SUMMER'S END

It’s been an interesting summer, and a fruitful one. For me, the biggest news was the acceptance of my first novel, Dead Air, to be published by Scrivener Press in the fall of 2012. That’s been a long time coming. It follows a radio morning show host who finds himself the victim of harassment that escalates into attempts on his life.

But the news has been good on the short story front, too, with a couple more stories available or soon to be available in print. My story “Shakedown” appears in the anthology Canadian Tales of the Fantastic from Red Tuque Books, which can now be ordered through Amazon.ca . It’s a story about a prototype submersible the size of a virus, designed to travel the human bloodstream (yes, inspired by the movie Fantastic Voyage) except the virtual reality control system takes a terrible toll on the test pilot. “Shakedown” is a prequel to my novel Labyrinth which continues the story of the submersible Primus, and is currently looking for an agent and publisher. Here’s the anthology’s cover art to look for.

 

My story “Once Upon A Midnight”, about the disastrous consequences of a woman’s failing marriage, was previously made available on this site but has since been removed because it’s going to be included in the forthcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. I still don’t have a publication date for that one, but I just approved the galley proof for the story and it looks good—a nice gothic font for titles etc. The cover art is interesting too. I’m eager to have a good look at both anthologies in print.

A couple of other stories have reached the final stages of the selection process on other fronts, so my fingers are crossed for those. Now, as I resign myself to the fact that the days will be getting cooler, I’m hoping that the writing career stays hot!

NEWS EVERY WRITER WANTS TO HEAR

It’s been a good week. On Tuesday I was told that my first novel had been accepted for publication. On Thursday I signed the contract.

My novel Dead Air isn’t science fiction—it’s a story about a morning radio show host who’s life is already falling apart when he begins to suffer harassment from an unknown source. As nasty pranks escalate into outright attempts on his life, he struggles to cope with the threat and find out who wants him dead. Before they succeed!

I wrote the novel while I was hosting a radio morning show myself, and the scenario is plausibly unnerving. It’s going to be published by Scrivener Press of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, a small press that does good work and has high standards. Scrivener Press is also the publisher of my friend and mentor, Sean Costello. It’s a perfect fit for Dead Air because the novel is set in Sudbury. The only downside is that Dead Air won’t be released until the fall of 2012, so you (and I) have a long year to wait before we can hold a copy in our hands.

On Sunday I was gratified to learn that my short story “Once Upon A Midnight” has been accepted for the upcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. It’s a dark-humour story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, about a woman having relationship problems while she’s working at a storage and research centre for deadly bio-agents. I’m not sure when that anthology will see print. There’s a chance you’ve already read the story—I had it available for download here on the website, but I’ve taken it down as a courtesy to the folks at Dark Opus. Now you’ll have to buy the book.

I’ve been meaning to make audio versions of my free stories available on this site for some time, and I finally got around to recording my story “No Walls”. So now you can read it online, download a PDF version, or listen to the MP3 recording. The audio is in two parts, available from the “No Walls” page. I hope you enjoy it.

Yes, it’s been a good week. Now if I only had time to get some writing done!