Book News: Third Place in Queer Sci Fi’s Migration Anthology Contest

I’m back with some author news!

Today is the release day for an anthology I’m part of. It’s called Migration: Queer Sci Fi 6th Annual Flash Fiction Contest. (Flash fiction is very short fiction–in this case, 300 words or less.)

I’m thrilled to be in it, and even more thrilled to have won third place in the contest. For the second time (the first was in 2017’s Renewal). And lest that sound like an inside job, it’s a blind judging process (no names on the submissions), which means they picked my writing out of 250ish contestants without knowing it was me!

Here’s a teaser from my story, “The Woman With No Name”:

Seabirds cried and wheeled over the fishing currachs rocking at anchor as the sea-breeze blew over the breakwater and into the village harbour. Brighid sat on the dock leaning against the woman with no name, not caring who saw them touch now. They’d had their last kiss that morning. It had tasted like the sea.

The judges’ comments:

Our final winner is a really sweet, touching story, and another first for us—never before has one author taken a top-three story spot in our contest twice. The Woman With No Name is well-written and packed with emotion—it really moved the judges: “Just because someone wants to go away doesn’t mean they don’t miss what they’re leaving behind,” and we didn’t want to leave this story behind, either. Congrats!

Queer Sci Fi has just released the annual QSF Flash Fiction anthology. This year, the theme is “Migration.”

MI-GRA-TION (noun)

1) Seasonal movement of animals from one region to another.

2) Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.

3) Movement from one part of something to another.

Three definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell. Here are 120 of our favorites.

Migration feaures 300 word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Other Worlds Ink | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | QueeRomance Ink | Goodreads 

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Giveaway

Queer Sci Fi is giving away a $20 gift Amazon certificate with this tour – enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4774/?

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Excerpts

Each year, hundreds of writers send in stories for the Queer Sci Fi flash fiction anthology. Here are the opening lines from some of the stories chosen for the 2019 edition – Migration:

“Darkness has substance. It is tangible; different shades within the black, sounds, a taste. It is accompanied by self-awareness of time and thoughts, even when other senses fail.” —Hope for Charity, by Robyn Walker

“The sky has been screaming for five straight days when the shrimps come to take us away. They’ve been boxing up the others and hauling them off. Now they’re here for us, soaking wet, dragging cords and crates behind them.” —Shrimpanzee, Sionnain Bailey

“Allister always had faultless hair. He’d comb and gel it to perfection while gazing in the mirror. One day a pair of eyes stared back.” —Zulu Finds a Home, by Kevin Klehr

“On her sister’s wedding day Ari noticed that one of her ears had migrated to her hand. It was right after her high school crush, Emily, arrived with Cousin Matt.” —Playing It By Ear, Aidee Ladnier

“The wound was fatal. Their vessel wouldn’t live much longer. This is what came from leaving loose ends. Frantically they sought out a new vessel to migrate to. “ —The Essence, by L.M. Brown

“That night, we were sitting in the bed of her daddy’s old pickup truck and the radio was playing the best song. We had a pack of cigarettes between us and her hand was almost touching mine. The wheat field was silver in the moonlight. When they came, we weren’t surprised, just disappointed that our time was up already.” —Our Song, by Lauren Ring

“Willow said she was my wife, but I knew it wasn’t her, not the right her, anyway. Sure she looked like her with olive skin and bright pink hair. She even smelled of mango flowers, just like I remembered, but there was something about her smile that was slightly off, something about when she said she loved me that didn’t sit well in my old heart.” — They Said It Would Be Her, by Elizabeth Andre

“Agnes is eight when she first sees the river. Cutting its way through town, the only thing she knows not coated in coal dust. She sticks her toes in, comes home with wet socks and a secret. See, the river hadn’t been there yesterday.” —Stream of Consciousness, by Ziggy Schutz

“Terry twirled in her green synthsilk dress, looked at her reflection, liked what she saw. She felt good in her own skin, for maybe the first time.” —Altball, by RE Andeen

“The thing was in the corner. It had come through the window and had slid down the wall. Scratch went the sound. The noise of a hundred nails clawing at the wood. Nails of white bone. Alex pulled the sheets up quickly, covering every inch of skin and hair in a warm darkness.” —Whose Nightmare, by Jamie Bonomi

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Author Bio

A hundred and twenty authors are included in Migration:

• • Butterflies, by A O’Donovan

• The Return, by A.M. Leibowitz

• A New Spring, by Aaron Silver

• Universal Quota, by Abby Bartle

• The Call of Home, by Adrienne Wilder

• Starfall, by Adrik Kemp

• Playing it By Ear, by Aidee Ladnier

• Rabbit, by Amanda Thomas

• That Does Not Love…, by Andi Deacon

• Inborn, by Andrea Speed

• Saving Ostakis, by Angelica Primm

• A Dawn Wish, by Antonia Aquilante

• Diaspora, by Ariel E. James

• Transmigration, by Ashby Danvers

• Across the Mirror, by Ava Kelly

• Between, by BE Allatt

• The Speck, by Bey Deckard

• The King of the Mountain Cometh, by Bob Goddard

• Before and After, by C. A. Chesse

• Home, by C.A. McDonald

• Too Much Tech, by C.L. Mannarino

• Ze Who Walks Into the Future, by Carey Ford Compton

• The Gate, by Carol Holland March

• Our Last Light Skip, by Chloe Spencer

• Passage, by Christine Taylor-Butler

• The Perils of Pick-Up Lines, by Colton Aalto

• Parched, by Crysta K. Coburn

• Changeling Dreams, by Damian Serbu

• Destinations, by Dave Creek

• Another Job, Another Planet, by David Viner

• Thiefmaster Rosalind’s Apprentice, by Devon Widmer

• A Weight Off Their Shoulders, by Diane Morrison

• Once a Year, by Dianne Hartsock

• Mettle, by Die BoothForever Bound, by E.W. Murks

• They Said It Would Be Her, by Elizabeth Andre

• Til Death Do Us Part, by Elizabeth Anglin

• Little One, by Eloreen Moon

• GBFN, by Emilia Agrafojo

• The Long Distance Thing, by Ether Nepenthes

• Call My People Home, by Evelyn Benvie

• Jace vs. the Incubi, by Eytan Bernstein

• A New Tradition, by Foster Bridget Cassidy

• The Curious Cabinet, by Ginger Streusel

• Ready, by Hank Edwards

• The Albatrosses, by Harry F. Rey

• A Boy’s Shadow, by Helen De Cruz

• Portrait of a Lady, by Isobel Granby

• Beam That Is In, by J. Comer

• The Hunt, by J. R. Frontera

• Repeating History, by J. Summerset

• Neil’s Journey, by J.P. Bowie

• Homeward Bound, by J.S. Garner

• Whose Nightmare?, by Jamie Bonomi

• A Moment of Bravery, by Jessie Pinkham

• Laetus, by Jet Lupin

• Where You Go, I’ll Follow, by Joe Baumann

• Ambrose Out of Ash, by Jonathan Fesmire

• Shooting Modes, by Joshua Darrow

• TerrorForm, by Juam Jocom

• The Curse, by Jude Reid

• Throwing Eggs, by K E Olukoya

• Fly, by Kayleigh Sky

• The Keep, by KC Burn

• Zulu Finds a Home, by Kevin Klehr

• The Risks and Advantages of Data Migration, by Kim Fielding

• Irreversible, by kim gryphon

• Looner, by Krishan Coupland

• The Essence, by L.M. Brown

• Our Song, by Lauren Ring

• O Human Child, by Lisa Hamill

• Goodbye Marghretta, by Lou Sylvre

• Choices, by LV Lloyd

• Endangered Species, by M Joseph Murphy

• Planet Retro, Unplugged, by M. X. Kelly

• Elemental, by M.D. Grimm

• To Wish on a Love Knot, by Margaret McGaffey Fisk

• Firebirds, by Marita M. Connor

• Breeding Season, by Mary Newman

• Kooks at Home, by Matt McHugh

• Spring, by Mere Rain

• Into the South, by Mindy Leana Shuman

• Not How We Planned It, by Minerva Cerridwen

• What Is Left Behind, by Monique Cuillerier

• How Far Would You Go for the One You Love?, by Nathan Alling Long

• Innocence, by Nathaniel Taff

• Heart and Soul, by Nils Odlund

• Tides, by Patricia Scott

• Killer Queen, by Paula McGrath

• Genesis, by Pelaam

• If Pigs Could Fly, by Penelope Friday

• Click, by R R Angell

• Be Kind to Strangers, by Raina Lorring

• Altball, by RE Andeen

• Far From Home, by Riley S. Keene

• Hope for Charity, by Robyn Walker

• Night Comes to the Bea Arthur, by Rory Ni Coileáin

• MIG Ration, by S R Jones

• Going Back, by Sacchi Green

• World Behind and Home Ahead, by Sara Testarossa

• The Call of the Suet, by Sarah Hadley Brook

• Research & Development, by Shaina Phillips

• Into the Void, by Shannon Brady

• The Silkie’s Dance, by Shannon West

• Seal Hunt, by Shirley Meier

• Shrimpanzee FIRST IN BOOK, by Sionnain Bailey

• The Woman With No Name, by Siri Paulson

• Memories of Clay, by Spencer Mann

• Simulacrum, by Steve Carr

• The Experience, by Steve Fuson

• Flight, by Steven Harper

• Birds of New Atlantis, by Stewart C Baker

• Lurching Forward, by Sydney Blackburn

• Spores of Retribution, by Tray Ellis

• Skin Hunger, by Treasure Nguyen

• Elvira, by Trevor Barton

• Ever After, by Warren Rochelle

• Into the Light, by Wart Hill

• Dryads, by X Marduk

• Stream of Consciousness, by Ziggy Schutz

 

Love Shines Through: A Fractured World Anthology

Surprise! Turtleduck Press has a new anthology out. Love Shines Through: A Fractured World Anthology is set in the same world as City of Hope and Ruin (the novel by Kit Campbell and me) but several hundred years earlier–only a few generations after the cataclysmic war that shattered the world into multiple dimensions. It features diverse romance stories by all four Turtleduck Press authors. All the details are below, after our beautiful cover. *drools*

 

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Blurb

The world was whole before the war.

But war is a terrible thing, and terrible things are done in the name of defense and protection. And this war tore the world apart, fractured it, separated families and lives and dreams. The reasons why no longer matter, but the effects still linger. They cause pain, though the war is over.

But despite the monsters and the poisons and the despair, there is a glimmer of light. And hope and love are not gone from the world.

These four stories, set in the Fractured World, explore how light can make it through the darkness. How hope can conquer fear. And most of all, how love can still flourish, even when the world is bleak.

A young woman braves monsters to see the sky.

A reluctant man chooses forgiveness over suffering.

Lovers reunite to save a child and their community.

Best friends risk everything for each other.

Come see the light for yourselves.

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Table of contents

• “Dream of Lions” by KD Sarge — F/F (lesbian) romance, set in the City
• “The Forest and the Fog” by Kit Campbell — M/F (straight) romance, set in the outside world
• “The Shadow of the World” by Siri Paulson — M/NB (male/nonbinary) romance, set in the City
• “Of Poison and Promises” by Erin Zarro — F/F romance, set in the outside world

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Want to read more about Love Shines Through? (stay tuned for updates!)

• An excerpt from my story, read aloud by the fabulous Angel Martinez
• An excerpt from KD’s story, on the website Queer Sci Fi
• NEW: An excerpt from Erin’s story, on a blog called Kittenwylde by Marie Brown

Want more Fractured World stories?

• City of Hope and Ruin is the novel that started it all. Read an excerpt here.
• Get City of Hope and Ruin and four other LGBTQIA romances for free in April when you join QueeRomance Ink–a site built to help readers find exactly the types of queer romance books they want to read.
• “A Constant Companion” by Kit Campbell is a short prequel to the novel, featuring one of the two central characters, Briony.
• “Brothers” by Siri Paulson is a side story to the novel, featuring a secondary character, Astrolabe.

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Buy links

Amazon US: Kindle | Print  ~  Amazon Canada: Kindle | Print

Smashwords (ebook format of your choice)  ~  Turtleduck Press page for the anthology

Double Anthology News: Timeshift and Impact

I have two pieces of news to share with you today…

First, the anthology I’m in, Timeshift, is now available for preorder on Kindle. It beat its Kickstarter goal, which means all the authors get paid the industry-standard rate for reprints. Yay!

Timeshift features all sorts of speculative short stories related to time — time dilation, time manipulation, time travel (of course), and more. There are some pretty big names in it, so I’m delighted to be included. It releases August 1.

Second, there’s an anthology I’m not in, but got to help judge. I read 178 flash fiction stories on the theme of IMPACT, and rated them according to a rubric (these folks are organized!). Then we held an online meeting and hashed out our favourites. There were a lot of strong contenders. Things got tense. There was blood! (Not really.)

We eventually managed to agree on three winners. It helped that we each got to pick one story that didn’t make it into the top three. Here’s what I said about my Judge’s Pick, “Low Impact” by Tray Ellis:

This story makes me cry every time I read it. It’s straightforward, yet so effective. I’m always astounded when an author manages to use 300 words to span multiple years, making a tiny flash fiction piece into an epic tale. There’s a big relationship story here that’s just hinted at, but the hints are all that’s needed. I also liked that this isn’t an Issue Story: the queer relationship just is, no big deal. (Of course it’s important to tell those stories too, but not to the exclusion of all other queer stories.) And finally, like many of the best science fiction works, this piece filters science through characters to say something thoughtful about the world. Well done.

Impact: Queer Sci Fi’s Fifth Annual Flash Fiction Contest is available on ebook from all the usual suspects, releasing July 25.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Angus & Robertson

Publishing News: Timeshift Anthology Kickstarter and New TDP Story

Just a quick post today, with two pieces of exciting news…

First, my flash fiction piece “When the World Stopped” has been accepted (as a reprint) into an anthology called Timeshift: Tales of Time, edited by Eric S. Fomley and featuring authors such as Robert Silverberg (!), Cat Rambo, Ken Liu, Kevin J. Anderson, and Mike Resnick…some illustrious company!

Timeshift is a reprint digital anthology collecting time and time travel flash fiction stories from 36 authors in the genre. In the anthology are time stories spanning the adventures (and mishaps) of time travel, time manipulation, time zones, time loops, paradoxes, accidents, twisted futures and so many more penned by both established and emerging authors in the genre.

But the anthology is being funded via Kickstarter, and with only 12 days to go, it hasn’t made its goal yet. If you’d like to read these stories, please consider donating and/or spreading the word. $10 will get you a copy (plus additional perks). Here’s the Kickstarter link: Timeshift

Second, my City of Hope and Ruin co-author, Kit Campbell, has a new short story up at Turtleduck Press. She’s much better than I am at writing humour. I’m particularly fond of this one, and you can read it for free right here: 1-800-HAUNTME

All for now. Stay tuned for more Le Guin next week!

 

Book News: Third Place in Queer Sci Fi’s Renewal Anthology Contest

Hi folks! I’m coming out of blog hiatus to share some good news that’s been a looong time coming — my first sale to a publisher! (Turtleduck Press is co-run by me, so it’s a different ballgame.) Technically it was a website contest, but I’m getting paid and my work is appearing in an anthology, so it’s the same thing as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s the part that’s even more awesome: I placed third in the contest, out of over 200 entries.

And equally awesome: my story got an illustration. How cool is that?

The piece in question is a 300-word flash fiction SF story called “Urban Renewal”. I’ve rarely written stories that short, so I’m very pleased with how well this one turned out.

Content warning: some of the stories in the anthology may be sexually explicit, although mine is not one of them.

Full info about Renewal is below. It’s available in ebook or B&W paperback, with a full-colour version to follow. (If you’re not in the US, be patient — it may take a few weeks to appear on the international Amazon sites.)

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The website Queer Sci Fi has a new book out, the latest in a series of flash fiction anthologies:

Re.new.al (noun)

1) Resuming an activity after an interruption, or
2) Extending a contract, subscription or license, or
3) Replacing or repairing something that is worn out, run-down, or broken, or
4) Rebirth after death.

Four definitions to spark inspiration, a limitless number of stories to be conceived. Only 110 made the cut.

Thrilling to hopeful, Renewal features 300-word speculative fiction ficlets about sexual and gender minorities to entice readers.

Welcome to Renewal.

Mischief Corner Books (info only) | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

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Excerpt

Because these stories are only 300 words each, we’re not supplying long excerpts, but here are the first lines of several of the stories. Enjoy!

“Griselda pulled the weeds from between the rows of Valerianella locusta plants in the garden, careful not to disturb the buds that would grow into the babies that were her only real income-producing crop.” —The Witches’ Garden, by Rie Sheridan Rose

“I didn’t know how truly the world was in trouble until I went journeying to look for Anisette’s bluebonnets.” —Bluebonnets, by Emily Horner

“The ship’s drive malfunctioned at the worst possible time.” —The Return, by Andrea Speed

“Before we continue, there’s a rather macabre fact about me I should share.” —Rejuvenation, by Christine Wright

“When I died they buried me at the bottom of the garden and returned to the fields.” —Below the Hill, by Matthew Bright

“The world is ending and I can’t look away from your eyes.” —Sunrise, by Brigitte Winter

““Losing one’s superpowers to your arch nemesis sucks donkey nuts, I tell ya. And trust me when I say I suck a lot of them.” —Rainbow Powers, by Dustin Karpovich

“The day I was born again was damp, rainy—a good day for rebirth, all things considered.” —The Birthing Pod, by Michelle Browne

“Intwir’s twelve eyes roved over the container, taking in the cracked outer lock and the elasticated fabric stretched tightly over its exterior.” —In a Bind, by S R Jones

“‘You’ve reached Androgyne HelpLine. Press one to start service. Press two to interrupt or cancel service. Press three—’” —Auto-Renew, by Ginger Streusel

“The doctor tells me that my wife is dying, but I already know.” —I Will Be Your Shelter, by Carey Ford Compton

“‘San Francisco was the first to go dark, followed by Los Angeles.’” —When Light Left, by Lex Chase

“My fingers lingered on the synthetic skin, trailing soft patterns across my work.” —Miss You, by Stephanie Shaffer

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Included Authors

‘Nathan Burgoine
A.M. Leibowitz
A.M. Soto
Abby Bartle
Aidee Ladnier
Alexis Woods
Andi Deacon
Andrea Felber Seligman
Andrea Speed
Andrea Stanet
Anne McPherson
Bey Deckard
Brigitte Winter
Carey Ford Compton
Carol Holland March
Carrie Pack
Catherine Lundoff
CB Lee
Christine Wright
Colton Aalto
Daniel Mitton
Dustin Blottenberger
Dustin Karpovich
E R Zhang
E.J. Russell
E.W. Murks
Ell Schulman
Ellery Jude
Eloreen Moon
Elsa M León
Emily Horner
Eric Alan Westfall
F.T. Lukens
Fenrir Cerebellion
Foster Bridget Cassidy
Ginger Streusel
Hannah Henry
Irene Preston
J. Alan Veerkamp
J. P. Egry
J. Summerset
J.S. Fields
Jaap Boekestein
Jackie Keswick
Jana Denardo
Jeff Baker
Jenn Burke
Joe Baumann
John Moralee
Jon Keys
Jude Dunn
K.C. Faelan
Kelly Haworth
Kiterie Aine
Kristen Lee
L M Somerton
L. Brian Carroll
L.M. Brown
L.V. Lloyd
Laurie Treacy
Leigh M. Lorien
Lex Chase
Lia Harding
Lin Kelly
Lloyd A. Meeker
Lyda Morehouse
M.D. Grimm
Martha J. Allard
Mary E. Lowd
Matt Doyle
Matthew Bright
Mia Koutras
Michelle Browne
Milo Owen
Mindy Leana Shuman
Naomi Tajedler
Natsuya Uesugi
Nephy Hart
Nicole Dennis
Ofelia Gränd
Patricia Scott
Paul Stevens
PW Covington
R R Angell
R.L. Merrill
Rebecca Cohen
Redfern Jon Barrett
Reni Kieffer
Richard Amos
RL Mosswood
Robyn Walker
Rory Ni Coileain
Rose Blackthorn
Ross Common
S R Jones
Sacchi Green
Sarah Einstein
Shilo Quetchenbach
Siri Paulson
Soren Summers
Stephanie Shaffer
Steve Fuson
Tam Ames
Terry Poole
Tray Ellis
Vivien Dean
Wendy Rathbone
Xenia Melzer
Zen DiPietro
Zev de Valera

Health Update and Book Sale!

First, a health update: My wrists are still causing trouble, two weeks after this all started. I’ll know more tomorrow, I hope, but in the meantime I’ve been trying to minimize non-job-related computer use. (My job involves being on the computer all day, most days, so that doesn’t help….)

Funny how I spend so much time avoiding writing, and now that I’m avoiding it for health reasons, I’m getting really antsy to start writing again. Oh, brain, why must you be so weird?

In the meantime I’ve been busy with story intake instead of output, if you get my drift. I zoomed through Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown in a week (that’s pretty fast for me these days) and am now making my way through Justin Cronin’s The Passage (which is taking me longer, because that sucker is huge). And I’ve settled down for — finally — some dedicated watching of Doctor Who. So it’s definitely not all bad.

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Second, the happy news — Turtleduck Press is having a book sale! All of our books are 99 cents from now until October 7. For details and recommendations, drop by the book sale announcement on our site.

I happen to think everything we’ve published is pretty cool, but if you’d like to support me in particular, pick up our latest anthology, Under Her Protection — or one of our other anthologies. I have stories in each of them, but if you like…

…Gothic steampunk about mad cellists, read my story in The Best of Turtleduck Press, Volume I

…post-apocalyptic steampunk with crash-landing dirigibles, check out Seasons Eternal (which also has a cool premise for the anthology as a whole: each of the authors wrote a story about a different season on a planet where the seasons have stopped turning)

…secondary-world fantasy based on Inuit mythology, try Winter’s Night (all winter-themed stories — and hey, Christmas is coming! *ducks barrage of rotten fruit*)

Enjoy!

Anthology Announcement: Stories of Strong Women

So you might have noticed a lack of posting around here. *watches tumbleweeds roll past* There are several reasons for that, including me getting distracted by my garden, but here’s the best one:

We at Turtleduck Press have been working hard to bring you our best anthology yet (okay, I might be a teeny bit biased). This one features four fantasy romance stories about women rescuing, well, dudes in distress:

Sometimes men are the ones trapped in a tower, or bound by a curse, or doomed to stay in the underworld. Damsels or not, they need rescuing too. And these are just the women to do it…

A swordswoman and a scholar.

A grim reaper and a dead man.

A maidservant and an inventor.

A new university grad and a prince.

Fantasy romance stories from four indie writers about strong women…and men who need their help.

Stories by Kit Campbell, KD Sarge, Erin Zarro, and yours truly. Full disclosure: I am also the editor.

As you can see from the above, we’ve written four very different stories (as usual!) — a paranormal, a fairy tale, and two secondary world adventures. But they all feature female leads who are strong in their own ways, and handsome love interests who are deserving of their affections.

In other words, just what (I hope) you’ve come to expect from Turtleduck Press.

Buy it direct from our printer here, from Amazon (Kindle or paperback) here, or in other ebook formats here. Enjoy!

 

Guest Post by Erin Zarro: Opening a New Window

This week I’m on a blog hiatus, so my fellow Turtleduck Press author, dark SFF and horror writer Erin Zarro, is here to fill in. Please give her a warm welcome!

They say that when a door closes, a window opens.  And that has never been more true than it is right now.  Long story short: in February (8 months ago to the day), I began having severe, excruciating pain in my left eye.  I was checked out, poked, prodded, and tortured by 3 MRIs (hello, claustrophobia!) and as of right now, no one can conclusively say what precisely it is.  The closest thing is optic neuritis, a painful inflammation of the optic nerve.

I’m not a wimp about pain of any kind, and I usually write through everything (including migraines and recovery from surgeries), so that was my first instinct.  Problem was, I had severe vertigo that made it impossible to stay focused on the screen.  After that went away, it was just too painful to work on the computer.  (I do have a day job, and I *have* to look at a computer screen most of my day).  Soooo I took three months off writing, and that nearly drove me insane and made me wish I were dead.  Not writing was like not breathing to me.

At some point, I determined that maybe I *could* do a little bit of writing, just not the novel revision I’d planned to do.  (Revision is tough, even under the best of circumstances).  So I thought, hey, I’ll just write 100 words a day.  When it’s flowing, and I can bear the pain, I’ll roll with it.  But surely I can crank out at least 100 words, right?

So I did.  And it felt amazing.  It was like coming home after a long time away.  It was sunshine and autumn leaves and Christmas all at once.  It was just what I needed.  But something was missing.

I’d done this for about a month or so when I discovered Holly Lisle’s How to Write Flash Fiction that Doesn’t Suck class (yes, that’s the actual name).  It was free and short-term, just 3 weeks.  I’ve always been curious about flash fiction, but never considered it because I’m a novel writer, and I write long.  How could I write a story that feels like writing haiku? I figured I’d give it a whirl.  Worst case, I suck and no harm done.  Best case, I learn something new and can use it in the future to write flash fiction.

So I signed up and waited for lesson 1 with trepidation.

Long story short: Holly Lisle is a genius.  Seriously.  She has an actual methodology for determining what to write about, what to throw at the character (s), and how to end it, usually with some type of twist.  It was broken down so easily and went so smoothly that it felt like a dream.  But most importantly, I really, really enjoyed it.  And writing 500 words in the span of 2 or 3 days was just enough to get me back to writing with purpose.  It felt amazing, and I discovered that I’m actually pretty good at those twist endings.

There was also a board set up where students can talk, mingle, and critique each other.  I met some wonderful people, and learned a lot from the critiques. My stories are so much better for it.

One of the things Holly talks about is self-publishing, and getting people to start the process — just dipping their toes in, starting small, nothing too intimidating.  And she suggested we take the flash stories we wrote in class (I wrote 7) and put them into an anthology.  I decided to put mine up for 99 cents as a gateway into my writing.  I figured no one will turn down 99 cents.  But hopefully they will enjoy it, and maybe I’ll get some sales of my other stuff, too.

It took me about a month to get my anthology, In Flames, put together and up at Smashwords.  It was a learning experience.  I’m very happy with it, and I did everything myself, even the cover!  I feel good.  I feel like the months I spent not revising were put to good use.  But even more importantly, it kept my hand in it even when I wasn’t feeling up to anything intricate.  It saved my sanity, too.

So, if you’re curious, you can download In Flames at Smashwords at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349458.

I’m still in pain, but I’m back to writing fully again.  I still don’t have a diagnosis, either, but that really doesn’t matter.  I was able to come back to writing, opening a window I never knew existed.  And that’s enough for now.

Creating Christmas Traditions and Anthology News

Quick anthology updates before we get to the post proper:

Seasons Eternal is now available in print as well as in various ebook formats. See here for details.

I’m blogging about the sheer variety of what’s in the anthology, over at Turtleduck Press.

I’m also guest blogging about the Turtleduck Press mandate of publishing works that would otherwise fall through the cracks, and how the anthology fits into that, at Prudence MacLeod’s blog.

On Monday I talked about my anthology story here on this blog. Some of the other authors have weighed in as well. Here is KD Sarge talking about hers. And here is Kit Campbell delving into the origins of our shared-world premise.

Finally, I’m thrilled to be an interviewee on S.M. Hutchins’s fabulous Live Wonderstruck blog, talking about mindfulness and what makes me wonderstruck.

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Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

The Christmas season is upon us, like it or not, and it’s time to prepare. The question is, how?

Writing a Short Story for Seasons Eternal

Today I’m talking a little bit more about Seasons Eternal, the second SF&F anthology from Turtleduck Press. (The first one is here.) I’m the editor there, and I also publish short stories through them. When we put together an anthology, I get to do both at the same time.

For this year’s anthology, we chose a shared premise — what might happen to a world where the seasons stopped changing? Each side of the planet is frozen in a different season. A century later, various societies have evolved to cope, but they’re still struggling under the pressures of the change.

But you can’t write a story about a society. Stories are about people.