Tag: podcast

Shiny writer things!

Thing the first: A panel! On March 25, I’ll be participating in Storycrafting Sessions: Drafting, a free one-day virtual conference hosted by Weeknight Writers. I’ll be on the 5:30 p.m. EST panel, “Nailing the Ending: How To Write a Satisfying Story Conclusion.” There are some other great panels lined up as well, and did I mention registration is free?

Thing the second: A publication! Issue 6 of Weird Horror Magazine is out this month, and it includes my flash story “Dead Maiden Chic,” as well as some badass cover art, which Super Great insisted on showing off with the help of some friends:

Thing the third: A sale! My short story “The Girl Who Welcomed Death to Svalgearyen,” which was originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, will be appearing again in audio format thanks to the lovely folks at Cast of Wonders. Release date TBD. This story is close to my heart and, of all the stories I’ve written over the years, still one of my absolute favorites, so I’m happy to see it get more love.

Thing the fourth: All the novels! A few weeks ago I finished revisions on a fantasy novel that has now been tossed out to first readers so I can figure out what else needs tweaking. Tentatively titled Barren Water, it’s a bit of A Handmaid’s Tale blended with magic and an Old West-ish fantasy world. And now I’m outlining a horror/supernatural romance novel where an opera singer recovering from an onstage nervous breakdown takes a job housesitting an isolated beach home during the off season only to become entangled with a ghost and a cursed piano. This will be my first stab at a novel-length work set in the contemporary world rather than a secondary fantasy world, so all new challenges!

Shiny Publication Roundup!

What is this? A second blog post in a matter of days?

So, shiny things. Story sales! Story publications! Some of these got pimped on Facebook and Twitter, but I’ve been crap about mentioning them here. Let me correct that:

New stories! I had two horror flash stories published back in March: “The Girl Who’s Going to Survive Your Horror Movie” in Flash Fiction Online and “Seen and Not Heard” in DarkFuse Magazine.

Reprints! It’s been a good year for those so far. “43 Responses to ‘In Memory of Dr. Alexandra Nako'” was reprinted in the anthology Funny Horror, alongside some authors I’m thrilled to be in the company of. In the podcast department, “What the Blood Bog Takes” and “Notes on a Page” were both featured in episodes of Far Fetched Fables, while “A Red One Cannot See” was included in Gallery of Curiosities.

And sales! Notably of two stories that I had an absolute blast writing: “The Stork and the Crone” will be appearing in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores in the near future, and “Seer’s Salad” will be in a future episode of the Cast of Wonders podcast. And continuing the reprint trend, “The Holy Spear” will be appearing in Digital Fiction Publishing‘s Killing It Softly 2, an anthology focused on women in horror.

Oh, and almost forgot: plays! I’ve written a few short ones, and last month I got to see one produced for the first time. “Ghost Writer to the Dead” (adapted from a short story I had published in Penumbra in 2012) was featured in a local community theater’s short play festival.

Did I mention it’s been a good year for horror and reprints? Because it’s been a good year for horror and reprints, with a smattering of fantasy thrown in there.

Now back to the writing of new stuff!

Speculative Fiction podcast link spam!

This week at the Star-Dusted Sirens, I’m serving up some link spam!

The Star-Dusted Sirens

When it comes to fiction, I generally prefer reading over listening, but over the last few years, two factors have led to me spending more time listening to short fiction podcasts: 1) I’m a dreadfully slow reader with very little free time, and 2) I often have stretches at work where I’m doing fairly routine tasks like binding or scanning music—the perfect opportunity to put on my headphones and let someone else do my short fiction reading for me.

What’s been interesting about listening to fiction rather than reading it myself is that audio often gives me a better sense of when a story is truly gripping me. The less engaged I am with the story, the more I find myself zoning out and missing things. But when a story’s good, I’ll hang on every word—assuming the narration is decent, that is. There have been a few times when I’ve…

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Blog all the things!

Lately life seems to be happening faster than I can blog about it, which is in many ways a good thing. It’s also probably what Twitter was created for, but unfortunately, Twitter and I don’t quite get each other. We’re like co-workers who can get along perfectly well in the workplace, but in social situations we just sort of stare awkwardly at each other and make lame comments about the weather.

Anyway, the things! I must blog them!

Thing #1) If you haven’t read “The Girl Who Welcomed Death to Svalgearyen” in Beneath Ceaseless Skies because you prefer to have someone else read your fiction for you, you’re in luck! The story is now available as a shiny podcast, where it receives a wonderful narration by Tina Connolly. So if you’re in the mood for a lighthearted tale about death, go forth and listen!

Thing #2) Daily Science Fiction has launched a Kickstarter campaign.  Among the rewards being offered are short story critiques by DSF authors like myself and many other awesome people. So if you’re a writer, you have a chance to both support an awesome publication and get feedback from one of the authors they’ve published. If you’re not a writer, there are other rewards available, so check it out! Because DSF? Totally worth it, if you ask me.

Thing #3) If you’re reading this post on my website and not Livejournal (and really, are there more than like five of us even left on LJ at this point?), you may have noticed that things look a bit different. I didn’t plan to spend my entire weekend redesigning my website, but I did. Was I procrastinating? Yes. Should I have been writing instead? Yes. Do I regret it? No, because the whole process inadvertently led to me to The Copenhagen Chansonnier, a medieval music manuscript with awesomely whimsical drawings of things like the lady conversing with a snail dude in my website header. You’re welcome.

Thing #4) Somewhere in all of the craziness that is my schedule, fiction has been accomplished! I’ve finally gotten around to revising some flash pieces that I wrote back in January, right before my spring semester from hell devoured all of my writing time. One of those flash pieces has already sold, one is making the submission rounds, one needs just a bit more tweaking before I send it out, and the fourth one is no longer a flash story—it got expanded into a 3,400-word horror story and has just started wandering around Submission Land looking for work. And it has creepy puppets. With nasty defecation habits. Once again, you’re welcome.

#SFWApro

France, shiny writing news, and the impending arrival of the cymbal-clapping demon monkeys

Life has been so amazingly nice to me lately that I’m expecting the other shoe to drop at any moment, complete with an army of cymbal-clapping demon monkeys. I’m a pessimist like that. But in the meantime, I shall revel in the shiny!

I just got back from a rather lovely trip to France with my husband’s family. Much awesomeness was experienced. As an opera nerd, getting to see the Palais Garnier was the highlight for me during the few days we spent in Paris. After Paris, we took a barge cruise through Burgundy, which rocked on every level—the food, the wine, the weather, all the places visited, the amazing crew, and the chance to go bicycling along the canal route. But now, alas, I am re-adjusting to real life, where lunch sadly does not include wine and a ridiculous number of cheeses.

There has also been continuing writing-related shininess, most of it occurring while I was off learning just how rusty my French has gotten:

* My story “Memories of Mirrored Worlds” is now available online at Daily Science Fiction;

* Last week I got another acceptance from Daily Science Fiction for a flash piece called “The Perfect Coordinates to Raise a Child”;

* And finally, “The Girl Who Welcomed Death to Svalgearyen” from issue 124 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies received some nice comments in reviews at Locus Online and Tangent Online. BCS will also be offering the story as a podcast sometime in the near future, which I’m quite looking forward to hearing.

Shiny things!

First, Izzy David’s podcast of my story “The Little Things” is now up at Every Day Fiction. Please have a listen and rate it if you feel so moved.

Second, story sale! I’m pleased to say that my story “Ghost Writer to the Dead” has been accepted for Penumbra‘s October 2012 Edgar Allan Poe issue.

And finally, so it’s not all about me, some pimpage for writerly compatriot Marshall Payne, who has recently released two novels, Petrol Queen and Jimmy-Don and the Texas Hill Country Ordeal. I haven’t had a chance to read them myself just yet (because I’m a horribly slow reader with a very large to-read pile), but if they’re anything like Marshall’s short fiction, they’ll make for a fun, quirky read. You can find links to them on his Amazon author page.