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Showing posts from May, 2011

Research

Does anyone else do research for their fiction? And if so, how much? I seem to do it an awfully lot and it ends up being both a blessing and a burden. I think the blessings are pretty obvious: flavor, historical facts, realism, a source of new ideas, and putting me in the right headspace. But it's so easy to get bogged down and allow your "research time" to turn into days wasted bouncing around the Internet. Once those days build up, for me as my worst critic and chief naysayer, they become a convenient excuse for not writing. Or is it just me? If not, then how do you deal with it.

What I'm Working On

My entry for the Watery Grave Invitational. Another sci-fi/noir mash-up set in the same world as "Six Bullets For John Carter." This one is called, "The Silence of Untranslated Stars." It's slow going. A Western tale called, "The Plum Thicket." Really hoping David Cranmer will take a look at this one when I'm done. Dialogue feels off to me right now--trying to go from realism but not stray into Deadwood territory (you know, Shakespeare if he coined the word cocksucker) And Shane Stevens edits. Endless Stevens edits. That's the thing that worries about someday doing this for a living and getting paid. I don't know how you could ever manage to look at your work when it's finally done and printed without wanting to put a pencil through your left eye....

Gun Mantra...

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Shotgun Honey has been publishing some first-rate fiction since it burst onto the scene a couple of months ago. I'm honored to now have one of my own stories hosted there. "Gun Manta" is probably one of the quickest and easiest bits of fiction I've ever written; hopefully, it doesn't show. I have a love/hate relationship with flash. It's not my favorite format--at all. But I'm very proud of this story and I don't think it'll be the last appearance of the unnamed Inspector with the tattoo of Ganesha on his hand. *** My Shane Stevens piece is undergoing edits and running into some hang-ups. As it stands now, the piece clocks in at 33k. Not exactly a size condusive to easy printing. With the extraordinary help of Matthew Funk, we've cut it done to a one issue version at just a little over 5K. It works (which I attribute to Funkster's skill), but it's fucking painful to look at. Really fucking painful. So, I'm not sure what the fi

Tornado Relief Flash Fiction Challenge: Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

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A week ago, Daniel O'Shea offered a flash fiction challenge . A 1,000 word story with rain playing a pivotal role in the narrative. But there's more. For every entry, O'Shea will donate $5 to The Red Cross. A Lincoln to help out those devasted by the recent tornados. So, here's mine. Smart Girl You have to understand—she’s a smart girl. She doesn’t see the boy she met yesterday, the first day it stopped raining. Unfortunately, enough daylight remained to steam the air to a sick swelter as college students swelled the streets. Nightfall, when it came, offered no relief from heat and eager crowds. It was the first night she had really been out, but she didn’t make it long. It was too much—too loud, too packed, too hot, and too…gross. The few hours before she decided to walk back, she spent wondering why she bothered. Graduation was only months away. This money could’ve taken her to Europe. When she left the bar, the boy fell in behind her, following her fo