Monday, January 22, 2024

Longlisted for a BSFA Award!

 "Turf War 2200" has been longlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction. I'm pretty stoked! 

Here's the list: https://bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-longlist

Here's the audio version of the story: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/spacecowboybooks/episodes/2023-02-15T00_06_45-08_00

And you can read it in my latest collection, Bleeding is Easy if You Know How to Open Up: https://www.amazon.com/Bleeding-Easy-You-Know-Open-ebook/dp/B0CRWY82NM

Monday, January 15, 2024

My New Collection Is Out!

My latest collection, "Bleeding is Easy if You Know How to Open Up," is now up at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bleeding-Easy-You-Know-Open-ebook/dp/B0CRWY82NM

Here's a quick rundown:

Things are going to get strange from here. Fairy tales merge with science fiction to create a new mythology for the present. Those exploring the depths of Space-Time feel they’re trapped in terrible dreams and not experiencing the adventures they were promised. Lives are reflected upon from a future prison cell one shares with one’s family, or from beneath a collapsed building all alone in the darkness. Beauty is formed in the nothingness between works. Romance is sought in the face of mortality. Emotions are sold. Lawns are trimmed. Hope is found within Lovecraftian despair. Hope is found within Lovecraftian despair? That’s the most ridiculous sentence in this summary!

 
Stories include, and are limited to:

 
That Feeling You’re Feeling
Tempus Fuhg It
Expiration Date
I was Meant to Live Another Thousand Years
You Will Find Yourself Buried Beneath Rubble
Those Who Live in Negative Space
Turf War 2200
Life-in-Death was She
Three Princesses
Between Worlds
The Shallow One


Sunday, October 29, 2023

My Latest Story Is Out!

Story 171, "Their Heads Filled to Bursting" is out for your reading pleasure in the Autumn 2023 issue of Kaleidotrope! This one is a science fiction/horror story about a sensory-enhanced woman investigating a murder in a city where the governing AI is on the edge of breaking down. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 23, 2023

194

I sent out story 194 of The One-Thousand, which is "Hazel," an alternate world 1950's secret agent story involving aliens. It was inspired by a few listens to Portishead's album, Roseland NYC Live.

Friday, July 21, 2023

Tuesday, March 07, 2023

192 and 193

I just finished writing a ten-minute play, Cheeseburger with Wings, for this year's ICFA and I thought it would be story 192. Then I realized the last one I wrote, The Three Spaces of Eve, back in March of 2016, was never added to The One-Thousand. Maybe I figured because it wasn't for money, it didn't count. But I wrote other freebies early on and they counted. So, I'm counting both of them now. And rather than fuck up the numbers I've assigned to things in between, I'm calling Eve 192, and Cheeseburger 193. And that's all I'll hear about that.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

191

Just finished and shipped out story 191, "The Grow-Your-Own-Dog Kit," a flash piece that is told from the kit's point of view as its very young user runs amok with its contents. So much fun!

Friday, February 17, 2023

Turf War 2200!

My latest story is live on episode 60 of Simultaneous Times! "Turf War 2200!" (Story 175 of The One-Thousand) It's a stunning tale of love, anger, and lawn maintenance! Enjoy!

 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/spacecowboybooks/episodes/2023-02-15T00_06_45-08_00


 

Monday, January 16, 2023

190

Just completed and shipped out story 190, "The Orange Man," a science fantasy about an immigrant who's in over his head in a strange new city.

Sunday, January 01, 2023

How I Hope 2023 Will Go

Happy New Year!

So, yesterday I went over how badly I failed at my 2022 goals. I was struck by the fact that I may have written more words last year than any previous year and yet I finished less fiction than almost any year since I started writing... uh... thirty-two years ago?(!) Holy shit.

Anyway, I've only got one real goal this year and that is to finish and submit twenty-four short stories. I'll still track word counts and submissions, and I'm also going to help my dog lose weight by feeding her less and getting her to move more, but the only goal I'm going to be uptight about is finishing those stories. Flash fiction won't count toward the twenty-four (Though they will count toward the One-Thousand). I think if I can meet this goal, it will be a real turning point in my writing career. I'm excited and now I'm going to stop writing this, so I can start writing those. Have a great 2023!

Saturday, December 31, 2022

How 2022 Went

Not so great!


Surprise! I only achieved one of my goals for 2022!

Goals and results:
1. Write an average of 1,000 words a day, which would come to 365,000 words for the year. Instead I wrote 187,240 words (assuming I don’t squeeze in a few more tonight) which is an average of 513 words a day, just over half my goal. However, I did beat the heck out of 2021's word count which was 115,213 words, or an average of about 315 words a day.
2. Finish my second novel, Hive Five. Instead, I’ve written through chapter 25 of the current draft, which is not the final draft. Yowch.
3. Read 104 books. Instead I read 57. Again, a little over half. My favorites were The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.
4. Have 50 Patreon patrons at the same time. Nope.
5. Weigh 225 pounds and don’t get heavier after I do. Nope.
6. Write 52 blogposts on The One-Thousand. Only 25, including this one.
7. Get my A.A. in English. A WIN! Yeah! But that one wasn’t really in doubt as long as I lived through the first third of the year.

I only finished six pieces of fiction and they were all flash fiction. Quadruple yowch. Most of those 187,240 words I wrote went to Patreon stuff and unfinished works.
I submitted 26 times to editors in 2022.
I sold two stories, both to podcasts.

I’m looking back on 2022 with disappointment, although I did have a couple of wins. I had a very hard time day to day while I was in the thick of it. Most Sundays and Mondays were pretty productive for me, and most Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays were dismal.
The new year is always an exciting time for me because I like the chance to start again and do better. Come back tomorrow to see what I’m planning for 2023.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Sunday, December 11, 2022

The Creature

Something is scuttling around in my attic. Can't say that I care for that.