In the Void

I've found out that my short story, Early Winter, Near Jenli Village will be surfacing tomorrow over at Fantasy Magazine.

I have to say that I'm pleased it made it into the month of April, which I can't explain further without getting spoilerly. (I'll try to explain later.)

This story is one of my dragon series, although no, there's not a dragon in it. (So don't come complaining to me if you can't find a dragon). It's included in that series because it's about the same family. The POV character for this story is Li-huan, the younger half-brother of Yun-qi from The Dragon's Child which ran in Beneath Ceaseless Skies back in December.

This particular story sprang full-grown out of a dream, as did my other story which features Li-huan--THW. The rather odd title came from my reading of The Jade Mountain, a book of ancient Chinese poetry. In trying to name my story, I stared at the list of poem names for a long time (because Li-huan is a bit of a poet), and realized that many of the poems had names that described where and when they were written...rather than what they were about. Hence the above title ;o)

I am so pleased that it will be running in Fantasy Magazine, and I will definitely post a link as soon as it pops up ;o)

....is conducting a poll for the next two weeks, the outcome of which will decide which of the six-already-published stories that have not been done as a podcast should be done in that format.

Poll instructions and results (scroll up, I think) here.

"The Dragon's Child" is on that list (and currently in the lead...only because just 3 people have voted so far). I would dearly love to hear this as a podcast*, so I need your help with this one if you liked the story.

You have to either register at the forum or already be a registered member to vote, and you can only vote once, so you'll have to pick between me and the other contenders there (no, I won't get upset if you choose someone else).

Also, this would be a good moment to hit the Subscribe button at the top of the navigation bar and put your name in. It doesn't cost anything, and you'll get an e-mail when a new issue goes live, so you won't miss any of the great stories.
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*Partially because I'm curious to hear how the reader pronounces the names Kseniya and Yun-qi. Yes, I did put Russian and Chinese names in the same story. I suspect that these are the only two that would present a challenge. Mwahahahaha!

My story The Dragon's Child" is up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies today!

Please go have a read, and subscribe while you're there (it's free, BTW).

So, I'm reworking "The Dragon's Price"...finally.

I'm adding back the scenes in Prince Ilya's household that I'd excised before (readers, you won't be familiar with these). Dumping previous naming scheme for the series. Changing the name of D2 back to "Inheritance of Fire".

This will make it hit 10K. But I think it will be a more coherent story at 10K, the characters motivations will be clearer, and the ending will have less of a Deus ex machina effect, because the interrelatedness will be explained at the beginning of the story.

Oh, and more fire....

Got an e-mail this morning saying that Fantasy Magazine would like to publish "Early Winter, Near Jenli Village"

I am excited about this for several reasons...
1) It's the first time I've ever repeated in a publication, and
2) it's Fantasy Magazine, which is made of awesome!
3) I wasn't certain this would fit there, but I really love this story, so I sent it...
4) It was one of the plot bunny's creations (I woke up out of a dream with it in my head), proving the bunny isn't so dumb after all.
5) It's part of my dragon series (#2.5), although there's no dragon in this particular story....it's still about the same family.

Drat, I need to get #2 cleaned up and sent out!

To celebrate, I'm gonna go and get fancy coffee (that someone else has brewed for me)

"The Dragon's Child" has sold to Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

This is a new magazine that should premiere this fall. It will be free online, and can be subscribed to by RSS feed or e-mail. (There's a link on the cover page) Since it's dedicated to fantasy, I really look forward to seeing the first issue!

The entire process from initial submission to contract took 51 days, some of which was eaten up by a re-write. The editor (Scott H. Andrews) was very specific about what he wanted to see in the story, but it did entail some restructuring on my part (you may recall my talking about the re-write back in July.) We went back and forth on a few details after that, trying to get the wording exactly right, but overall it was a very pleasant editorial experience. If you haven't worked with the editor before, I think you'd like him. (I am not possessive over my words. Some people are, I know.)

This is the first of my series of dragon stories, so I'm pleased that it's found such a good home. Now I need to whip #2 into shape and get it out in the field somewhere. (Oddly, #2.5 is already out, but it's one of the side stories and doesn't even have a dragon in it. And #5 is likely to go out by itself soon as well.)