Remember my 44-year struggle to sell a story to Analog? Well, that long struggle is almost over.

You’ll have to wait until the double-sized January/February issue goes on sale December 20th to read “After the Harvest, Before the Fall,” but the current issue has an In Times to Come feature which made me extremely happy.

Check out the start of the third paragraph —

Nice to have proof this wasn’t just an elaborate prank by editor Trevor Quachri.

Whew!

Last month, I revealed the title of my story which would be appearing in the upcoming science fiction anthology You, Human—

“101 Things to Do Before You’re Downloaded”

—which is a title I love so much it’ll probably end up also being the title of my next science fiction collection, whenever that comes together.

Now I can reveal the art which has been commissioned to accompany my story, drawn by L.A. Spooner.

To learn who that is—and what’s in the hand of the small figure on the left—you’re going to have to pick up a copy of You, Human, which should go on sale no later than the early Fall.

To make sure you learn when the book is available, keep checking back here, or over at the Written Backwards blog. I feel inordinately proud of this piece, so I look forward to learning how you feel about it.

I’ve been sitting on this sale for quite some time because I didn’t want to start spreading the news until all details were worked out, but now it can be told—two zombie novelettes of mine are about to be issued as a standalone volume by Written Backwards—perhaps as soon as the end of August.

Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Michael Bailey—who earlier this year published a story of mine in his anthology Chiral Mad 3—will be putting out Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat Them, made up of “Only Humans Can Lie” and “Faking It Until Forever Comes” (hence the liars and fakers of the umbrella title).

The cover and interior illustrations are by British Fantasy Award winning artist Daniele Serra. You can take a look at his cover art below. (Note that the type treatment may change between now and the pub date.)

For further info on the project, read Michael’s post. And to find out how to order a copy once it’s available, keep checking the Written Backwards blog. Or return here, of course. Because you know I won’t be able to shut up about it.

This looks to be a good year for fans of my writing—eight new stories should (fingers crossed) see print in 2017. Hope you like them!

Late last year, when I told you about the sale I’d made to the science fiction anthology You, Human, I failed to tell you the title of the story. That was deliberate.

Michael Bailey, the book’s editor, wanted to reveal the full Table of Contents at once. So I held off. Until now.

Because Michael has shared all.

And the title of the story you’ll be able to read later this year in You, Human is …

“101 Things to Do Before You’re Downloaded”

Check out the full list of authors—and the titles of their stories—over on the Written Backwards blog.

Remember when I told you I’d been honored with a sixth Stoker Award nomination, and that whatever ended up happening, win or lose, I’d win?

Well, I did win Saturday.

No, not that way. The other way.

The trophy for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction was taken home by co-finalist Mercedes Yardley, with whom I got into a brawl when I’d spotted her inside a candy store earlier that afternoon. (more…)

Back in February, I revealed the title of a story of mine which was to appear in the next issue of Postscripts. It’s my second-longest title ever, falling one word short of my longest—”How Amraphel, the Assistant to Dream, Became a Thief, Lost His Job, and Found His Way.”

Well, the issue containing “The Man Without the Blue Balloon and the Woman Who Had Smiles Only for Him” is now available from PS Publishing, and here’s the cover, which eerily captures the volume’s subtitle, “The Dragons of the Night.”

For the full Table of Contents, check out my earlier post, or take a look at this full cover spread, which includes the authors and story titles on the inside front cover flap.

The marks my fifth short story publication in Postscripts. Pete Crowther and Nick Gevers have been good to me. I hope that when you read “The Man Without the Blue Balloon and the Woman Who Had Smiles Only for Him,” you’ll feel that confidence has been justified.

Last June, I told you I’d sold my 10,000-word story “That Perilous Stuff” to the anthology Chiral Mad 3, and then in August I shared the illustration artist Glenn Chadbourne whipped up for that tale.

Now that the book’s about to be released—over on Facebook last night, editor Michael Bailey announced a March 29 release date—here’s the final front and back cover, with the name EDELMAN sandwiched between CHIZMAR and GOLDSMITH.

A spooky cover for what will surely be a spooky (and awesome) book!

If you’d like a small taste of “That Perilous Stuff,” here’s my reading at last year’s World Fantasy Convention of the first third or so.

I hope it will leave you wanting more.

Earlier today, the Horror Writers Association announced the final ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards, and I’m thrilled to see that my story “Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen” is one of the final five in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

Here are the five stories which survived the voting process and are now Stoker nominees.

Gary A. Braunbeck – Paper Cuts (Seize the Night) (Gallery Books)

Lisa Mannetti – The Box Jumper (Smart Rhino Publications)

Norman Partridge – Special Collections (The Library of the Dead) (Written Backwards)

Mercedes M. Yardley – Little Dead Red (Grimm Mistresses) (Ragnarok Publications)

Scott Edelman – Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen (Dark Discoveries #30)

This marks the sixth time a story of mine has been voted onto a final Stoker Awards ballot. I previously appeared there with— (more…)

I received the latest PS Publishing Weekly Newsletter this morning, and in it, the full Table of Contents for Postscripts #36/37—which has been given the subtitle “The Dragons of the Night”—has been revealed.

Which means I now feel free to share the title of my story therein—one of my longest titles ever—as well as the names of the other writers and the titles of the other stories which will be surrounding mine.

And here they are!

Darkness, and Darkness by Robert Freeman Wexler
S.K. by James Cooper
A Reverie of Time by Allen Ashley
The Wedding Photographer by Robert Guffey
Machinists by Andrew Jury
The Second Runner by John Grant
Surfacing by Lisa L. Hannett
In Passing by Robert Reed
The Dragons of the Night by Darrell Schweitzer
Last Post by Robert Edric
Texas by James Cooper
Untanglement: The Leaving of the Quantum Cats by John Gribbin
Karen Coxswain, or Death as She is Truly Lived by Paul Di Filippo
Rewrites by Keith Brooke
Everything Finishes by John Grant
The Day My Heart Stood Still by Andrew Hook
Madam, I’m Adam by Gary Fry
In the Macabre Theatre of Nightshade Place by Cate Gardner
Happy Sands by Stephen Bacon
The Man Without the Blue Balloon and the Woman Who Had Smiles Only for Him by Scott Edelman
Blesséd by Bruce Golden
The Hutchison Boy by Darrell Schweitzer
Abundances Above by Brian Aldiss
The Beachcomber by Lavie Tidhar

What wonderful company I’m keeping!

Since it’s not self-evident from my title, “The Man Without the Blue Balloon and the Woman Who Had Smiles Only for Him” is a post-apocalyptic tale set an unspecified number of years in the future. Should you read it, I hope you enjoy it.

While I don’t yet see a link so you can order a copy of Postscripts #36/37, you can reach the full PS Publishing site here, where I’m sure purchasing information will be listed once it’s available.

If what I’ve been told by various editors and publishers comes to pass, I may have more stories published in 2016 than any single previous year. Fingers crossed!

I made my first short story submission to Analog in 1972. Seven days later, editor Ben Bova rejected it.

Why am I telling you this?

Because 44 years and two editors later, I’ve finally sold a story to Analog!

And here’s how I got from there to here.

On June 22, 1972, when I was but a wee lad, I slid the manuscript of a story titled “No Pun Intended” into a manilla envelope and mailed it off. I no longer have any idea what that story was about, and I no longer have the ability to check. Long ago, I destroyed all evidence of my first three novels and 25 short stories. So all I know is … it included a pun, because I made mention of that fact in my cover letter, and because of, well, that title.

On June 29, I received this response.

I didn’t realize at the time, since I’d only been submitting my fiction for a year or so, how rare it was for someone as green as I was to receive anything but a form rejection slip. I also didn’t realize how many years of sending additional stories to Analog I’d have ahead of me before I’d receive a second personal response.

But even if I’d known, that wouldn’t have stopped me. (more…)