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.