Good Things Come in Threes

1. Crimethink, while not entirely formatted, is now online.

2. My poem "What Sieglinde Serpentslayer Said to the King" is online at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

3. James Lecky's "Ancient Shades" is also online at HFQ, and I've never read a story of his that I didn't enjoy immensely.

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Thursday, July 01, 2010

Crimethink, editing, HFQ, publishing, recomendations, writing

Story for Haiti - Panthanatos

In order to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti, Crossed Genres has come up with a brilliantly simple idea: have authors post free fiction online, and have readers show their appreciation by donating to any number of fine charities. Some suggestions, and a list of other participating authors, appear here.

When it comes to unpublished fiction, I unfortunately don't have any open at the moment (aside from a trunk story or two, and trust me, you do not want to read those). Please enjoy "Panthanatos," posted on my website. This story previously appeared in the 2008 anthology Ruins Metropolis.

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

fantasy, help, reading, recomendations

The darling buds of January

More stories appearing in January:

- "Firstborn", at the Lorelei Signal

- "Fugitive 135711400", in 10Flash

- "Four Lies from the Mouth of God", in Strange Horizons

- "Song at a Cottage Door", in the January issue of Cabinet des Fees

Stay tuned!

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Saturday, January 02, 2010

fiction, reading, recomendations, short story, updates, writing

Apparently...

My story Cesare appeared in Fantasy Magazine earlier this week.

Cool.

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Saturday, November 07, 2009

fantasy, recomendations, short story

Thoughtcrime Experiments

Congratulations are in order for my sister, Therese Arkenberg, and the other authors and artists whose work appears in the online anthology Thoughtcrime Experiments. Check it out--it's well worth a read.

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Monday, April 27, 2009

anthologies, fiction, reading, recomendations, short story

Where in the world...?

For those who have been wondering where I've been the last week or so, I've been reading Sarah Monette's brilliant Corambis two or three times and haven't really been interested in anything else. :-) I hope to blog on it at some point in the future, when I am suitably articulate.

If you're wondering if you should buy it, the answer is a whooping heck yes (provided, of course, that you've read the other three books in the series. If you haven't, read them first). They are easily my favorite fantasy novels, and they may become yours, too.

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

fantasy, literature, novel, reading, recomendations

Oldie but Goodie

"A Reader's Manifesto" appeared about eight years ago in The Atlantic, but it's a) taken me this long to discover it and b) still true. I most emphatically agree with the closing statements about blaming the reader for faults of the writer. Reading should not be about trying to translate florid and inaccurate prose into English!

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

fiction, literature, reading, recomendations, voice

The State of the Writer Address

I’ve spent most of this month working on literary magazines; Mirror Dance, for which I’ve read, edited, formatted, accepted, rejected, solicited, and “illustrated” a decent number of quality stories, and my most recent brainchild, a historical fiction e-zine that I hope to begin taking submissions for in June. I’m making an effort to keep my resolution about shortening Mirror Dance’s response time, but there’s been an unusual influx of 7,000+ word submissions, which take a little longer to read and work through rewrites for than the 3,000 word variety. Not that I’m complaining; they all have much to recommend them, and I’m honored to be able to consider them for Mirror Dance.

I’ve taken a small break this week from formatting and art searching (though not, of course, from reading and editing) and worked on revising several tanka from my old notebook. I dislike revising fiction and narrative poetry, but I find it an enlightening and deeply relaxing process with tanka. Since nearly all of my tanka are written from life, I often need the revision time to flesh out the ideas that came spur-of-the-moment and half-formed during the original writing.

I’ve also taken a break from the swarm of meticulously planned-out short stories awaiting nascence on my word processer and begun writing a short novella by hand. It’s coming out with surprising coherence for not having an outline, and there’s something about hand-writing a story that makes the voice feel more organic. Which is a good thing, honest, even if it means I’m falling occasionally into the tone of a turn-of-the-century-esque city boss.

On Wednesday I finished reading Tanith Lee’s indescribably magnificent The Gods are Thirsty. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, particularly to my fellow French Revolution fanatics. I’m just surprised that I didn’t discover it sooner!

And finally, for those same fellow French Revolutionary fanatics, yesterday was the first day of Ventôse CCXVII in the French Republican Calendar. Vive la Révolution!

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Friday, February 20, 2009

editing, fiction, French Revolution, Mirror Dance, New Year's Resolutions, recomendations, tanka, voice, writing

Poetry II

I've finished revising two more poems, and one of my older works, "The Sorcerer's Daughter," has been accepted for publication in Every Day Poets.

It has taken me this long to check out the Winter 2009 issue of Goblin Fruit. There are, as usual, a number of brillinat poems in this issue. My personal favorites are "Zeus Love Poem" by Maura MacDonald and J. C. Runolfson's unsettling "O.D.".

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Monday, February 09, 2009

Every Day Poets, Goblin Fruit, poetry, publishing, reading, recomendations