After the Drought: When it Rains, it Pours

I'm back with important updates on two short story submissions.

First, editor Mike Sweeney over at Jersey Devil Press has given me a conditional release date of January 3 for their next issue, featuring my first short story "Beta Geminorum". Many thanks to him again.

Secondly, my second  short story "Reign of Terror" has been accepted for publication in Title Goes Here:. That story is slated to appear in the upcoming April issue. Again, I owe a big debt of thanks to editor Inanna Gabriel.

And as always, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read my manuscripts and to everyone reading this.

Gold

Jersey Devil Press just accepted "Beta Geminorum" for publication. Thanks to them, Nick, Merrilee, Mick, JJ, Ben, and everyone who's given me advice and encouragement.

Next we query editors and agents about the novel.

Submission to the Devil

After having my first short story "Beta Geminorum" returned unread after a five month wait, I've resubmitted it to Jersey Devil Press.

They're an online magazine that publishes yearly anthologies. They also profess to enjoy weird fiction over there. I hope my work meets their standards.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Nethereal Third Draft

I finally finished the third draft of my novel yesterday. I ended up trimming the final page count by about a hundred pages, just from tightening up dialogue and reducing unnecessary exposition. It should now be far easier for a reader to forget about the book and get lost in the story.

Finishing this project doesn't mean I'm done. Not remotely. Next on the agenda is revising and resubmitting my first short story. I'll let you know how it goes.

Weirder Tale

After sending in a postal submission of my first short story to Weird Tales back in April, I finally heard back from them today--sort of.

My returned SASE and manuscript were accompanied by a form letter explaining that the magazine has changed hands again, and submissions are closed pending the installation of a new editor-in-chief.

They didn't read my story, but this isn't quite a non-response. I'll figure out how to categorize this business over at Duotrope.

The best part is that I'm finally free to resubmit my first story (the second one has already been out three times). It's gonna need a lot of work, so I plan to wait until Nick's novel push initiative is over before diving into short story revisions.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Checking In

I've been really busy at work lately, and this increased activity has been largely responsible for my recent drop in posting volume. Exacerbating matters is the fact that very little of note is currently happening in regard to my writing. I'm still slogging away at the Nethereal revisions. However, my change in circumstances has cut my productivity in half.

Still no word on either short story. I've been twelve weeks waiting on Weird Tales. I don't have a ticket number since I made a postal sub, and I can't find an e-mail address where they can be queried despite scouring their web site. I suppose I'll just have to treat the matter as an exercise in patience.

As always, I shall hasten to post any new developments.