Spanish Inquisition = Publication (At Last)

 

I guess the 10th time is a charm!

My story “The Cost that Lies Between Heaven and Earth” has found a home. The story is about Queen Isabella and the Spanish Inquisition. What could possibly cause an individual to go to such extremes and start a holy war and ruthlessly torture those with different beleifs? They must be pretty messed up right? I have my take on it and some of the scenes are, shall we say. NC-17. I am proud to say that someone in my writing workshop I was a member of found parts of the story so offensive she quit class.

Needless to say, none of the material in question was gratuitous. The actions of the characters fit the theme of the story and are “in character.” 

So, where has Isabella landed? Temptations Magazine: The Home of Erotic Fiction. NOT Temptation Magazine:Homoerotic Fiction as a friend hilariously misheard me say, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I will certainly post the link once my story is up and running. I think I may let my mother skip this one.

Also simmering in the slush pile wasteland are several other of my stories:

• Beth Hartley is Hot is currently submitted to Shock Totem
• Colony is submitted to an anthology by Parsec Ink
• Pax Salutem is submitted to Pseudopod
• God Mother is submitted to Black Static 

 

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Pseudopod Rejects “Colony” (but in a nice way!)

 

One of my favorite horror sites, Pseudopod (who happened to publish my very first story), has just rejected my short story “Colony.”

The responding editor had some good things to say though:

“Thank you for sending us “Colony.” I have reviewed this submission and
decided not to purchase it. I found it lovely and well-wrought and
enjoyed most of it immensely. The ending just really didn’t work for
me. For me, it detracted from such an otherwise strong piece. It
brought me out of the dark place and shattered my suspension of
disbelief.”

So, I guess I know what I need to fix.

Reflections: Rejected Again

My dark fiction piece on a lost soul floating his way through life and discovering what he may or may not be through various mundane every day occurrences has once more been rejected.

Originally declined by Pseudopod the editor gave me the following feedback : “I really liked the style of this piece, and the tone is great, but I didn’t really care for the way the
narrator deals with his ……. Finding out that ……just didn’t deliver the impact it really
needed to.”

Then I sent it to Morpheus Tales and the editor said: “we enjoyed reading your story we do not feel the material is right for Morpheus Tales and unfortunately we cannot use the material offered. We liked your writing style, but felt the story could only end one of two ways and it was too easy to predict….”

I deleted some plot reveals from the feedback above, but taking what the editors told me I added some depth to the main character and an extra twist or two making the ending much less predictable. Apparently, the changes weren’t enough for the fine people at Apex Magazine, so onward to another publication!

Colony Collapse Disorder

After months of writing a longer piece, in which I’m currently soliciting input for a third draft, and re-writing a few recently rejected pieces I have found inspiration for a new story.

I was listening to “Hexagon” by Jason Rizos on Pseudopod.org (the very ones who published Infestation by yours truly) and it hit me. The story revolved around bees which then got me thinking about Colony Collapse Disorder, one of natures more ominous mysteries at the moment. I got to thinking about what it meant for the buzzing little bastards and then what it would mean if applied to the human condition….and would it be a good or a bad thing?

Thus I present to you “Untitled Work That I started Today Which I hope Won’t Suck.” I’ll keep you posted on its progress or lack there off.

And in case you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s the link to “Infestation”:

http://pseudopod.org/2009/06/05/pseudopod-145-infestation/

Desert Walker – Still on Shroud Magazines Short List

“Desert Walker”, a supernatural tale of family and determination in a barren world of sand and death, was added to the short list of stories to be accepted in Shroud Magazine. I was notified of this on August 23, 2010, so at this point I figure no news is still good news.

Not much else to speak on at this point. My writing resume to this point reads like this:

1. “Infestation” story #145, Pseudopod, June 2009
2. “Painkiller”, House of Horror issue #10, April 2010
3. “’Til Death”, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, July 2010
4. “Cookers”, Tales of the Zombie War, August 10th 2010
5. “Little Pieces” to be published in the October 2010 issue of Necrotic Tissue
6. “The Key” to be published in Morpheus Tales #15, January 2012

So, obviously I’m hoping Desert Walker will be lucky #7.

I have about 3 to 5 more short stories that I think are fit for publishing. I would love to hit double digits for when I finish my grand attempt at a novel. I’m at about 11,000 words in on the first draft. All my stories published to date are basically horror but the novel will be more of a dark, young adult novel. It’s going well so far although I am not sure how a novel manuscript should look, but let’s not put the cart before the horse.

10,000!

I have surpassed the 10,000 hit mark. Yay for The Badgerine. Hopefully I will have more published stories to report here soon.

One of my favorites, “Desert Walkers”, was just rejected by Fantasy and Science Fiction. I’m still waiting on “The Cost That Lies Between Heaven and Earth” which was sent to Weird Tales and “Little Pieces” which is currently being evaluated by Pseudopod.

Painkiller to be Published!

I have ended 2009 on a high note. I’m not talking about all the beer I drank at the Borgata. On new year’s eve my short story “Painkiller” was excepted for publication by House of Horror and is slated for issue #10.

The link is: http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk/#/home/4534063502

Painkiller is a tale of suffering and temptation. The editor said, “I really enjoyed this one, very original and entertaining read. Great job!”

Painkiller now joins Infestation on Pseudopod.org on my list of publications. I honestly expected to have published more than 2 stories published in 2009 but I didn’t realize how long the process took.

Anyway, I’ll let you know when it’s up and I hope to publish many more in 2010.

Happy New Year!