A Couple of Brief Updates

After news that the Library of the Living Dead Press had scuttled several anthologies, I've learned that there may be some hope after all.

The editors of two cancelled anthologies (Attack of the 50 FT Book and Beta City) are shopping around their anthos to other publishers. The hope is that someone else will publish, maybe at a reduced pay rate. I would be fine with that. The editors will have to decide if that's what they want to do. After all, they've read through the slush and accepted/rejected the stories. I have a feeling both editors will do everything they can to find a home for those books.

I sure hope they do. I have two stories on the line:

Gus and Mariel: Gus, a puffin who spent his whole life in captivity, falls in love with a bird named Mariel who arrives from the outside world. When she is suddenly taken away, Gus escapes and stumbles into radioactive goo that transforms him into a towering puffin the size of a building. Determined to reunite with his lost love, he unwittingly unleashes a trail of destruction across the United States.

Grisham's Council: Angry over the inability of earth's heroes to repel an alien invasion, Grisham ditches the resistance effort and prepares to strike on his own. But as the days grow darker, the hero realizes he's never alone: a dark force hunts him and the others, forcing Grisham to forge alliances with heroes and villains alike.

Then, of course, there was more bad news.

This month, Strange, Weird, and Wonderful published my short story "Old-Fashioned Police Work." I received an email from the editor this week informing me that the publication was going to cease publication. It's simply too much work with no profitability. However, the editor is going to publish two "Best Of" volumes and asked if my short story could appear in one of them. I granted that permission.

This is the second of my stories to be picked for a "Best Of" compilation. Wily Writers is going to do a volume of their best stories of 2011, and my short story "Absolution" was selected for that. I don't have a timetable on the release.

Cha-ching!

This is not to gloat.

This is not to tell you how awesome I am.

This is to share an accomplishment with you.

I received in the mail today my very first check for a story I've written. It is a milestone. Sure, I will gladly send stories to publications that don't pay because I love to write. But to get something beyond simple a contributor's copy is a very satisfying thing. This isn't big-time money, but it's something, another step in the right direction for my writing pursuits.

This is for "Absolution" (read or listen to it here) at Wily Writers for Speculative Fiction. The story is 4,000 words and the check is for 50 bucks...that works out to 1.25 cents per word! That's semi-pro payment, which according to this blog post I wrote last month, makes "Absolution" my first Double-A story!

I was going to post an image of the check with key details blacked out (bank account, check number, address of issuer, etc.), but decided against it. Who knows what someone could do with that information?

What will I use my new fortune for? I don't know. Valentine's Day is coming up, the upstairs DVD player has finally bitten the dust, or I could always buy new copies of the Powers Anthology and come up with the first-ever TFT giveaway contest. The possibilities are endless...or as far as 50 bucks can take me.