Tag: Character

“Steam” now on James Gunn’s AdAstra

Some stories take arduous paths to publication.

Seems to be a pattern with mine.

Steam came about because I took part in a steampunk con and learned most of the books were “Tour of Wonders” stories – the author worked harder to share interesting technology than they did to develop interesting characters. In some cases it seemed the characters’ presence in the story served as talking heads to explain the technology rather than have some experience in which the technology played a part.

“…interesting characters in interesting situations doing interesting things…”

 
Not my kind of story. Show me interesting characters in interesting situations doing interesting things and I’m hooked. Anything else and I’m not going to go much beyond the first page (if that far).

You can read Steam‘s full story at Steam here on this blog.

Or you can get to the published story on James Gunn’s AdAstra’s Steam.

 

Great Opening Lines – and Why! (January 2023’s Great Opening Lines)

I wrote in Great Opening Lines – and Why! (Part 3 – Some Great Opening Lines) that I’d share more great opening lines as I found them.

My last entry in this category was October 2022’s Great Opening Lines – and Why! (October 2022’s Great Opening Lines) which covered Linda Koerber’s Coyote’s Road Trip. This entry in the Great Opening Lines – And Why! posts is Lidia Yuknavitch’s‘s The Chronology of Water.
Continue reading “Great Opening Lines – and Why! (January 2023’s Great Opening Lines)”

The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 1 (backstory)

Long Ago and Far Away…okay, starting in August 2022, I shared chapters from The Alibi. That lasted to mid-September when life and starting a new business got in the way.

Life and a new business consumed more time than I expected. I still wrote – actually updated, edited, and got ready for publication my first non-fiction in six years, That Th!nk You Do (due out 15 Jan 2023. You should all buy a copy and leave glorious reviews) – but The Alibi took a backseat (and it annoyed me I did so, by the way).

But I’m also sensitive to my own cycles, transits, methodologies, dispositions, … . I knew the story wasn’t going where it was suppose to go, but I didn’t know where it was suppose to go.

So shelve it. Give it time. Ruminate.

Some time late-September 2022, Susan and I talked about it. I mentioned my biggest challenge with the story was not seeing a character who would change through the course of the novel, didn’t know who or what would act as the throughline, both of which are (to me) critically important.
Continue reading “The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 1 (backstory)”

Those Wings Which Tire, They Have Upheld Me in Penumbric Dec 2k22

“Worthy of Philip K Dick himself. I would buy the whole magazine for this story alone. For fear of ruining the experience, I’ll simply say that a bullied child with a disability and the tech he relies on lead him to make a very unusual friend.”

 

Spring

Cowan was walking in the woods the first time he saw Angel. He was really looking for a haunted house the real estate lady told his parents was back there and he’d walked further into the woods than he’d ever gone before.

 
Enjoy!

My “Don Quitamo Sails” now in Rabbit Hole V anthology

I’m lucky enough to have my work included in The Rabbit Hole Volume 5: Just…Plain…Weird anthology along with quite a group of talented authors. I especially love the teaser

Welcome to the Rabbit Hole. On our fifth excursion into the warren of the odd, 37 authors lead us down their own little burrows of strangeness : an army of penguins, music that cures, aliens that communicate through old cartoons, images of the future that save, unwanted visions of the now, and, oh yes, it is raining lawyers. All have one thing in common, they are just…plain…weird.
Weird can be funny, weird can be sad, weird can be thoughtful, weird can be mad, but the one thing in common is that weird shares experiences you have, thankfully, never had.
Just be careful, all little bunnies are not nice, but they are memorable.

 
About the Author
I’m boring and dull, haven’t you heard?
If you’re desperate to be bored, you can find a basic bio on my About page or on LinkedIn.

How the stories came about? Continue reading “My “Don Quitamo Sails” now in Rabbit Hole V anthology”