Goals, Fears, and Fuzzies

Publishing Goals I came to the realization that I’ve been writing professionally (off and on) for forty years. I’ve hit all of my major goals over the years. It’s a lucky thing that I have so many stories trying to get out of my skull before I keel over…they keep me going as a writer. […]

Small Publisher Series: James Ward Kirk Publishing

James Ward Kirk Publishing This micro press run by (no surprise) author and editor James Ward Kirk puts out several unique anthologies per year, plus a couple of annuals. This is a for-the-love or a token payment press (two $25 awards for the top two submissions). I love many of their anthology concepts and come […]

ArchonSTL 41

Archon St. Louis is a speculative fiction genre convention based in…wait for it…Collinsville, IL. It’s just over the border from St. Louis, Missouri. The con is typically held at the Gateway Convention Center and the Doubletree Hotel. I just arrived home from ArchonSTL a few days ago. This is the 41st year of the convention, […]

The Author’s Law of Momentum

Have you ever had someone toss you a watermelon? The big ones are tough to catch because they can slip out of your hands due to momentum. Similarly, finishing a writing project and holding a copy in your hand is always a good feeling that’s tough to hang on to when you have to figure […]

Review: There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

Title: The Martian Chronicles Author: Ray Bradbury Genre: Fiction Publisher: Simon and Schuster Release Date: April 17, 2012 Pages: 256 The tranquility of Mars is disrupted by humans who want to conquer space, colonize the planet, and escape a doomed Earth. I encountered There Will Come Soft Rains when I was a little kid. I […]

Author Tools and Limitless Funds

I recently had someone ask me about Scrivener and other writing tools. They were interested in my opinion of their usefulness as an established author and whether they should purchase some of the tools folks are discussing on sites like Facebook. Scrivener is a great tool but it has a bit of a learning curve. […]

Small Publisher Series: Daily Science Fiction

Daily Science Fiction If you’re not signed up for their weekday free stories that appear in your inbox, you’re missing out. This is a small SFWA-approved venue that pays better than pro rates, currently eight cents per word. When they picked up my short story, “A Case of Curiosities”, I qualified to join SFWA. This […]

“What Are Red Herrings?” Asked the Cat

In literature, a red herring is an informal fallacy that typically uses extraneous or irrelevant information to mislead the audience. It’s used to give an astute reader several challenges during the telling of the tale. In other words, they’re purposeful deceits the author employs to mislead the folks who read their stories. Red herrings are […]

Small Publisher Series: Garden Gnome Publications

Garden Gnome Publications Another oddball small press that publishes an interesting series of anthologies called Biblical Legends, amongst others. I co-wrote a couple of stories with Tonya L. De Marco about two robots who go about doing horrible things to humans — enough so that they help to create some of the legends and mythologies we […]

Small Publisher Series: WolfSinger Publications

Wolfsinger Publications This is another Colorado publisher, albeit a micro press. WolfSinger puts out several unique anthologies every year, and sometimes I write a story for them just because the anthology concept excites my muse. They respond to questions quickly and actually do thorough edits. My story, “Grubstake”, appears in Supernatural Colorado, and a story […]