126

Story 126 just went out the digital door. A pissy little seven this year but the year's not over yet.

The Strega Cristobel and the Old Rattler Ken

First off, let me say welcome to new follower, Kate! I think I've welcomed every follower except for one, because at the time I couldn't figure out which one of you it was. You were like an optical illusion in which a crowd of people seem to have developed an extra head. So a belated welcome to that person too.

Now I want to turn you on to magnificent narrator Larry Santoro reading a story by magnificent writer Larry Santoro. The story is The Strega Cristobel and the Old Rattler Ken and the venue is the Old Towne Books & Tea podcast. I downloaded this months ago but just listened today and the story is wonderful. I've already talked up Larry on this blog, go listen for yourself:

http://oldtownebooksandtea.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2010-03-20T20_01_36-07_00

I have to be straight and tell you the host of the show is still feeling things out here as this is only episode 3 and he rambles a bit, so be patient or skip ahead. Enjoy the story.

Beware The Hairy Mango 36 Is Live!

I usually don't mention the Mango here, but I haven't done one in a while and my friends on Facebook see this too and who would want to deprive them? The new Episode is Truck Stop and Climbing Trees! Check it out here:

http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-36-truck-stop-and-climbing-trees/

Sale To Tor.com!

I sold my story, Beauty Belongs to the Flowers, to Tor.com! If you know Tor.com, you know this is mighty awesome. If you don't know Tor.com, let me just tell you that this is mighty awesome. This is my second pro sale and it's great exposure for a story that I love (number 57 of 1,000). I'll let you know when it's out and provide a link. If you guys remind me, I'll give you the story behind the story here on the blog when it comes out.

I'm a happy goose.

I know I've put Gene on here a couple of times before, but this deserves a Gene style celebration!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R28b8XXoXs

Kicking The Horse

My favorite story from The Moth: http://castroller.com/podcasts/TheMothPodcast/1074125

A Cold Day in Crisis

My story, "A Cold Day in Crisis," (Number 51 for those of you keeping track) is up at Electric Spec today. Give it a go:

http://www.electricspec.com/issues/volume-5-issue-2-may-31-2010/a-cold-day-in-crisis-by-matthew-sandborn-smith.asp

What It Feels Like

Found this on Neatorama today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajPvCQjatW4&feature=player_embedded

Groovin' To The 8-Bit

@steveattwitter turned his followers onto this groovy little 8-bit player today. You need Flash. Sorry iPaddies!
http://8bitboy.popforge.de/

Discovered this great new science fiction market thanks to Duotrope. They need lots of stories. Looks like they'll be e-mailing a story a day out to their subscribers.
http://dailysciencefiction.com/

Sometimes I Try Too Hard

So I'll stop. I liked this: http://su.pr/45PHz4

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:

Fundraiser For Hearts, Hands And Homes

Alana Garner-Jones, a lady I've been friends with for almost thirty years, works for an organization called Hearts, Hands & Homes Community Collaborative For Foster Care & Adoption. They're doing a fundraiser at The California Pizza Kitchen at the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. If you're in town on June 8th of 2010, eat a bunch of pizzas there from 11:00 AM to 8:30 PM because 20% of everything you spend will go to Hearts, Hands and Homes.

You need to bring a flyer from Alana in order to be counted and you can reach her through Facebook. Here's the page for the Fundraiser: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126800447346232 If you want to help and you're not on Facebook, give me a shout in the comments or drop me an e-mail at upwithgravity@gmail.com and I'll pass it along to her. Do it for the children! Thanks!

125

125 is in the bag and out the door. And over the river and through the woods. That's number 6 for the year.

Story At Everyday Weirdness

My story, One with Everything, which you may have read here years ago, appears at Everyday Weirdness today. Take a peek, it's super short: http://everydayweirdness.com/e/20100505/

124

Just completed 124. 47 left to go this year. 876 in the next nine years.

New Mango is here: http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-32-finally-a-computer-for-everyone-else/

My first Fiction Crawler in many moons is out on the Sofa this week. Also, the feature story was recommended by me on an earlier Fiction Crawler.



Aural Delights No 132 James Alan Gardner

Fact Article: Science News by J.J. Campanella

Main Fiction: The Ray-Gun: A Love Story by James Alan Gardner

Fact Article: Fiction Crawler 9 by Matthew Sanborn Smith

Art Cover Audio Intro by S.P Wilson

Narrators: Ray Sizemore

Art Cover by S.P. Wilson