Nothing for All

I got the word from ericmarin that Gardner Dozois selected my story "No Leaving New Orleans" for Honorable Mention in his Year's Best Science Fiction: The Twenty Sixth Annual Collection. This is my first mention in the Dozois series, and I'm pretty excited about it.

The story originally appeared in Lone Star Stories, and can still be found in their archives here:

http://literary.erictmarin.com/archives/Issue%2027/leaving.htm

Thanks to Eric for letting me know, and thanks to Gardner Dozois for the mention.

It's been quiet around here lately as I've been on vacation and doing general holiday "stuff." Writing has been slowed a bit too but I'll be back on track next week and have a definite plan to finish up some projects.

Looking back at 2008, it's been a good / busy year for my writing. Wheatland Press put out my first collection of stories (ahem...which you can purchase at www.wheatlandpress.com or at Amazon, BN.com, etc.)entitled "Can't Buy Me Faded Love" and I was lucky enough to have Howard Waldrop write a killer intro.

On the story front, I had 11 new stories published and 4 reprints. Here's a breakdown of publications by month:

December, 2008
“Veronica”, Lone Star Stories

November, 2008
“Fragments of a Fantasy Life” (w/ Mikal Trimm), Realms of Fantasy
“Gifting Bliss”, Drabblecast (audio)
“When the Rain Comes”, The Lone Star Stories Reader, LSS Press (reprint)

July, 2008
“Bury My Guitar at Wounded Knee”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“Can’t Buy Me Faded Love”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press (reprint)
“Gifting Bliss”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“Grievous Angel”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“Indie Gods”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“Nikola and the Wolf”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“No One Here Gets Out Alive”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press
“Stephanie Shrugs”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press (reprint)
“The Review Lester Bangs Would Have Written for the New Stones Album if He’d Lived Long Enough to Witness the Fall of Humanity and the Rise of the Other”, CBMFL, Wheatland Press

June, 2008
“No Leaving New Orleans”, Lone Star Stories

February, 2008
“Blood and Oil”, Realms of Fantasy

Most of these were sold in 2007, but I did manage some nice sales in 2008. I sold a couple of stories to Lone Star Stories, one to Realms of Fantasy, and reprints to the Lone Star Stories Reader and Drabblecast. And, I managed to get a story in the forthcoming Polyphony 7, due out in Feb.

I wrote several more new stories that I really dig and they're currently searching for homes, and I finished up my collab novel with Lon and am deep into another.

Last but not least, I landed an agent and have begun my plans for literary world domination. You have been warned.

I'll post a list of goals for 2009 soon. Let's hope it's just as jam packed full of writing awesomeness as 2008!

The Fix has posted a review of Lone Star Stories #30 right here:

http://thefix-online.com/reviews/lone-star-stories-30/

They has some very complimentary things to say about the issue as a whole, and about my story. My favorite part is:

"Veronica" is one of those stories that touches us because it reminds us of our own childhood, our own mortality, the fleeting quality of life, and of how magic and magical friends are often vehicles we use to reconnect with our true selves.

Thanks to Rochita Loenen-Ruiz for the kid words!

I was out of town and a little out of touch for a few days, but I came back to this article on Tor.Com:

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=9848

gumboeditor had some kind words about Lone Star Stories and gave a shout out (and a link) to my latest LSS offering, "Veronica."

Thanks, John!

Lone Star Stories No. 30 is now live:

Fiction:

1. "Dream Seed" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman;
2. "The Andrassii Agreement" by Stephanie Burgis; and
3. "Veronica" by Josh Rountree.

Poetry:

1. "Speedometer" by Gemma Files;
2. "All the Daughters of This House" by Nicole Kornher-Stace; and
3. "Damascus Divides the Lovers by Zero or The City Is Never Finished" by Amal El-Mohtar and Catherynne M. Valente.

My story can be found right here:

http://literary.erictmarin.com/veronica.htm

Hope you enjoy it!

Congrats to editor ericmarin for this great Booklist review of the new Lone Star Stories Reader anthology:

From both established talents like Nina Kiriki Hoffman and relative newcomers like Marguerite Reed, these stories offer a wide enough range to keep the reader fumbling to find some commonality other than editor Marin’s excellent taste. Hoffman’s contribution, the short and sweet “Seasonal Work,” is the holiday retail season seen through a very strange lens—the kind of thing she does so well. Reed’s gorgeous “Angels of a Desert Heaven” is the story of a musician and a Hopi seer and the ways the gods of their shared desert home adopt even the Anglo, if the need is great enough. Despite the book’s title, the stories don’t have any Texas connections, though several take place in various Western settings. Title and stories come from the Web zine Lone Star Stories, where the latter are electronically archived. At any rate, this selection suggests that LSS is a force to be reckoned with. (November 15, 2008)

Good News! I just got word from ericmarin that he's buying my new story "Veronica" for the December 08 issue of Lone Star Stories.

This one's inspired by the Elvis Costello song of the same name and I think it turned out pretty well. I wrote it specifically with LSS in mind, so I'm excited that he bought it right out of the chute.

I believe this will be my fifth story with Lone Star Stories.