Beware of Fire Wombats

For the second round of stories this December, we look to Wyldblood Press. They published a number of my flash stories, and this time’s a bit different.

First off, Wyldblood 17 includes my holiday story, “‘Twas the Week Before Christmas,” which was originally written for a dark anthology. The anthology wasn’t interested, but Mark Bilsborough decided it would be perfect for the season. (Hint: Santa’s elves are not the happy folks you think they are.)

Second, Wyldblood Press published my first standalone novella, Between the Stars I Found Her. As the saying goes, this one was years in the making. It’s science fiction that deals with uploaded personalities, cloning, a world-spanning benign democracy, and a mystery involving an astronaut missing for a long, long time. (Hint: not everyone fits into this pseudo paradise.)

Both are available now through Wyldblood or Am*zon. You can get digital download in time for Christmas!

Enjoy!

I’ve been holding off on my 2025 Publications list because at least three of my stories were held back for Reasons. It was a slow year for publications and I have hope that December will reverse that trend.

The official list will have to wait a few more weeks, but in the meantime, let me start you out with something new over at Metastellar, “The Trickster at the Gate.”

This story was originally submitted to the Glasgow Worldcon fiction contest, and they turned me down. Fortunately, the folks at Metastellar picked it up.

Please enjoy this very short tale of First Contact.

A couple of years ago, my friend RB Wood was publishing a regular podcast called Sudden Fictions. Every month, he’d post prompts and take 4-5 flash stories that he’d narrate. When he asked for ghost-related stories, I decided to try a SF spin on the traditional subject of the poltergeist.

Once I did a little internet sleuthing to set the scene, the muse showed me the way. (A rare but welcome occurrence!)

Enjoy! Small Wonders Magazine

There is a lovely phrase when applied to avoid writing (although it may apply to other arts as well) – “cat waxing.”

Tonight was a specialized evening of cat waxing – statistics. It was my regular writing hangout, but folks were busy, and the house cleaner was banging about the place, etc. The Muse did not appear. So rather than pound out a scene that I would later delete, I checked my submissions stats.

All Hail The Submissions Grinder!

The date is lost to history, but I started using the Grinder for years, but didn’t really start tracking in earnest until about 15 years ago. Once I completed my liminal journey to Viable Paradise, it became my faithful, frustrating companion, reminding me of my trials, tribulations, and occasional triumph. That last bit is really important when ye olde Imposter Syndrome comes to visit.

As part of the statistical review, I discovered two new tabs for my Career Bingo card, namely 50th story sale and 600th Rejection! Woot!

There are still plenty of open tabs on that card. All I can do is write, submit, repeat as needed. As my VP oath demanded, I must send the Work forth (to paying markets only) until Hell won’t have it.

Excuse me while I send a fabulous bit of flash fiction out into the world. Again.

Highlights:

• Seeing so many trees again and the massive buildup of downtown in the past decade.
  
• Muppets and Puppets panel that went accidentally R-rated.
• Insightful workshop with Arley Sorg on finding your theme.
• Autographs with Nicola Griffith and Charlie Jane Anders.
• buying only 2 books!
• Readings from Nancy Kress, Alex Shvartsman, Cat Rambo, and Jordan Korella.
• Random friend encounters with special tip of the driving cap to AT Greenblatt and Casey Blair. We hadn’t seen each other in forever.
• Amidst some awkward glitches at the Hugo Awards, it was lovely to see the movie studios taken to task for consistently forgetting to send someone to collect their awards.
• Finally, the last panel on generating flash fiction in 5 minutes (don’t try this at home) featured one pro writer who unabashedly hungover from the post-award festivities.

Back to work tomorrow morning. But hey, they’ll be time for writing after.

I’m here through the weekend, listening and learning. Buying things, of course. Most days I’ll be wearing an aloha shirt, blue-grey driveling cap, and a black mask. If you know me, say hi!

San Francisco International

It’s been a rough year for 99% of the planet. Some of us are fortunate enough to still have resources to keep mind and body together, and even occasionally do Art.

But it ain’t easy. Year to date, I’ve published only a single flash story, “The Avenging Angel of Big Robinson” in MetaStellar. I wanted to explore PTSD from a different perspective – literally from the top of a watchtower. Go and have a read

Writing has been so challenging that I gave myself permission to slow down a bit. As part of my hoped-for reset, I came back to Sweden, back to the summer house my maternal grandparents acquired many decades before. It’s located in Särdal, a township with many sweet touches: an antique windmill/cafe, a family campground, and farms that run little stands that permit unescorted visitors to pack a bag with amazing produce, eggs, honey, and even prepackaged lamb and leave a note listing our purchase. Just text your payment (or leave actual cash in the box).

It certainly helps that the sun is out from 4:30 am – 10 pm, or thereabouts, and the rain is sporadic (at least this summer). We try to catch that sunset most nights, to put a calming close to another day.

The coastline near the summer house inspired one of my favorite stories. You can find it over at Little Blue Marble. (Bonus points – I was able to provide the story’s photo.)

I know this is only a temporary respite. There’re edits to submit to DayJob (with a 9-hour difference), and I’m very much aware that while I look like a local, my limited Svensk gives away my nationality in a moment.

On the good side, the Swedes are very understanding of our predicament.

If you can, take in a sunset today. I plan to.

Be well.

Särdal, west coast of Sweden