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 (just the) "Journal" Entries And My 400th Rejection Came From... July 18, 2008 ...The Believer! Nobody guessed correctly in the Guess My 400th Rejection Contest, so no prize awarded, unless you count the 400 rejections sent out to some chump. Thanks for playing, all!
 Acme's Tomato Festival This Weekend in Carrboro July 11, 2008 If you're in the Raleigh-Durham Triangle area this weekend, try to get out to Acme in Carrboro for a dinner. Single best meal I've ever had was back in 2005 when we stumbled upon it by accident. Was away at Clarion in 2006 and learned the dates after the fact last year. Dinner for two is in the That's all. Just a heads up. *MORNING AFTER EDIT: I didn't recall correctly (IDRC) or maybe I was thinking of brunch. It's been a while. Dinner for two's more like $40-50 before wine, tip, and/or appetizers. I heartily recommend the fried green tomato napoleon thing and the shrimp pasta. Looking forward to the leftovers today.
Weekend Checklist, Contest Bump July 6, 2008 Break down and recycle our growing cat litter box collection, CHECK. Finish 1st draft of comic script (I think my first western genre story ever, in any medium), CHECK. Post a "Guess my 400th Rejection" Contest on the friday of a holiday weekend to maximize the likelihood that readers won't be online to see it, CHECK. Get supplies for my first figure drawing class (first drawing class ever!), CHECK. 
400TH REJECTION CONTEST (2008 Submission Log Weeks 25-27) July 4, 2008 (scroll down for the "Guess my Rejection" contest) Submissions 530-544 No brain power for links, maybe I'll add 'em later. Weird Tales (9th) The Colbert Report (1st) Drawn & Quarterly (2nd) The Believer (1st-5th) Abberrant Dreams (1st) Writers of the Future (20th!) ChiZine (7th) Supergrrrl Adventure Comics (1st) Asheville Film Festival (1st) Light (5th-7th) Rejections 393-397 F&SF Haiku Contest (date not available) The Believer (8 days on three poems) Asimov's (15 days) Hold Request From Fantasy, 18 days. Here's hoping. Acceptance 74, Tentative Acceptance 75 Sale of "Dry Frugal with Death Rays" to Futurismic, 42 days. Tentative acceptance from Supergrrrl Adventure Comics (1 day) pending a rewrite. This is a new, nonpaying zine from Rachel Edidin and Jen Vaughn. Pulled, Folded, or Otherwise No Reply 67-70 Cosmos (story), Interzone (story), Murky Depths (2 poems) Of Interest Yes, I entered the McCain greenscreen challenge thing. Don't know what I was thinking other than I needed to finish a project I could actually finish. A couple of bad PCS weeks, last month. Completely flaked on catching the F&SF issue announcing the winners of the haiku contest. Mine was an obvious joke anyway; glad it only had an audience of one (the editor/judge). Wow, 20th sub to Writers of the Future. It's what I was hoping to submit the week I got in the accident, so I _think_ it's finally submission ready, six months later. Brain injury aside, this story had more technical challenges than anything I've ever written, and it's been brewing at least since April '05 when I pitched it to a friend as a comic. Guess my 400th rejection, win a prize! Hey, time sure flies. First (up to) THREE PEOPLE to correctly guess where my 400th rejection will come from wins:
Currently at Rejection #397. Current outstanding subs:
And, okay. If all of the above end up as acceptances, and my 400th rejection has yet to even be submitted, I will be so happy that once I recover from the shock, I'll do my best to give everyone who enters a prize of some sort or another. (EDIT: And if something I've yet to submit--not listed above--ends up as my 400th rejection, prize goes to whoever guesses #401, and so on.)
SALE! - "Dry Frugal with Death Rays" to Futurismic July 3, 2008 "Dry Frugal" is an oddball science fiction story, about 6500 words. Think "The Office" meets Catch-22 meets Alex as a poor substitute for Vonnegut (so lower those expectations, cool?). Futurismic is a popular futurism blog which publishes science/tech articles and tidbits, plus monthly fiction of the near-future and/or gonzo-satirical variety. This was my third sub to them. I'll talk more about the story when it appears online, possibly as early as next month. But I'm extra proud, for two reasons. First, it's one of my rare successes with humor. Most of what I've been placing are barely-successful attempts at "more serious" things I have less interest in. But as I'm developing my "voice," stories like this one--which tries to touch on the human condition in sometimes light-hearted, sometimes dark-hearted ways--are the sweet spot. The more stories like this one I place, the better I feel that my published work is representing me properly, even at this early stage of my fumbling through the writing jungles. And then there's the length. A problem when sending my Clarion application back in January 2006 was how far back in my repertoire I had to go to find a story that was between "ten and twenty-five pages." I tended to write flash fiction (too short) and novelettes (too long). I was lucky what I found to send in even qualified as stories. I've been working on normal-length stories since, and I'd view a few of them as among my best work to date. This is the first of them to find a home. Besides my novelette "Outgoing," this is my longest story sale by half. Next longest, at 2800 words, was my most recent sale "Harp" a month or so ago. Here's hoping good news comes in threes. Or tens. Tens work, too.
"Groundbound" in FutureQuake #10 (out now) June 14, 2008  My five page science fiction comic story "Groundbound" with artist Shaun Gardiner appears in the current issue of the British comics-anthology series FutureQuake. Shaun and I are hoping to expand it into a four issue miniseries.  I don't think the book is available from Diamond, but I'll double-check. I'll be ordering a few copies direct on FRIDAY (June 20). If you're in the U.S. and want me to order you a copy (I'll absorb the overseas shipping, if you'll pay for cover price plus a buck or two for "local" postage), just let me know. LJ comments or contact form.  A few quick notes: The script got some heavy tweaking/edits both from editorial before going to Shaun, and afterwards from myself and Shaun after some of those changes (and some of my own idiocy) created some issues I didn't foresee. The changes much improved the piece, I'd argue, and I'll post a few of the more fun alternative solutions we came up with in the next week or so.  I gave the sociopath-protagonist the name "Holly" specifically because I didn't know any Hollys personally when I wrote the script in late 2005. I've since met at least three, including my Clarion instructor Holly Black. Oops.  Also in 2005, not knowing what would sell and what wouldn't, I very occasionally reused science fiction conceits (like maybe twice in a couple dozen pieces). Sure enough, this shares an idea with "Outgoing," which was accepted for publication in Asimov's within a few months of my placing this with FutureQuake IIRC. Two very different stories and not the most important detail in either, but still.  And, finally, I wrote this as a "Future Shock" spec script for 2000 AD, and FS stories have a certain... expectation that comes with the final panel or two. I make no apologies for staying true to that here, but if structure-wise it's hard to identify this as an "Alex" story (whatever that means this early in my career)... 
The Fox News Guide to Terrorist Gang Signs June 12, 2008  Terrorist Fist Jab, Obviously.  Elitist Book-Hold Of Getting News and Info from Non-Television Sources.  Clap Of Encouragement For Things Which Everyday Americans Wouldn't Want Encouraged If You Asked Them. But Don't Ask Them.  Chin Rub Of Not Waiting Until Fox Has Reported Before Deciding.  Hands-On-Hips While Letting Illegal Aliens Sneak Up Behind Us And Steal Our Precious Sunlight Which Just Because We're Not Using It As A Primary Energy Source Doesn't Mean They Can Bolster Their Own Super Powers With It And BTW A Name Like Kal-El Should Totally Be On The No Fly List.  Peacy Fingers Of Not Getting Everything We Want.  (left hand:) Wave Of Welcoming Enemies So They Can Have Their Way With Our Womens. (right hand:) Terrorist Microphone Clench, Obviously.  Thumbs-Up Of Supporting Things Like The GI Bill's Education Plan Which Okay Supports Our Troops But How Is Sometimes Not Wearing A Flag Pin Any Different Than Having Your Fingers Crossed?
2008 Submission Log Weeks 18-24 June 11, 2008 Submissions 515-529 A Public Space (my 3rd sub there) Sword and Sorceress (my 4th) F&SF (22nd) Mineshaft (2nd) OSC's IGMS (5th) Futurismic (3rd) Cosmos (1st) Tin House (8th) Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest (1st) LCRW (7th) McSweeney's (2nd to Internet Tendency, 8th overall) Asimov's (19th) Fantasy (6th) Rejections 376-392 Talebones (107 days) Fantasy (30 days) Glimmer Train (63 days) OSC's IGMS (99 days) Jim Baen's Universe (5 days) Chizine (62 days) Strange Horizons (59 days) Sword and Sorceress (1 day) Highlights for Children (77 days) Writers of the Future (40 days) F&SF (6 days) Weird Tales (98 days) One Story (106 days) Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest (1 day) Apex (61 days) McSweeney's Internet Tendency (5 days) Mineshaft (26 days) Phew! Acceptance 73! "Harp" to Cabinet des Fees, 49 days. No Reply/Folded/Pulled 63-66 Wholphin, Adbusters, Mad Magazine, 2000 AD. Of Interest Day 18 or so of that "seven day" cold. Don't think I've ever been sick half this long in my life. I _reeeeeealy wasn't ready for WisCon, was I? McSweeney's Internet Tendency rejection: "Inventive and fun, but for me this inspires more smiles than laughs." Grrrr. Comments on many other rejections, too. How many more ways can editors write "Loved it! Not for us!" ? Current Writers of the Future tally, out of 19 subs over the past 9 years: 8 nonplacers 9 honorable mentions/quarterfinalists 2 semifinalists. EDITED TO ADD: And why was that Heinlein rejection so quick? Because some submitter who shall remain nameless misread a 12:01AM deadline as 12:01PM. I am a great fool... Current Tally
WisCon 2008: Best Mistake Evar! May 31, 2008 So WisCon was probably a mistake, healthwise. I was beat even before my reading Friday night, and compromised my immune system so quickly and thoroughly that I caught a bug probably from the first hands I  The Clarion 2006 partial reunion. Photo courtesy of Vince, who has a larger version (and his own blog about WisCon) here  Alex does his, um, reading? as JoSelle looks on in horror.  Is Will testing the camera? Or is the camera testing Will?  This made me sad. And I don't think I made a fool of myself too often throughout the rest of the con, though I don't think I've ever felt so self-conscious as I debated with each interaction: do I bring up the brain injury and risk looking like a sympathy whore or do I let this person walk away assuming I'm just a flaky dumbass? Tried both. Wasn't happy with either. Gonna sign me up for next year and see what WisCon's like coherent. And it'd be nice to actually go to more panels, readings, and parties than I reluctantly miss out on. *Watched Recount. Brilliant performances, except for the cringeworthy Gore and Bush impersonators. Overall, allowed me to relive that unique visceral disheartenment of 2000. So... thanks, HBO!
SALE! - "Harp" to Cabinet des Fees May 24, 2008 Real quick: checked email from WisCon this morning with the happy news that Cabinet des Fées wants my story "Harp" for their 2009 volume, due out October or November of next year. They put out such a beautiful book. So pleased I get to be a part of it.
Alex's Pregnancy Prevention PSAs May 18, 2008 I believe the finished two PSAs are currently showing before films in a few NC Triangle-area movie theaters, and will be airing on assorted television stations across the state by the end of the month. If I understand correctly (I get this all third-hand), APPCNC has also licensed/sold the PSAs to other organizations, so you might see them pop up outside of North Carolina as well. "Timing is Everything." This first one is aimed at the younger folk: "Unconditional" This second one is aimed at parents (while I do often cringe at the manipulativeness of heartstring-type ads, I probably only would've had an ethical issue with the job if this was aimed at kids/teens): Yes, that's me. And how's this for apt casting: while technically I could have been Lea's father, I would've been 14 or so when she was born. Third one's also aimed at parents, but it errs on the fun side like "Timing." Here's hoping we get to see it.
Reading at WisCon 5.23.08 May 16, 2008 I'll be attending and reading at WisCon, next Friday night at 11:45PM, with my Clarion bud Will Alexander, as well as authors-I-look-forward-to-meeting JoSelle Vanderhooft and Ben Burgis. Can't promise sparks, but let's not forget what happened last time Will and I got together. (Hint: our lovechild is now grown up and directing Punisher sequels). I didn't ask to be on any panels this time around on account of the PCS, but there's a number of firsts here for me:
Look forward to seeing a few old friends and many new ones. Old photo, but I'll bring it out again for lack of anything both shaved and recent:  I'll likely be wearing a bandana most days. And just in case there's more than one intentionally bald individual at WisCon, go ahead and assume that I am all of them. EDIT: The posted schedule says 11:45PM, not midnight, so there you go.
LEGO: Waterslide May 12, 2008 This MOC came about because I had frustratingly few of these 1x4 offset bricks for a previous project, so I placed an order on Bricklink for more than I could ever need. Stacked them all together for storage, and found I could give them an interesting bend. I've never seen this used as a building technique, so I thought I'd give it a shot with a Lego Waterslide. Click on any of 'em for larger view.       And the individual 1x4 offset bricks (I got the name from Peeron, but there's gotta be another way to identify them) look like this: 
In Which William S Burroughs Calls Me a Pussy May 6, 2008 It occurs to me that I talk about caffeine in the same way that real writers talk about heroin. I've seen a neurologist. I have post-concussion syndrome. What a relief, just having a name for it. No consensus on prognosis, because the brain's such a crazy place and no head injury is exactly alike. I've definitely shown improvement since December (yay!) but most people show more or complete improvement by now (boo! I mean: good for them, but boo on my own progress). "It takes as long as it takes," is both the general and the Alex-specific prediction, which is exactly as much as I knew before seeing the neurologist, which makes the neurologist bill that much more of a joy to pay. Studies vary, but it looks like I have a 90%+ chance of fully recovering by the end of the year, and there isn't anything I can do to increase those chances or hurry it up. I'm assuming they've considered heroin. Had some dental surgery in the meantime. As long as I'm useless/recovering, might as well be entirely useless/recovering all at once. Among the problems with my teeth: I've had two baby teeth in my mouth with no adults ever growing underneath to usurp them, so those babies have been ready to go for a few decades now. I have had them pulled and have begun the 16-week implants process. I should probably figure out whether pudding qualifies as a liquid before I get on my plane to WisCon, huh? Probably should've waited until the post-surgery drugs wore off before this unaffiliated citizen early-voted in his first ever Democratic primary, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do...
2008 Submission Log Weeks 13-17 April 25, 2008 A bit behind, but only a bit to report... Submissions 511-514 Writers of the Future (my 19th sub there) Fantasy (5th) Cabinet de Fees (1st) Apex (3rd) Rejections 371-375 Clarkesworld (82 days) Polyphony (83 days) Mineshaft (101 days on 3 poems) Of Interest Still couldn't close the deal on the story I was writing for Writers of the Future at the end of December, so again I send them a slightly older story last quarter. High hopes that I'll be well enough to complete it (and a few other things) by June. Twenty-six pieces currently in circulation. Been a few weeks now of nothing in, nothing out. A few submissions have been pending for longer than the average bear, which can be a good sign (held a bit for rereads/consideration, etc) or a bad sign (post office taken over by Visigoths so the subs/rejections never arrived, etc). Or it could mean nothing. And I'm saying nothing. This has been a good use of your time.
LEGO: Steam Dart April 21, 2008 Reasonably Clever hosted a Lego challenge last month: create a Steampunk "impulse buy" set, 50 pieces or fewer, just like they used to have in hobby shops and toy stores near the chashier. I made myself a Steam Dart (click for larger):   Loose homage to my favorite impulse set of all time (says a lot coming from a classic castle gentleman like myself), set 6824 : Space Dart (1984). 
Algernon for Alex April 16, 2008 I liked this better when it was written by Daniel Keyes. Yeah, I was doing better for a while there, huh? If any of my previous journal entries or emails or conversations have been coherent, gotta give props to medicinal amounts of caffeine. Phasing that out again has been like watching my IQ drop to day-after-head-injury levels again. With less-to-no caffeine, doing this whole listening-to-my-body song and dance, my brain gets taxed very quickly, so things like working on my taxes (there's a pun there, but I can't make the words go where they should go) for half an hour or conversations with insurance providers have exhausted me for most of the rest of the day. I've sent out emails, called people back, when I can, but I'm still pretty far behind there. Monday I bumped my head in the shower. I've bumped my head half a dozen times on the small doorframe of the Prius since February, and even with caffeine it always makes me useless and nauseated for the rest of the day. This was a worse bump, but I managed to get taxes and Telltale contributor payments out at least. Still not feeling so good. Something fun tomorrow or Friday, we'll see how I'm feeling. Seeing a neurologist next week, so let's talk about other things until then.
2008 Submission Log Weeks 10-12 March 20, 2008 Submissions 508-510 ChiZine (my 6th sub there) Interzone (4th) Strange Horizons (17th) Rejection 370 Eclipse Two (16 days) Pulled/No Reply/Publication Folded 61 Noctem Aeternus (1st sub) Of Interest Among my three subs this period is my first real work completed (from conception to submission-ready draft) entirely after my head injury. Reeeeally needed that. A personal note about the Noctem Aeternus closing, which was a pleasant way to get the unpleasant news. The first issue showed a lot of promise, I thought.
Eras End March 18, 2008 Speculations/The Rumor Mill 1995-2008 I was still in college, didn't know a thing but thought I knew everything when I started my Speculations subscription with the print issues. Told me of Clarion, among other things. The forum/community introduced me to some of my first writer-friends. I let my subscription to the magazine lapse a few years after they stopped publishing articles (leaving only the market reports) and the signal-to-noise ratio of the forum wasn't what it used to be, but this was my introduction to the world of science fiction writing. I was so lucky to have it as a guide. Any mistakes I failed to make, I owe to Kent Brewster & co. Thank you. Gary Gygax 1938-2008 If some of my first exposures to fantastic fiction hadn't been participatory--creating characters for Dungeons & Dragons adventures--I don't know that I ever would have thought to write the stuff. For a long time my biggest sale was an AD&D game supplement in Dragon Magazine. Why hasn't anyone ported the old Strategic Simulations (SSI?) games to the Palm platform? Seems ideal, and I doubt my PDA will crap out of me just before I save game like my Commodore 64 did all. the. time. Focus, Alex. I've held on to more D&D books than I will ever possibly use. Thank you. Arthur C Clarke 1917-2008 In high school, I got into science fiction through the short stories. There was Vonnegut. There was Bradbury. And there was Clarke. Thank you. Eras end.
Incremental Soldiering March 9, 2008 Obligatory head injury tag. My friend Steve turned me on to Jimmy Amadie, a jazz pianist with tendinitis and nerve damage so severe that he's "unable to play for more than five or six minutes at a time, on a piano whose keys are specially weighted to cushion his touch" (from a review of Amadie's Savoring Every Note). It'll take two years of working in these increments before he'll compose, record, and finish his album. With considerably less talent and with large concentrations of caffeine, I can manufacture (almost consistently) a similarly short period of relative lucidity/productivity each day, so I can steal back my productivity from the twin gods of STFU and Convalesce. This is how I've technically written something every day this year with unbelievably little to show for it. This is because the same rules apply as before the head injury: some writing days are (relative) winners, most aren't. It's just that now the writing windows are smaller and foggier. I'm never near my peak performance. And for the most part, words and thoughts still just won't do what I want them to do. Stupid words and thoughts. Would I be the first to write with colors? Not entirely convinced these last ten (!) weeks wouldn't have been just as well served had I purchased a video game console in December, but I have trouble seeing the difference between that and giving up. I owe too much of my sanity and identity to reading and writing. And if I understand correctly (and ha! that's unlikely these days), the athlete who fully rests after an injury comes back nowhere nearly as strong as the one who works at rehabilitation, pushes herself, and exercises those stubborn muscles. Which brings up the big assumption: that I'll come back from this. Except for those caffeine-grabbed moments (which hell can't be good for me in the long run), my ability to think clearly is worse even than it was last month. Now, that could be a perceptual issue; of course normal seems worse compared to the caffeine high. But even if I'm not getting worse, it's become pretty hard to believe I'm still getting better. Even assuming I could be good at something else... it's only because I've put nine years into it that I'm on cusp of being good at writing. My father died at 53 (and his father at 52), so that doesn't give me a lot of time to practice a second calling. On the other hand? If I'm ten years away from making headway on my next big pursuit? I should probably get started on that ASAP, huh?
Bias Wars: Headline vs Copy March 6, 2008 That's what I call balanced reporting!  (click to enlarge image) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/06/clinton-leads-obama-in-texas-caucuses-count/
"Contents" in The Rambler (out now) March 4, 2008  My flash fiction (non-genre) piece "Contents" appears in the March-April 2008 issue of the literary magazine The Rambler, and I've just seen the first copies at Weaver Street Market, the local food co-op. "Contents" appears on page 48, but, ironically enough, not in the issue's table of contents. Available in many independent bookshops, campus bookstores, and Barnes & Noble chains. Where to Buy.
2008 Submission Log Weeks 7-9 March 3, 2008 Submissions 498-507 Fantasy (my 4th sub there) McSweeney's (Quarterly) (6th) McSweeney's (Books) (1st) Zombie Inside (1st) One Story (1st) Weird Tales (8th) Silly Fantasy (1st) Glimmer Train (4th) ChiZine (5th) Eclipse Two (2nd) Apex (2nd) Rejections 356-368 Tin House (68 days) Pseudopod (2 months) F&SF 9 days) Zombie Inside (1 day) The First Line (18 days) F&SF (9 days) Writers of the Future (48 days) Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (Semifinalist, 134 days) SFReader Contest (50 days) Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (74 days) Fantasy (20 days) Mythic Delirium (55 days) ChiZine (2 days) Eclipse Two (22 days) Of Interest My 500th sub was to One Story. Here's my Zombie Inside thing, with more info. Looks like I won't be able to vote in yet another SFWA election. Even if I made my third SFWA-qualifying sale today, I doubt I'd get the contracts in in time. Still having a lot of trouble with the head injury thing, but I'll talk about some ways I've been able to adjust this week. I have a bad feeling this is gonna be with me for some time, so... Since I get new emails about it with every mention (and keeping up with email is difficult for me, even if the emails are absolutely appreciated), let's just make a brain injury tag. February was almost entirely spent on a story for Shimmer's "Clockwork Jungle" issue. I wasn't able to get it to a nice enough draft to submit, but that could've been the case even if I was at peak performance and actually could read the entire 2-2.5k word drafts in three sittings or fewer.
ABNA: Pinocchio Punched in That Dirty Liar Nose of His February 20, 2008  As suspected, my little novelette that could did not make it to the finals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award thing. But I'm quite pleased with how well it did. Instead of collecting digital dust on my hard drive for the last few months (setting it aside while I worked on other stuff, so I could come back to it fresh for revisions), it collected a quite generous Publishers Weekly review.And I think the good the PW review will do in my cover letter outweighs the negative of telling agents or editors that they aren't the first place I've sent a work. Besides, that damage is pretty much already done with the title of the work so easily available online (try "Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award" in Google; I'm like number 4, after Amazon, Penguin, and The New York Times. Had no idea my blog was that popular, though I don't suspect that search placement'll last as they gear up the publicity machine/the contest reaches its climax, and as I start shutting up about it). I knew that'd be a risk, and that's why it's the only unsold work (I think) I've ever named in my Submission Log. Congrats and good luck to the three finalists I kinda know: online friends Ruth Nestvold and Tom Pendergrass, and fellow Carrborian (Carrboro-ite? Carrborean?) Erica Eisdorfer. Of course I'm incredibly grateful to everyone thoughtful enough to give the excerpt a read and/or to write up comments (though I'm quite glad I erred on the side of minimal publicity this time and didn't beg friends and family for reviews or anything, thus saving most of my Annoying Publicity Tokens for another day/project). You'll hear about Pinocchio again, and more annoyingly, when I place it with a publisher. Hmm. Carrborean, definitely. Carr-BOAR-ee-uhn. It ain't no "Cimmeria, Land of Darkness and the Night," but Alexander the Carrborean coulda been one of Robert E Howard's unpublished tales, dontcha think?
Head Still Attached February 18, 2008 I'm doing better gradually, and I'm mostways able to function like a normal person in spite of my focus issues. Reading and writing are the last holdouts. I've been reading Raymond Carver's intro to John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist over and over, and I'm able to get to the end without forgetting what I've read only when I tackle it in two and three paragraph chunks over the course of several days. Went for my first brief run since the accident. I haven't been in this out of shape since the days after Clarion (when my pathetic ten runs and minimal pushups/situps over six weeks conspired with the quality of campus protein and veggies to sacrifice to the Clarion gods any muscle mass I pretended to have). I'm hoping the current 24-hour headache, worst in at least a few weeks, is unrelated to the workout; my body can't take much more inactivity, and walking just isn't scratching that itch anymore. One of the things I can do: Clean out my junk mail folder for the first time in a while. Best find: "Turn $2400 into $1000!" It's like they're not even trying anymore... Oh and memory. Memory's another holdout and, no, I'm not just being cute. I thought of memory only after checking and rechecking this entry for grammatical errors. Guess I could have inserted it in the first paragraph, but okay maybe I am being cute. Maybe I can't help being cute. It's a burden, really.
Balcony Scream from Romeo and Julienned Brainstuff February 15, 2008 In my ongoing hunt for bitty projects I can actually work on while still dealing with my head injury (focus problems, mostly), I sent this little piece of reanimated iambic pentameter to Zombie Idol yesterday. Didn't make the cut, so here's the only other thing I can think of doing with it... Balcony Scream from Romeo and Julienned Brainstuff by Wild Bill Shakespeare and Alex Wilson (glorified typist) But crunch! What scent through yonder cranium wafts? It is fresh meat! And Juliet, the meatbox! Arise, ye mostly dead, and cleave the skull Whose cup o'erflows with that electric food Which sparks our own undeadly minds to move. O be not gentle with that pretty flesh Or vestal liver tempting freshly greens Away from grayer matters. Spit it out! We seek the brainstuff! O, the one true meat! O, all she's ever known must wet our teeth! She screams, her tongue insipid and distracting. (I'll yet bite, though tongue's a waste of gnashing.) FWIW, they're still looking for entries for "round two." Alls you do is insert a zombie into a good text and try and make it gooder.
2008 Submission Log Weeks 5 and 6 February 9, 2008 Submissions 493-497 Clockwork Phoenix (my 1st sub there) Noctem Aeternus (1st) F&SF (21st) Fantasy (4th) Eclipse Two (1st) Rejections 346-355 Clockwork Phoenix (6 days) Strange Horizons (27 days) SXSW Film Festival (89 days) McSweeney's (121 days) Shadowline/Image Comics (multiple pitches) First Page Challenge Thing Of Interest: Should hit my 500th sub this month, even if I'm unable to write another word. The McSweeney's rejection at 121 days was the shortest response time I've ever gotten from them, and it included an apology for the delayed reply. So it goes.
Yes We Can February 5, 2008 For anyone interested: Chords are G Bm Em C. Bridge is Am C G. Just sayin. Google video version (which includes Quicktime/iPod video download if, like me, you don't play well with Flash Video AND if, like me, you're more interested in the song than the music video because it's easier to extract the audio that way): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6626015481685587523 Lyrics, etc: www.yeswecansong.com
ABNA: Love Theme from Pinocchio is Punching You (MP3) January 31, 2008
Am I the only person who thinks every book should have a theme song? I've almost changed my own mind after hearing the results of this one. Love Theme from Pinocchio is Punching You MP3. Other formats (Ogg Vorbis, AAC) here. (It so wants to be "You are the last dragon/you possess the power of the glow..." Let's not let the novelette get any further or else I'll be forced to create a music video.)Okay, last blog about Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for a while, likely until ABNA announces the next cut. Obligatory links to Pinocchio is Punching You (free excerpt at Amazon) and all my PIPY/ABNA journal entries.
2008 Submission Log Weeks 3 and 4 January 30, 2008 Submissions 482-492 Clarkesworld (my 5th sub there) Shadowline/Image (1st few subs) Apex (1st) Highlights for Children (2nd) OSC's IGMS (4th) Nathan Bransford's Surprisingly Essential First Page Challenge (1st) The First Line (1st) Rejections 340-345 Aeon (51 days) Helix (just a few hours) Space & Time (exactly 2 months) Apex (8 days) OSC's IGMS (exactly 3 months, as usual IIRC) Fantasy (26 days) Of Interest: From Cat Rambo @ Fantasy: "This was close, but in the end we've decided to pass." Noooo! Found out about this contest too late to do much damage myself, but for those interested: Shadowline/Image is looking for pitches until the end of the month for a 3-issue miniseries. Found out about it by happy accident as I'm preparing a regular sub to Shadowline presently. A pox upon my fellow aspiring comics writers who were being so tightlipped about it! Not very sporting, is it? Not that I'm any better help, a day before the deadline... Link to the Nathan Bransford contest. I entered the first page of Pinocchio is Punching You. And, yes, if most of my other journal entries this month haven't made it clear, Pinocchio's a current semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA). Not too unproductive a month for a guy who has trouble reading his own journal entries once they get this long. I pushed myself a little too hard in the last few days working on the above comic book pitches and a musical treat which I hope to release tomorrow. I'm hoping that's the reason I'm so exhausted, and it's not that my head's getting worse.
ABNA: Publishers Weekly Reviews Pinocchio is Punching You January 24, 2008 "In this funny sendup of the classic fairy tale, Pinocchio, having been made a boy, wants one more thing: to be made a ninja. Pinocchio hangs out at the mall, where a bully convinces him that ninja mastery can be had-at a price. The story sharply outlines the oddity of pre-pubescent boys' fixations (ninjas, zombies, petty theft and bra straps), and its playful blend of realism and fantasy is just right. The author has a sharp ear for dialogue and for the unusual highways and byways that adolescent conversations take. It's a clever idea executed ably; lots of laugh-out-loud moments and off-beat humor pepper this fun, inventive romp." --Publishers Weekly Pinocchio is Punching You! Cool, I might be able to sell this. (The above review is based on the entire novelette, not just the posted excerpt.)
Three Things I Woulda Done Differently... January 23, 2008 ...had I known I'd still be recovering from this head injury a month later.
(There are times when I feel like I'm myself again, and I feel like my mind should be able to do everything it used to do... but I'm quickly proven wrong, and I think that's the most frustrating thing. Recovery is gradual, but it's happening. Most importantly: focus is starting to improve. I'm able to read up to a page at a time before--usually--needing to start over. And if I can write an entire story in under 300 words, I can often keep all the threads in my head at one time. So... outlining and writing up pitches, mostly. A journal entry like this one will now take me less than half an hour, and I'll catch more typos now. So watch out, world! Alex'll be back in the game before you ooooh look a shiny penny!)
ABNA: Carolina Semi-Finalists Unite! January 22, 2008 (Press Release by entrant Matt Musson. Thanks, Matt! And congrats to friend and fellow entrant Mike Jasper, whose novel The Wannoshay Cycle comes out today!)Several Carolina authors have been chosen among the contestants moving on to the semi-final round for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Amazon.com's first writing competition in search of the next great novel. Each semi-finalist has a dedicated web page for their submission on Amazon.com, where customers can now download a 5000 word excerpt of the entry to rate and review. The Carolina semi-finalists are: Mike Jasper of Wake Forest Alex Wilson of Carrboro Erica Eisdorfer of Carrboro Betty Cloer Wallace of Asheville Lockie Hunter of Asheville Douglas A. Sanburn of Asheville Matt Musson of Charlotte K.F. Jones of Charlotte Mai Christy Thao of Charlotte Lena Joy Rose of Matthews Nicole R. Dickson of Greensboro Lou Dischler of Spartanburg, SC Katherine Guckenberger of Charleston, SC Susan Sloate of Mt. Pleasant, SC These Carolina writers are hoping to survive to the next round when the 100 Top Semi-Finalists will be chosen from the regular semi-finalists. The top 100 will be selected by Penguin Publishing taking into consideration Publishers Weekly's ratings of the author’s works along with customer evalutions and ratings of their excerpts posted online. Additionally, customers who rate and review at least 25 semi-finalist excerpts will be entered in the ABNA Customer Review Contest for the chance to win an Amazon Kindle. The three Customer Review Contest winners will each receive an Amazon Kindle, a $2,000 Amazon gift certificate and a Hewlett-Packard. From these top 100 Semi-Finalists – 10 finalists will be selected by Penguin. Excerpts from the 10 finalists will be posted online and Amazon.Com customers will vote to select the Grand Prize winner who will receive a publishing contract and a $25,000 royalty advance.
Continue reading "ABNA: Carolina Semi-Finalists Unite!" Filed Under: ABNA, Journal, Peers & Peerless, Prose and Poetry And We Got a Little Red Prius January 21, 2008  As soon as I'm driving again, this is what I'll drive. (And as soon as I get my camera back, I'll take a real picture.)
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award: Semifinalist January 18, 2008 My novelette Pinocchio is Punching You is a current semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, which puts it in the top 17% or so, and in the running for the next step: Top 100, to be chosen about four weeks from now.You can read and review the first 5,000 words of Pinocchio, and your comments/rating (along with a to-be-posted, likely-weighted review from Publisher's Weekly!) will determine whether it makes it any further in the contest. ABNA is offering some reviewer incentives, and has posted general guidelines about "what makes a good review." To these I'll just add: Don't assume negative reviews are all from shills for other entrants who want their competition to look bad, nor that all positive reviews were written by members of the author's cult. Both will happen, neither are worth anybody's time. Let Amazon sort it out. Much obliged for any reading and/or reviewing you feel like doing, and I think these fine friends o'mine would be, too: Ruth Nestvold, Michael Jasper, Bradley P Beaulieu, Tom Pendergrass, and Laurel Amberdine (whose note on a forum tipped me off to the contest in the first place). 
The Dumb Man as Machinima January 16, 2008 A few years back I narrated Sherwood Anderson's The Dumb Man, released it free with a Creative Commons License. I did it because it was interesting, because I was never sure what to make of something so strange and elusive, complete with a mysterious form (riddle? prose poem?). Of course I got a bunch of emails asking what the hell it was, and I never knew what to say... Except that if I ever thought it was a silly exercise, then today I'm reeeaally glad I did it anyway. Multimedia artist Lainy Voom contacted me last week with what she was working on: she's used it in a Second Life machinima, and it's astounding (and I'd agree with Cory Doctorow's comment: "the most beautiful machinima I've seen to date"). Love, love, love that I could be a small part of something like this, and that a seemingly incidental CCL-licensed work could have such a life beyond what I did with it. Thanks, Lainy!
2008 Submission Log Weeks 1 and 2 January 15, 2008 Submissions 476-481 Fantasy (my 3rd sub there) Helix (1st) Mythic Delirium (4th) Polyphony (2nd) Strange Horizons (16th) Talebones (6th) Rejections 335-339 Fantasy Magazine (33 days) Interzone (74 days) LCRW (35 days on an illustration) The Sun (110 days) Talebones (93 days) Acceptance 72 "Contents" to The Rambler (70 days) Of Interest Finally learning how to do Track Changes in Word for the Shimmer story copy-edit. I'm such a luddite! The no from Fantasy included editor Cat Rambo's note: "mainly because I've got something that's a little too similar in the pipeline," which tells me I'm getting closer there. Should find out today or so whether my entry into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (ABNA for the Google-watchers) made the first cut. Odds are in my favor (taking up to 20% of the entries) compared with most slush piles I end up in, but I've got no expectations. As mentioned here, I mainly submitted it because I needed to set it aside for a few months before the next revision... and always better to let something wait in a slush pile than on my hard drive. Still dealing with the head injury so I'm still happy to let it sit. A few weeks back, during my Christmas convalescence, Amazon.com uploaded a handful of excerpts including mine.... and then took them down quickly. It's as likely that these were used as test entries as it is an indicator that they've made it on some preliminary list, but I wouldn't put money behind either guess.
SALE! "Contents" to The Rambler January 11, 2008 "Contents" is a 500-word non-genre story based on a photograph published in a previous issue. It'll will run in the March/April 2008 "Your Stories" section of The Rambler. It's a tiny thing (the story), but The Rambler just might have the largest news stand circulation of any periodical I've appeared in to date. (Locally: Weaver Street Market, Internationalist Books, McIntyre's, the Regulator, and Quail Ridge Books, for starters. Nationally: many Barnes & Nobles and university bookstores) Followed only 4 rejections into the new year, which is a great start to 2008!
2007 Submission Log: Week 52! The Year is Dead! Long Live the Year! January 10, 2008 Submissions 469-475 Murky Depths (my 3rd and 4th subs there) SFReader.com Contest (2nd) Mineshaft (1-3rd) Writers of the Future (18th, yes, 18th) Rejection 334 Weird Tales (my 6th) Of Interest: I put out 148* submissions in 2007, a personal record but nothing to be admired. As I talked about here, it's been more an act of desperation than one of dedication. Glad to have gotten through it with what little progress I was able to make. Feels unreal to still be talking about 2007, when the whole year is (literally) fuzzy in my mind. I'm already into the first submissions, rejections and acceptance (I'll share tomorrow) of 2008, and I'm dizzy just writing what I've written so far for this entry (recovering slowly, but recovering; again, more later). I spent about three hours trying to focus on an interview questions yesterday for the Shimmer story and almost gave up. But then I thought: the first interviews I ever read were with 80s musicians coked out of their skulls; how unintelligible could I possibly be? Mineshaft's in Durham! How come nobody told me? Due to a clerical error on my part, my Writers of the Future entry count is up by two this quarter instead of one. The entry went MIA when I switched tracking methods a few years back, and I was all "this is my sixth or seventh" entry and I went ahead and marked it as a sixth. So my new tally.... Pending: 1 Nonplacers: 7 Honorable Quarterfinalists: 8 Semifinalists: 2 Finalists: 0 Superfinalists: 0 What's a superfinalist? How the hell should I know, with crappy numbers like these? In the interesting-to-nobody-else-but-me department, this does mean I've entered an average of twice per year for nine years. That's once a year at first, eventually upping to quarterly as my eligible days start to number. I have some hopes for 2008, the year my writing/submitting life turns ten (November) and my submission count will likely hit 500. Not a lot of hopes. But some. Don't ask me how long it took to write this. Gonna go lie down now. * Corrected from 147. Two lines in my tracking file got combined. I know nobody cares but me, but if it's worth tracking, it's worth tracking correctly.
OUTGOING at Fictionwise, Kindle, and AnthologyBuilder January 2, 2008  My sf/fantasy novelette "Outgoing" (Preview)--which originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2007--is suddenly available all over the place: Nebula Awards Website - (SFWA Members Only) "Outgoing" has been recommended for a Nebula Award! SFWA people can find the full text at the NAR site (or email me) through the end of the month. I believe it has until January 31 to gather enough recommendations from active members to make the preliminary ballot for next year. Fictionwise - Multiple  ebook formats for a variety of electronic readers (PDF, Palm, Sony eBook, etc.) for 99 cents.Amazon Kindle - DRMed sadly, but availabe on the Kindle "Whispernet" for 99 cents. (Please feel free to rate/review it if you read it in Asimov's.) AnthologyBuilder - Custom-assembled, print-on-demand anthologies starting at $14.95. Fill the book up with a variety of available texts, up to 350 pages total. ("Outgoing" takes up 54 pages). Yes, I intend to be a bit aggressive about making sure my previously published material is available. And I'm pretty excited about the AnthologyBuilder project, enough so that I supplied a few of the initial cover designs. Note to interested parties: wonderful-but-closed bookseller Clarkesworld Books has reopened its online store through January 12, but it looks like they've sold out of the Feb 2007 Asimov's (I might have purchased the last happy few). If anybody steps up to more-permanantly fill that CB void, I'd love to hear about it.
Not Brain Damage Yet January 1, 2008 (From the literature:) Following this type of head injury, headaches, nausea, inability to concentrate/focus, etc. may linger for a few days, weeks, or longer... Most of it's dealable, but it's been a week+ and the last one is killing me. A big part of writing, especially storytelling, is keeping multiple trains of thought going at once, both on a sentence level and and on a greater story-construction level. It's at the point where by the end of a paragraph I've lost everything I set out to do with the first word. Last journal entry took me over an hour. Had to give up on multiple stories that were so close to being done for a few Dec 31 deadlines, self-imposed and otherwise. Sending an older story to Writers of the Future, even a strong one, always feels like a defeat to me. Unproductive is the hardest feeling to deal with. ...but the brain damage is rarely permanent. The FUCK did you just say? I currently have brain damage but it's probably only temporary? And this is how you break it to a guy who constantly feels he's missing something: as an aside, like it's already been established, like we've been talking about brain damage all along, so he has to re-read all this passive-aggressive literature just to know he's not also suffering from memory loss? If only I'da known I had temporary brain damage a week ago. I've seen Law & Order. I could've gotten away with so much stuff over the holidays. I hear bank robbing does wonders for headaches and nausea.
Almost Made It December 27, 2007 So black ice is real. I lived most of my life on northern Ohio roads. When it comes to ice and similar hazards, I'm an annoyingly cautious driver. Sure, I've pulled myself out of fishtails, and I've pushed myself out of snowy ditches. But black ice? Where the first sign of anything slippery is a complete loss of traction? I've only hit black ice exactly once now: it was Sunday night, coming up 77 from Carrboro, North Carolina to Akron, Ohio, in the last half hour of a nine-hour solo drive.  But once is enough, eh? The driver who stopped and called an ambulance for me said I rolled twice, but I blacked out too soon to corroborate that. Walked away with nothing more than bruises and a mild head injury, if any head injury can be mild. Head's still swollen. Still can't focus for long periods, or stay awake for the better part of the day. But that'll get better. The Honda CR-V's finished after taking the worst of it (2000-2007 with just under 160K miles on it; airbag never deflated, but it saved my life regardless). Got sick of picking broken glass out of my beard, so that's gone, too. My glasses were torn off me in the crash, but better torn outward than inward, I guess. So the year ends the same way it begins, with an ambulance ride to the emergency room. Wheeee! I'm thinking 2008 must have something pretty wild in store, if 2007 is that adamant about keeping us from seeing it. But we're alive. We're happy. We're blessed. Drive safely, all!
2007 Submission Log: Weeks 49-51 December 23, 2007 Acceptance 71 (46th by slush) "Spoils of Springfield" to Shimmer, 71 days (coincidence?). My 4th submission there. Submissions 463-468 Sent stories to.... Ploughshares (my 4th submission there) GUD (1st, reprint) Pseudopod (1st, reprint) Ellery Queen (2nd) Plus a comic to LCRW Rejections 329-333 Atlantic Monthly (48 days on some poems) Murky Depths (83 days on a comic script) GUD (3 days on a story reprint) Of interest: Got an invite to do another comic script for an anthology, based on previous work. More about it later, I hope. Way too much stuff to finish by the end of the year.
SALE - "Spoils of Springfield" to Shimmer December 21, 2007 It's a Christmas miracle! Very happy about this. Shimmer's one of my favorite SF publications these days, if this post (LJ mirror) didn't already make that clear (and, incidentally, they're running their own subscription drive through January 10).  No, Loki, we don't have to do something every time someone holds a subscription drive. 
That's right. Back to bed. "Spoils" is another pre-Clarion humor piece. With zombies. Or class warfare. Or my attempt to write a manga fight sequence as prose. Something. More about it later; I wanna save some stuff for the "reader bonus content" Shimmer runs for each issue.
Murky Depths #2 Now Available December 20, 2007  My story-poem "Church of Saturn" is in the current issue of Murky Depths, a quarterly stories-comics-poetry anthology from across the pond. "Church of Saturn" is a science fiction update of probably the oldest missionary joke in the world, told in the twelve-line structure of "Stock Car Relativity" from Inconsequential Art #1. The issue (MD #2) also includes work by writer-editors Jason Sizemore (of Apex) and Katherine Patterson (of AlienSkin), among other recognizable names. MD's ("Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction") art and text combo makes for a beautiful, glossy book (this in spite of the occassional 4+ fonts per page, heh) packed with stories. And shipping from Great Britain to North Carolina is surprisingly fast. Wish all British publications were this easy to order.
I Am Such a Mendicant December 6, 2007 
My favorite artist-scripter team ever: Aragones and Evanier.My favorite comic book of all time: Groo. My first publication in a Dark Horse comic book: Groo: Hell on Earth #1 (letters page). Shut up. It counts. Must've written a dozen letters for the old Groo-Grams back when I was a kid and Epic/Marvel published the series for so long but not long enough. Never got around to mailing a'one of those letters. Some twenty years later, it appears I've gotten slightly less lazy. And by less lazy I mean email was invented. Don't look at me like that. It counts. My journal, my rules. EDIT: And, by gumbo, lest you doubt me... let's not forget George R R Martin's first publication (Fantastic Four #20).
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