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.

The cover for Penumbra's February 2013 zombie issue

My story "Midnight Visitors" will be released February 1st, 2013 in the Penumbra zombie themed issue. I'd mentioned this before, but the cover image was finally released since then:

Guest blogging at Penumbra eMag

Hey readers, few and all. In case you hadn't already read it elsewhere, my guest blog has been posted to Penumbra eMag. It's called "Philosophy and Fiction." Enjoy.

Speaking of Penumbra, I saw the cover for the next issue which contains my story "Midnight Visitors" and it looks pretty cool. When I get the go ahead I'm going to post a copy of it here.

Writing Update

I have exactly 22 stories ready or almost ready for submitting. Of those 22:

19 - are already in the marketplace
02 - are waiting for good markets to open
01 - is almost finished

Of those 19 submissions in the marketplace:
13 - are at pro markets
06 - are at semi-pro markets
01 - was previously sold and is at an audio-only market
01 - is in the second round of consideration

Between my last posted submission stats and now, I had dropped down to around 4 submissions out at once. It took a lot of energy, and writing a few new stories, to get my stats back up--especially since I trunked a few and sold some others. Kind of proud of myself.