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The State of Things: Bull Spec Magazine
Today I had the pleasure of being on The State of Things, a show hosted by Frank Stasio on WUNC, along with Samuel Montgomery-Blinn (the editor of Bull Spec), John Kessel, Richard Dansky, and Paul Celmer. We talked a great deal about speculative fiction (with leanings toward science-fiction) and touched on steampunk, technology, the line between reality and fiction, women writing in the genre, and how the genre is changing. You can even hear a version of my short flash piece, “Sand” that was put together especially for the episode. You can find the whole transcript here! Ah, the magic of the internet. It was quite the experience–even though I’ve…
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Trying to shoot a clockwork wolf.
I’ve been taking a break from writing. Not a huge long one, but a small one, intended to give my hands a rest and help to jog my brain into allowing me a peek into the last half of the book I’m writing. I’ve been sitting on the same scene for days, and though I wrote about 300 words yesterday, I’m still at a standstill. There’s a wolf in the distance, and the protagonist is trying to stop it from being shot. Which might mean he has to shoot his lover. Did I mention he’s in one of the hells? Right. Um. Sure. It’s the least trippy of the hell…
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Cats, hands, and words
We’ve been looking for a new furry friend for the family since our beloved Minerva (the cat) passed away. We went back and forth between wanting to get a dog and a cat, and after every attempt to get a dog was foiled, we opted for the feline variety instead. I love dogs, and I love cats. But I know dogs are much more work. Our Calliope is a wonderful, special, marvelous dog. But she was a ton of work. I trained her from a puppy and it was exhausting–it was also before I had a puppy of my own (i.e. my son)! I just don’t think we’re up for…
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Progressy progress, and knee deep in weird…
Oddly enough, Paul Jessup is having a conversation at his blog right now about the (re)emergence of weird, and I happen to be knee deep in it. It wasn’t expected. At its heart, Dustman is certainly Neo-Victorian, with occasional splashes of steampunk–but more and more I’m seeing how much weird it has to offer. Granted, there’s room for it, as one of the main POVs is journeying seven hells for reasons yet unknown to him (but known to me… oh muah ha ha ha ah). So far he’s encountered coffins made out of blood, blood sucking sand, and visions of his ex-love as a teenager. Yesterday things got even weirder.…
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Rock ‘n’ Roll
At least, that’s what writing has felt like lately. A story, moving along at a good pace, surprises left and right. I’m working on Dustman (working title) right now, which is a peripheral novel in the Aldersgate Cycle; that is, it takes place in the same world, and has a few cameos from some familiar characters, but isn’t part of the main bulk. The story is much more intimate, in a way, as it has to do with three characters only, who switch POVs throughout the story. The Aldersgate had a much bigger scope–you know, kingdoms at stake and all of that. In this case, though war is raging, it’s…
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Fiddling in short form.
Last night I finally wrote* a synopsis of The Aldersgate. I’m not sure why I hadn’t done this before, since I’d queried it and submitted it to a publisher–but somehow, there it was, un-synopsized (which, I’m aware, is not a word). Normally I kind of dig doing synopses–I did three of them in one weekend a few months ago, and it was almost refreshing. But, those three novels were not multi POV. The problems with writing multi POV synopses is that clarity cracks. You have so many details, intertwined–and if you forget a minor detail, you have to back if that minor detail turns into a major plot point. Plus,…
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“Dead’s End to Middleton”
My short story, “Dead’s End to Middleton” is available at Crossed Genres–as of yesterday, in their Steampunk themed issue. It’s got steampunk technology, and guns, and aliens, and explosions. Should be entertaining, anyway! With the moving and whatnot, I’m a little delayed, I’m afraid! Ah, well. There’s some great stories in the issue, and Crossed Genres is well worth taking a look. Exciting to finally see this story go live, that’s for sure.
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Friendship is a sheltering tree.
Things have been a little toward the crappy side lately, and while I’m not going to get into the details, one of the most pressing and irritating issues is that I’ve got some pretty severe carpal tunnel going on. I’ve had to resort to using dorky looking braces, taking lots of Aleve, and not typing. The not typing thing is particularly maddening since, well, writing’s what I do (not to mention what I get paid for). To add insult to injury (literally!) since I’ve been stressed out a bit lately, my brain’s first response is to be all OMG HERE’S 20 IDEAS FOR NOVELS YOU MUST WRITE THEM DOWN NOW.…
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Renovating rooms, knocking down walls
I’m not going gung-ho with writing right now. I know it’s a bit of a fruitless endeavor, what with family and holidays and everything. As my lovely friend Jennifer said to me yesterday during coffee, “Just enjoy doing nothing for a while.” Yeah, I’m not good with doing nothing. Especially writing-wise. But hey, I’m pacing myself. Except characters just have minds of their own now, don’t they? The last three days I’ve been assaulted with bits and pieces of dialogue, scenes, sentences, and stories from The Ward of the Rose (taking a wee break from the followup to Queen of None, but still going to be writing more Arthuriana posts). For those…
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Steampunk Tales #4 is out – with “The Brass Pedestal”
Ahoy there, mates! Steampunk Tales, the penny dreadful for your iPhone, just launched its 4th issue. And within its digital pages, you will find a copy of my short story, “The Brass Pedestal”. It’s about family, metal corsets, clockwork earwigs, and how love can be a barrier to revenge. I had a great deal of fun with this particular story, as it has a hint of weird west to it, and features my favorite town name ever: Replication. Thanks to the folks at Steampunk Tales for including me in issue #4, too! Hoping to see much more of this type of publishing in the future.
