"When Megan Could Fly" at Liquid Imagination

I have one of "those" stories up at Liquid Imagination today (I'll let you, dear readers, decide what that means). You can read "When Megan Could Fly" or listen to the wonderful Robert Eccles read the story. I had originally intended the tale to be part of How We Die in a Hungry Town when the manuscript was titled We're All Liars Here, but then the character of Megan changed. Too much, really.

Liquid Imagination serves a few pictures to go with each story, and I found the first to be rather thought-provoking. Let me know if it provokes you, too.

Thanks to the Liquid Imagination crew for publishing "When Megan Could Fly". Part of the story is true, but I'll leave you to decide which part...

Write 1 / Sub 1 Weekend Update

If you're counting, this is number three. I'm going to stop counting because, well, I just am.

I've managed my fourth story in four weeks, this one an anti-war sci-fi number called "What to Pack When You're Bound for [a really big number I can't even remember.3]" to Clarkesworld. I'm currently 17 in the queue, so when I get my rejection tomorrow, it will head back into sub land post haste.

The really big number, if you'd like to know, corresponds with a planet astronomers think might have liquid water (a necessity for life as we know it). "They" are the enemy, however, and my dear protagonist is a "trigger".

My current WIP is "vexing" me greatly, and I'm about to "raise the stakes". (i.e., punch it in the mouth)

That is all.

I'm Not Clowning Around About the Contest

Remember, remember the 31st of January (not as catchy as "5th of November, le sigh):

Monday is the last day to enter my latest giveaway. Details here.

Today, another video from Patrick Boivin (creator of "Happy Meal"). This one is funny, sad, and well...

Shock Totem 3

I wanted to wait until I had this

in hand before I posted about how damn proud I was to have a story in Shock Totem. A big thank you to the brave editors for taking a chance on my little story, "Wanting It". It's one of my favorite tales, if not my very favorite (don't tell my other stories) and never fails to catch me with armor down at the end.

I've already devoured John Skipp's rather delicious (if one can stomach it) entry and a wonderfully sad tale from Jeremy Kelly, "A Birth in the Year of the Miracle Plague". Shock Totem is a mag well worth your support.

You know what to do.

WIP Wednesday Gets Boarded by Pirates

Yeah, I'm writing a short story. I've always been writing something for the last five years. There's your "WIP Wednesday". Haha.

I love the discussion which started yesterday. Book piracy is a hot topic. It's a relatively new topic for books, too. Bootlegging movies and music has been a pretty easy task for years, long before digital copies and the 'net have made it even easier. Some bands built their reputation on bootlegged tapes (um, how about some Metallica irony, folks?). But books were harder to steal and mass produce--you needed a printing press or a really reliable photocopier and a boatload of patience.

Now we have e-books. Now we have Creative Commons licenses. Now we have pirates trading books.

At McLouth High School, we have a rule in the student handbook stating "all electronic devices will remain in student lockers during the school day". Right. Seen any cell phones lately? Out of 22 students in first period, 20 had a cell phone, MP3 player, or both (I surveyed them). How do you police a rule like that? Is it worth the time to try? My point: some people will do what they want regardless of laws or rules or moral order. They just will. It doesn't make it right. It just is.

I know piracy has hurt music sales. I used to download pirated music (before I saw the light), a practice I've given up because cheap, reliable, and convenient alternatives now exist. I know the music industry's lack of foresight and willingness to change has also hurt music sales. We can't blame the pirates for the whole mess.

So, when I tongue-in-cheek told people to steal my book, I'm acknowledging the reality of electronic piracy. I can't live in fear of it, just like I won't spend my teaching day seeking out every contraband electronic device I can find. I'm an English teacher. We read literature and write. We think. We don't have time for cat and mouse.

Students have always found a way to "goof off" in class. When I was younger, we did it with pencil and paper and passed notes. Now they text. Who knows what comes next?

I don't.

But I'm curious...

Steal My Book

Really, I don't mind. In fact, I encourage you to steal my book. The way I figure it--and I'm stealing the idea from Cory Doctorow, proving piracy of ideas is pretty common--anyone who steals my book wasn't going to pay for it in the first place.

What am I talking about? Well, I discovered (through the magic of Google Alerts...if you are an author and don't have one set to your name do it now) The Bottom Feeders is available through a file sharing site. Another site has it available for $1.99. Ha! Good luck selling it, folks. I'm not doing so hot at $.99. (5 sold in January so far...)

But I digress. Please, feel free to trade my book "illegally". Any of my books, actually. If it means more people read the books--awesome. The problem, see, is that most book pirates probably don't read all those files. Pirates pirate because they can--I'd say some are addicted to file downloading. I want to meet readers who are addicted to reading. So steal my book. Steal it all over the place. Just leave my name on it, okay, because not to do so would be the real theft.

Speaking of free things and reading, you can sign up for a free preview of The House Eaters. Just fill in the appropriate info off to the left. The book is coming. Soon.

In fact, it goes to print tonight...barring any major problems.

Excited?

Yes.

Write 1 / Sub 1 Weekend Update #2

I know, it's the third weekend and this is update #2. So I'm a slacker.

Anyway, I managed to ship off my third Write 1 / Sub 1 entry this week, a flash story titled "The Fisherman's Son" to Cezanne's Carrot. I subbed another story, a rewritten flash piece, to 100 Stories for Queensland, but I'd written it last year, so no "working ahead" here.

I also received my first rejection for a Write 1 / Sub 1 story (one other piece is still "out there"). But, as the wheel turns, I did place a pseudo-Lovecraftian tale, "The Wings of Çatalhöyük" with the Gloaming Magazine. I guess that's one of those give/take sort of things.

Here's a little inspiration for "Wings" (you can click the link for the rest of the article):

The vulture frescos at Çatalhöyük may show excarnation practices. Bodies were exposed, as in Tibet or among the Jains, in open funeral houses, to the tearing beak of the griffin vulture which stripped the skeletons of soft tissue.

Now if that doesn't get you thinking about something weird...

"Happy Meal"

Take that, evil empire.

WIP Wednesday: Stranger in a Strange Land

Today's writing prompt (from The Write Addiction)...it's a mash up: rewrite "The Three Little Pigs" as if it was a science fiction story.

I had one of those secret life/real life crossovers earlier today when I stumbled across this entry on J. Seraphim Anderson's blog, the white star journal. I've been playing relatively well with others on the interweb^TM for a few years, but I still feel like a

in my own town. I need to get out more. Meet some real humans.

_____

I finished a short Gothic story, "The North Lantern", yesterday, and today I'm hoping to put some serious revision to two flash pieces.

The first line of "The Fisherman's Son" (one of the two):

My father, who was quite sick, hadn't caught a single "keeper" on the last day we fished Glen Elder Lake together.

_____

Speaking of flash, "Faith" is to be included (along with "How to Burn a House") in The Best of Every Day Fiction Three. Happy dance? Sure, why not.

Write Hard: Writers Who Inspire Me

I've been meaning to start this "meme" for a while now...no time like the present.

The rules are too simple (I hope).

When you win:

1. Post the picture above to your blog. You can link here if you want. It doesn't have to become part of the permanent clutter of your sidebar. Goodness no.

2. List at least three writers who you feel live up to the "write hard" spirit. Think: writers who work at their craft, writers who never give up despite the odds, writers who constantly turn out quality work. Writers you admire. Optional: explain why you think they are awesome.

3. Include these rules or a link to them.

4. Notify said writers of their victory. Ask them to pass on the torch.

5. Continue being awesome.

So who do I list to kick off "write hard"?

1. Cate Gardner - The original definition of awesome. Cate's been knocking out great stories for years and taking it all in stride. Big things loom over the horizon for her (did you hear about her forthcoming book from Hadley Rille (Theatre of Curious Acts)?). Amazing things.

2. KV Taylor - The genius behind Red Penny Papers and fellow Belfire Press author. KV's novel Scripped is coming this summer, and you know what you'll be reading.

3. Barry Napier - Poetry, novels, short stories, comic books...what hasn't Barry tried? Get ready for The Bleeding Room from Graveside Tales next fall.

4. Mercedes M. Yardley - All you need to do is follow Ms. Yardley for a short while and you'll be inspired. Whimsical Horror indeed.

5. Milo James Fowler - I couldn't help but give a big shout out to a fellow teacher. I expect Milo's future to be quite bright. (Maybe not as bright as Captain Quasar's smile...)

That should get the ball rolling...and if it rolls no further than these five, it has known some pretty awesome folks.

This Post is About Writing

I've resurrected "The Write Addiction" and will post five prompts a week.

Today's writing prompt (a non-traditional one): Make a list of food the world's heaviest person might eat in a day.

_____

A little announcement about the Big Experiment. I've decided to donate 10% of each month's sales (right now, that amounts to about 3 cents--woo-hoo!) over the next year to a charitable organization. I've also decided to let my blog readers vote each month on the charity which receives the cash. If I win, so does someone else. Due to JA Konrath's latest plea to let the experiment take its course, I'll be running the big experiment for the next year. At least. Some may not believe in the Church of Konrath; I'm not sure if I do, but he is one of the lead advocates for self-publishing. The experiment is about his sermons as much as anything.

_____

I have something special to share (and it's about writing), but I figured it needs its own post. Hint: it's about someone else. Three someone elses, in fact.

Write 1 / Sub 1 Weekend Update

I subbed my second new story of 2011 earlier this week. "Delbert Kibbey's Mail Order Bride" seeks a good home. Will work for pennies a word.

And now...now I'm up to my proverbial eyeballs in half-finished manuscripts. Most started with characters and no real plot. I might have to declare a "mash up" and steal the characters, lock them in a room, and see who's left standing after a few thousand words.

I have learned something about myself: I need the plot before I can insert the characters. I know other writers work differently, but for me, no clear route to "the end"=half finished story.

Something Sassy for Friday

(have a great weekend)

Can You Help with The Big Experiment?

Anyone who has followed JA Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing knows he's been talking up the power of e-book sales for a new generation of "indie published" authors--indie being the new term for self-published.

For years, the power-brokers in publishing have made the phrase "self-published" a big no-no, one of the few bad words we still have left. You were dirty if you were self-published. A hack. Stupid, too. You couldn't cut it with the big boys.

Now, Konrath says you're stupid not to.

I've waffled on this topic for a long time. I've stutter-stepped into Indie/self/whatever publishing with The Bottom Feeders, which surprisingly, has sold three copies this week to people I don't know. I've put Rock Gods and Scary Monsters out there. I've taken it down, fixed a few issues, and put it back out there (should be up again in a day or so).

I have two more books I'm planning to upload before the school year is out: The Last Days of the Springdale Saints and Borrowed Saints. All set in Springdale, my fictional home town. I had an offer from a small press for The Last Days of the Springdale Saints and I said no. I still plan to offer Borrowed Saints for free (because I made a promise), but it will be available to purchase, possibly with extras, on Kindle. All will be available through Smashwords. There might even be another self-released story collection next year or so. I'm going to release then in paperback, too, because I can and it's stupid, just plain stupid not to offer what I can to a potential audience.

I'm going to post monthly updates of my earnings and progress for the world to see. Because a) I have no shame and b) I'm sure plenty of people are curious about the experiment, too.

But I need help to make the big experiment work.

I noticed the strange uptick in sales of The Bottom Feeders after receiving a couple of reviews. Do reviews sell books? My results are inconclusive, but seeing stars under a title in Amazon.com does draw the eye. Besides, reviews, good or bad, gives an author something to talk about. If people are going to spend their money on your work, especially as an unknown, they need to hear your name a number of times before they give in. An author simply must talk about his/her book for readers to find it, and they have to find it before they buy it. I spent way too long feeling some weird shame spiral when I talked about writing. Whether this is my nature or a side-effect of the submission/rejection machine, I don't know.

But I think I can tell a good story, on occasion.

I'm looking for some brave souls to write reviews for my soon to be indie/self-pubbed books and post those reviews on Amazon when the titles are available. I know some of my dear readers don't feel all that great about self-publishing. I understand. Trust me. But I have to make my decisions based on what is right for me, right now. The future is the future, and no one knows how that will play out.

If you're interested, email me: aaron.polson(at)gmail.com. Sign up before the end of the month, and you'll be entered in the contest drawing.

Thanks. And good luck.

WIP Wednesday Digs Itself Out

I'm "enjoying" my third consecutive snow day. I know, silly to complain--who wouldn't like a little time off, right?

Right.

One day is great. Two days can be fun. On the third day, especially when the temps are well below freezing and it hasn't snowed since Monday, I begin to ask: "When does my life return to normal?" I teach in a rural district, and snow tends to drift. Sure, county maintenance plows roads where possible, but then the wind comes through overnight, and...you get the idea.

To my gift horse: I'm trying not to look you in the mouth, 'kay?

I'm just about ready to send my second submission for Write 1/Sub 1. Just about. I'm working on my fourth story (allowing a little time for editing lag). I call this one, "Through the Tunnel":

“Can you tell me what happened before the spell?”

Dr. Ellingham always called trips into the Tunnel spells. Spell sounded like something from a children’s movie. Something a cartoon witch might do, or Harry Potter, or Merlin in Camelot. Joel frowned at the word. “I was just walking. I was walking and then I was in the tunnel.”

“Mmm-humm.” Dr. Ellingham scribbled on his yellow legal pad
.
“I’d just dumped my tray. I was walking. Then…then I was on the ground.” Joel’s eyes shifted down, away from the yellow legal pad. Dr. Ellingham was always scribbling, scribbling. Pages filled with doodles, probably. Doodles of crazy me, Joel, with witches casting spells as they fly around mounted on cartoon broomsticks and conjuring black things from their cauldrons. Black things from the tunnel.

“Joel? What are you thinking about?”

“What?”

“You shuddered just now. Shivered, like you were cold.”

How's the writing going in your world?

Every Story a Horror Story & Fantastic Reviews

Aaron Hughes of Fantastic Review Blog liked my short story, "A Game of Lost Boys" (from Linger Fiction) so much, it's his story recommendation of the week. That's pretty cool. Fantastic, in fact.

So I've been thinking...and maybe because of the horrific outing my Chiefs had in yesterday's playoff game...

I don't care what "genre" you read/write: you are engaged in horror fiction. Don't deny it--I know horror writers often receive a bad rap, but the truth is, quite simply, every story is a horror story.

Since today is a snow day (yay!) which means I have to wrangle my kids (er, yay?), I'll keep this quick:

For a story to work, there must be conflict. Internal or external, implied or explicit, I don't care. Conflict has to happen. A story simply isn't a story without conflict.

Conflict creates suspense (will the conflict resolve favorably for our dear protagonist). Suspense is driven by fear. Fear is the central emotion of horror.

Need I say more?

Okay, Aaron, you might say, what about the Formula Romance? Well, the story revolves around the central will they/won't they conflict. The fear might not be Horror (capital H), but it is suspenseful, at least a little, or otherwise no one would read it. Suspense drives the reader to the end of a story. The best stories have loads of it, even where the big threat (death) doesn't exist. But I'd say every good story carries elements of the big threat...at least derivatives of it. If my seven-year-old is asking questions about whether Harry Potter ever dies after book 1, well, the big threat is there. Derivatives? Think lost love, lost family member, lost job, lost respect...all those "losses" are surrogates for death.

Something to think about while I sit in my nice, warm house, hoping the heater keeps doing its job as the world slowly fades to white.

The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly

The good:

An acceptance from Innsmouth Free Press. "Ngiri's Catch" will be in their forthcoming Historical Lovecraft anthology. The cover art is special. I hereby eat all my rejection-whine from earlier this week. Have patience, Aaron. Have patience.

The bad:

The song, "Crazy Bitch", from Buckcherry. Who can take this filth seriously? Oh yeah, I forgot...horny fifteen-year-olds. Silly me. And people wonder why this country is in trouble. I'm not all that worried about offending Buckcherry fans because, well, they evidently like to wallow in offensive shit. At least try to make it interesting and original offensive shit next time, 'kay?

The ugly:

The state of the publishing industry. No, this isn't sour grapes. I'll never be a publishing industry darling. I don't travel on that vibe. But does anyone wonder why book sales suffer when Snooki's A Shore Thing (Oh...it's a pun. Ha.) sells so well? What about NewSouth revision of Huckleberry Finn? I might just have to take my paintbrush to the Mona Lisa and give that coy sister a real smile.

Sometimes I can't stop the rant. Sure, Snooki and crew are just other kids on the playground. But so am I. So are we all. But every playground has bullies. I'm tired of having all this water poured down the spout and them telling us it's wine when it's not. And I have Ray Bradbury to thank for that beautiful image. You da man, Mr. Bradbury.

Hell, it's not even water most of the time. Haters just gotta hate, I guess.

WIP Wednesday Gets Socked in the Mouth

I punched the whiny me in the head. He's lying on the bedroom floor, blubbering about life being fair. What a loser.


The rest of me is here, today, trying to teach teenagers about context clues and word analysis (stop snoring...I can hear you). I'm also squeezing a few words into my WIP, entry #2 for Write 1/Sub 1: "Delbert Kibbey's Mail Order Bride". Delbert's coworkers tell most of the story as they gossip in the break room at their office:

“There was another man in the house. Delbert ’s neighbor,” Martin said.

“And a video camera,” Randy said.

Nona punched Randy’s shoulder. “Rude. That’s not fair.”

“I didn’t make it up,” Randy said, rubbing his arm. “There were pills, too. Garth down in shipping knows a guy who knows a guy who used to sell to Delbert’s neighbor.”

“Pills?”

“Uppers. Downers. Reds and blues. The whole mess.” Randy offered a knowing nod. “I bet they’d been having a private party. Just the two of them and the camera.”

“So she was…they were...”

Randy nodded. “Seems like it.”

And Olesya the mail-order-bride seemed like such a nice...er...young lady.

Attack of the Killer Blahs

I deleted the bitchy post. Sorry if you hunted for it...

I subbed my first write 1 / sub 1 entry: "The Good Daughter" (which, technically, is a piece of sci fi). Only 51 more to go...

I've received several rejections in the past few days and am growing tired of them.

A reader on Goodreads called The Bottom Feeders "mediocre horror stories" and gave it two stars. I wish the slam was more interesting.

How is your day?

2011: A Writing Odyssey

Don't forget the review contest...entries aren't due until the end of the month, but plan ahead, 'kay? Right now, the entrants have a 1 in 3 chance of winning. Make it harder for them.

Okay...on to my goals for 2011...

What I can do:

1. Always have at least one story in front of a pro paying market. Right now, I have two. I plan on adding another by the end of the week.

2. Sub one new story each week (Write 1/Sub 1). I plan to submit "The Good Daughter" this week.

3. Finish Borrowed Saints. I aborted the weekly updates last fall because I needed more time to edit. Will this happen? I don't know. But it is a goal.

4. Finish How We Die in a Hungry Town. I need to edit, edit, edit. I have a self-imposed deadline for this.

5. Write one review each month for Skull Salad. Minimum.



What I'd like to happen in 2011:

1. Sell at least one more story to a pro paying market. I need one more sale of 1,800 words or more to make "active" level for the HWA. I'd like that.

2. I'd like to sell a book. Right now, I have How We Die in a Hungry Town...hmmm...