Short Story News

I am thrilled to announce that I've sold my short story, Like Origami in Water, to Daily Science Fiction. No word yet on the date it will appear; I'll provide that intel when I have it.

I'll admit that I like most of my short stories (the ones I don't like get sent to the bad story folder without any supper), but I have a special fondness for this one and am excited that I'll have a chance to share it with readers.

What I'm Reading Right Now

I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine
Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Reapers are the Angels By Alden Bell

So tell me, what's currently in your To Read pile?

Finding the Happy Place

And no, I'm not talking about new age stuff or humor. Sometimes you reach a point with a story where the words stop flowing. Oh, maybe they trickle out, but the story seems caught up in tangles in your head and you can't find the end of the string. I hit this point with my new novel a few weeks ago.

Since then, I've been slogging along, trickling out words and working on other stories when the word flow gets so frustrating I want to rip the word machine from my head.

Then a light bulb went off in my head. I've been telling myself that this novel better be good. In fact, it needs to be better than good. So instead of letting the words come as they will, I've been fighting to make everything perfect. Nothing like a little internal pressure to send the happy place on its merry way. A few days ago, though, I let the words reign. I tossed out the idea of perfection. I dug way deep into the word machine and turned the faucet on full blast. Lo and behold, the words flowed and I found my happy place with this novel again.

I don't normally post excerpts of work in progress, but I thought I'd share this snippet. It made me smile when I wrote it. Okay, scratch that. It made me grin like a madcap fool. This is first draft stuff, okay? It's not perfect and out of context, it might leave you scratching your head, but it is what it is.

The water shut off and a few minutes later, Karen emerged from the adjoining bathroom draped in a towel, a puff of lavender scented steam drifting out behind her. A water goddess materializing from her temple of sea spray. All she needed was a gossamer gown and a golden circlet on her head.

He watched through heavy-lidded eyes as she tiptoed across the room to her dresser. The curling ends of her hair left a trail of water droplets in her wake. He caught sight of a grey spot on her shoulder. A goddess, maybe, but a diseased goddess, cursed by a wrathful god named NotReal, and NotReal was a real son of a bitch. In fact, the Great and Powerful NotReal was on a mission to make Mark’s life as fucked up as possible. And why? For sport, of course. Old NotReal didn’t have much else to do and a bored god was a dangerous god.

New Patrick Videos

Because of the court case and some other issues, GSVS has not posted any new pictures or videos of Patrick in a bit. But they've posted two new videos and I thought I'd share them with you.

If you're a new visitor and don't know who Patrick is, you can read about his story here. Please note that other than donating money for his care, I am not involved in his rescue in any way. I am merely an animal lover who has been following his story.

This first video is very short.



This video is a bit longer:



My hope is that Patrick continues to improve and eventually has a loving, forever home.

ASIM 50 Review

HorrorScope recently reviewed ASIM 50 and had this to say about my short story:

"...and Damien Walters Grintalis’ A Glimpse of Nothing in Silvered Glass draw us into original worlds through great characterisation and prose."

You can read the full review here.

Necrotic Tissue

Necrotic Tissue Issue 14 has been released! This issue includes my story, To Keep You Safe, and while I'm excited to have a story appearing within the NT pages, it's a bittersweet inclusion as this is the last issue of Necrotic Tissue.

Don't have a copy yet? I might be able to help you out with that. I have a copy of Necrotic Tissue to give away to one lucky person. What do you have to do? Leave a comment and tell me why you should be the recipient. :)

Easy, right? Maybe...if you're handy with a rhyme. You see, I don't want a standard 'I want it because' response. I mean really, what's the fun in that? Nope, I want a snippet of rhyme. It can be short, silly, serious, or seriously silly. All I ask is that it rhymes.

I will pick the winner on Sunday, so you have a few days to come up with something. And to whet your appetite, here is a peek at the cover of NT #14: