Sold a story

Very pleased to announce I have a short story coming out in the next issue of Polar Borealis, Issue 20, which Graeme Cameron is hoping to have out this month. The story, The Intersection, is a reprint. It first appeared in Strangers Among Us: Underdogs and Outcasts, published by Laksa Media, and edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law. It subsequently was included in my recent collection of short stories, Dreams of the Moon. 

If you have never had a chance to read an issue of Polar Borealis, or the sister poetry magazine, Polar Starlight, you might avail yourself on the wonderful experience. This a very high quality, Aurora Award winning publication offered absolutely free to readers, and features an all-Canadian cast. There is some simply wonderful work in this quietly revolutionary publication.

Caliban audiobook

Making good progress recording Caliban for release as an audiobook. This coming week I’ll lay down the last four chapters, then in the new year, after all the festive fuss has settled, I’ll edit the tracks and package them for distribution through Audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Indigo, Walmart, BOL, and Booktopia.

If that goes well, I’ll start recording one of my other novels or collections. Of course, I’d love to know what you, my reader, would like to see in audiobook format, and welcome your feedback here.

I do have to take a moment to thank Austin Vanfleet, Michael R. Fletcher, and Joe Mahoney for their guidance in all things to do with audio tech. Recording an audiobook, for me, is definitely a strange new world. I figure if I can conquer InDesign, and can deal with Audacity.

Hekja’s Lament

I’m stalled for the moment on my latest novel, more having to do with the demands of real life, and having plunged into the Pacific Ocean of research. It is both a wonderful experience, and a frustrating one, when you realize most of your earlier suppositions about a subject you thought you knew turn out to be incorrect. So, now enlightened, I’ll return to the novel in the new year with clearer authority and voice, and will set to revision, and hopefully completion of the first draft in 2022. How writers can churn out a novel a month is quite beyond me. It takes me years.

Other short stories

I’m working on a few other short stories in among all this other work. Completed a flash fiction piece and fired it off, which resulted in a first rejection, and thus the story is now out again. We’ll see.

Still struggling with two others, but I’ll keep at it until the sculpture in the marble appears.

the close of the year

As always I wish all of you contentment, good health, and laughter this festive season, whatever you celebrate, however you celebrate. Just be safe. Be kind.