Fox Pockets Piracy anthology available!

I should have posted this last week but it slipped my mind. The first Fox Pockets anthology from Fox Spirit Press is available, Piracy, and it contains my story "Skyway." It also contains a lot of other awesome stories. It's a modestly priced, pocket-sized anthology, and while it's only available in print right now, next month it will also be released as an ebook.

The next Fox Pockets anthology, Shapeshifters, comes out this summer and also contains one of my stories, "A Cloud Like a Bunny." So hurray!

The Next Big Thing

Fellow Inkbot and excellent writer Emma Maree Urquhart tagged me on the Next Big Thing. I've actually done it before, or a version of it, but it's been a long time and I'm now working on a new project (as usual).

In fact, I'm working on two. I started some serious research for a YA steampunk story at the beginning of the year, and I've started writing it. But that's not the project I'm about to discuss.

What is the working title of your book?

The Adventures of Lizzy and Jo, Air Pirates

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I never write short stories. I just don't. But another Inkbot, Rob Haines, gave our group a heads-up on a new anthology series from UK publisher Fox Spirit, and I got interested in writing a steampunk story for the pirate-themed anthology. I already had the world built for my YA WIP. Suddenly I not only had an idea, I had two main characters, a setting, backstory for both, and a burning need to write about them. Oh, and here's the table of contents for the Pirates "Fox Pockets" anthology. My story's called "Skyway."

What genre does your book fall under?

Steampunk fantasy, short story collection

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I don't know anything about actors. I know exactly what my two main characters look like, though. Let me do a search.

Okay, here's Pia Glenn, who is so elegant-looking that I know she'd make a good Jo.

And Lizzy, hell. She just looks like Joan Jett.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Former highwayman Lizzy and runaway bride Jo take to the skies in a stolen airship in search of adventure, loot, and new lives.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Since this will be a short story collection, most of the stories will be published in various anthologies and magazines over the next few years.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I've written three stories in about six weeks and don't want to stop.

What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?

I'm still reading my way (increasingly obsessively) through the steampunk genre, and so far I've been discouraged by the lack of fun I've found. Steampunk is fun; it's inventive; it's enthusiastic about the cool stuff from the past while jettisoning the bad stuff or dealing with it in a more modern way. So why are so many steampunk books gritty grimdark terrible things are happening and we have no sense of humor? I'm sure there are books out there like the one I'm writing. I can't wait to find them.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

When you immerse yourself in a genre that's also a growing cultural movement (and yeah, I do think it is), you get sucked in. I always thought steampunk was cool. Now...well, I don't own a pair of goggles yet, but it's becoming more and more likely.

Tag Time!

I'll take a cue from Emma Maree and just tag all the Inkbots. Because I'm lazy that way.

Hurray for my friends! And me

I've been meaning to do a post like this for weeks. So many people I know have books that have either released recently or will be out soon. Here is a big shout-out to as many of them as I remember. If I left anyone out, let me know so I can update.

Cate Gardner has a story in the Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top anthology! It is sure to be delightfully unsettling.

My Etopia stable-mate Charley Descoteaux has a m/m erotic romance releasing in December, Comfort and Joy, which is probably exactly what you need to get you in the holiday spirit.

Lee Collins' weird western The Dead of Winter just came out from Angry Robot Books. I'm really looking forward to reading this one once NaNoWriMo is over.

Another Angry Robot Lee, Lee Battersby, had his book release a few months ago, The Corpse-Rat King. I've read it and it was great.

Alan W. Davidson has a story in the Friday Flash Vol. II anthology, out now! It looks like a fun collection.

Paula R.C. Readman has a story in the anthology Crime After Crime (US link) which is a collection of crime stories. You probably guessed that, though. It just came out like two days ago.

Carrie Harris also has a just-released YA horror (funny horror not OMG I will never sleep again horror) book out--actually two: Bad Hair Day (sequel to last year's excellent Bad Taste in Boys) and its related e-novella Bad Yeti. I'm going to have a lot of backed-up reading to do after NaNo.

I am remiss in not mentioning this sooner (although my blogging has slowed way down lately), but Conor P. Dempsey's science fiction book The Exiles of the New World was released in April! That cover makes me want to die of love.

Mercedes M. Yardley's horror/dark fantasy short story collection Beautiful Sorrows is available now from Shock Totem. Another cover that makes me want to die, in a good way.

Michael McClung has several books available and I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure which of his is the latest. I know The Blade That Whispers Hate is available recently although I think it's not the official release--it's mostly for people who just can't wait for it to be out in its final form. But hey, it's free, so if you can't wait....

Whew. I think that's everyone. I need to read faster and also, somehow, blog more at the same time.

Oh, and I shouldn't forget myself. Jack of All Trades has just been re-released by Double Dragon, and it includes the short story "The Neverstone." I've got a Goodreads giveaway running for a copy.

Contest! Devil-hunters in ink and an inky devil!

I've been meaning to post all week and haven't had time to do it justice. But here it is! It's a contest for a copy of Pill Hill Press's Leather, Denim & Silver: Legends of the Monster Hunter anthology. If you win, you also get this awesome little rubber stamp that I had made specially years ago, of the Underwood Deviled Ham devil logo*. One-of-a-kind! (Well, actually, the lady who made it for me liked it so much she made herself one, so it's two-of-a-kind. But that was like ten years ago and I bet she's lost hers.)

To Enter: Email me your name at kcshaw123 [at] gmail [dotcom] and I'll put an entry in the hat for you. One entry per person. The contest runs all week. I'll draw a name on Friday, May 13, because giving away a devil stamp and a copy of a monster hunter antho is an appropriate action for Friday the 13th.

I've been reading the anthology and it's awesome--excellent stories full of mayhem, blood, guts, horror both gooey and psychological, steampunk battles, hard choices, things with tentacles and fangs, and one fine story by me. There are thirty stories in the anthology, which as you can see from the picture is enormous. Definitely a coffee-table book. :)

[While I've got you all here, I can't stop myself from mentioning that I'm running a sale at my etsy shop. Enter MAYFLOWERS when you check out and you get 25% off your order!]

*Please Mr. Underwood Deviled Ham Company, do not sue me. I quite like your deviled ham and eat it all the time.

The monster hunter anthology is available!

The monster hunter anthology Leather, Denim & Silver is now available from Pill Hill Press! I've got a story in it called "Antler and Eye," which I think is just awesome. (The story and the fact that it's in the antho.)

There are 30 stories in the anthology, incidentally. Thirty! Holy cow! I think it's available as an ebook through Amazon and other online venues too, if you prefer your anthologies electronic.

Best of all, I've ordered an extra copy to give away. I'll be running the contest as soon as I get the book (since I don't know how long it'll take to be shipped to me), so if you want a shot at a free print copy of the book, keep checking back!

Now with double the Shaw awe

The TOC has been announced for Pill Hill Press's Leather, Denim & Silver anthology, in which I have a story. Thirty stories in that antho! Hot damn! I'm also not the only Shaw in the TOC, which is fine, because all us Shaws are awesome.

I'm still working hard on Bloodhound, which is already almost at 40,000 words. In most books, that would be around the halfway point. In this ridiculously long thing, it's more like a quarter of the way in. I'm going to have to rein in the details during the first editing pass.

Awesome book time!

I almost forgot to post this! Cate Gardner's book, Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits, is now available! It's a collection of her wonderfully strange short fiction. You can order it from Amazon or directly from the publisher. I just found out I get a limited-edition bookmark with my preorder, and also because I am SPECIAL.

Cate's fiction is truly awesome! If you haven't sampled any of her stories before, you're really in for a treat.

Now that's what I call a TOC

The TOC for the Distant Realms novella antho has been announced!

Katherine Shaw, "The Price of Justice"
Trent Roman, "The Battle of Transvaal"
Alfred D. Byrd, "The Seventh Proficiency"
Eliza Granville, "Snatchlings"
Robert J. Santa, "Turning Point"

As it happens, Rob Santa was one of the first editors I ever worked with. He bought the third story I ever sold, and the first story I wrote specifically for a market, "Sea and Sky" in the awesome anthology Black Dragon, White Dragon. The world of writing is a small one.

I'm really looking forward to this anthology! I think novellas are sadly underappreciated these days; hopefully this antho and its SF companion, Distant Worlds, will help change that.

(I should point out modestly that the Katherine Shaw listed up there is me. The editor listed me on the website by my full name, although by the time we do edits and proofs and all that good stuff, I'll be properly listed as K.C. Shaw.)

emails and titles

I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes I submit stories to anthologies just because I want the comp copy. Thus it is with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Cookbook anthology, which I happen to have a story for--but I can't get my sub to go through! Anyone know if that antho is still alive? If they are, does anyone have a working submission email address? [ETA: I got the email to go through today. Maybe it was just a glitch this weekend.]

It's starting to feel like fall here, just a little. The light is golden, the air clear, and it's in the balmy 80s instead of the sweaty 90s. I'm revving up for the autumn writing season, which I'm looking forward to even though I've been writing steadily all summer. Suddenly I'm ready to write my head off, as many words as I can get down in a few months.

First, of course, I need to finish this book. I've tipped just past 75k and it's time to wrap things up within 10-15k words max. My goal tonight: work out the timeline of the ending and figure out exactly what I want to happen. Easy, right? Hunh.

Oh, and I'm ready to start thinking up a real title for the book. It's an urban fantasy, and The Trickster Society sounds like a YA book--but would be a good tag for a series name, if it comes to that. Any suggestions?

More words! More words!

I just found out today that my story "Orcs and Trolls" will be included in the Every Day Fiction 2009 Anthology! I really didn't think I'd be in this one, although I have two stories in last year's anthology, which you should totally order. Every Day Fiction will be publishing another of my stories soon, "Fall or Fly."

I wrote a bunch of new scenes for Bell-Men today. I need to type them up, but as of last night I was up to 94,500 words. I suspect I'm closer to 98,000 words today. Eventually I'd like to, you know, stop writing on it. On the other hand, the scenes today were fun to write. Cam got beat up a little (again, poor thing) and she retaliated by hitting the guy in the head with a glass paperweight. Yeah.

Me no scary

Okay, I tried, I really did. I wanted to write a blood-drenched, haunted, freakish story to send to the Shadows of the Emerald City antho. It was called "Hunger" and starred the Hungry Tiger.

But I couldn't do it. I don't know how to write a scary story. I had to drag in bad guys--nomes, from several of the Oz books--to even bring myself to write about the Hungry Tiger attacking anyone, and then once the nomes had kidnapped Dorothy (and Billina the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion), the Hungry Tiger and Toto decided to rescue them. I did not actually mean for this to happen. The Hungry Tiger was supposed to be killing and eating everyone!

Obviously, I'm no horror writer. I'm happy writing fantasy. I've deleted my wretched attempt at "Hunger" and feel much better. Besides, I wasn't going to be able to finish before midnight anyway.

300 words and not sure it's worth it

I'm a mere 300 words into "Hunger," which has to be finished and submitted by tomorrow night's Shadows of the Emerald City deadline; if I don't finish in time, there's no point in finishing at all since there is no other market for this story. I feel like I'm an Iron Chef challenger and the last five minutes have been announced, and none of my dishes are plated yet.

I was going to do the random picture meme that some folks have been doing, but I realized almost all of the pictures I have saved to my harddrive are lolcats. So instead, I'm going to go work on "Hunger" and leave you with this single random picture.

WIP Wednesday

I actually started a story this evening, one I've been thinking about for a while. It's for the Shadows of the Emerald City antho, and if I want to submit there, I need to finish the story, edit it, polish it, and send it by Friday. I am so not going to make it.

Anyway, I had planned to write the whole thing tonight--it's going to be pretty short, hopefully around 2,000 words--but of course I had to watch four hours of Ghost Hunters instead. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll have time to finish it.

Basically that's all I've done all week except for that tiny flash story I wrote Monday. On the other hand, my mom sold her first piece of fiction today, a flash piece called "Turkey Shoot," to Ruthless Peoples Magazine. [I'd link to them too but their website seems to be down right now.--nm, they're back, and Natalie L. Sin has a story in the current issue too!] Anyway, hurray for my mom! Now I just need to badger her into writing more stories, since she has now sold 100% of the stories she's written.

Four days sort of wasted

Last week, pretty much the only writing-related thing I did was edit a story and submit it to an anthology. I'd written the story expressly for the anthology, because the theme sounded interesting. Of course that's always a mistake. I got an email from the editor an hour later, letting me know the anthology was already filled and closed. Maybe they should have posted that somewhere online, huh?

I almost retired the story right then. Instead, I tinkered with it all weekend and finally got it more or less salable to a market that isn't that particular anthology. I sent it off again tonight. Let's hope it's not as bad as I suspect.

Other than that, I did nothing during my long four-day weekend. Well, I booked hotel reservations for my DragonCon trip (no, I'm not staying in one of the con hotels--even if I could afford it, they're sold out. I'm staying in a cheapass hotel in nearby Marietta, GA). I also read two books and sent The Taste of Magic off to Ace, who will bat it back to me in a few months the way they do all my books. Oh, and I mowed the lawn. I guess that's enough for four days.

This counts as research

So because there's this anthology just opened for submissions, and it's about the dark side of Oz, I've been thinking about the Hungry Tiger.

He's a character in L. Frank Baum's Oz books. He's always hungry, no matter how much he eats, and he's always saying he wants to eat babies but he won't because he would feel awful about it afterwards and he would still be hungry. There's the set-up for a horror story right there. I just can't think of an actual plot yet, although the main point of the story is to make the halls of Ozma's palace in the Emerald City awash in blood. Yeah, it's a little different from my usual stories.

I picked up The Magic of Oz this afternoon and started re-reading it. I think the Hungry Tiger's in that one, and it's a great book anyway. It's the one where the sullen Kiki Aru steals his father's transformation spell, turns himself into a bird, and goes off to see the world (Oz and its boundary countries). He discovers along the way that he likes being bad, and meets up with the Nome King (deposed in an earlier book) who convinces him to help him rally the wild beasts of Oz in a rebellion. Meanwhile, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz are headed to the forest to recruit some monkeys, because Dorothy wants to make them tiny and teach them to dance for Ozma's birthday--

Anyway, if your only experience with the land of Oz is the (trippy, bizarre) movie, you are missing out on some seriously weird shit. I love these books like crazy. (But not the ones written by people other than Baum. The others all suck.)

the long time-travel nightmare is over

In February I started a time-travel story for the Time in a Bottle anthology. It took me a whole month, but I finished it a little over a week ago--and it was way too long. So I took a machete to it, and managed to carve it down to just under the maximum wordcount yesterday.

But I still wasn't happy with it, so I decided to sit on it another day. And last night just before I fell asleep, I realized what the problem was. An entire scene was completely unnecessary--and I'd known it on some level because I'd been whittling away at the scene until it was really just a nub of its former self. Today at lunch I whacked the scene out completely.

But I decided to hold off on sending it out until I could give the whole story one last read-through and make sure I hadn't left any references to the deleted scene. And as I read this evening, I had another lovely realization, that I needed a short exchange between the two main characters at the very end, something to tie together the story's themes. So I added that, and it worked. And I sent it off.

Watch it get rejected now, after all that work.

Black Dragon, White Dragon anthology!

I got my contributor's copy of the anthology Black Dragon, White Dragon today, edited by Robert J. Santa. I've read about half of it so far, and I'm very impressed with the quality of the stories! You may have guessed that they're all about dragons. My story "Sea and Sky" is in there, about a sea dragon named Spider who meets a young orphaned inland dragon.

"Sea and Sky" was only the third story I sold (the anthology was considerably delayed by ongoing printer problems; I think Ricasso Press ended up getting it printed through Lightning Source, and the result is very nice). It was also the first story I ever wrote for a specific market. When I sold it (after a requested rewrite), it was honestly as though Rob Santa had said, "Yes, you're a real writer." The three days or so between resubbing the story after the rewrite request and the acceptance were probably the most acutely stressful days of my entire writing career so far. So thanks, Rob, and I'm still thrilled and honored to be a part of the anthology!

Getting organized

I took almost the whole afternoon and updated my submission records (I use Duotrope but I also keep everything on paper). I also dusted off two retired stories and revised them enough to un-retire them and see how they do, and I went through my other active stories that weren't already out somewhere. I sent everything out, five submissions. There's no sense in letting perfectly good stories languish on my hard drive just because I'm lazy.

While I was trawling Duotrope and Ralan's for markets, I ran across the Book of Tentacles anthology again. I remember thinking about writing something for it when it first opened to submissions, but then I forgot about it. I thought it was mostly for Cthulhu stuff anyway, but it turns out it's not. They just want stories that have tentacles featured in some way, whether it's fantasy or SF or horror or whatever.

So now I have to follow up on one of those stupid-weird ideas I get when I'm half-asleep. In this case it was me wondering what an (intelligent, literate) octopus would think about tentacle porn* and if I could get a non-gross story out of it. SF, of course. Hopefully I'll be able to work that story out, because if I did it right I think it could be very funny and hopefully interesting.

*I thought that was called hentai, but I just edited because I think I'm wrong. Anyone know? I'm not about to google it.

January round-up

We are already 1/12 of the way through 2009, which is just ridiculous. I don't feel like I accomplished anything, either.

I wrote one full-length story (on hold for the Dead Bait anthology) and one flash story (subbed to EDF).

I got one acceptance (from New Fables) and two rejections (including the 3-day novel fail).

I revised one novella and wrote a big chunk of Blood and Taxes--not sure how many words all told, but at least 25,000 and probably much more than that.

I sent out four submissions, including said novella, plus one agent query. Got a request for partial on that query a few days later, too!

I have still not heard from the agent who requested a full at the end of last August. I also haven't heard from Mundania. I killed one publisher (Trunk Novels) and haven't heard anything more about Fictitious Force, which I seem to have killed last November although it may just be a coma--their website says hiatus.

I need to write more stories, because I want to save up for an ereader. Go February!

And I have to get up in seven hours, too

I just got an email that my undead shark story has been shortlisted for the Dead Bait anthology. So at least I know they like it well enough not to reject it out of hand, but now I have to wait. And you all know how patient I am.

Actually, I am patient, but I complain a lot.

I'm reading Sarah Monette's Melusine, which I started almost two weeks ago but put down for a while since, after seeing "Slumdog Millionaire" on New Year's Day (an amazing but agonizing movie), I just couldn't face anything else grim for a while. It's beautifully written, and I don't even have to read it in a permanent flinch, because Monette starts off with absolutely no-holds-barred awfulness happening to one of the main characters. After that, I know she's one of those authors who detail wretchedness in loving detail, so every bad thing that I half-expect to happen is going to happen, at length. So I don't have to dread that something awful might happen, because it will happen. Does that make sense? Unfortunately, something that doesn't seem to be happening is a plot. Monette does a lot of walking in place, which is why the book is 500 damn pages long.

Anyway, I'm on page 176 now and only just met the character of Magnus in the last section or so. I have a character named Magnus in The Taste of Magic--not a big deal, except that I also have a character named Felix. No one will ever believe that it's a coincidence and not some half-assed attempt at an homage or whatever, so since I really can't change Magnus's name, my poor Felix will have to get renamed. That's a pity, since I love the name Felix. I already had to change another character's name, and I think that may have been a mistake--he was named Alexander, which was just perfect, but I already had two characters whose names begin with A and two characters whose names end with an "er" sound, so Alexander had to go. I renamed him Dominic. I don't know what I'll rename Felix.

I'm only yammering like this because I don't feel good. I hope it's something I ate and not a stomach virus. Every time I lie down I have to get back up, so now I'm just sitting here with Bunny the laptop, feeling grim and tired and unhappy. So I guess I should go back to reading Melusine.