Letting me down gently

I have gotten some great rejections lately---- rejections, great or not, are a writer's first experience, and until you are at the level of Steven King or Robert B. Parker you are just going to have them as a part of your everyday world.

But the last three or four in a row have had a much different tone than I am used to. The one I got today made me laugh out loud:

Hi. I really enjoyed your story. If only we'd gotten a dozen more this good. But we didn't. As a result, Lodestone has been put on hold. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I hoped to get some good submissions between now and when you submitted, but didn't.

Drew

True or not, this is almost at the level of the apochryphal rejection from a Japanese magazine where the editor declined because printing it would be so close to the ultimate expression on the topic that printing any other story after would be unnecesary.

I have been remiss

with my posting lately, so here is an update.
Got "Night of Shadows" back and "Pixies" as well but I haven't had time to turn them around yet. Also, I got the revision notes for the three "Servant" stories, so I should have them revised and out by the end of the week.
Last night, moments before deadline I submitted my shared-world story for the Dragon Tales anthology--- "The Beast of the Bridge". I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The protagonist is anything but heroic, a con man, a seducer and a theif. I like him a lot.
I'm starting to get pretty antsy, as I haven't had enough writing time lately. It sort of builds up, like too much time spent in the car, until finally like a too-full bladder it demands a pull-over at the next writers' rest area. I realize this is a very dopey metaphor, but it is one of those evenings :)

Virgin Galactic plans space flights by 2008

Must... win... lottery...

I'm ready to go! (Shaharazahd, my wife, may feel differently about this!)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13904981/

Virgin Group, owned by billionaire businessman and part-time daredevil Richard Branson, said on Monday it was on track to launch the sub-orbital flights for the year after next and had sold tickets to its first 150 passengers.

Thirteen AWOL

Looks like Thirteen Magazine, a fine European horror mag, has departed this vale of tears. For those of you who hadn't read "Dancing with the Elder Gods" yet, your opportunites just became quite limited.
Much to my surprise, this story published last October still seems to be drawing people to this site. It may behove me to submit it to another mag, perhaps an e-zine, so that it stays available. I'll look into that.

Catching Up

For those of you who are interested in the process, this is what I have out right now:

"Darkling I Listen, and for Many a Time" to Millenium Shift

"Night of Shadows, Night of Knives" to Horrors Beyond

"Do We Truly Know Why the Junkie Pixie Sings?" to Blood, Blade, and Thruster

"The Amityville Sensimilla Growers Guide to Bigger, Healthier Plants" to Until Somebody Loses an Eye

"Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" to Sword Review

"Nothing But Our Tears" to Sword Review

"A God by a River in Egypt" to Chaos Theory

"Stars by Law Forbidden" to Intergalactic Medicine Show

"The Scarlet-Colored Beast" to Sword Review


Accepted, and out soon:

"The Death of Number 23" in Dark Krypt, July/August issue

"The View from the Shotglass Floor" in Timeflash in August

So that makes 9 in submission and 2 pending.

I am working on 2 short stories--- yet another "Servant" story, and the long-promised new Joe Denfar tale. Plus I hope to get back to the novel soon!

Which Fantasy/SciFi Character Are You?

It seems that I am Yoda.

Who are you? Click the picture and take the Quiz.

Bronze Age Sword

LOLOL--- a friend of mine just emailed me this link. It seems that the sword wielded by the protagonist of my Servant of the Manthycore series has just come up on ebay :)
I'll ask my wife, but I know she will say that for 500 bucks we shouldn't have to settle for used :)

Beautiful Luristan Sword

Buy some books, already!

Nisi Shawl writes:

You like them, and it's in a good cause:***************************************************In June, the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle will donate 20% of their proceeds from the sale of certain books to the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Carl Brandon Society. Books must be purchased in person or over the phone, during the month of June. Online purchases do not qualify.The donation will be made as part of Elliott Bay's "Books for a Change" program. Titles for June include "Dark Matter II," edited by Sheree Renee Thomas; "Fledgling" and "Kindred" by Octavia E. Butler; "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan; "Cinnamon Kiss," "The Wave," and "Fear Itself" by Walter Mosley; "Zorro" and "City of Beasts" by Isabelle Allende; and many, many more.For a complete list of the books that are part of the June donation program, please call the store at (206) 624-6600 or (toll free) 1-800-962-5311, or go to . Then, either place an order for any of these books over the phone, or buy any of them at the store to make your selection count towards our total.The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund will support writers of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West Writing Workshops, beginning in 2007. It is administered by the Carl Brandon Society, a nonprofit organization focusing on the presence and representation of people of color in the fantastic literary genres. For more information about the Carl Brandon Society and the scholarship fund, please visit our website at .

Servant done!

I just submitted the final story, at least for now, of the Servant of the Manthycore series. It is a bit longer than the others, at a little over 8300 words, making it a novelette. This brings the entire lot to around 23,000 words, and with the intro by Ann Scarborough and some interior art and maybe a couple of maps of the ancient near-east with story locations marked, it should make a decent little volume.

Look for the stories over the next few months in The Sword Review, and the collection in the fall!

The story still has no title, but...

Finally! A strong 2400 words on the final story of "The Servant of the Manthycore" series.

It is looking like it may end up as a novelette rather than a short story--- it just depends on how wordy the dialog gets. So I am thinking at most I am halfway at 3500 words.

But I feel much better about it!

Back from the Mountains of Madness

or something like that. This weekend was the test I was preparing for. I now have a little time to breathe, so I got the re-write to "Darkling I Listen; and for Many a Time" done and out. I still need to re-write "Night of Shadows, Night of Knives" for a quite patient magazine editor, and perhaps take another turn at "Do We Truly Know Why the Junkie Pixies Sing". There is a Joe Denfar story to complete, and of course the fifth Servant of the Manthycore story needs to get written in the next few weeks.
Oh, and I promised to contribute to the "Tales from the Dragon's Den" anthology.
Somewhere in there I need to get some work done on the novel.
Wish me luck!

"Servant" reviewed in Tangent

This review at Tangent Online from Paul Abbamondi:

"Servant of the Manthycore: A Tale of the Ancient Near-East" by Michael Ehart follows a female protagonist, the servant of the Manthycore, as she discovers a scene of murder and destruction by a desert oasis. Waiting there for her is Ananth, a goddess of death, ready to offer her a chance for freedom from the beast of sorcery she serves.
Reminiscent of the classic sword and sorcery tales by Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Ehart's yarn of servitude and choice is finely crafted. A vivid setting, a strong, intelligent heroine, a moody atmosphere, and a battle with the undead, make this the best entry of the issue. The ending is wickedly fun."

Pardon me while I widen the doorways so I can get my head through.

"The View from the Shotglass Floor"

Stumbled across this good news: "The View from the Shotglass Floor" will be in T. N. Thomas' TIMEFLASH Anthology, a collection of short time-travel stories. I haven't gotten the acceptance letter yet, but the story is on the website list of TOC. Looks like the publication date is the 1st of August.

Congratulations, Nebula Winners!

Though I was unable to attend this year, I hope y'all had a good time!

Winners here.

Turn around

Finally heard back on "Amityville"--- sadly, after all these months, not the answer I wanted. Such is the nature of the biz, though, and I had a perfect market to turn it around to.
Also turned around "God by a River". I was hoping to have the new Joe story done this week, but with the agressive schedule I am on it just didn't happen. I'll try to make time this week, but it might be a couple before it is done and out.
I only have six stories out, with three more that need re-writes before they make the rounds again. This month is looking to be far more busy than I anticipated, so my output is going to take a hit.

Progress update

For those of you who are interested in the process:

Sent out "The View from the Shotglass Floor" to the Timeshot Anthology.

Still waiting for for responses to "God by a River in Egypt" to Deep Magic, "Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" and "Nothing but Our Tears" to The Sword Review, "The Amityville Sensemilla Growers Association" to the Vermin Anthology, and "The Stars by Law Forbidden" to Strange Horizons.

About 1/3 into the latest Joe Defar story, "Six Zombies Doing that Mick Jagger Strut" and a few lines into the 5th "Servant of the Manthycore" story.

My output took a big hit this week due to con fatigue and RL business. I am hoping by Friday to have the Joe story done and some substantial progress made to the "Servant story.

"Servant of the Manthycore"

My story "Servant of the Manthycore" is up at The Sword Review: http://www.theswordreview.com/item.php?sub_id=431

This is the story I did at my reading this weekend at NorWesCon, where it was very well received (I heard that elements ended up that evening as sub-plots in at least one session in the gaming room)--- it is accompanied by some stunning art-work by Rachel Marks.

Go check it out--- you know you want to :)

Norwescon Final Schedule

Here is where I will be, when not at parties and other folks' panels--- I also said I would be available for fill-ins, so if there is time I will update from there.

Reading: From his selected works ("Servant of the Manthycore") Thursday Cascade 3 9:30 PM
Michael Ehart

Autograph Session 1 Signings Saturday Evergreen 1 & 2 11:00 AM
Michael Ehart

Sharon Beatty Talmany's Daughter Saturday Baker 2:00 PM
David Silas
Kathy Watts
Janin Ellen Young
Michael Ehart

Victoria Dzenis Arden Saturday Baker 3:00 PM
David Silas
Michael Ehart
Janin Ellen Young
Ken Rand


Midnight Horror Readings
Boo! Did that scare ya? No? Well, come and listen to some folks who will.
Saturday Cascade3 12:00 AM
Chris Bruscas
Michael Ehart
Roberta Gregory
John Moore
T. Brian Wagner
Kathy Watts


Robert Boyd In the Course of Diplomacy Sunday Rainier 12:00 PM
Brenda Cooper
Michael Ehart
Brian Tillotson
Susan R. Mathews

A God by a River in Egypt

I finally had time and energy to participate in the "Friday Night Write" that the Dragon Tales folks do... well, every Friday night. The idea is that a topic is introduced, and all participants go away for an hour, and return with a story. Several of the entries were pretty darned good, including one by "Lesliweird" about a swamp goddess that completely cracked me up.
Mine turned out pretty well, too, so I polished it up and sent it out. All in all a productive and fun way to spend an hour :)

Conan the Barberarian

From an e-mail exchange with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough wherein I was compelled to write this travesty:

"Grimly the iron-thewed Cimmerian wielded his mighty blade. Once, twice, thrice he stroked, and all were swept away by the ferocity of his attack. The air was filled with the coppery smell of lime-scented shaving cream, and snowy droplets of water-mixed soap were flung to each side. "Crom!" he grunted as the disposable razor, so expertly guided, still managed to nick his nipple, and his chest encrimsoned with the flow of the mighty barbarian's life's blood."