“Dematerialize” and “Baby Shower” are accepted in Story Seed Vault!
Photo by Joanna Kosinska.
Month: October 2017
Microstory “The Northwest Icy Passage” now on Story Seed Vault!
Patient seafarers across the frigid seas!
Frozen will-revive-someday un/near-dead course through, as well.
My microstory’s up on Story Seed Vault.
“Before the Burst” accepted in Fireside!
Very excited that Fireside Magazine has accepted my story, “Before the Burst,” for publication!
Fireside Magazine publishes stories of all genres and features many thoughtful pieces of flash and short stories. As an added bonus, they pay writers an exceptional amount per word and, in fact, make it part of their core values to offer fair pay.
This is my first acceptance to their publication. A great way to start the week!
Photo by Markus Spiske
waiting, prepping, soaking
i think, sometimes, while reading a short story, like a good joke, you gotta wait for it. you gotta wade through the vagaries and the parts where you might put an ellipsis (…) if you were summarizing the story. you have to let the details soak into your skin, into your pores.
i could make a million metaphors, about the climb uphill and all the mosquitoes and the gnarly roots that poke up through the dirt and trip you and everything before reaching that glorious apex where all is stunning, and there is nothing but breathtaking skies and land that stretches for miles and miles, glittering in the sun.
in another vein, i could say something about leave-in conditioner, stain removers or hair dyes where time is a differential to effectiveness.
about rituals and small gestures that lead up to the pronunciation of the transformation.
about appetizers and small talk and whatever else there is. or even before that. the shaving and grooming and flossing part.
i’ve read countless stories where i wondered, there is something being hinted at— will it get there?
if waiting didn’t trigger such forceful desires, such muscular pulls in some substrate within us, wanting to compel us further and onward, would we even bother with mysteries? with noir who-dunnits? with romances?
anyway, i just want to give a little ode to the set up, to the take-you-by-the-hand-and-walk-you around, to looking at the little things, to glancing about in your environment, to getting a foothold of where you are.
sometimes it’s that weird sign or the piece of garbage tucked in the road that looks like a snake that’s the most memorable in a hike (even if the peak is pretty stellar). or maybe that bit wasn’t the most memorable thing, but it’s the thing that comes up later when you laugh about it with your hiking buddies, on the way to the next climb.
i think we have too many words that congratulate the top (pinnacle, summit, peak, apex, crest)… maybe we should hop down a few meters and talk about the gearing up part. (to be fair, there are words like beginning, commencement, start— but those too, feel like points and not the discovery, not the process–the revving up bit.)
i know i have too many analogies going on in here, but please excuse my eclecticism. i just wanted to say:
sometimes it’s worth waiting for.
(and sometimes it’s not)
but it’s a gamble that i think is, more often than not, worth taking.
and for sticking through this rambling post, here’s the kicker:
Norman Mcdonald: The Moth
“Prasetyo Plastics” accepted in Clarkesworld!
Opening today’s inbox was like unwrapping the unadorned bamboo-leaf zong zi and finding a delicious, gustatorially evocative treat of meat-filled sticky rice within.
Or, for a Javanese cuisine reference, unwrapping the unadorned banana-leaf botok, and finding the rich, spiced lemon basil coconut flesh within.
(Okay, those were strange analogies… and also a mouthful…)
Which is to say…
My story, “Prasetyo Plastics” (SF), is accepted in Clarkesworld, for the November issue.
It’s my second story published by their magazine this year, and in general, so I’m quite excited!
Given the title of my work, maybe I should have made a plastics analogy to start off with–Like opening a plastic Easter egg and finding chocolates within? But that’s not quite the right season– oh wait, how about: Reaching into a plastic pumpkin and grabbing a handful of Snickers? Still doesn’t have the same feel. Hm…
(Background photo cred: JJ Ying)
October 75-worder
Since I completed the 300, I figure, why not take on the 75-word challenge?
So, here it is!
Original photo by Pierre T. Lambert.
Theme:
Sea Voyage
Genre:
Science Fiction or Fantasy
October 300-word challenge posted!
I like firsts. Picking up my foot and stepping into new realms.
I just finished writing my first submission to a 300-word challenge.
Perfect for October (and the ghouls that come at the end of the month), the inspirational image veers on the creepy with dark shadows and someone/thing(?) huddled in a blue cloak.
Here’s the photo:
And here’s my story, entitled Thin-skinned.
Tardigrades!
My microfiction is up at Story Seed Vault!
Thanks Alex Massey, ed. for the informative context!
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Look into this little guy’s mouth.
Photo by Dino Hristopoulos / Creative Commons
Don’t you just see that lurking tunnel, twinkling, goading you into a dimension far away?
D.A. Xiaolin Spires 