Writing Reviews For Shroud Magazine
I just submitted my first several book reviews to Shroud Magazine for their next issue. We're still working out the details about how many reviews are going to be in a column and in an issue, but whatever is decided, I'm totally stoked. I never imagined four years ago when I started writing reviews again for Title Trakk and Infuze that I'd end up here. Shroud's a very respected, reputable, QUALITY dark fiction magazine, and Tim Deal is awesome to work with. A lot of start-ups flare out quickly, but I think Shroud is here to stay.
I've also been very fortunate to have two stories appear in their anthologies: "Water of God of Clarke Street" is in Abominations: 17 Tales of Murderous Monsters, and "Old Bassler House" will appear in their upcoming anthology, Northern Haunts. Later on this Spring/Summer, they'll be publishing my first novel, Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, book four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles.
On a side note: this is what I'd love to see happen to the Faith-Perspective Genre/Speculative Fiction Anthology, Coach's Midnight Diner. Coach Culbertson is just as savvy as Tim, and I hope someday they'll take off in the same way. I mentioned once that I thought CMD could be the faith version of Cemetary Dance, and I still think that way.
So, what am I up to? This and that. I have three stories to re-write in two weeks as the end of the semester Creative Writing Portfolio looms. It's been a bit of a drag this semester. As always, the feedback and critique has been great, but while last year I was less focused in my writing, this semester I had very specific places I wanted to submit with specific deadlines, and my grad school deadlines sometimes interferred with those. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, because something I still struggle with is banging out a story too quickly and sending it right out. At the very least, making me miss some deadlines has forced me to spend more time on my stories, which is always a good thing.
It's done: I'm paid in full for Borderlands Press Writers' Bootcamp. I'm pumped. For two and half days, I'll be writing my fingers off, soaking up knowledge from the likes of: Douglas Clegg, Gary A. Braunbeck, Mort Castle, and F. Paul Wilson! Expect a blog each night to recap my day!
Anyway, I do have submissions in at Flash Me Magazine, Doorways Publications, and Something Wicked Magazine. Hope to hear good things from any one of these sometime soon. On another note, my poem, Physics, was accepted for a special Teachers & Students edition of Solo Press Cafe. I'm really tickled about this: my first print acceptance for a poem, AND it's a reputable one, referred to me by my Poetry Workshop professor. As soon as the semester is over, I'm going to polish off some of the poems I generated in workshop this semester, and send them out.
Projects I'm working on: The only thing really is a novella I'd like to pitch to Doorways. Maybe they'll like it. Maybe they'll tell me to take a hike. We'll see!