Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Grimdarkness and BLACKGUARDS

It's official! My short story submission to Ragnarok Publications will be included in the soon-to-be-released dark fantasy anthology: BLACKGUARDS: TALES OF ASSASSINS, MERCENARIES, AND ROGUES.



I'm very excited about this for a few reasons. For one: this will be the first time I'll receive a paycheck from a publisher, which is an awesome kind of validation all its own. Two: I'll be thrown in with a talented bunch of writers. Paul S. Kemp wrote THE OLD REPUBLIC: DECEIVED, one of my favorite Star Wars novels, and Michael J. Sullivan wrote another one of my favorites, HOLLOW WORLD. (I've also begun reading Mr. Sullivan's first Ryria novel, STORM OF SWORDS, and I'm having a blast so far.)

For tree: "The Lonesome Dark" was a story that I was/am really proud of. It's an author's hope that their next project is always, always a culmination of what they've learned and how they've improved, and this story in particular (I hope!) shows how much I've grown as a writer and where my strengths are now at this moment. Plus, I had a lot of fun writing it, so that's pretty cool.

While I didn't make the cut for one of the two slots in the main anthology, my story will be included in the companion anthology, THE BLACKGUARDS BLACKLIST, which is composed of eleven stories that were selected from open submissions exclusively. THE BLACKLIST will be rolled into the ebook release of the anthology, and will be included as a backer reward to those who kickstarted the project.

If you have an interest in pre-ordering the book/ebook, you can do so through the BLACKGUARDS BackerKit RIGHT HERE.

Otherwise, the website says Ragnarok is aiming for a February 2015 release.

See you then!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Holiday Progress!

Since the completion of City of Blades, I've been making decent progress on what'll eventually be the final, publishable draft. Still catching typos, still working in some feedback from my beta readers/friends. My sister, Alexa, will be giving the story a read herself in the days to come and will (hopefully) be able to get the cover art ready during our winter break.

Aside from that, I've been a tad inundated with school-related stuff, since this will be finals week for me. Also a lot of short story writing for contests, class, and Kindle. The Lore of the Reluctant short story, "None Shall Pass," is in progress -- as is a short story anthology of sci-fi and fantasy that I'll be publishing with my friend, fellow writer, and editor, Chris Buchanan.

Progress is a bit more steady since this becomes a kind of group project during the editing phase, but I hope to have more frequent updates over the break.

Happy Holidays to you all!