My friend Ezzy Languzzi has a story that will appear in the upcoming "Strange California" anthology (being Kickstarted here). I helped workshop her story, called "Naranjas Inmortales." It's a creepy little story I'm eager to see out in the world. So, if you feel you don't have enough strange stories about California, please contribute or spread the word about this anthology. It promises to be great!...
It's over. I was glad I decided to come down to the Inner Harbor on Saturday to meet some of my colleagues in SFWA. I was able to catch the last 15 minutes or so of the Black Sci Fi panel before attending the "Second Breakfast to Snozzberries" panel all about food. My apologies to Fran Wilde for a slight derailment of the panel due to a discussion of casu marzu. The resultant explanations of how the Sardinian cheese is made and eaten was hilarious. I got to speak with Sam J. Miller, and was surprised when he remembered a story I'd sent him more than a year ago. On Sunday, while on the Short Stories panel, he referenced my story again, and said every rejection like that is a little bit of pain an editor carries with them. I was floored by his kind words, and if that had been the only panel I'd been...
Just like on the tin: I'm in Maine, on vacation for a week. Some interesting notes, in no particular order. I found out how to actually pronounce the "Ayuh" affirmative, as per the boatload of Stephen King books I'd read Maine loves its ice cream very very much--there are ice cream places all over, sometimes within sight of each other There are thousands of tiny blueberries growing along the sides of the road in many places I saw a young bull moose! It was a massive animal, and we kept the car in gear just in case it didn't like us very much. I feel very fortunate to have seen a moose my first time up here (some of our group hadn't seen moose in several years). Now, back to my regularly scheduled vacation....
It's been a few days since I got the news, but I was thrilled to receive the news I sold my story "Every Orphan Child to a Good Home Must Go" to Daily Science Fiction. The story is in conversation with the "Chosen One" tropes in fairy tales, and the people behind the scenes who make sure all those special orphan children destined for greatness achieve their purpose. ...
Not going to lie, it's definitely a thrill to get to see your published story in hard copy. Got my contributor copy in the mail today, and I'm still thrilled about this....