According to legend, there’s a tree somewhere in London that’s perpetually on fire. And despite my general fondness for vegetation, I’d rather not extinguish this particular blaze. Mostly because I don’t want to risk ruining a good thing.

See, Flame Tree Publishing has bought more of my stories than any other publisher. Maybe that’s because they like my ideas. Maybe they just appreciate my voice. Or maybe they’re printing out my stories to use as fuel for the ongoing fire, because they’re operating under a centuries-old curse and will suffer horrible consequences if the tree stops burning. Whatever the case, they’ve been really great to me, and have recently continued with their unending generosity by buying more of my work.

“Snakes and Stones, We’ll Break Their Bones” will appear in Flame Tree’s Medusa anthology. This is one of the first books (along with Odin) in their newest series: “Myths, Gods and Immortals.” If you’ve always wanted to read a cyberpunk/Frankensteinian/screw-the-patriarchy story about everyone’s favorite snake-haired lady, then you are in luck. Look for Medusa in October 2024!

Of course, Flame Tree’s giving doesn’t stop there. They’ve also picked up one of my stories for their Moon Falling Short Stories anthology–another book in their positively gorgeous Gothic Fantasy series. My contribution is a short piece (just a little over two pages), called “Rising Tides, Waning Love.”

Thanks, Flame Tree, for publishing so many of my stories. I hope you never stop burning. (Assuming that’s, y’know–what you want. I have no idea how arboreal arson works.)

In other news, my humor story “A Rat, a Root, and a Big Orange Fruit” is now available in Feisty Felines and Other Fantastical Familiars–just in time for Halloween! (It’s a Halloween story. About a rat. The whole thing is so ridiculous it’s basically a cartoon, which makes it one of the best humor stories I’ve had published.) You may want to consider checking this one out, especially if you’re looking for a new October tradition to supplement your annual re-reading of the Roger Zelazny classic A Night in the Lonesome October. (My all-time favorite book!)

-Z

One of the things authors tell each other (and sometimes have to remind themselves) is to never self-reject.  If you’re not sure an editor will like your story just because they typically don’t buy much Martian weasel-farming fiction, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot.  Maybe some aspect of your writing will override the editor’s usual preferences.  Maybe all the time your weasel-farming story spends on Venus will be enough to break free of the Martian cliche.  But if you self-reject by never submitting the story in the first place, you’ll never know.

With that in mind, I didn’t think I had anything to send to Flame Tree Publishing’s Swords & Steam anthology.  After all, the closest I’ve ever come to writing a steampunk story was burning myself on the hot air rising from a box of microwaved pot stickers and yelling something that only sort-of sounds like “punk.”

But the submission guidelines did say they’d be looking for (among other things) historical fiction, so I figured–what the heck?  Let’s see if they’re interested in reading a little about Eli Whitney.

Let me tell ya–I’m sure glad I sent that email.

“Eli Whitney and the Cotton Djinn,” which originally appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show #42, will now see print in one of Flame Tree’s positively gorgeous anthologies.  Last year I sold “Sweet Dreams, Glycerine” to their Science Fiction Stories anthology, and that book remains the prettiest thing on my shelf; I can’t wait to see Swords & Steam standing alongside it.

In other news, remember that post I wrote about Codex’s Weekend Warrior competition?  (If not, it’s right here.)  Well, as it turns out, I’ve sold another of my contest stories–this time, to a place called Fantasy & Science Fiction.

. . .

Yes, I’m talking about the same F&SF that’s been around since the 1940s.  The same F&SF that published things like Roger Zelazny’s “The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth” and “A Rose for Ecclesiastes.”  The same F&SF that I’ve long said is the short-fiction market I most wanted to sell a story to.

So, that’s a thing.  “The Woman With the Long Black Hair” will appear in the pages of F&SF sometime in the near(ish) future.  It’s a flash fiction story about 800 words in length, which is particularly crazy because F&SF only publishes a small handful of flash stories per year.  Really, I had no reason to believe they’d be interested in something so short.

And that’s why you never self-reject.

-Z

Okay, so it’s a little early for Halloween.  (And a little late for Summerween.)  But you’re reading a post by a guy who gets the Christmas itch sometime around Lughnasadh, so let’s not worry too much about temporally displaced holidays.

The reason I’m wishing you all a happy Halloween is because I recently wrote a story about the holiday, and–in a rare fit of competence–also managed to sell it.  “The Fantastic Tale of Miss Arney’s Doubloon” will appear in the 2017 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, coming soon to a Kickstarter near you.

Evan Dicken (a contributor to the 2016 YEAG) was the one who pointed out the anthology’s submission call to me, and he deserves credit for this sale:  his critique vastly improved my story.

If you’re wondering what the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide is, it’s a book of short science fiction stories aimed at 9-12-year-olds.  If you’re wondering what it looks like, this should give you a pretty good idea.

I’m not sure the book will be out in time for Halloween 2016, but don’t worry:  you can read my story at any time of year.  After all, calendars are just guidelines, not regulations.

Merry Christmas!

-Z

At the beginning of each year the Codex Writers’ Group hosts a competition called Weekend Warrior, wherein participants are given five story prompts that must be sculpted into vaguely presentable lumps of story no greater than 750 words.  Naturally, the prompts are delivered on Friday night and the stories due by Sunday, because it wouldn’t be Weekend Warrior if we weren’t all panicking.

I’d say there are no prizes for Weekend Warrior, but that’s not entirely true.  Sure, you won’t win a ribbon, medal or gold-sprinkled victory-donut, but you will end up with all sorts of feedback from the other 30ish writers in your division, which is a prize more valuable than most trophies and baked goods.   Also, Weekend Warrior forces people to write on a deadline, and that’s not a bad thing for a guy whose motivation is often in short supply.

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, this is all leading somewhere:  I’ve sold one of my five Weekend Warrior stories from this year.

Specifically, it was my week-one story, titled “Tomorrow’s Forecast.”  I combined two of the week’s five prompts for this piece:  one that asked me to write a story where weather was relevant to the plot, and one that asked me to write an argument between two people who have known each other a long time.

At the suggestion of my good friend and critique partner Alex Shvartsman, I submitted my story to Mike Resnick at Galaxy’s Edge.  Fifty-three minutes later, there was a contract in my inbox.

So special thanks to Alex, not only for sending me Mike’s way, but for reading an early draft of “Tomorrow’s Forecast” and wisely suggesting I cut a huge chunk out of both the intro and conclusion.  The story is much stronger for it!

Sometime in the past month (or maybe two–time has become difficult to judge lately, thanks to this summer heat melting my brain into something that could pass for expired clam chowder) I heard about an open submission window for a trio of books from Flame Tree Publishing:  one each for horror, ghosts and science fiction.  They said they were open to multiple submissions, so naturally I upended my trunk of unsold stories over their inbox.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration–I only sent five stories.  And, as you’ve probably guessed from this post’s headline, one of them sold.

“Sweet Dreams, Glycerine” will be appearing in Flame Tree’s Science Fiction volume this August, hidden among 480 pages of SF stories new and old.  According to the volume’s description on Flame Tree’s site, I’ll be hanging out with such authors as Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells.  I’m not sure how I ended up in that party, but let’s hope no one comes around checking for invitations.

Now, they say you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but just this once, I’d like everyone to make an exception.

That book should be in an art gallery.  No!  It deserves its own gallery.  Actually, let’s just agree to appoint it as the President’s Adviser to the Arts.  And if you don’t think that’s the best idea ever proposed by a human being, then maybe I should point out that the book will be hardback, printed on silver, matte laminated, gold foil stamped, and embossed.

Mom, if you have to pick between having this book or a photograph of me on your shelf, the decision should be easy. I probably looked dumb in that picture anyway.

-Z

I found out last week that I sold a story to Alex Shvartsman’s Unidentified Funny Objects 4 anthology, which is significant for a number of reasons:

1.  I sold a story.  If you’ve been thinking about buying stock in confetti, now’s the time.

2.  Specifically, I sold a story to Unidentified Funny Objects.  Ever since having “No Silver Lining” published in the first volume of this anthology series, I’ve wanted to weasel my way back in.  Unfortunately, for the past two volumes Alex has managed to catch me breaking into his warehouse before I could glue my napkin-scrawled Buffy fan-fiction into the books.

This time around, however, I took a more conventional route:  tricking Alex into thinking I know what I’m doing.  Somehow, it worked.

3.  It’s no secret that I worship Neil Gaiman.  I mention this because A) it always bears mentioning, even if for no particular reason, and B) it’s relevant to the current topic, because Neil’s got a story appearing in UFO4.

This, of course, means that my name will be appearing in the same book as Neil Gaiman’s.  And this time it’s not just because I’m in a bookstore and have a pen handy.

There are a number of other great names included in the volume as well (you can check the TOC here), but I mention Neil specifically because he’s been a huge influence on me.  (See:  “worship,” above.)

And that’s my news for today.  See you all in 6-12 months!

-Z