Of tentacles and sword-and-sorcery and dark things inside you … October 30, 2009
Posted by Steve in Books, Fiction.Tags: Books, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Horror, Literature, Short Stories, Sword & Sorcery, Writing
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Suddenly, I have new fiction cropping up in delightfully strange places.
First off, “The Book of Tentacles” will be available from Sam’s Dot Publishing in November. Tucked among the thirty or so tales you’ll find behind that really cool cover will be one from me, called “The Temple of Squoad.” This is a darkly humorous sword-and-sorcery piece in my series about Otrossius the demigod and his hapless companion Lacius. If you’ve encountered those two in the “Black Dragon, White Dragon” anthology from Ricasso Press or perhaps at Big Pulp, then you know at least a bit of what to expect. If these characters are new to you, I’ll simply say this isn’t Conan or Fafhrd and the Mouser. I hope you’ll enjoy them.
The stories in this antho are not all sword-and-sorcery, by the way, but they’re all … tentacle-ish. Some horror, some science fiction, some probably unclassifiable stuff — and me. It ought to be a lot of fun.
Camille Alexa, who used to drop by these parts now and then back when I had time to blog once a week or so, also has a story in this book.
In other news, I’ve learned that Every Day Fiction wants my horror flash “Waiting to Pounce” for its “Best of Every Day Fiction 2009″ anthology. More details on that when I get them, but I can say the 2008 edition from EDF is the handsomest edition on my vanity shelf — and I am damned glad to be in the next rendition. I know Deven Atkinson and Bill Ward are in there too, and probably a bunch of other people I should mention. I promise a link to the table of contents when that’s available.
“Waiting to Pounce,” a tale of a dark thing that might be inside you, or me, at this very moment, is the kind of horror I seem to do best — creepy, freaky and utterly plausible.
Lastly, here’s a reminder that I’ll have a Calthus story (that’s right, Calthus — sword-and-sorcery antihero raised from Hell in a new body to kick ass in a world he does not recognize) coming in the “Through Blood and Iron” antho from Ricasso Press. Editor Rob Santa wanted action, action and more action flavored with a little action, and he thought my story “Deep as Death” fit the bill.
It feels good to know my most popular sword-and-sorcery character is back in action. Damned good.
– Steve
The Best of Every Day Fiction 2008 December 5, 2008
Posted by Steve in Books, Fiction.Tags: Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Literature, Short Stories, Sword & Sorcery
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What’s that, you say? You are looking for a volume of good flash fiction, with a wide variety of genres and voices? All bound within a beautiful cover?
I think I can help you with that:
Presenting “The Best of Every Day Fiction 2008,” wherein you’ll find three of my stories plus work from a whole lot of other writers — 100 stories, selected as the best by EDF’s cadre of editors.
You can read more about it or order a hardback or trade paperback right here.
My three entries in this anthology are all fantasies, representing a diverse lot. Tell’s Choice looks at the William Tell legend from the vantage of a ghost. Monochrome wonders what it might be like if a supreme being decided enough is enough. Invincible is out-and-out sword & sorcery, in under a thousand words.
All three of those stories are linked from the “My Fiction” tab above, if you are curious. Or, you might want to just wander on over to Every Day Fiction and poke around. EDF offers a brand new flash fiction story every day (including a horror story of mine quite recently, as mentioned in a post below). EDF also has a “random story” function, a searchable database of stories and a fairly active forum for readers and writers. It’s all free, too, except for the nifty anthology.
Have fun!
— Steve
A new story of mine: ‘Waiting to Pounce’ December 3, 2008
Posted by Steve in Fiction.Tags: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror
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A horror flash story I wrote, called Waiting to Pounce, goes live today at Every Day Fiction. You can read it here.
The impetus for this piece was a contest my wife, Gere, set up with TW Williams and me. Basically, we had to write a short story for Halloween. We got writer Deven D. Atkinson to judge all three stories, which he did without knowing which piece belonged to which author. Deven picked Waiting to Pounce as the winner, but he thought at the time it was a Williams story. I take that as a big compliment. (more…)
