by Michael Seese
Back in October, I posted an entry from the "never give up" files. To make a long story short (if a writer can do that), "TinkerHell," a piece I wrote in 2012, finally found a home.
Today, I hold in my hands that home.
As I say every time I get one of these in the mail, it never gets old.
by Michael Seese
More from the "Never Give Up" files...
Way back in 2012, I wrote a story called "TinkerHell" in response to a submission call. I can't remember what the exact theme was, but as you can guess from the title, the story was a riff on the Peter Pan / Tinkerbell saga. They said "no."
Fast forward to February of this year. Transmundane Press issued a call for fractured fairy tales for the anthology After The Happily Ever After.
The happily ever after is never the end. The curtain doesn't fall once love is recognized or evil is vanquished. Credits don't roll once the giant is slain or the big bad wolf is boiled alive. Wicked stepsisters, malevolent rulers, and hideous creatures still have lives after their sinister roles play out; heroes, lovers, and dreamers often find their victories lead to more troubles.
I submitted, and five month later they said "yes."
And today, I can share with you the cover reveal, along with other relevant information, should you be dying to buy. Or even sorta interested.
Below are a few excerpts, a.k.a teasers, from my fellow contributors:
“The Spider’s Kiss” by David Turnball:
Her complexion had assumed the tainted gray of the corpse, the white of her eyes inebriated red with the wine of ruptured veins, the flesh on her fingers as black as spider legs.
“How perfectly contrary I’ve become.”
For entertainment, she plucked wings from flies and hung their panicking bodies from the gossamer mesh of a spider web draping the dusty corner of her mother’s garret, watching lustfully as the long-legged spider came slowly dancing around his prey. When the mood took, she’d pop the panicky little insect torsos into her mouth. Their sour juices oozing down her throat afforded her an invigorating but fleeting sensation.
“Trader” by Robert Dawson
The ocean holds many kinds of islands. There are the ordinary sort of islands that stay in the same place all the time, solid reliable islands where men and women raise their children and cabbages. Beyond them lie the barren rocks, swallowed and released as the moon draws the tides, where only the selchie folk live, and the shifting sandbars where the cold mermaidens wait to marry drowned sailors.
So, are you ready to order?
You can get your copy on Amazon here.
Or if you wish to be a Patron Of The Arts, this is a link to the Kickstarter campaign.
And for the "price" of a Twitter follow, or a visit to Facebook or the Kickstarter campaign, you can be entered into a drawing for a $10 Amazon card. Here is the link: After the Happily Ever After Cover Reveal Giveaway. The giveaway only has a few days left, so you might want to do that sooner rather than later.
On behalf of the authors and the folks at Transmundane, thanks for your support.
By Michael Seese
As part of my Month Of Madness, one my my submissions was to Alfie Dog Fiction. Alfie Dog is a British company which operates "one of the biggest short story download sites on the Internet."
In short, you submit, they approve, they post, you earn.
(Note to my fellow authors: the editor at Alfie Dog is super nice. If a story is "close, but not quite there," she offers real, concrete feedback as to what she feels would help.)
In my case, I submitted "TinkerHell," a short story I wrote a few years back for an anthology. After a little back and forth, she accepted it. The story "went live" yesterday.
So, you now can actually buy "TinkerHell" here! And at £0.39, I'd say it's a bargain!
(Completely seriously, I am not suggesting that any of you go out and buy it. But if you feel like stopping by and Facebook-liking it, that would be OK.)
I hope to get a few more stories out there in the coming months. Pretty soon, I'll be earning money by the ton! The British do weigh their money, right? That's why they call them "pounds."
By Michael Seese
Boy! Time does fly when you're busy.
Back in 2009, I conceived and began work on a book of interrelated short stories, No Strings Attached. I worked on it piecemeal -- filling in sentences and paragraphs here and there, based on whim -- for about a year. Then in the summer of 2010, I focused in and worked on it diligently. The end result was that I completed three of the seven stories; my word count went from 40,000 to over 100,000.
At the beginning of 2011, I decided to take a break from it, and worked on a few other things: Udopia, which I finished, and Nightmares, which I finished. I also wrote a few short stories.
Earlier this year, I resumed work on No Strings. I was making decent progress, but then a few other projects came up: "Worm Herding," "Never Mind The Nonsense, Here's The Sex Truncheons," "Tinkerhell," plus a few others I'm keeping under wraps. The first two have been published (Amazon link 1 & 2); the third is being reviewed. So it's not as though these distractions are bad. Quite the contrary, I think they've been worthwhile detours which have helped my writing resume.
But...
Yesterday, I went back to No Strings, and was amazed to see that the last time I had touched it was April 19. But I'm looking forward to continuing it, because the story I'm on now, "Obsession," is really funny.
Like I said, time does fly.
I promise that one of these days, I'll get around to talking about what I've been working on lately. There is a lot. (Actually, as I wrote this, I realized that I really do miss putting together these little progress reports.) In the meantime, here is a hint of what is coming.
Way back in February, as I was submitting "Worm Herding" to the Pill Hill Press folks, I found another call for submissions for an anthology of theirs. (I mentioned this already, but it probably makes sense to refresh your memory.) It's called "Use Enough Gun."
Sometimes, a mistake can lead to the hunter missing their quarry. Sometimes, an ill wrought plan can get the hunter injured, or even killed. And sometimes, when the hunter grossly underestimates the prey, worse can happen. Much worse. Make your stories cautionary tales that highlight the dangers of monster hunting. Tell us of mistakes that can occur when planning is replaced by reckless action, or when weapons malfunction, or when information is held back from those that need it. Give us a story about what happens when a hunter is simply overmatched by a creature that they never really stood a chance against. Or, tell us of the worst cases, the stories that send chills through the hunter’s bones; tell us what happens when they are turned into the very things that they are sworn to destroy.
I've been working on a story called "Tinkerhell." It takes place in a strange land called "Pixie Hellhole." If that doesn't give you a good hint as to what my hunter will be up against, consider this passage:
I turned and jumped. I figured that after a few seconds I would hit the ground and start sliding, rolling, falling. But I didn't. I stopped. In midair. They had caught me, and were bringing me back up. I recalled the words, the warning of the old man at the tavern, the fellow with one eye and tiny little scars all over his face and hands.
“They may only be three inches tall. But they’re mean little f--kers.”
The deadline is 5/31. So I'm working diligently. As I found with "Worm Herding," sometimes I grossly underestimate how many words I have in me.
As I was lying in bed last night, I came up with some ideas for the scene I was planning to work on next. On the way to work, I pulled out my trusty voice recorder, and started talking. Yeah, I probably shouldn't do that on the freeway at rush hour, but ...
I managed to dictate 700 words. It then took me about 40 minutes to clean it up. And I still had time to write another 250. That's not a bad hour's worth of work.
I'll keep you apprised of how the story goes.
As an aside, the $87 and $89 "used" copies of BUGS that I commented on last week apparently have been sold. Now, the used price is $16.65.
