Back at the end of August, I blogged about how I was going to do a writing challenge in September to produce more short stories to fill out my publishing queue. At the time, I had a couple of stories that looked like they were going to be picked up by one of the major… Continue reading Bowing Out
Category: Short Stories
September Shorts 2022: Hunter, Lover, Cyborg, Slave
Whenever I do these short story challenges, the first one always feels like it’s super hard, and I end up spending way more time on it than I thought I would. It also usually ends up a lot longer than I would like. Hopefully the rest of them come faster and easier than this one… Continue reading September Shorts 2022: Hunter, Lover, Cyborg, Slave
New Short: The Library of Fate
I actually wrote this one before September, but since I forgot to mention it then, I thought I’d blog about it now. The rough draft is only about 3,700 words, and is basically a time travel / alternate universe story set in a fantasy world, where the evil sorceror weaves possibilities in order to magically… Continue reading New Short: The Library of Fate
New Short Story Writing Challenge
I self-publish a new short story every month, and I try to keep at least six in the hole so that I have some time to send each one to the magazines and anthologies. Right now, I’ve only got three, soon to be two, so I need to write some short stories. Sounds like it’s… Continue reading New Short Story Writing Challenge
Fisking Hysteria
So a couple of days ago, I finished revising “The Freedom of Second Chances” and started looking for places to submit it. That was how I found this anthology call, for a pro-abortion anthology titled Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction. The guidelines were so unbelievable that I just have to fisk… Continue reading Fisking Hysteria
Short Story: Christopher Columbus, Treasure Hunter
So I finished this one a couple of days ago, but I forgot to write about it then, so I’m writing about it now. Hard to say much when this is the second in a series and the first one hasn’t come out yet, but I’m actually quite pleased with how this one turned out.… Continue reading Short Story: Christopher Columbus, Treasure Hunter
Short Story: The Body Tax
This was a fun one to write, even if it did go a little dark at first. The idea for it came from this article about a couple in San Francisco who received an outrageously huge warning fine ($1,500) for parking their car in their own driveway. In the comments to the article, I wrote:… Continue reading Short Story: The Body Tax
Spring Shorts 2022 #4: The Freedom of Second Chances
I’m really happy with how this short story turned out. It pushes the edge in a lot of interesting ways, with the main character having to choose between duty and honor and doing what is right, and a forced abortion situation that puts the lie to the “women’s right to choose” insanity. It will probably… Continue reading Spring Shorts 2022 #4: The Freedom of Second Chances
Refining my short story strategy
I’ve blogged several times about my short story strategy. To restate it briefly, I’ve found that it works best to self-publish all of my short story singles for free, and to take them down when I have enough of them (+40k words, usually about 10 stories) to bundle into a collection. I earn more this… Continue reading Refining my short story strategy
Spring Shorts Story #3: Christopher Columbus, Wildcatter
Wow, has it really been almost three weeks since I finished another short story? I really need to get back into the game. Still, this was a fun one, and I’m really looking forward to turning it into something great. As with the two previous stories, I used the Mythulu cards to come up with… Continue reading Spring Shorts Story #3: Christopher Columbus, Wildcatter