Two Updates

Just to get y'all up to speed on a couple of posts from the past.

First, exactly one month ago, I proudly announced that my short story "Worm Herding" had been selected for the BUGS anthology from Pill Hill Press. Though they clearly are a reputable outfit, I never was a "count my chickens before they hatch" kind of guy. So I assumed it would be coming out in the near future; but I tried to keep my enthusiasm in check.

On Wednesday, I got an email containing the final mock-up. They said to not share it with anyone. But I think showing you a snippet of the table of contents should be OK.

There I am on page 28! So maybe I can start icing the champagne. Our final edits are due April 5. They offered no specifics as to when it would be available. When it is, believe me, you'll hear about it.

Second, earlier this week I made mention of the Grim Future anthology (the title is not final) that I'm contributing to. I failed to mention in that post that I only heard about it Monday afternoon, and managed to get on board later that day when someone dropped out. I have finished my piece: 1,100-ish words. Here is a little snippet to whet your appetite:

An image flickered to the screen, paused, and came to life.
    “Hello. My name is Adam Roman. I’m the project manager for the Reset Project. If you’re seeing my face and hearing my voice, then you found the satellite—which we knew would be pretty hard to miss—and were able to retrieve this memory store and recover the data after... however long it has taken for the ‘reset’ to occur.”
    It was hard to tell if the drawn-out, deliberate delivery was the result of weariness wedded with exhaustion, or just weariness.
    “Today marks the formal end of the Reset Project. Normally, when you close a project, you celebrate. You get together with your co-workers, pop some beers, laugh, look back, and maybe talk about the next project. Not this time.
    “No one is celebrating.
    “No one is laughing.
    “And there will be no next project.
    “Why? There is no one. I’m the last person alive on Earth. 


Again, when this one is made available -- probably around fall, according to Lyn -- you'll hear about that as well.