News, News, News, News

No sooner did I finish the story that kept me hunkered down in the writing cave all January, when another New! Shiny! request landed in my email box. So I'm going to play prairie dog and head back to the burrow until sometime this spring. But before I do, I wanted to catch everyone up on all the good stuff.

First, if you want to get a taste of the story that occupied my January, head over to Beyond the Veil, the Samhain Publishing paranormal writers blog, for a discussion of how I developed one of the names for that story, aka "Fixed". Yes, there is a cat involved, and a shelter, and the cat winces a lot.

The next two items are personal appearances that might be of special interest to folks in the Washington DC area. On March 5, from 10 a.m. to about noon, I'll be moderating a panel of comprising noted science fiction and fantasy authors Catherine Asaro, Mindy Klasky, Pamela Palmer, Diana Peterfreund, Rebecca York and special guest Colleen Gleason. The panel is part of an all-day seminar hosted by Washington Romance Writers at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center, Bethesda, MD. It will continue after lunch with Colleen's workshops on the hero's journey and world-building. Click here for more information (including links to driving directions). This event is free and open to the public, and I know from personal experience, WRW always offers prizes, including books signed by the participating authors.

The spiffy logo belongs to SynDCon II, the Washington DC area's premiere gaming convention, set for the Rockville Hilton (former home of Capclave), April 1-3. The convention will feature board games, role-playing games, miniature war games and a host of special events, including a writing workshop and panels targeted to the needs of gamer writers and developers. The cast of characters will include Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Kelly A. Harmon, Diane Whiteside and me. I'll post more details on the program as they become available.

Finally, I'm celebrating the release of "Person Demons", my short story about a Tibetan-American sorceress practising her craft in America's most romantic city, Alexandria, VA. The story appears in Hellebore & Rue, an anthology celebrating queer women magic users. It was was a big stretch for me on a number of levels. I'm one of those writers who follows characters around taking dictation, and I was very worried about getting it right when the lead character was so different from me. But some things are universal: love, hope--and devils manipulating people's emotions for their own ends. I hope you'll check out the anthology, if only for the cover, which is as lovely as any I've ever seen.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wrong Wrong Wrong *headdesk*

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

How to Tell You Married the Right Guy, Writers Edition

Me: I had the weirdest dream last night. We were with this old guy who was certain there was a vampire in the basement. He picked up an ax and a Coleman lantern and headed for a partially painted over door. I was afraid he'd hurt himself, so I went with him through two or three doorways leading deeper into the cellar. But after the third room, I was sure this was a bad idea, so I headed back to the main room to wait for the folks from New Orleans who knew how to deal with this stuff.

The "experts" were just arriving as he emerged from the cellar, looking a little burned. Most importantly his face looked different, like he was somebody else masquerading as the old guy and couldn't quite get it right. Trailing him was a small man who looked a little like a dead version of an Indian politician from the 1950s, wearing a burned white Nehru jacket, who was walking like a bat--knuckles trailing on the ground, elbows up, everything.

They sat at one of the tables in the basement room, and I realized they weren't human at all. They were more like translucent, wraithlike, humanoid lampreys with trailing feelers like catfish. Peculiar but pretty in a deadly sort of way.

You were fascinated. All I wanted to do was find the person in the New Orleans group, most of whom were dressed up like Victorian era reenactors, who was supposed to know what to do. When I looked back, you were coming out of the cellar door where the others had been, and you didn't look like yourself, either.

We looked at each other. You knew I knew you were one of them now. And you planned to prevent me from stopping you and your "friends". I stood there, my stomach in knot, knowing it wasn't you, and wondering how in hell I was going to dispose of the body.

Greg: [Laughing.] Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem.

It's done! It's done! It's done... again

Finished the rewrite of Highway from Hell, which is now 82K and stuff. (Nothing like having to rewrite 40K to add 12K.) The next step is to let the manuscript rest a few days before reading it over and offering it up for beta.
Or maybe zeta. Some folks have really gone above and beyond on this one. But if there's anyone out there who hasn't read it and would like to dip their toes in the pond, please, let me know. The only hitch is I want to get this to the editor who requested it before I leave for DragonCon, so I'll need it back by August 24.
Cheers,

Yesterday I Will

Last August, Jim Levin of the York Emporium bookstore and curiosity shop announced a writing competition. The only criteria were the story had to be under five thousand words and it needed to carry the title "Yesterday I Will". Inspired by a preview of Weird Tales' first One-Minute Weird Tale, I wrote a 69-word story that I thought was pretty funny. Fortunately, the judges agreed. The story made it to the final anthology, which I finally got to hold in my hot little hands at Balticon. No reviews so far, and it's only available through Fortress Publishing, Amazon and The York Emporium, but if you like new voices and edgy science fiction, this is the anthology for you.

And then there's my story... ;-)