Tally Ho!

My fifth short story acceptance of the year just came through this morning. "Memento Mori" will appear in the Dark Scribe Press anthology Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet.

That rounds out this tally of publications (not counting blogs and various newsletter items) and acceptances during 2007:....

Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Appetite, the second volume in the Deviations series, forthcoming from Aisling Press. "Prometheus Rebound," forthcoming in Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly. "Memento Mori," forthcoming in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press, 2008). "Arachne," in Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory, forthcoming from Scriblerus Press (June 2008). "Hermit Crabs," forthcoming in Electric Velocipede #14 (Spring 2008. Electric Velocipede reached final ballot for a 2007 World Fantasy Award). "Identity Theft," forthcoming in The Drabbler #10 (Sam's Dot Publishing, February 2008). Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations series (Aisling Press), Nov. 2007. "January 1985: A Day in Lawrence, Massachusetts," Reed, Issue 60, 2007.

Poetry "Derivative Work," forthcoming in Asimov's Science Fiction. "Forest Dragons" (honorable mention) and "Salvage" (top ten) forthcoming in anthology of best entries in the Science Fiction Poetry Association's sonnet contest, to be released by Spec House of Poetry. "Evolution," Star*Line 30(6). "After the Standoff," Poets' Forum Magazine, 19(2). "Getting the Last Laugh," Poets' Forum Magazine, 19(2). "First Things First," Harp-Strings Poetry Journal 18(3). "Running Moebius," Poets' Forum Magazine 18(3). "Eye of the Beholder" Star*Line 30(4), where it was one of two poems to receive Editor's Choice. "A Multiple Personality Contemplates the Pleiades," Star*Line 30(1).

Articles "A New Lens on Life," Wagner Magazine, Fall 2007. "The Many Shades of Dark Poetry," Poets' Forum Magazine 19(2). "Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave!" Poets' Forum Magazine 19(1). "The 'Rights' Stuff," Of Poets And Poetry 33(2). "Genre Poetry Panel at Necronomicon," Of Poets And Poetry 33(1). "Speculative Poetry: It's Not Just About Spaceships," Poets' Forum Magazine 18(3). "Using Metaphor to Terrify," Star*Line 30(1).

Photography A photograph of statues at the Homosassa Public Library is forthcoming on the cover of Poets' Forum Magazine. "Moths and Snapdragons," cover photograph in Harp-Strings Poetry Journal, 19(1) and accompanying "A New Lens on Life," above. "Beach Sunflower," in "Going Native in the Garden" on This Old House (online magazine), May 2007. Photos of McCoy circus flatcars in "Grandpa" Nelson G. Williams, "Have You Seen These Big Circus Trains?" The Layout (Train Collectors Association, Southern Division) 41(3). "Flagler College," in Schmap's Guide to Jacksonville (online), Historic Buildings page, October 2007. (Flagler College is in St. Augustine, which is close to Jacksonville on Florida's northeast coast.) Cover art (photo montage) in Star*Line issues 30(4), 30(5), and 30(6).

In addition, my photograph "Swamp Lily" sold at a juried live auction that was part of "Savor the Art of Citrus County," an evening fund-raiser to benefit the Art Center of Citrus County in February 2007. I was also interviewed by speculative poet Scott A. Kelly for his article, "Meet Elissa Malcohn: Former Editor of Star*Line," in his online magazine Vacuum Genesis, originally posted in December 2006 and reposted in January 2007.

Blessings to you all for 2008 and beyond. Happy New Year!

Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buy.com, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.

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Season's Blessings

Large size

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, safe, and blessed holiday season!

Combines images from this shot taken in June and this shot taken in October (also shown below). The October shot shows the Moon at 93% of full. The Moon is currently 99% of full.

Made using MS Paint and MS Photo Editor. I've used our neighbor's statue in a prior collage, shown here.

Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buy.com, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details. Forthcoming from Aisling Press: Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite.

[end of entry]

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The Week In Publications

A Covenant Transport truck stood across the county road from the post office where I pick up my mail. A flatbed was parked not far from the truck. Naturally, I had to cross the county road and set up this shot.

That's a lot of books. :-)

This past week (for the most part) has seen:

One story acceptance

Two contracts received

Cover art published

Poem published

Cover photo solicited (this actually happened about two weeks ago)

Radio spot arranged

Details follow....

1. Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly

My story "Prometheus Rebound" has been accepted to Helix. I'll post the story URL when it's live.

Seven stories published by Helix received honorable mentions in the 2006 Year's Best Science Fiction collection and four of its poems were nominated for the Rhysling Award (for the best speculative poetry of the year), of which one received third place. Five stories made the "Notable Short Stories of 2006" list put out by storySouth, and Helix received an honorable mention in storySouth's Million Writers Award for best new online magazine of 2006. (Among other accomplishments, storySouth is listed as a "Contributing Small Press" for the Pushcart Prize, the most honored literary project in America.) Click here to read about more accomplishments at Helix.

As of this date, "Prometheus Rebound" joins three other stories I have forthcoming. "Identity Theft" will appear in The Drabbler #10 (Sam's Dot Publishing), "Hermit Crabs" will appear in Electric Velocipede #14, and "Arachne" will appear in Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory (Scriblerus Press). "Arachne" originally appeared in the November/December 1988 issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction.

2. Contracts received from Helix and from Aisling Press

And on the same day, no less! Deviations: Appetite, the second volume in my series, is now forthcoming from Aisling. Stay tuned for updates.

3. and 4. Star*Line

Star*Line 30(6) contains my cover art and my cinquain sequence, "Evolution."

5. Poets' Forum Magazine

PFM has solicited this shot to appear on the cover of a future issue. I photographed this statue during the grand opening of the Homosassa Public Library.

6. The Jordan Rich Show

I was a guest on Jordan's show in October 2002, and we spent a great hour talking about science fiction with each other and with listeners who called in. Afterwards, he invited me back when I had a book published. The show broadcasts nationwide out of WBZ Newsradio 1030 Boston and is also accessible on the Web.

Jordan's show on Saturday, February 2, 2008, will focus on fiction authors. The show runs from midnight to 5 AM Eastern time. We plan to do an interview by phone around 12:30, and will firm up details as we get closer to the air date.

And while I'm shooting the Moon here...


Large view

I took this and the next shot back on December 13, when the Moon was 17% of full. (We'll have a full moon on December 24 at 1:15 AM GMT.) The photo on the left, showing Earthshine, was taken at 6:13 p.m. ET using a 4-second exposure at f/5.6. The photo on the right was taken at 6:19 p.m. ET using a 1/60-second exposure at f/6.3.

While I was out on the driveway taking those shots, I noticed the holiday lights down the block, so took a picture of those, too. This shows the lights from two houses.


Large view

May you all have a wonderful Solstice! (Solstice occurs today at 6:08 AM GMT.)

Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buy.com, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.

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Book Paradise

The Homosassa Public Library celebrated its Grand Opening on Friday, December 7, 2007. This branch marks the latest addition to the Citrus County Library System.

Loretta Rogers and I were two "local authors" present at the event, which included addresses given by state and local officials and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Our keynote speaker was Florida Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning. CCLIB director Flossie Benton Rogers organized the event, which also owes much to the library staff and to Friends of the Library of Homosassa Florida, Inc.

More on the event follows....



This shot faces toward the main entrance. The author table where Loretta and I spoke with attendees is located at foreground right. The ceremony got underway about an hour after I took this picture.



The library includes a cafe space and vending machines. Beyond the tables is the community room entrance.



Above: The learning center/computer room.



Above: Entrance to the children's room. More children's room photos follow.







The garden sculptures on the grounds are a gift from The Sugarmill Woods Civic Association, in honor of Paul "Skip" Christensen, president of the association from 2001-2004 and 2006-2007. The grand opening ceremony was held in the tent.









Each person attending received a pen, program book, and commemorative mouse pad.





Above: The Korean War Veterans Foundation Honor Guard awaits the start of the grand opening ceremony.



Keynote speaker, Florida Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning



Director Flossie Benton Rogers gives the Closing Remarks. Photos of all the speakers and more from the library can be seen in this photoset.



Above: The ribbon cutting ceremony. Our ribbon cutter was Joyce Valentino, Chairwoman of the Board of County Commissioners, shown directly to the right of the scissors.



Shown at left: Jim Ehlers, CCLIB's Communications Facilitator and our Master of Ceremonies. At right is State Senator Charles Dean. (The man in the center wasn't one of the speakers, but he looks familiar.)

Loretta and I had been here on November 16 for the library's "Write-In." That event was a sequel to the NaNoWriMo kickoff we had done, along with Belea Keeney, back on October 26. As we had done in October, we spoke on craft and answered questions. In addition, we provided critiques for NaNoWriMo participants at the "Write-In."



The November 16 event took place in the Community Room (above), which here has been made ready for the serving of refreshments following the opening ceremony. One NaNoWriMo participant, Barbara Gardner (pictured in the group shot, below, standing second from right), received her certificate for having written a novel of at least 50,000 words during the month of November 2007. Her certificate was on display at the library during the Grand Opening.



The Homosassa Beacon, part of the Citrus County Chronicle newspapers, published this brief article and photo from the November 16 event. (More legible in the large view.) Loretta (standing third from left) gave me (standing fourth from left) this photocopy. She also gave me a set of sunburst-shaped gold stickers imprinted with the words, "Autographed By Local Author," which I had the opportunity to use at the Grand Opening event.



Loretta's romantic western/time travel novella Isabelle and the Outlaw will be released as an e-book by The Wild Rose Press on December 12. Winner of the Garden Gate Contest, Cactus Rose Category, Isabelle and the Outlaw out-competed approximately 5,000 other entries. Loretta's time-to-deadline from when she learned about the contest was ten days.

As Loretta put it, she and I have gone from being "critique partners" to being "book-signing buddies."

Following the ceremony, refreshments were served in the Community Room.







Above: Homosassa Library Branch Manager and Reference Services Manager Susan Mutschler.



According to this newsletter, the Friends of the Library of Homosassa Florida, Inc. raised:

$8,552.98 from its November 2006 book sale. (At press, the November 2007 book sale had not yet occurred.)

Over $18,000 from its Reading Garden pavers program.

$50,000 for the library's children's collection, raised from book sales over the 15 years that the Friends of the Homosassa Library has been in existence.

On Saturday I'll be at another Grand Opening, this time at the Art Center of Citrus County. Normally we have a holiday luncheon, but this year we're combining it with a chance to display our newly-renovated Arts & Education Building to the membership. Next month we'll hold an Open House that will be free to the general public, where I and other instructors, group leaders, etc., will be on hand to answer questions, display our wares, and (we hope) sign people up. My creative writing course starts up three days after the Open House. I was advertising both at the Homosassa event.

In other news, I recently learned that the entry I submitted to The Sam's Dot Publishing Drabble Contest will be published in February.

I learned back in September that a "drabble" is, "a very short story containing exactly 100 words...no more, no less. Its title is limited to 15 words, no more." That info and news of the contest came to me on September 29, the day before the deadline. The contest theme -- and the theme of Issue #10 of The Drabbler, where my piece "Identity Theft" will appear, was "Haunted Spaceports."

My article, "The Many Shades of Dark Poetry," appears in Poets' Forum Magazine 19(2), along with my prose poem, "Getting the Last Laugh." The poem follows my mother's double quatrain, "Lab Technician," which she literally wrote on her death bed in 1982. My poem "After the Standoff" appears as an example of a Spoon River Poem, accompanying Madelyn Eastlund's article on the form, "All, All Are Sleeping on the Hill":



The text is legible in the large view.

I am in the process of changing my Amazon link (the change is in place, below), having learned that this Amazon link comes via the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Circulating Book Plan: "Any books you buy from Amazon after taking one of these links will send a few pennies to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, too."

Very cool.

Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Buy.com, Libri.de, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.

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