Wow. How very kind!

Scott Sandridge posted this the other day on Facebook:

Stupid silly list time (Gee, thanks, y'all).
 Top 15 Most Influential Writers (not in any best to least order):
 Hmm, it was actually hard to reduce it to just 15.
J.R.R. Tolkien
 Nathaniel Hawthorne
 Edgar Allen Poe
 Margaret Weiss
 Tracy Hickman
Stephen King
Eugie Foster
Paul Levinson
 Algis Budrys
 Eric Griffin
Orson Scott Card
 Harlan Ellison
Stephen Zimmer
Michael Ehart
Frank Creed

I am honored that my scribblings have been an influence on someone else's writing. Writing is a lonely pursuit, and many times I have wondered if anyone at all was reading what I write. It is nice to know that someone is paying attention :)

Been a little out of touch

The only thing I wrote in the last year was a book review for Cascade Subduction Zone. That was it. Nothing more. I got 10 bucks for it, and I nearly lost the check. But..... I am back. I am starting to write, I have updated my security blog, and I am ready to rumble. Fair warning.

Preorder Dark Faith II and save 10%

As I have mentioned, my collaboration with the amazing Nisi Shawl will be in Dark Faith II, along with stories by Mike Resnick, Jay Lake and many others. You know you want this! Preorder at this link http://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/dark-faith-invocations and use the referral code DFEhart. Lots of yummy reading goodness, just in time for vacation!

Clarion West!

I am participating in the Clarion West Write-a-Thon and need your support. Drop by and donate $10, 20 or 100 bucks here: http://www.clarionwest.org/writeathon/michaelehart You'll be supporting a great program and making me look good. I'm writing a Ninshi story ---the first in three years.

In Blood and Song sold!

My collaberation with the amazing Nisi Shawl has borne fruit! "In Blood and Song" will be in the upcoming Dark Faith II anthology. It is a story set in Africa, full of Dembe boxing, meat cutting, magic, conspiracy, lies and a riot. You know, a love story.

More pulpy goodness coming

A work in progress --- 2000+ words in a burst. Alternate history pulpy steampunk aireal war story set in 1930's Paraguay, with steam powered difference engines, and dirigibles. You know, a love story. Hope to finish it this weekend.

Writing again!

Just finished writing two short sendups of classic cozy mysteries, "Orange Juice and Paris Green" and "Mrs. Clive-Harris Solves a Mystery" --- and had a blast writing them. Sending to crit for a final tune up and then looking for a market. Usually I write to a market, or because someone asked me for a story. These were purely for fun.

New post on HOH

A little something in the swashbuckling line.
http://www.roguebladesentertainment.com/2011/10/you-want-swashbuckler-ill-give-you-swashbuckler/
Check it out!

New article up at HoH

Forgot to post this when it went up: http://www.roguebladesentertainment.com/2011/07/semper-fi/

"What the Bullet Sang" is up at Raygun Revival

http://www.raygunrevival.com/

I spat out dirt and blood and tried again. “How bad?”

The Morph shook its featureless grey head. “I have skin-popped her for the pain, but she only has a few minutes.” Terrell’s first drop.

The last cave-in took out Harmon and half our team. Terrell was hit then, but the wound that was killing her came as the Morph was carrying her out. Spalls ran across the Morph’s back, a dotted line broken by where it had held Terrell in a fireman’s carry.

“Nguyen! Can you raise the Marat? My comm is busted.” My voice was gravelly and seemed far away. A dirt clod the size of toaster oven had face-planted me during the cave-in.

“No joy, Gunny. Just a buzz. Might be whatever they mine here interfering.

To Have and to Hold up at 10Flash

Here is a taste...

Julie fell off the meth wagon again. Because I was in Chicago on a case, I didn’t learn about it until I got home Sunday night. By then she had at least a two day head start into the dark.

I went through her things, hoping this time to get some indication of who she was with or where she had gone, but besides the realization that I had missed the warning signs again, there was nothing but unwashed dishes, dirty clothes and the other signs of depression that precede one of her episodes.

more here.

More Tears

Another interesting place Tear of Ishtar has been:

When in Rome...

Jose in Rome, showing remarkable taste in literature.

Tears in North Africa

No, not the latest report from Lybia. Rod Cadman with Tears of Ishtar.

The Flying Manicurist

New article up at Rogue Blades!

Rejection!

Just received a rejection from a market that has bought quite a few of my stories (maybe six?) over the years. First rejection from them, actually, partly because I have written specifically for them.
So I can't complain, and the notes from the editors were pretty spot on. Except this:
One of the editors compalined that she was put off by the jargon. She thought meth referred to methalated alcohol and she was unclear about crank, and thought that it might be slang for crack.
Now as the story was about a meth addict, you can see that that presented a problem. And I don't think that crank is a terribly obscure term, having lived through the last decade conspicuosly not living under my bed.
So good on her for not having to be exposed to the seamier side of life, but it seems to me to be a liability to be buying crime fiction when you appear to have led such a sheltered life.
So the lesson here is don't send this market harsher stuff anymore.

Tiger kills lion at Turkish zoo.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41967834/ns/travel-news/?GT1=43001

Well, that debate is settled.

New cover!

Dark Worlds is reissuing their magazine that featured my story "The Tomb of the Amazon Queen", and it has a fabulous new cover by Mike Jackson.
More here.

Some older stories

Thought I would post links for some older stories I wrote. Most of these are quite short.

http://www.everydayfiction.com/jimmy-fourfingers-by-michael-ehart/

http://www.everydayfiction.com/matamoros-shuffle-by-michael-ehart/

And my award winning "Without Napier" http://www.everydayfiction.com/without-napier-by-michael-ehart/

All of these are from Everyday Fiction. They send out a piece of short fiction every day.

Tears from around the world!

Another picture of Tears of Ishtar from around the world: John McIntyre in front of the palace in Lieges, Belgium.
This is really fun!