I guess I could have sneaked (snuck?) this news into my last post, but I didn’t want to announce I had a short story in On Spec for the first time ever without being able to link to the latest issue and show off the gorgeous cover. I was very pleased that they accepted my short story “Not Fit to Print.” I’ve read On Spec for years and it was one of the first markets I started submitting to, way back when.
“Not Fit to Print” is about Marion —a waitress, a werewolf and a part-time private eye — as she tangles with the media in Winnipeg in 1965.
If you’re looking for a jiu-jitsu-infused vampire tale, you’re in luck: my martial arts urban fantasy story “Night Class” is now available in the new anthology Corpus Deluxe: Undead Tales of Terror, Vol. 1.
“Night Class” is inspired more than a little bit by my years in the dojo, and was first published in the now-defunct Alien Skin Magazine. I’m very happy to have found it a new home in Corpus Deluxe, edited by Roy C. Booth and Jorge Salgado Reyes, published by Indie Authors Press.
For those interested in lycanthropic continuity, I decided to write a short post about the linked werewolf stories I’ve been working on. I’d started focusing on short fiction between the last two drafts of my novel, which is now in the query trenches, and started building up a lot of tales about other characters in the world I’ve been working on.
I’m not sure what to call it as a series yet — though I’m leaning toward “Wolves of the Muddy Waters “ — but here’s the timeline for any readers interested in getting the whole picture. (This is not including finished stories that are out there on submission but haven’t found a home yet.)
If you prefer to avoid SPOILERS, then skip this and look at my writing credits here instead.
In a previous post, I talked about why I wrote and submitted a short story to Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History. Given the differences between my personal background and that of the main character in the story, I had to do a lot of research just to write the first draft. This post is about that.
Crowd gathered outside old City Hall, at Main Street and William Avenue, during the Winnipeg General Strike. Visible on the left are the Union Bank of Canada building and Leland Hotel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The main character, Thomas Greyeyes, lives in a different era from me (the story is set in 1919), is a First World War veteran, is an Anishinaabe man who worked as a trapper in northern Manitoba, and has barely seen his children in years. I’m of English and Icelandic descent and grew up in the late 20th century. About the only things I had in common with my main character are where the story is set (Winnipeg, where I have lived most my life) and age — Thomas and I are both around 40 years old. And, like him, I’m a father.
Writing and submitting a story for Long Hidden has changed the way I approach speculative fiction. Probably not enough, but it’s a start.
If you’re not familiar with Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, click on over and see what it’s all about. One of the purposes of the anthology edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, published by Crossed Genres, is to put marginalized people at the centre of the story, with the added context of real-world history blended with speculative elements.
A big part of the reason I wanted to submit a piece to Long Hidden was I wasn’t sure I could do it.
I was recently invited to explain dressing for the vagaries of dressing for wind chill, blizzards, and temperatures nearing -40 C — or as we call it in Winnipeg, “January”– by fellow blogger and writer Angélique Jamail. I may not have the world’s greatest fashion sense, unless you like t-shirts or movie references, but I do know how to dress for the cold.
I guess I could have sneaked (snuck?) this news into my last post, but I didn’t want to announce I had a short story in On Spec for the first time ever without being able to link to the latest issue and show off the gorgeous cover. I was very pleased that they accepted my short story “Not Fit to Print.” I’ve read On Spec for years and it was one of the first markets I started submitting to, way back when.
