WotF, 1st quarter results posted on their blog

Check out my name, right there under the semi-finalists. Losing never felt so good! But seriously, though, it was nice to be in the elite company of only 19 other stories.

WotF 2013, 1st quarter

During the 1st quarter of the 2013 Writers of the Future Contest, I placed among the semi-finalists. As a result, Mr. Dave Wolverton sent me a personal critique for my story. Again, I very much appreciate the time both he and Joni Labaqui put into the contest:

"Congratulations on being a semifinalist. I very much liked this tale, and it came squeaky close to being a finalist. I don’t get many tales told from [spoiler] point of view—much less that of [spoiler] that is hoping to [spoiler] so that it can [spoiler]. This tale was thoroughly engrossing and icky. Well done! ... Good luck in finding a home for this. I don’t think that it will be hard. I would very much like to see something more from you soon!"

On a more serious note, and as some of you may already know, Mr. Wolverton's son Ben was recently in an accident that left him in a coma. The expected medical costs for his rehabilitation are estimated to be around 1 million dollars. Donations are being accepted here. Check it out, read what happened and see if it's not something you'd want to donate to.

The cover for Penumbra's June 2013 H G Wells issue

The Penumbra eMag cover for June has been posted online. This H. G. Wells themed issue will include my story "Burning Men." I'm very excited about this one as it's one of my favorite stories that I've written. Hat tip to HL Fullerton and Shannon Fay, fellow writers in the trenches from the Shock Totem and Absolute Write boards, who will be sharing the TOC with me.

Penumbra eMag part 3

Yesterday I found out my dystopian sci-fi "Burning Men" was accepted for the June 2013 Penumbra eMag HG Wells themed issue. This makes my second pro sale of the year, the third time I've sold to Penumbra and the second time a story I've subbed was never rejected! As before, my gratitude to the fine people at Penumbra, both slushies and editors, for giving my work a home.

Writers of the Future again

Just got word that my story "The Burden of Triumph" made the semi-finals for the 1st quarter of Writers of the Future Contest. That's one of eleven spots, and among the top 20 out of thousands of submissions. Really nice to have made it that high in back-to-back quarters. As before, Mr. Dave "Farland" Wolverton will be providing me with a free critique. I'll probably update this post later to quote some highlights.

Tangent review for the Feburary 2013 zombie issue of Penumbra

The goal I had when writing my story "Midnight Visitors" was to reinvent the zombie mythos. Taking inspiration from a scene in Mario Bava's vampire short film "The Wurdalak," I feel like I accomplished the task. But while selling a story is nice and affirming in its own way, it's always great to get affirmation from fellow writers and fans of the genre.

Enter Tangent.

Recently they reviewed the February 2013 issue of Penumbra eMag. The reviewer said my unique treatment of the walking dead made it "memorable" for him,"where it otherwise would have seemed cliché." Okay, so maybe it wasn't a glowing endorsement, but I'll take it!

Writers of the Future Contest

I failed to mention that I was a semi-finalist of the Writers of the Future Contest last year, fourth quarter, 2012. That means I made it within the top 16 stories and, considering there were as many as 2,000 submissions, that's pretty neat! Though officially it still counts as losing, I did get a personal critique from award winning, NY Times best selling writer, David Farland. This was what he had to say:

"First, congratulations on being a semi-finalist this quarter. The competition was tough, and this [story] came very close to being a finalist ... [The] sense of humor that you displayed got me hooked in paragraph one, and I read it to the end and found that it was quite touching. So this is publishable as it stands ... [It] was quite effective. Congratulations on a fine story."

I was very flattered by his comments, and very appreciative of his and Joni Labaqui's time. Still looking for a publisher for this story, but I'm confident I'll find someone soon. If you're interested, the results have been posted: here.