Monday, March 28, 2011

New Dark InSpectre Episode!

Episode 26 of The Dark InSpectre is now online, in which our hero finds himself taking a sick day after hearing some disturbing news.

Here’s an excerpt:

I stopped him, my hyper-paranoia kicking in. For all I knew somebody could be listening in, even though a Department vid connection was supposed to be the most secure, encrypted communication there was. “Hold it, just tell me this. Would you say it was consistent with what Suzie described from her crime scene?”

His expression was grim. “Yeah, boss, highly consistent.”

Enjoy: http://darkinspec.blogspot.com/


Friday, March 25, 2011

Back from the Dead

I submitted a short story to Flashing Swords Magazine about 8 months ago, and then nobody heard from it again. Everyone assumed it was dead after repeated message board postings from numerous people went unanswered. Then, out of nowhere, the editor posted a message today saying that no, in fact, the zine is not dead. She was just taking care of various visa and family matters that were unavoidable, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, she's back and she'll be replying to everyone who submitted "shortly." So that's good! As it happens, thinking FSM was dead, I actually subbed the piece to an anthology over at Pulp Empire, so maybe I'll get accepted somewhere, fingers crossed!

And in other news, I just learned that a reprint I submitted to a different anthology was "short listed" and I'll hear a final decision around the end of April.

So even though none of these represent an actual acceptance, I still consider these to be reasonably good news. So yay!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Guest Spot!

I'm blogging about springtime writing ideas over at Abandoned Towers Magazine, today.

Here's an excerpt:
Spring is in the air! It seems like the winter was particularly long and brutal here on the East Coast, and now that the weather has finally turned, it is only natural to want to frolic a little in the great outdoors. But don’t let all the lawn lazing put a crimp in your writing, springtime should instead inspire a fresh wave of stories for the creative mind.

Check it: http://abandonedtowers.com/weblog/spring-into-story-ideas/

Monday, March 14, 2011

New Episode Time

Episode 25 of the Dark InSpectre is now online, in which our hero earns a little rest and recuperation, well sort of.

Here's an excerpt:
The sunlight streaming in through the balcony window told me I was not in my usual west-facing guestroom while the sumptuous sheets and king-size mattress told me I was, in fact, dozing in Mary’s master bed. Furthermore, the small, warm form snuggling against my body beneath the sheets informed me that I was not alone.

It was probably that last one that shot me bolt upright in bed in a state of unreasoning panic.

Enjoy: http://darkinspec.blogspot.com/

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Subs

So, it seems more and more apparent that yet another market I submitted a story to has faded into oblivion. I've lost count of how many times this has happend in the past few years. This time, it's Flashing Swords, one of the last few venues for sword and sorcery fantasy. The editors had declared that it was turning to an annual market, as opposed to quarterly, and opened to subs. That was about 8 months ago, and there has been radio silence since. Nobody has heard back about their submissions. And the editors have not responded to repeated queries. Translation: dead.

So I recently submitted the story to an anthology that's accepting over at Pulp Empire. We'll see what happens. What really pisses me off is the silent treatment. Look, if you're publication is having trouble, fine, it's a horrible economy to be running any kind of magazine. But just tell the writers who are out there twisting in the wind. We shouldn't have to figure out on our own that you've gone belly up.

In other news, the author/writing that has been holding onto stories for her Wolfsongs II anthology has made another reference on her blog to the fact that she is actually going through the submissions. So her earlier post was not, in fact, a one time thing, which gives me hope that the story I sent in about 3 years ago may actually see print. Yes, these are the things that keep me going.

However, this brings up a tricky question. A couple months ago, I was thinking about my Wolfsong story and decided to have another look at it since I hadn't read the thing in several years. I cleaned up a lot of grammar and sentence flow, and I think it reads much smoother now. So what do I do with it? Do I send it back to the editor and just say, excuse me, thought you might like this one a tad better? Do I wait to see if it's accepted and then offer it up? What's the ettiquette here?