quality of writing, it’s always flattering to be a part of it, and the feature interview is great exposure.

If you can’t find a copy of the latest On Spec at your favourite book or magazine store, ask for it. Or you can buy online through their website (where they were thoughtful enough to include a link to my own website).

Next up: my story “Once Upon A Midnight” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe will be published in Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound due out in September from Edge Books, along with such notables as Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson, Sean Costello, and Neil Peart (yes, the drummer for Rush!) The Tesseracts series has a venerable history, and I’m ecstatic to be included. And then my novel Dead Air will be published in October by Scrivener Press. Good times.

ANOTHER SHORT STORY PUBLISHED

I just found out that another short story of mine is now available in print. “Once Upon A Midnight” has just been published in the anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press, and is available through Amazon.com. The anthology consists of new short speculative fiction inspired by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe—my own story is about a woman obsessed with a failed relationship who would be better off concentrating on her job, since she works in a test facility for the deadliest of biological agents! The book has interesting cover art (see an earlier post) and gothic fonts for titles. I’m eager to read it, but I haven’t received my copy yet!

On another front, Musa Publishing has now had its official launch, including the first issue of their speculative fiction e-magazine Penumbra. My short story “Sand From A Broken Hourglass” will be in their second issue due out November 1^st.

I hope you enjoy them.

SUMMER'S END

It’s been an interesting summer, and a fruitful one. For me, the biggest news was the acceptance of my first novel, Dead Air, to be published by Scrivener Press in the fall of 2012. That’s been a long time coming. It follows a radio morning show host who finds himself the victim of harassment that escalates into attempts on his life.

But the news has been good on the short story front, too, with a couple more stories available or soon to be available in print. My story “Shakedown” appears in the anthology Canadian Tales of the Fantastic from Red Tuque Books, which can now be ordered through Amazon.ca . It’s a story about a prototype submersible the size of a virus, designed to travel the human bloodstream (yes, inspired by the movie Fantastic Voyage) except the virtual reality control system takes a terrible toll on the test pilot. “Shakedown” is a prequel to my novel Labyrinth which continues the story of the submersible Primus, and is currently looking for an agent and publisher. Here’s the anthology’s cover art to look for.

 

My story “Once Upon A Midnight”, about the disastrous consequences of a woman’s failing marriage, was previously made available on this site but has since been removed because it’s going to be included in the forthcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. I still don’t have a publication date for that one, but I just approved the galley proof for the story and it looks good—a nice gothic font for titles etc. The cover art is interesting too. I’m eager to have a good look at both anthologies in print.

A couple of other stories have reached the final stages of the selection process on other fronts, so my fingers are crossed for those. Now, as I resign myself to the fact that the days will be getting cooler, I’m hoping that the writing career stays hot!

NEWS EVERY WRITER WANTS TO HEAR

It’s been a good week. On Tuesday I was told that my first novel had been accepted for publication. On Thursday I signed the contract.

My novel Dead Air isn’t science fiction—it’s a story about a morning radio show host who’s life is already falling apart when he begins to suffer harassment from an unknown source. As nasty pranks escalate into outright attempts on his life, he struggles to cope with the threat and find out who wants him dead. Before they succeed!

I wrote the novel while I was hosting a radio morning show myself, and the scenario is plausibly unnerving. It’s going to be published by Scrivener Press of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, a small press that does good work and has high standards. Scrivener Press is also the publisher of my friend and mentor, Sean Costello. It’s a perfect fit for Dead Air because the novel is set in Sudbury. The only downside is that Dead Air won’t be released until the fall of 2012, so you (and I) have a long year to wait before we can hold a copy in our hands.

On Sunday I was gratified to learn that my short story “Once Upon A Midnight” has been accepted for the upcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. It’s a dark-humour story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, about a woman having relationship problems while she’s working at a storage and research centre for deadly bio-agents. I’m not sure when that anthology will see print. There’s a chance you’ve already read the story—I had it available for download here on the website, but I’ve taken it down as a courtesy to the folks at Dark Opus. Now you’ll have to buy the book.

I’ve been meaning to make audio versions of my free stories available on this site for some time, and I finally got around to recording my story “No Walls”. So now you can read it online, download a PDF version, or listen to the MP3 recording. The audio is in two parts, available from the “No Walls” page. I hope you enjoy it.

Yes, it’s been a good week. Now if I only had time to get some writing done!

CANADIAN TALES OF THE FANTASTIC

The winners of the “Canadian Tales of the Fantastic” Competition have now been posted on the website for Red Tuque Books. I mentioned in an earlier post that my story “Shakedown” picked up an Honourable Mention. Congratulations to all of the winners, especially the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd prize winners: David Routledge, Marianne Paul, and Lindsey Carmichael. Publisher David Korinetz says that all of the 13 winning stories will be published in an anthology in September of this year. I look forward to it, and I hope the contest continues for years to come. If your writing tastes tend more to mysteries, Red Tuque Books also has their Canadian Tales of the Mysterious Short Story Competition underway now.

“Shakedown” is a story about a prototype nano-sized submersible intended for operations within the human bloodstream (like Fantastic Voyage but without the inexplicable shrink ray), and the peril involved when the virtual-reality control system becomes far too real. It’s a prequel story to a full-length novel I’ve written, currently being vetted by beta readers, for which I’ll soon be seeking an agent and a publisher.

I was also glad to see this week that the anthology Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters from the Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy, including my story “Tartarus Rising” is now available at Amazon.ca  as well as Amazon.com, so Canadian readers can take advantage of free shipping (always good!) “Tartarus Rising” is a tale about a disastrous invasion of our world, but from a very different source than the usual (hint: the name references Greek mythology). I got a kick out of writing it, and I hope that comes across in the reading.

DOOMOLOGY IS NOW AVAILABLE

I’m sure every writer knows the feeling: it seems to take forever from the time a story is sold until it finally appears in print. So today’s a good day.

My story “Tartarus Rising” is part of an anthology of disaster stories called “Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters” from the Library Of Science Fiction Press, and the anthology was just made available through Amazon.com yesterday. I haven’t held a copy in my hands, so I’m really looking forward to getting my copy and reading it. I love disaster stories, and this anthology features 23 of them, so I hope it finds a great audience. You can find the cover art on an earlier posting from November (below).

My story “The Wind Man” will be included in the Winter edition of On Spec: the Canadian magazine of the fantastic which, according to their website, is due out “Soon, very soon.”

In the meantime, another story of mine called “Shakedown” has picked up an honourable mention in a Canadian SF contest, which includes an anthology publication. But I’ll refrain from giving details until the publisher posts all of the information officially.

All in all, a good month so far. Although waiting for the next story to hit print will still feel like forever.



Doomology

My most recent acceptance to date is from an upcoming anthology called “Doomology: The Dawning Of Disasters” to be published by the Library of Science Fiction & Fantasy Press. They’ve published quite a number of anthologies and other books, with most of their experience being in the horror genre. They accepted my story “Tartarus Rising”, though I’m still waiting for the contract. It’s a different take on the disaster story, that warns us an alien invasion won’t necessarily come from above.

"The Wind Man" in On Spec

My story “The Wind Man” was purchased by On Spec in August of 2009. It tells the story of Skelly Gilgoohen, a lifelong storyteller for whom an old Irish blessing has become a curse. In April of 2010 I corresponded with copy-editor Robin Carson about the story (he loved it), so I’m hoping it will be showing up in the magazine soon. I’ve been listed in the “Upcoming” section at the back of the magazine for a couple of issues now.