The first installment of my novella, “Legacy of the Fallen Stars,” is now available to read for free online in issue 566 of Bewildering Stories.  Looks like the rest of the story will be posted in three more segments (issues 567 through 569).  I’m looking forward to reading the issue, which also features chapters from a serialized novel, short stories, flash fiction and poetry. The history major in me had fun researching for this story, the English major in me had fun writing it.  I’d like to do another historically-based piece.  I just have to settle on when, where and what.

I expect to have more publication news I can share soon, but meanwhile, enjoy “Legacy of the Fallen Stars”–or as it is affectionately known around my house, “the Stonehenge story.”  I’ve posted about the story before, so if you’d like more information, give this a read.

Amusing (at least to me) anecdote:  I’ve actually written two Stonehenge stories.  The first, a literary piece, was my very first effort at writing fiction as an adult.  I wrote it after traveling in England and France for six weeks the summer after I graduated law school.  Every now and then I pull it out of my virtual drawer just for fun and laughs.

Sometimes the news isn’t all good.

I happened upon a post today on Facebook which in turn led me to the White Cat Publications web site and this.

It seems safe to conclude that my story, “The Righteous in this Generation,” my very first speculative fiction sale–to Aoife’s Kiss back in September of 2012 for its June 2013 anniversary issue–will not be published in Aoife’s Kiss or any White Cat magazine.  It also seems safe to conclude that for now, at least, Aoife’s Kiss is no more.

I find it hard not to be disappointed.  I submitted to Aoife’s Kiss because so many writers whose work I admire published in that magazine early in their careers, and I felt as though I’d be in good company.  The timing particularly stings because apparently the issue before the June 2013 issue was the last issue published.  If the story had been accepted for the previous issue instead, I wouldn’t be writing this.  I did get paid for the story ($20, $5 more than the contracted price which the magazine apparently did as an apology for the original delay), but the token payment was never my reason for submitting to Aoife’s Kiss.

I’ll send the story out again, of course.  But I’m sad that good news turned to bad, and that after waiting a year and a half to see the story in print it’s not going to happen, at least not as planned.

I am delighted that the very first piece I wrote when I started focusing on speculative fiction, “Legacy of the Fallen Stars,” has found a home at Bewildering Stories. It is also the longest story I’ve written to date, about 16,000 words.  And it’s an odd duck of a story, as it mixes a number of genres.

The prose is in the style of high fantasy, though the central organizing principle, the building of Stonehenge, is based in historical fact.  Because the builders of Stonehenge left no written records, not much is known about how they lived.  I invented the characters, their society, and the challenges they faced, and I relied on certain conventions, such as choosing old Welsh names for one group of people and old English names for another.  On the other hand, a fair amount is known about how Stonehenge was built, and I tried to be true to what has been documented about the engineering of the monument, as well as to the types of events (the introduction of copper, the introduction of beer, the rarity of the wheel in this part of Europe at this time) that these people might have expected to encounter.  And if that’s not enough, there’s also a science fiction element.

In any case, I’m grateful that the folks at Bewildering Stories found it bewildering enough for their magazine.  I will post the expected publication date as soon as I have it.

It has been a while since I had news of any sort to report, but such is the writing life.  As I have begun to focus on aiming for markets that will permit me to join SFWA, the cycle time from finished product to acceptance has grown longer.

I’m still waiting with bated breath for news of when Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Issue 59 will hit the street with my story “Across the Fourth Sea,” and for further information about the fate of Aoife’s Kiss in which my story, “The Righteous in this Generation,” was scheduled to appear last summer.  The last I heard, the magazine is on hiatus until at least April 2014.

I hope I’ll have good news to announce on these (and other) fronts in the coming months.

I received another Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future Contest, this time for my Q3 2013 story.

The story  has an unusual structure and point of view which makes it rather different from most stories that have won the contest. It’s heartening to know that even though it isn’t exactly the contest’s cup of tea, it got some recognition.

I’ve been revising the story I workshopped at my UCLA class over the summer. It has evolved quite a bit since the original draft.  I’m still working through some final tweaks, but I think it is greatly improved owing to the feedback of my classmates and the awesome Alyx Dellamonica.  I’m hoping to take another class with her soon, perhaps “Writing the Fantastic” when it comes around next.

The story I sold to Mad Scientist Journal earlier this year, “Evolutionary Tendencies Observed in the Callentradian Snare,” is now also available as part of the Sprint 2013 ebook version of the magazine.   The table of contents features stories from some wonderful writers, including K. C. Ball, David D. Levine,  my teacher, Cat Rambo, and many others.  I’m honored to share a table of contents with all these amazingly talented folks.

I received some exciting news this morning via email.  One of my stories has been selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest for the second quarter of 2013!

This means I’ll get a critique of the story from the coordinating judge, David Farland.  My ingrained impulse with any story is to send it along to the next market as soon as possible.  I’m having to sit on my hands to make myself wait for the critique so I can incorporate the feedback before sending it out again.

I quite like this story and hope it will eventually find a nice home.

I now have a Facebook page under my pen name, so if you’re a Facebooker rather than a Twitterer, you can find me there.

It’s brand new as of this morning and a little bare at this point.  I’ll spruce it up later as time permits.

As mentioned in this post, I sold a story back in January to Mad Scientist Journal and it went live today, along with a gorgeous illustration by Justine McGreevy.

This is the first time one of my stories has been illustrated and it’s such an indescribable feeling to be able to see with my eyes an artist’s vision of something that I’d previously seen only in my mind.

The story is “Evolutionary Tendencies Observed in the Callentradian Snare” and the illustration is, fittingly, of a snare — a fictitious bird from a fictitious planet, but  now very real-looking indeed and quite beautiful.

I’ve linked to it below so you can see for yourself.