Nothing for All

I sold my story "Intrepid Travelers" to Electric Velocipede!

This is my "cold war set 800 years in the future with Ken Kesey mind experiments, AI superspies, sleeper agents and questionable reality written in the style of Tom Wolfe" story.

It will appear in a 2010 issue of the magazine.

I'm plugging away at the novel outlining process for HOMEFRONT. Characters are being fleshed out, world is being defined, plot points are starting to snap together into place. I actually have some momentum on this project, and I'm keeping to my self-imposed scheduled.

So, we all know what that means, right? Story mugging. A new story (or at least stringy bits of it) popped into my head last night and I wrote three quick pages. Hopefully I can knock this thing out fairly quickly and still stay on track with the novel.

This isn't exactly bad news. It feels good. Like maybe I'm finally coming out of the no writing hole I've been in for a while now.

Of course, the story could totally suck...

I just finished up a new story I co-wrote with Samantha Henderson. It's about hunting dirt angels in post apocalyptic West Texas, and there's a fair amount of maiming, bloodshed, and tomahawk fighting.

Right on.

Now to polish the thing up and inflict it on editors.

I haven't posted a writing update recently, so here goes:

1. Prepping for Armadillocon this weekend. I have panels, readings, etc. scheduled, and a fun filled time should be had by all. Come on by.

2. Homing in on the end of a new collaborative short story, and kicking the tires on another one. Apparently I do still write short stories. Who knew? I wish I could write them as easily and frequently as I used to, but the novel bug keeps biting.

3. Speaking of, madness has overtaken me again and I've started outlining my next novel. For future reference, this one has a working title of HOMEFRONT and features a lot of WWII goodness. More to come as this takes shape.

4. Still waiting on word regarding RAW POWER, contemplating revisions on the still untitled COLE novel and mulling over the next step with ALAMO RISING.

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.

Bibliophile stalker has a nice review of the latest Lone Star Stories and my story, "Gone Daddy Gone."

Check it out:

http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/04/bookmagazine-review-lone-star-stories.html

Thanks, Charles!

The April issue of Lone Star Stories is up, and it includes my story "Gone Daddy Gone." This is my surf movie retelling of the Swan Maiden myth. You can check it out right here:

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

Here's the whole table of contents:

Fiction:

1. "People, Unnoticed" by Patricia Russo
2. "Off the Path" by Nicole Kornher-Stace
3. "Gone Daddy Gone" by Josh Rountree

Poetry:

1. "Fjöturlundr (Saturnian)" by Sonya Taaffe
2. "Bones of the God" by Ann K. Schwader
3. "The Maiden to the Fox Did Say" by Amal El-Mohtar and Nicole Kornher-Stace

Enjoy.

Over at Tor.com, John Klima blogs his list of Top Ten Most Influential Fantasy & Science Fiction Anthologies / Anthology Series:

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=17022

The Polyphony anthology series made the list! My story "Chasing America" appeared in the 6th volume, and I have a story slated for the forthcoming 7th volume. Pretty cool!

Congrats to wheatland_press!

I'm a week or so behind on my self imposed novel writing schedule due to a computer crash, but I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow and expect to catch up. I WILL have this novel finished no later than my birthday in mid March.

Then, I owe a collaborator some words on a short story, and I have a few others brewing. I'd like to knock out 2-3 stories before diving into the next novel. We'll see how that goes.

Apart from that, I have a few stories I'm marketing so hopefully I'll get some bites.

Overall, I think Feb's been a pretty good writing month. What about the rest of you?

The Fix posted some new reviews this weekend and they had some nice things to say about a couple of my stories. First up, the December 2008 issue of Realms of Fantasy. This is a very positive review of "Fragments of a Fantasy Life," a story I co-wrote with Mikal Trimm. The reviewer says it "should be ranked among the top stories of the genre." Yikes! That's high praise. Dig it here:

http://thefix-online.com/reviews/realms-of-fantasy-dec-2008/

And, a mostly positive review of "When the Rain Comes" from the Lone Star Stories Reader anthology:

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

Thanks to the reviewers for taking the time to read these stories, and for their kind words!

Haven't posted any writing updates lately, but I'm plugging away at the novel in progress and I've passed 80k words. I've got the end in my sights!

My agent liked the requested revisions on Raw Power and it's time to start shopping the thing. Fingers crossed.

As for shorts, I'm working on a couple. Both are moving slooooooowly.

Have a great Saturday night, everyone!

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!

I had lunch with ericmarin and he gave me my contributor copies of the Lone Star Stories reader. The book looks great, and the contents are really good too. Have I mentioned that you can get a copy here:

http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Stories-Reader/dp/098178190X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225836348&sr=1-1

Enchiladas and free books. It doesn't get much better than that.

I finally finished up that science fiction short I've been working on. For now it's called "Intrepid Travelers" and I've loosed it on the first readers. I'm eagerly awaiting feedback -- not sure how this one will be received.

Now back to the other projects in progress and a couple of new story ideas that are starting to form. There are always more ideas to be written than time to write them...

Writing the last few weeks has been painful. I was making headway on a novel then got mugged by a story idea that had to be written RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Then what seemed like a straightforward, knock it out kind of story started kicking my ass.

Thankfully, I had a breakthrough today! After circling and circling, stalking the plot, all the pieces finally clicked into place and the solid writing can commence. I'm about 4500 words in and I estimate that's about halfway through. Unless something else in the story jumps up to bite me, I should be through with a draft later this week or early next week.

This is the hardest story I've ever written, so hopefully that means it'll be good. We'll see.

Oh, and did I mention that it's science fiction???

I got my contributor copies of the Feb 2008 Realms of Fantasy.

The art for my story has a bloody, sword-weilding cyborg carrying the head of an imp.

Sweet.