Making the Most of a Bad Situation

Undead Friends,

Several authors, myself included, received really sad news yesterday from Twisted Library Press. Due to financial obligations and the massive number of books on the "to-be-released" queue for the small press, most of their upcoming anthologies were dropped from the line-up. From my understanding, the Library will continue to publish their fantastic horror novels, as well as a few other anthologies, over the next year.

Unfortunately, that means I can no longer officially say I'm a writer at the Library. I had six short stories due out, four horror tales and two horror-comedy shorts. On the bright side, that means I now have several stories to read over and send off to new publishers. Hopefully, I'll get some bites.

If you love zombies, horror, anthologies, head over to the Library and lend them your support. Their books are available on Amazon and other sites, in e-book and print format in most cases. Their main site can be found here. If you're interested in hanging out with other zombiphiles, check out their forum here. The Library is a beloved publisher, and they could use the support.

Thanks!

"Sirius Issues" Selected for Evolved 1 Anthology

While putting the finishing touches on my short novella "Seeking Sagittarius" for Wicked Bag of Suspense Tales (Wicked East Press), I received an acceptance email from Evolved Publishing. Evolved is putting together a mixed genre anthology for their short story contest finalists, and I'm thrilled to say, my quirky science fiction tale "Sirius Issues" will be one of its ten selections. Evolved 1: A Short Story Collection will feature a great range of tales. Its tentative release date is December 23, 2011, and it will be, initially, released in e-book format.

I will, of course, put up more information on the collection, and my story, closer to the release date. In the meantime, though, check out this great publisher at their Facebook page, or their main site.

Of Scaled Beasts...

Since the final Table of Contents are now up, I thought I'd share a couple of my recent acceptances with the blogosphere.

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Fish

Dagan Books is publishing an anthology called Fish, which promises to be filled with tales of underwater wonder and rediscovered fish mythology. As soon as I saw the charming cover by Galen Dara, I went to work on a short story to fit the call for submissions. I'm happy to say that my story "Fish Tears" is listed in the Table of Contents. "Fish Tears" is a post-Apocalyptic glimpse at a world without rivers. And, if you know me well, the heavy dose of Egyptian mythology comes as no surprise. It was a joy to write.

The anthology is due out in February 2012. I'll be sure to post more information closer to the release date.

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Here There Be Dragons

Wicked East Press (their submissions forum can be found here) held their first writing contest recently, and though I didn't win a prize, my story was accepted for publication in Here There Be Dragons. My tale, "A Trade of Ice," concerns an unwilling messenger sent to make a terrible trade with a great monster (hint, she has wings, scales, and fits the cover art--which was put together by the lovely Rebecca Besser). From the Table of Contents alone, I can tell this is going to be a great "gift" anthology for fans of dragons--in fact, I'm pretty certain I'll be giving my brother a copy.

I'll give you an update on the release date as soon as I have more information.

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Random Chicken

And now for a segment I like to call "Random Chicken". Because chickens, when they appear, usually are, well, random.

This week, Patricia Louise Puckett celebrated the birth of her first niece, Madeline Rose. Congratulations to the lucky parents, Laura and Lee! She's one of the most beautiful baby girls I've ever seen, and I might just have to use her for inspiration in one of my upcoming middle reader stories, which is only fitting since she's certain to be spoiled like a princess ;)