Short Fiction
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Ever author gets asked this eventually. “Where do your stories come from?” Every story is different. This is the anatomy of my most recent, “Monkey Makes Five.” Those who know me probably know that me and puppets…we don’t get along. Really. The first time I saw the amazingly talented author and puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal
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Anyone playing along at home might have noticed that I’ve had a recent run on stories getting picked up for publication. As of a few weeks ago, I’ve hit six for this year. A not-inconsiderable chunk of the credit for that sits with my writing group, the Wayward Writers. Not that we have a name,
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I’m 43 now. Nothing has changed, I suppose. It’s just a number. Some people obsess about turning older. As a kid, you want so bad to be an adult. As the years start sliding away, you want to be a kid again. To hell with that. I fought hard for these wrinkles–these gray hairs. Time
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I’ve been a bit radio-silent for a while, and for that I apologize. Just like I do every time I go radio silent, I suppose. This writing thing, I’m telling you people. It is not for the weak of heart or the lazy. It just isn’t. Between some tight writing deadlines, some pretty rigid (but
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The wisdom goes, you can’t edit what you haven’t written. I know that as well as anybody. After all–I went a long time thinking I couldn’t write novels because I couldn’t stay focused for that long. Part of becoming serious about my writing was finishing pieces. Not just novels, not just first drafts of stories,
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I’m feeling all writerly today, possibly due to a few day stretch where I was unable to get any writing or editing done. (As a related aside, drivers, pay attention when you’re on the road. A car is just a slow-moving half-ton bullet. Corollary: my daughter is doing fine after getting flipped up onto the
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So here we are at the end of January. I set a pretty ambitious schedule for myself this year, so let’s take a look at the scoreboard. Edits on Ink Calls to Ink are officially at the halfway point, which was my goal. I hope to finish edits in February. Part of the push to
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Pausing on the slow decent into madness that is the holiday season, it occurs to me to take stock. Sure, 2011 isn’t over yet, but I can New Years from my window, so it’s good enough. Anything that comes up between now and then will be a pleasant surprise, the icing on the gingerbread cookie,
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“The tango never stops in Buenos Aires. It goes on and on and we all dance to it in our time, helplessly drawn when fate initiates the cabezazo.” — from “Father Pena’s Last Dance,” Hannah Strom-Martin Inspired by irrepressible Christine Yant, I have decided to adopt Fan Letter Sunday. And it’s largely because of this
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My sci-fi noir story “Odd Jobs” leads off Space Tramps: Full-Throttle Space Tales #5 which goes on sale today. I’ve already read it, and it is a fun celebration of space opera fiction. Mine is a classic tale of fringe characters with uncertain motives, deals too good to be true, revenge, and a sex bot
Tales from the Ragged Edge 