Category Archives: fantasy

Not bad for 50

I recently published a flash story, “Pulling up the Moon” (and blogged about it here as well). As I was posting the news about it on the usual social networks, I started to wonder: how many stories have I sold?

I went back through my archives, including downloads from diskettes, for Buddha’s sake, until I was able to reconstruct a fairly accurate record of how many pieces of fiction were bought by an editor (though not necessarily published).

50. That’s how many. Fifty stories. (There was a bit of poetry and other things but let’s focus on the core.) How did that happen?

I was that many years old when I went to my first professional writing workshop, Viable Paradise. I learned many things, made some serious industry contacts, and made a commitment to taking this whole writing thing seriously. Before VP, I’d sold 7 stories, 2 to pro markets.

Not long after I graduated from VP, I sold my 8th story (“Layover”) to a pro market, which earned me Full Member status at SFWA.

The time between the 7th & 8th sale was… 19 years. That first ten were a time of much darkness and confusion. The next nine were pretty much devoted to parenting and DayJob™.

I still wrote during the interregnum. And submitting. Don’t get me wrong. I was missing the target, though. Not sticking the landing. Flaying about with mediocre ideas. Et cetera.

The next few years saw a gradual, not quite consistent, improvement in both the quality and quantity of my fiction output (and concurrent submissions). The sales ticked up.

In 2023, I managed to sell a dozen stories. Six so far this year.

I don’t have a favorite. Some of definitely stronger than others (and SF doesn’t always age well). For my flash stories, I’m quite fond of  “We Who Stay Behind,” “Stones of Särdal,” and “The Last Best Day of Antonio Silveri, Ph.D.” There are many others that showcase some darker humor, like “Five Things You Should Know Before Summoning a Demon” and “Harry the Ice Man.” In the slightly longer range, I still like “Papa Pedro’s Children” and “The Astrologer of the Fifth Floor.” “Sullied Flesh” has surprised me with its prescience. “Schadenfreuders” makes me smile.

“Jizo Rides the Bus” was my answer to grief. The memorable stories all seem to have their own unique origin.

This journey started on a Mac 256K (remember those?) in 1988 with “Potential Gains” for Beyond magazine (photocopied and stapled by hand) and continues on a MacBook, where I composed “Pulling up the Moon” for Stupefying Stories.

If I get to 100 stories, I suppose I’m legally required to write a novel.

Thanks for reading.

Karl

2023 in Review

Well, that was certainly a year. Very good and very bad things, indeed. I sold lots of stories and had to go back on unemployment for a while (which is itself a sordid tale I shall spare the reader).

I published more fiction than ever. I wrote and revised a fair amount:

  • Jan – Short fiction class with John Wiswell; finished “The Mala and the Monkey Brain”
  • Feb – “Krishna’s Gift”
  • Mar – “The Walkup Atheneum”
  • Apr – “Lizzie McNeil and the Veil Between Worlds”
  • May – “Sign of the Red Dragon”
  • Jun – “Copper Bright as the Sun” (revised Red Dragon)
  • Jul – “Blood of the Hierophant”
  • Aug – “When the Third Bell Rings”
  • Sep – “Pull the Red Cord”; “Poltergeist of Fastini Crater”
  • Oct – “Buffalo” (revised Week before Xmas)
  • Nov – “Order of Compassionate Death” (revision); “Third Bell” (revision); “Red Cord” (revision)
  • Dec – “A sailor’s tale”

In progress:

  • “Taldin the Thief Faces the Executioner’s Block”

Idea pile:

  • Something something wizard’s duel
  • The multiverse and some guy at a desk?

For this year’s success, I must thank my family, my weekly writing group, my occasional critique partners, and of course my fabulous coach, Cat Rambo. I found an impending deadline for her to be an effective motivation: Get out of your head and write the damn thing. (My words, not hers.)

Next year? If I can hang on to my current DayJob™ and see the scion successfully launched from college, I’d like to finish (and send out) a bunch of revisions, take a few classes, see some folks in person rather than Zoom, and write something so good it knock the socks off a pro editor.

Hey, it could happen.

May your 2024 be creative, fulfilling, and safe.

See you in the word mines,

Karl

 

Eligibility Post 2023

Want to support an underdog writer? Now’s your chance! Here’s a list of everything I published this year:

Short Fiction

Novelette

Thank you for your consideration. Now I must feed the cats.

 

Baker’s Dozen

or

What I Sold in 2023

2023 has been a record-setting year in the word mines. Apparently, if you regularly write lots of stories and send them out, editors will buy some. Who knew?

Sure, the ratio for rejections/sales is still *way* off. For now, let’s focus on the positive.

Flash fiction was king of the hill this year: 6 original stories and 1 reprint.

Short fiction had a very respectable showing: 4 original stories.

You want novelettes? We got 2. And one of those was featured in a three-part podcast voiced by a classically trained British theatre student.

It was also the year of extended holds – 2 of my acceptances came more than a year after the initial submission.

All told: 12 original stories and 1 reprint. A baker’s dozen of spec fic.

Genres were certainly up for grabs. I sold stories involving the military, time travelers, assassins, wizards, mechanics, lost civilizations, ghosts, demonic possession, found family, and a happiness virus.

The last two sales this year are pending final paperwork. Nearly everything else is available online. Links here.

In order of acceptance:

“The USS Copernicus Sixth (Semi-Annual) Contraband Run”
“The Linen Closet Nexus”
“The Antidote for Longing” (print and podcast)
“Ruby Throat and Gold”
“For Better or Worse”
“Krishna’s Gift”
“Come the Waters High (Podcast)
“The Danger of Frequent Flyer Miles”*
“The Poltergeist of Fastini Crater” (podcast)
“Come the Waters High” (Reprint)
“Last Cold Beer for 50 Miles”**

*forthcoming 2024
**Appears 12/13/2023 in Haven Spec

Crazy Eight

Today my flash story, “Ruby Throat and Gold” appeared in Wyldblood, marking my third appearance there and my eighth publication overall for 2023. Wow. Crazy. (Unlike my other work in Wyldblood, “Ruby” contains no demons in its 1,000 words. But there are wizards with agendas.)

This story came to life under the guiding hand of Cat Rambo. The title was suggested by Rosemary Claire Smith, one of my beta readers in the weekly writing group. She writes about dinosaurs and reviews books over at Analog.

And then there were three

Today the final part of my novelette, “The Antidote for Longing,” was released in the wild by the good folks at Metaphorosis.

three digest versions of Metaphorosis magazine
Metaphorosis Issues 91-93

An audio version, read by Thomas Baxter, can be heard here as well.

“Antidote” started out as an awkward 6,000 word story. It was too long for most publications, but rejected by markets like GigaNotoSaurus. Then the editor at Metaphorosis reached out with the idea of lengthening the overall story and breaking it into three mini arcs that all worked together. And was I interested in doing a podcast?

Six revisions later, “Antidote” came in just under 11K words. My daughter, studying at Bath Spa University at the time, introduced me to a fellow theatre major, Thomas Baxter. Thomas brought a welcome British gravitas to the production. Extra kudos to him for rising to the challenge of Scandinavian terms and proper names.

Enjoy!

A Halloween Tale

My story, “Final Exam, Demonology” started out as a contest entry for 500-word stories.

It didn’t win, legitimately. I wasn’t able to create a believable world and enough characterization while staying within that limit. Once I opened things up to full flash length, the story felt complete. The editor at Wyldblood Press thought so as well.

Enjoy!