Retold Fairy Tale Anthology Release!

I'm very proud of this story. It was the first fiction story I finished years ago. It was rough and done before I had begun to hone my craft. The characters were so vivid to me that I understood I had not done them justice yet and I tucked it away.

It stayed with me over the years. When I pulled it out to take another go at it I could see where it needed to be tightened and trimmed and fleshed out. I breathed new life into it and then I sent it out.

Only two subs before 'The House on Blaubart Street" was accepted. And now it's in print with Immortal Works. I am a proud parent.

From the press information:
“Consider, amigo mío, that all stories begin with some grain of truth.”
“They’re no ordinary horses. They’re kelpies.”
“A strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her over the rail of the deck.”
“Cleanse the house on Blaubart Street.”

Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty aren’t the only fairy tales in the world, but they tend to steal most of the glory. It’s time to let others shine for a change. Sixteen talented authors each put their own spin on different fairy tales that you won’t find in animated films.

Trade your pining fair-haired princesses for fire fairies, conquistadors, plucky young men named Jack, and a fisherman’s daughter. You won’t see too many castles, but you’ll visit a haunted house, a mill, and a Russian bathhouse. This book also features not-so-wicked stepmothers, a hungry jackal, a black cat with a mysterious secret, and a ship full of pirates.

Move over, Cinderella. Make room for Mercedes.


Buy it from Immortal Works.
Buy it from Amazon.

A Book Cover Reveal & What It Means to Me

Not the book cover; just a meaningful image.

This Halloween is the cover reveal date for the anthology my latest short story will appear in! I hope it always feels this exciting. It's an anthology of short speculative fiction stories called On Fire, published with Transmundane Press.

Yes. 

On Fire.

If you know my personal story, you understand why I clarified that they were works of fiction. And lest you don't find it funny, I assure you that gallow's humor is the bread and butter of recovering serious pain and moments of facing one's serious mortality.

October 31 will also be the second anniversary of my being on fire. Of when I was on fire. I never quite know how to put it. Words seem to fail the experience.

I'm not big on anniversaries as a rule, but the fact that this accident fell on a holiday makes it a bit more difficult to distance it from the upcoming calendar date. It's not like I'll be like, oh last Tuesday was the anniversary. I forgot. Not ever. But it's a day. It's just a day. It will pass. And someday it will pass and fire will not be the first thing I think about.

And this year there is a happy note to the day. The story in this anthology is the first story I finished after my accident, while I was early in recovery. My latest work, "The Last Seven Tribes of Ketchari", contains a thread related to my journey, the thread of finding courage in a hopeless situation and rising above it to become something more than you imagined possible.

In an original, fantastical world, it's about how we adapt to survive.

When Family Reads Your Work

While visiting with my family for the holidays, we talked about my latest published story, "The Keepers of Madleen," and they gave me their honest feedback, which I always appreciate. My dad said it was his favorite story of mine yet.

That doesn't suck to hear, especially as my skills improve with each story I write.

The best moment came when I told them that I had a bunch of stories set in the same world, weaving themselves into being within my head. I told them I could see it becoming a book of short stories. And then I told them what happens in the first moment of the very next story.

The look of surprise/shock that crossed both of their faces was the best gift I could have gotten. It meant that my story was effective!

Keep writing. Keep creating. It's a tough road but it keeps going.

So do I.

So can you.

Get Dystopia Utopia Here!

It's been a week... I got a rejection. A submission got bumped up to the next tier- one step closer to a yes. And I just sent a new story in. Then there was an e-mail telling me that the last story I had accepted, "The Keepers of Madleen," was just published!

Check out the book at Flame Tree Publishing with this link!

June Release for the Folklore Anthology!

I am thrilled to announce that the first book in NordLand Publishing’s Northlore Series, Folklore, will be released in June. My story “Hold the Door” is in this anthology! It has been a pleasure to work with the team at NordLand and I cannot wait to see this cover in person.

If you’re a fan of storytelling, of prose and poetry, of Norse flavored sagas and fairy tales, of monsters and creatures, of gods and heroes, check this series out.

A link to NordLand's announcement! 

Published in a New Anthology!

My story “The White Sisters” has been accepted into a new anthology called What Follows, edited by April Steenburgh and Christy Lennox, editors of Fight Like a Girl! In my story, the White Sisters are dryads who belong to a birch sect of watchers, waking into a post-apocalyptic world where the land and trees around them are dying.

The book is available in e-book format and soon to be available in print-on-demand. I’m really proud of this story!

"How would an Immortal deal with the End Times? The world will inevitably come stumbling into apocalypse, and They will be there to witness it. Dryads, demi-gods, deities of every pantheon- is it possible for the Eternal to handle an ending with grace? Should it come through disease, disaster, or religious fervor, discover What Follows..."

Other stories by Lyn Thorne-Alder, M.J. King, Joyce Chng, Kate Larking, Nina Waters, K Orion Fray, E.V. O'Day, Crystal Sarakas, Ross Bennett, and April Steenburgh.

To Be a Writer

You say prayers before you open your e-mail account. You’ve been staring at the login for a while, trying to give yourself a reason to not check, ever since you sent that story out. It was the first story you sent, destined to be your first rejection, and you know it. You just don’t know how you’ll react.

Every positive rejection is a step in the right direction.

It’s a mantra you created though you know you’re not the first lips to utter them. Still, it stings when you read them:

“Thanks for your submission. Although we generally thought this story had merit, in the end we decided that it wouldn't be a good fit for the anthology. Unfortunately, we are going to pass on this one.”

“Thank you for your submission, but I’m afraid it’s not quite what I’m looking for. Best of luck to you in placing this elsewhere.”

“Thank you for letting us read your story. Unfortunately it is not quite right for the anthology. Good luck placing the story elsewhere!”

“Thank you for sending us your story. Although it's not the right fit, we're glad you thought of us. We wish you the best of luck placing this piece elsewhere.”

You’re grateful for the kind words. So you don’t give up. But you know you’ve missed the mark because they didn’t even critique it. And you try to quell the demon rising inside you, gnashing it’s teeth, because it wants to eat all of the words you wrote and swallow the ones that weren’t good enough. You hush the demon's rage because you know it’s more like a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the right elements. They're just not dancing in accord yet.

So you go back to the keyboard and you open your hands and you write. Because there are more stories and more characters coming alive within you and you have to get them out. And each time you tell their tales, you come closer to being the kind of writer your heart longs for, and you know it. You feel it in your blood. And you chase the dragons in your head. 

Every time you send another story out, you clench your fists, wondering how, in what new way, your words will be judged.

I don’t think that will ever go away.

But you learn that your stories are stray cats that just have to find the right homes. They’re good. And you plug away and plug away. You lose yourself in the creation of lives.

Then one day you open your e-mail and you’re reading the words and you don’t understand what they say because you’re reading them wrong. Because they don’t say “Unfortunately.” They liked your story. A lot. 

They want your story. They sent you a contract and everything. And now you’re a published author. The euphoria lasts through the night. You tell your parents, your partner, and your friends.

When dawn comes and you wake, toddling to the computer, bleary-eyed, you open a file and start all over again. You dance fingers across keys and your inner demon shouts synonyms at you for all the cliche words you first think. And life is born within you and released. And you write.

You write because you don’t know what else to do.