E-Fluff

Hey, folks! I just uploaded a new edition of my story Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HAR5CTU

This edition features an afterword on the making of the story, including the original flash fiction version and an alternate origin version. I also improved cover design, so it's less embarrassing if a friend spies it on your e-shelf.

From the description:

Ridiculous and poignant, frightening and hopeful, Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range tells the story of Jack, a bear with little left to live for, but driven on by hate for the dark race that lives just beyond the villages of his people. Having lain dormant for some time, the creatures have returned to feed. Jack's last hope is to protect the life of Froo Froo, the she-bear who once loved him. But Froo Froo doesn't want protection, least of all from him. Brett Alexander Savory, Co-Publisher of ChiZine Publications says of Fluff and Buttons, "This is one of the best stories I've read, period."

Please buy several copies today!

It Just Ain't Happenin'

As late as one month ago, I thought I could still pull off my goal of 52 stories in 2010 and a flurry of activity ensued. Then life straightened my ass out again. I won't bore you with a litany of excuses, I'm just letting you know it ain't happenin'. If I can't do that, I have no idea how I'll make my ultimate goal after which this blog is named. However, I'm not fretting at the moment. I'm still moving in that direction and If I end up being like one of those marathon runners who limp over the finish line fourteen hours after everyone else has left, I'll be okay with that.

That being said, this has still been the most successful year ever for my writing career, so you're not going to hear too much bitching from me. I haven't really gone into my health, but about a month and a half ago I found out I was zooming down that slope into all those middle-age fat diseases and decided I wasn't going to have any of it. I've dropped twenty-five pounds since then. Everybody was telling me how great I looked yesterday. Once I drop the remaining twenty-five, they'll only be talking to each other: "Jesus, Matt looks sickly!" Normal looks sickly to Americans..

Gord Zajac, the swell guy who edited my story Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range for Chizine was nudging me about a novel the other day and I told him, "Not now," and then pulled out an incomplete novel and started digging into it. Don't anybody get your hopes up.

I'm reading some Raymond Carver right now as I have a couple of stories in suspension that could really benefit from his influence.

If you need some Fiction Crawler in your life, head over to this week's StarShipSofa. I apologize for talking so damn fast in it. I didn't realize it until I listened to it in comparison with everyone else. You also get a story by Pat Cadigan, the First Lady of Cyberpunk!

Aural Delights No 159 Pat Cadigan & Jason Sanford

Coming Up This Week

Announcements: Larry Santoro on StaShipSofa Stories Vol 2

Fact: Fiction Crawler by Matthew Sanborn Smith:

Main Fiction: Life on Earth by Pat Cadigan

Fact: Looking Back at Science Fiction by Amy H Sturgis

Serial: Sublimation Angels Pt 2 by Jason Sanford

Fact: Everything by Morgan Saletta

Promo: Schlock Magazine

Narrators: Cheryl Martin, Josh Roseman

Fiction Crawler Links:

In Pacmandu by Lavie Tidhar

Michelangelo’s Chisel by Christopher Miller

The Strega Cristobel and the Old Rattler Ken by Larry Santoro

Daughter Earth by James Morrow Pt 1

Daughter Earth by James Morrow Pt 2

Elegy for a Young Elk by Hannu Rajaniemi

Yellow Card man by Paolo Bacigalupi

Second Mission

I always had a second mission in mind for this blog, after the flash-fiction-a-day went away, but I never got to it officially. I like to turn people on to cool stuff. When I'm not talking about my writing here, I'm going to try to link to something that I think is cool and want to share with you. A lot of people I know who have lives and don't spend them here always ask me, "Where do you find this stuff?" Which makes me happy because I know that I'm introducing them to something they wouldn't have already found.

Now you people reading this, you don't have lives and you may already have seen the cool things that I have, but it's unlikely you've seen everything that I have. So you may gain something from this. Between this and writing updates, I hope to post something new every day. We'll see how that goes.

My editor at Chiaroscuro, Gord Zajac, was kind enough to list my teddy bear story as one of his top five at Chizine. Read his post here, and by all means check out those other stories as well:

http://gordzajac.typepad.com/and_in_conclusion_i_hate_/2010/05/my-five-favourite-chizine-stories.html

That wasn't the cool thing. That was just self-serving.

The cool thing is that Gord has a new novel out from ChiZine Publications, called Major Karnage and it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. You can buy a copy of the limited press run here: http://chizine.com/chizinepub/books/major-karnage.php And, no, the cool thing isn't going to be something you have to buy all the time. I'm not making a penny off of it. But you can enjoy the following, as I have. This is Gord reading from the first four pages of the book. It's a blast:

Fluff And Buttons On Cossmass Infinities

2010 is off to an awesome start for me! My story Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range now lives as an audio production on the brand new podcast, Cossmass Infinities. Go listen to it here (The audio is at the bottom of the page):

http://cossmass.co.uk/infinities/1

The story's read by Paul W. Campbell who narrated my story Brothers and Sisters All on the StarShipSofa podcast. Now you can imagine my bears in little kilts. Celebrate your new year with the horrible destruction of cute stuffed animals!

The Bears Shall Growl

This is nifty! Paul W. Campbell's upcoming podcast, Cossmass Infinities, will be doing an audio version of my story Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range next year. Yay! Paul narrated my story Brothers and Sisters All on StarShipSofa's Aural Delights podcast earlier this year and I thought he did a wonderful job. Can't wait to hear what he does with the bears. I'll let you guys know when it's available.

Fluffiness

I've been asking around about what I should do with my story "Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range." It was originally published at Chiaroscuro and archived there for about fifteen months, but then was nowhere to be found for the general public. I've decided to post it here (scroll down a bit and you'll see it) and then link to that post over in the sidebar under READ MY STORIES. This is what I wanted, to be able to point people to this story so they can read it online at anytime because it's one of my favorites.

If you haven't read it yet, please do. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank You, Mysterious Stranger

Thank you to Anonymous, who pointed out that the link for my story, Better Than Anything, was effed up. Fixed it. I got a mention on SFSignal last night which is always swell. If you're coming here blind, may I recommend my story, Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range? It's one of my favorites. Hit its clicky over to the left under Read My Stories. Enjoy!