Library of the Living Dead Antholgies Cancelled

Sad news. It seems as if they're all cancelled, here's a further post from the Doc (bottom of page). except:  "Zombidays", "Live and Let Undead" and "No More Heroes" were complete and have/will be released

Write1 Sub1

Some of my new followers won't know that I've been doing the Write 1 Sub 1 challenge this year. It's a great idea.  Write a short story or poem every week, sub something every week. (There's also an Ray Light for those who want to write a story every month.) Report your progress every week or so to like minded writers. It's an idea inspired by Ray Bradbury. If you succeed you get a wonderful blog award, like this:

I'll also share with you Jay Lake's post on psychotic persistence. This really struck a chord with me. Hey, I'm not saying it's the only way, but it works for me. Anyone inspired should check out the Write1 Sub1 blog. Nothing's been announced yet, but something as successful as this has just got to keep on going.

Sweet Poetry

Not before time, I've been working on my poetry today. I enjoy poetry a lot. I find it so much easier to get into the flow with it. I'm talking science fiction, fantasy and horror poetry. Boy, there are a lot of venues. A quick check on duotrope revealed 150 odd venues just for fantasy poetry. So there's a big demand for it. And I think I've mentioned before that I've had some success converting poems into prose, and made from nice sales from it. I also think poetry helps the way I write, enhancing my lyrical skills. I really should do more.

Anyhoo, here's where I've been subbing to today:

Trapeze. Tweet sized prose and poetry. No pay. Takes reprints.
7x20. Tweet sized prose and poetry. No pay. Takes reprints.
Scifaikuest. Speculative haikus  and other short forms. $1-10. Hard copy version.
Stone Telling  Reading for a SF issue until Nov 27. $5.
Phantasmacore. $1. Takes reprints.
Ideomancer. $6. 


Phew, been writing and subbing for four hours now. I always talk about subbing a lot, but it can be quite time consuming. More tomorrow.

Any poets out there?  I know there are a few. What are your favourite venues? How do you divide your time between poetry and prose?

How I Write . . . Pack Ratting My Unfinished Stories

I don't like to throw things away. We've got two spare hamster cages in the shed-- just in case. In case of what I'm not quite sure.

I'm the same with my stories. Now, brace yourself, because what I'm about to say is scary. After three years of writing I've five hundred unfinished stories on my computer. Ahem. Probably about the same amount of stories I've actually completed and subbed. They range from a couple of hundred words to almost complete stories of thousands of words.

Not good, you might thing. But aha, something happened yesterday which completely justifies my hoarding. I was looking at  the Mortis Operandi anthology from Harrow Press, an anthology call for investigation of crimes with a supernatural element. Hold on thinks I, I've got an unfinished story concerning a missing person with a supernatural element. I couldn't remember the title so I had to search through my files, while doing so I found another short story which I thought might make a good sub for the Nasty Snips II flash horror anthology from Pendragon Press.

I found the crime story, 2500 words. It's a gift from the shed. I polished the other story and submitted, and now I'm working on the Mortis Operandi story.

So, my pack ratting habits are totally justified. Now . . .  to find a home for the other 498 stories.

I Rock

Hey. I came second in the British Fantasy Society short story competition with my story, 'The Sea is in My Blood.' That is so cool. £50 prize money, publication and a year's free membership. And check out their cool logo.

How I Write . . . Riffing off the Greats

I'm delighted to announce a pro sale today, to Lovecraft E-zine. They pay $50 a story and my story was on the dot a thousand words, so I'm counting it. Talking of counting, that makes my thirteenth pro sale. This makes me happy.

And the sale has led to a new wheeze me. I take inspiration from the Cthulu Mythos quite a bit. My stories might be quite distinct from the mythos, but I hope to follow the tone. So, why not do the same for another of my favourites. Yes, Philip K. Dick. I've the volumes of his collected short stories. So I'm going to be having a little stab at following in his footsteps. I'm rather excited about this. What about you guys? Do you take inspiration from a particular author in this way?

In other news-- novels. Yep, too long for me. But I have come up with another plan of attack. Novellas and novelettes. I have a couple in my unfinished files, and hopefully I can get a least a couple finished this month. The idea is to gradually expand my span of control. It could work. Maybe. Gotta keep trying.