Poem, "On Her Deathbed, Aunty Rose" Published on Spillwords

My humorous poem, "On Her Deathbed, Aunty Rose" will be reprinted on Spillwords, effective February 26, 2024, at this link: https://spillwords.com/on-her-deathbed-aunty-rose/

(Image above generated by AI)

RAVENS to be Reprinted in "A Tree Full of Crows"

My love poem, "Ravens", styled as a screenplay depicting a romance between two ravens, was first published in the now-defunct, Dastaan World Magazine, back in 2018. After a very respectful discussion, Editor Mandy Chandler has accepted it unchanged for publication in the imminent* anthology, "A Tree Full of Crows", by Fairy Wren Publishing.

*update: it became available on Kindle as of April 3, 2024: https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Full-Crows-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0CZHJSJP3

I stipulate "unchanged" because she had asked for, and naturally preferred, works that were about or at least included crows. Both works I had to offer were about ravens, not crows. However, unlike the poem, above, my drabble, "An Unkindness of Ravens", originally published in Bloodsong Books' "Curses and Cauldrons" anthology, could easily be tweaked. Instances of "Raven" were easily swapped with "Crow", and the drabble was renamed "A Murder of Crows".

I'm proud of both works. This will be an anthology worth reading and owning.

"Princess Barbie and the Troll Baby" to Appear in Lockdown Fantasy #6

Forget Snow White. Forget Sleeping Beauty. The most beautiful princess in the world who ever lived was Princess Barbie.

My comic horror fairy tale, "Princess Barbie and the Troll Baby" will appear in this free anthology by Black Hare Press.  See link below:

This news was first announced here in 2020, while the pandemic was in full bloom and before other projects and priorities bumped it to the wayside. The original contract had long since elapsed before BHP finally returned its attention to the series in the Fall of 2022. If there are no cancellations and the momentum continues, my works are expected to appear in 12 of the 30 total books planned for this series.

COMING 26TH MARCH!

https://books2read.com/lockdown-fantasy-6

FEATURING:

Differing Points of View by Susan Cornford

Henkie's Fiddle by Vonnie Winslow Crist

Porcelain Perfection by Kimberly Rei

Princess Barbie and the Troll Baby by Shawn M. Klimek

Shrieks in the Snow, Shrieks in the Night by Patrick Winters

The Grand Game by Christopher T. Dabrowski

The Kelpie by Paul Benkendorfer

The Solstice Road Trip by Meera Dandekar

The Sphinx and the Pegacorn by L.T. Emery

Their World is Ending by Sam Amenn

Waiting For Heaven by Ximena Escobar

Weep by D.M. Burdett

Nineteen Five-Star Global Ratings for Hungry Thing

If you want to do something really nice for an indie author, besides buying their book, review their book. 

During the year following its publication in late December 2019, sixteen kind-hearted readers (chiefly fellow indie authors) left five-star reviews for Hungry Thing.  During 2020, it gained one more review; and another in 2021, totalling 18 five-star ratings including 15 reviews. Thanks to poor marketing and, perhaps the fact that it is not available as an e-book, there it has more or less languished, until today.

Today, February 15th, 2024, it received its 19th 5-star rating.

• #1,688 in Epic Poetry (Books)
• #9,268 in Magical Realism
• #18,889 in Dark Fantasy

I have some idea of who may have left the rating. A few weeks back, a neighbor of mine shared that he'd spotted the book at our local library, and had already ordered his own copy from Amazon. He then asked whether I would be willing to autograph it, once it arrived. Naturally, I agreed. Since we are neighbors, I did him one better: I dropped off an autographed copy from my private supply.

This morning, he passed me on his way to work and stopped to enthuse that he'd enjoyed the book, that he'd already read it three times because it was "very deep", and that he'd even left an Amazon review. Wow!

I looked hopefully for the review but found a rating instead. ...

UPDATE: The review showed up after a short delay! 

To all of you who have ever left ratings or reviews for an indie author, thank you! Five stars!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Creative Writing News for Early February 2024

 

During a protracted rewrite of my science-fiction story, Holly Has a Hunch, I composed a thousand-word prologue that loosely inspired the AI image above. It was meant as backstory, to assist me in drawing the main story to a sound and logical conclusion. The "backstory" is entertaining, but I have yet to finish the main story.

Last week, I woke up having dreamed up a pretty solid Western story, worth developing for waking readers, though it naturally needed some revisions. While driving for hours and hours across The Republic of Korea this past weekend with my wife, I worked out the needed changes and finished composing the whole plot to my satisfaction. Now, I just need to write it.

I haven't written a lot, lately: one new poem, and one new drabble, both of which were submitted to exactly one publisher each, and both rejected. 

Conversely, two pieces both written more than a year ago have been accepted for publication by non-paying publishers. I'm glad for some news in a positive direction, however meager.

The latest acceptance is a reprint of my humorous poem, "On Her Deathbed, Aunty Rose", first published by Dastaan World Magazine. It will be published next on "Spillwords". I'll share a link when it becomes available.