6 posts tagged “the beautiful collection”

My short story THE BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION is now available to read on Crimson Highway webzine. 

                 ~ Clickity! ~

It's an odd little story, and very different to anything else I've written.  There's a small part of me that wishes something else had been my first published story, something far more typical of what I write, but then the rest of me says, Hell, you gotta start somewhere, and far better to be picky about where you end up.  So.  I shall be working on where I end up. 

In the meantime, check out my first ever published story.  It's interesting, I think.

That faint, high-pitched squeeing sound you can hear drifting across the Atlantic to America or round the world eastwards to Australia?  Wonder what it is?

It's me.

Email Subject: Submission Accepted: The Beautiful Collection

Dear Alex,

We loved your story and we would like to include it in our February
2007 issue!

It's with Crimson Highway webzine, who like "dark fiction, horror, or dark fantasy that has a romantic element", and have a very attractive layout compared to a lot of webzines.  Romantic isn't normally my thing, but this story is a slight exception.  It's about obsession with a flavour of magic, and as the email says it will be available to read from February 1st on their website. 

I am rather supertastically happy about this, especially when coupled with STATUES being a quarterfinalist in the Writers of the Future contest.  After the rejections I've had since starting this whole short story malarkey back in October - and yeah, 11 rejections really isn't all that many, I know, but they still bite - it's super cool to finally get some positive responses.  And when I think that while THE BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION is a good story, some of my other ones are (in my opinion) even better - well, hopefully I'll be getting more acceptance emails in the near future.  *is hopeful*

Yay me!

Earlier today I found a potential market for THE BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION - Crimson Highway - and submitted the story just now.  They want dark romance-supernatural stuff, and considering TBC is about obsession with a flavour of magic I think/hope this mag will bite.  They're a webzine and very new, but they've got a nice layout.  Too many webzines look really shoddy, whereas these guys look really smart.  While their publication of the crazy comma story was a bit of a turn-off, I otherwise quite like the look of them.  What?  You mean the story wasn't about the commas?  Wow.  That totally slipped by me.  Could be something to do with the massive brain bleed caused by his comma-splicing-from-hell.  "Using an impressionistic style of his own making" does not excuse it. 

My Nano count has been totally killed by my cold, which turned out to be more vicious than I expected.  Night before last I got about 2 hours' sleep, in 20 minute segments, and the whole of yesterday I felt like I'd just crawled out of my grave on a *really* bad day.  I slept better last night, though not perfectly, and today I've been getting better though I've got a sore throat now and am otherwise not quite better.  I severely doubt I will hit 50k, but if I can get over 40k I'll be happy because I'll still have been more productive than in previous months.

My floor manager test is scheduled for 8th Dec, which is another reason 50k won't happen.  Tomorrow I need to start revising all that shitty knowledge I learnt back in August/September.  I also need to write some essays, apply for a job, do more dissertation reading.... *hates the real world*

Also, House needs to be aired more than once a week.  And the torrents need to be sorted out faster.  *twitches*  What's he going to do?  He's totally fucking up Wilson's life and please, please let him finally realise he's being a complete shit to his only friend, who is sticking by him despite being given no thanks at all.  Seriously, this most recent episode I barely noticed the patient and the diagnosis and all that jazz.  C'mon, House, you wanker, do something!  *angsts*  This is why I usually watch TV shows in box sets, not as they air.  *angsts some more*

Once again I have been double-teamed by rejections: Interzone rejected A SHADE OF YELLOW and GrendelSong rejected THE BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION, both form rejections.  Poo on them both, and some other childish curses.  I think I'm going to finally send ASOY to the Red Light District anthology (the thing I wrote it for), but I don't know where I'll send TBC next. 

Partially counter-balancing the bad news, I finally got word back from one of my managers at work that I passed my mock floor manager test.  She'll be sending me some dates for the real thing soon.  Hopefully I'll be able to get it done before I go back at Christmas.  If, that is, I can even remember anything I learnt way back in August/September. 

Ugh, MSN is playing silly buggers on me.

I managed to feel happy enough about The Beautiful Collection to send it off, but naturally the magazine I had intended to send it to currently doesn't accept submissions.  Ah well, there is plenty of other choice out there, so I have instead submitted it to GrendelSong because they like stories about the fey and they aim to respond in 30-35 days (and they have a kickass name).  I prefer the ones that try to respond in about that time, simply because it means I can re-submit sooner if the story is rejected. 

I don't feel as strongly about this one as I do about A Shade of Yellow and Tansu, which I feel are very very good pieces.  This one is good, but I don't feel it's my best piece; however, I don't think I can improve it so there's no point wasting time by leaving it on my hard drive.  If it's going to take several rejections before I find a magazine that wants it, then the sooner I get started the better. 

*crosses fingers and various other crossable appendages*

I'm stuck on PA again, though I'm not entirely sure why.  I'm getting to some good stuff now - finding out something very important, and then Trifmara's reaction to that.  And, soon, a big battle near Katina which will be followed by the final battle at Krak'vi. 

I think maybe I'm worried it's starting to drag a bit, that I should wrap it up faster, even though the sensible part of my mind says to just write the damn chapters and then go back and make changes.  Blegh.  It's probably just the same "getting towards the end" mental block I get when I approach the end of anything long - happened with my finished piece of mystery crap that will one day be totally reworked, and also with Statues. 

In the meantime, I've been working on short stories:

Statues - Still waiting for a response from Writers of the Future.  I reckon I'll hear from them January-ish, maybe later.  If they don't like it, I'll send it to Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.

A Shade of Yellow - Still waiting to hear back from Sybil's Garage.  No news is, I hope, good news; a suggestion that they're having to think about what to do with my story.  If they reject it, I'll send to Apex Digest.

Tansu - This is finished and ready for submission, but I'm waiting for Sybil's Garage to respond because if they don't want aSoY then I'll send them this.  If not, I intend to send this to Shimmer.

Snowdrop - A flash fiction of 99 words, submitted to Flash Shot.  Still waiting for a response.

The Beautiful Collection - A fantasy short, just over 1,000 words, that I began in the summer and finished the other day.  I'm not completely happy with it yet, but when it's done I think I'll submit it to Midnight Street first. 

I'm also working on two pirate stories, one for Shimmer and one for Sails and Sorcery.  Both feature my latest muse, D'sil, a mercenary-pirate type.  He's certainly an interesting man to have around.  And my cross-dressing muse will have a short story of his own, but I can't figure out quite how to start it.  

My ambition is to have found a home for all of these stories by the time I submit PA to publishers. 

In the immediate future, November is nearly upon us, which means that Nanowrimo approaches...  I've pretty much decided to write a first draft of Our Green Fairies for this, simply because I feel that if I can get a first draft of it done, no matter how crappy it'll be, at least I'm one step closer to having another finished novel.

I am writing.  Just slowly at the moment.