July 2024 in Review

Hello Funny People,

I'm starting to believe that whenever something (by my standards), truly exquisite happens in my life, an equivalently sized avalanche of shit will fall either on me, my family, or the world (and vice versa). Don't worry. I shall elaborate.

Two Cents Logo by artist Devora Johnson 

A Brief Recapitulation

I spent the first two weeks of July in Lawrence, Kansas, attending the Ad Astra Institute's Repeat Offenders Workshop. And I had an absolute blast.

The 2024 Repeat Offenders

We talked shop, did developmental sessions for stories people were hankering to write, critiqued stories, and on the last full day, headed to downtown LFK to do a group writing session, where I managed to get 2000 words of a short story finished in about two hours. (It was a very good writing day.)

During the actual critique sessions, I had two stories critiqued. Considering I hadn't done a workshop since before the lockdown, I was quite nervous. However, to my surprise, I actually ended up getting far more positive responses for my work rather than the reverse. The main critique I got for both is distillable to one three-word phrase: make them longer. What my workshop cohort meant by this was I needed to give my characters time to process and time to breathe using more "sequel scenes," rather than pushing them through the plot with endless breathless action (which I admittedly tend to do). So, here's hoping I can do that going forward and keep that in mind with other short fiction in the future. I may also at last embrace my inevitable evolution into being a novelette writer instead of a short story writer. We shall see.

Also, while I was at the workshop, I started doing something I'd done only once before. I started outlining my stories. Using a truncated version of Dan Wells' "7-Point Story Structure," I've taken to working out the major plot beats of my pieces before I begin drafting them. That 2000 words I wrote the last day? That was for a story I'd taken time to outline using the seven point system. As I said, I'd done this once before for one of the two stories I had critiqued, which might be why what I brought in received such a favorable reaction. So, going forward I plan to do this for most of my shorter stories (might not need it for flash fiction, but we'll see).

Once I got back, of course, it was business as usual. The day job didn't go up in flames while I was away (thankfully). Besides living in the Midwest, which feels like living inside a steam engine's boiler at the moment, (100°F, really? FFS!), things remained fairly quiet, which honestly is how I prefer to live my life.

#AmQuerying: Dispatch from the Query Trenches

The one meme everyone can hear...

Just as I was about to pull my much maligned fantasy novel from the query trenches, I received some truly good news.

The first Tuesday while I was at my writing workshop (July 2nd), after our second critique session, I received an email from someone whose name I didn't recognize. When I opened it, it turned out to be a FULL REQUEST from an agent I'd queried back in March, whom I hadn't heard from and assumed was a lost cause. A lot of agents these days function on the policy of "no reply means not interested," (I've come to find that a repugnant and contemptible practice), but as it turned out, this agent had only just gotten around to my query packet.

So, after doing the Snoopy Dance of Joy for the rest that day, I prepped the full manuscript to send off to them. There was only one hiccup during that process. Because it had been so long...I wasn't entirely sure which version of my query packet I'd sent them, and therefore, I wasn't sure which version of the full manuscript I needed to send them. Thankfully, a review of the material (which QueryManger thankfully allows you to do), along with a quick consultation of my submission spread sheet, helped me figure it out. 

Naturally, as ecstatic as I am about this news, I'm not holding my breath that this will lead to anything. But the fact that it finally happened has me at least holding out a little hope. Maybe my little book will see the light of day. Only time will tell.

Also, despite saying I'd give myself July off from querying, I still sent about five new ones 🙄 Glutten for punishment, I suppose.

Report on the Short Fiction Front

While I spent most of my time critiquing and reading others stories at the workshop, I did mange to get three major things done, while beginning a fourth.

First, I turned in my edits for my story "Boltstone and the Black Cat" to Andrew Ferrell at Cloaked Press for Fall into Fantasy 2024. That's right. Boltstone is back for the third year in a row.

Wizard Boltstone art by Devora Johnson 

This is still hush-hush, as I don't think Andrew has announced this year's lineup yet, but rest assured my heroic Wizard will return. For the time being, this will be the final story featuring him, but I have a few (at least two), more ideas for short stories featuring him in the works.

Second, I revised a flash fiction piece for an upcoming anthology call due to go live early next year. All I did, really, was add 50 words to bring the word count to exactly 1000 words and give it a new title, but I think those changes will do much to up my chances for an acceptance. Again, only time will tell.

Third, I finished my draft of my contribution for the Inter Librarian Loan anthology coming out from Air and Nothingness Press next year. The Sunday between the two weeks, I sat down after noodling over my idea for far too long, and drafted the sucker in about three hours. Of course, I polished it before sending it off to Todd, but getting it out in one go—something I seldom do when it comes to short fiction—helped a lot. As the old saying goes, you can't fix a blank page. Look out for my piece when that anthology arrives next year. I think it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. From some of the communications I've gotten from Todd since, he's moved the publication of the project up quite a bit, so y'all may end up seeing the final book much sooner than I expected.

Finally, on that last day of the workshop, as I said, I wrote 2000 words of a new story, which I then completed a draft of the second day I was back home. It now stands complete at 3k, making it a true proper short story. As I explained above, I outlined this piece ahead of time, but I also used a technique our instructor, Chris McKitterick (the guy in the kilt pictured above), mentioned. "A short story typically has at least three scenes: a scene, a sequel, and another scene." So, when I went about drafting this piece, I kept that in mind, crafting each section. Now, the piece stands ready for another potential anthology call that might happen next year. Again, que será, será.

#AmDrafting: The Novel Arena

The first two weeks were a wash when it came to making progress on my novel in progress, sadly. Given I'm an afternoon writer, and both the critiques and our communal dinner times happened during the stretch of the day when I would habitually write. Thankfully, I know I can handle about two weeks without making progress before I lose my mind. So, once I got back, I returned to drafting with renewed gusto. I suspect I should complete a draft of this book by year's end, assuming nothing forestalls my progress in the interim.

In fact, my colleague Jendia Gammon even gave me some hope that I'll be able to complete this new book by year's end with another word count challenge:

3000 words a week or 500 words a day. Folks, on a good day, I get half of that in an hour.

Needless to say, challenge accepted 😎

Miscellaneous

I know I've dragged you through all this "Yippee for Me!" stuff through most of this post, but now, I'd like to return to my inital point. Call it the Karmic equivalent of Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." 

Now, before any of you start saying I'm too cynical or that I'm suffering from a persecution complex, hold that thought because I have receipts:

1) The year I got hit by that bus was the same year I got my full-ride scholarship to go to college.

2) The day I sold my first piece of fiction to a market I'd never submitted to before happened shortly after my mother suffered a nearly fatal medical incident.

3) The day my cousin Roger died was the same day I got my first (subtle, because it wasn't official until much later), acceptance for a short story for which I received a pro-rate payment.

4) The day after I got the first full request for the fantasy, into which I'd put four years of my working life, Neil Gaiman got accused of sexual assault.

Now, I am not paranoid (anymore than most people are), nor do I believe that God (any god), has a plan for me and my life. However, I can't, as a human with a pattern-recognizing mind, ignore the sheer amount of coincidence in the above examples.

I still find myself in shock over the allegations against him. However, I have no reason to believe the accusers (the tally now stands at 5, between the two Tortoise Media, a third named "Clarie" who recently went public on a different podcast, and two more who went public through Tortoise Media at the start of August), are making things up or have it out for him. I will say that I am both heartbroken and furious. It seems as though, one by one, every creative person, whose work I admired when I was younger, is getting unmasked as either a creep or a talking head for dangerous ideas that I vehemently disagree with and despise. That old adage is true: they either die your heroes, or they live long enough for you to come to view them as villains. 

I won't be able to enjoy anything of his going forward. I was a massive fan of The Sandman series on Netflix, and though I'd planned on watching Dead Boy Detectives, i won't be doing so now. The same goes for the upcoming 3rd season of Good Omens, if and when it goes live, assuming BBC and Prime don't sever ties with the man before that happens (that's up to them, of course). Anything that has his fingerprints I can't support with this pall of scandal hanging over him. (That said, I'm not going to bash anyone who can't let go of his work because of sentimental attachment. This is a personal choice on my part.) 

Few media outlets, save the folks at Tortoise Media and another called Bleeding Fool, have done any follow-up on this story. This doesn't surprise me, with both the Paris Olympics happening and the upcoming election here in the States consuming all the attention. As of this writing, even Wikipedia hasn't updated their page about him with any mention of the allegations, and they're typically quite prompt when it comes to these things. YouTube, however, is brimming with videos on the topic. Many come from disappointed former fans of Gaiman's work or one of his IPs currently live on one of the streaming platforms. 

Mixed in with these genuine videos, however, are litanies of garbage by "anti-woke creators" (people I couldn’t have less in common with), dumping on Gaiman and trying their best to keep the story alive—but for all the wrong reasons. The general tone I've gathered from clips show these trolling talking heads as a bunch of dogpiling attention-starved ideologues. And they're doing it—not because they care about the victims, want to uncover if this indicates a long-term pattern of behavior, or have a strong desire to see justice done—because they just want to feel some sense of importance from having "assisted" in bringing down a high-profile figure whose views they despise. They're pitiful empty husks, with nothing else to live for, except the vague and temporary sense of self-satisfaction of having aided in defeating a perceived enemy.

I only hope the people who've suffered get whatever it is they're looking for, be it justice, healing, closure, or something else they haven't quite been able yet to name. This post will be the last mention of Neil Gaiman, his works, and his words on this blog going forward.

What else happened this past month? Oh yeah. Someone shot at Mango Baby Nero 🥭 👶 🎻.

Now, look...I think I've long established on this forum that I DO NOT LIKE that man. Didn't like him as a TV personality. Didn't like him as president. Don't like him (or his family), as people from fhe basic impression I glean of him from the media. Don't want him to retake the office come this November. The only think I want is to see him get dealt some proper consequences for his actions, something that seldom happens to members of the so-called Billionaire Class because they're always able to buy their way out of trouble.

That said, I do not want to see him assassinated. As much as I don't want him in power, I'm not one of those "whatever it takes to keep him out of office" progressive lefties. And if you are a progressive lefty who does and you're reading this, go fuck yourself. You're literally no better than Vladimir Putin poisoning his political enemies and adversaries.

While we're on the subject of politics (something I've tried to avoid doing on here in the last couple of years because it makes me furious), I have to address this:

Joe Biden's official renouncement of his reelection bid.

For the first time in my lifetime, an incumbent president has opted to not seek reelection. And, honestly, I was shocked when this appeared on social media on Sunday, July 21st, 2024. Unlike a lot of progressives, despite my disagreements with things that happened during the Biden administration and my frustrations with his administration's failure to push for further positive reforms for ordinary citizens, I came to find Biden a reassuring presence. Why? Because I wasn't losing my shit every day wondering what the hell he was going to do or say. However, he's decided to bow out of the race.

And now I'm fearful of what may happen in November. The left-wing of the Dem's and the donors got what they wanted. The old man is out. Now the question is: who can and will take his place who has a chance of defeating 🥭 👶 🎻? At the moment, Kamala Harris, as VP, appears to be the favorite, but will the party unify behind her? It appears it just might, if that $81 million in campaign contributions in 24 hours was any indication. The race appears now to be Former Prosecutor versus Convicted Felon.

All I do know is that, if the people who pushed and pressured Biden to step down, cost the Dems the election and we get stuck with TFG for another four years, when things turn to shit, anyone I catch pissing and moaning will catch hell from me. 

Between now and election day, I'm afraid. I'm afraid for women. I'm afraid for my friends in the African American community. I'm afraid for my fellow immigrants. I'm afraid for my fellow Latiné folks. And I'm damn sure afraid for my LGBTQIA+ friends too. If you genuinely aren't concerned, then you have a vast amount of unexamined privilege to sift through. The sheer lack of empathy such ambivalence betrays is staggering.

All that said, I'll tell you one thing: I'm not giving up. And you know what? Neither should any of you. This fight isn't over; this election isn't decided. This isn't over until the last vote gets tallied after Election Day.

Now that I got that off my chest, let's talk books. Following on from last month's reads, I continued my binging of Jonathan Maberry’s books while managing to finish one series and starting another.

NECROTEK by Jonathan Maberry 

Apparently, this is the first novel of Blackstone Publishing's new imprint Weird Tales Presents. And what an apt opening act it is. If I had to describe it, I'd elevator pitch it as Gundam × Robocop meets Lovecraft in Space. It truly capitalizes on the old-school concept of the "weird tale," from the pulp era, which freely borrowed aspects from multiple genres and smashed them together to create something...well, weird. Here, Maberry weaves cosmic horror, military science fiction, and dark fantasy to create something creepy, atmospheric, and horrifying that is also thrilling and exciting. Apparently, he's already completed the sequel titled COLD WAR, which I certainly plan to pick up when it comes out.

Priest of Crowns by Peter McLean

The conclusion of the War for the Rose Throne sees Tomas Piety go head to head with the head of the Queen's Men and Lord Protector of the Realm, Provost Martial Diter Vogal. Both are ambitious men from nowhere. Both are men hardensd by war. Both are ruthless to the nth degree. And both have numbers of followers loyal to them that will fight to the end to see their leader come out on top. This is a bitter-sweet ending to this series. There's a lot of loss and the final few scenes are a true gut punch to one's feels. Yet, at the same time, it's also a brilliant final word on the futility of the climb for power. If you're ruthless enough, eventually, you will claw your way to the top, but don’t be surprised if, by the time you've reached the summit, you've also lost everything you'd previously cared about.

The King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry 

Jumping back to Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, in this follow up to the absolute emotional curb stomp that was the end of Dragon Factory, here we meet up with Joe and his DMS colleagues as they set out to face not one, but two of the worst threats of their lives. In one corner, you have a cabal of amoral capitalists who want nothing more than to profit from the miseries of the world by keeping it in a state of perpetual conflict. Their weapon of choice: a weaponize form of the Ebola virus. However, in the other corner, and much closer to home, is the worse possible thing an organization like the Department of Military Science could face: a traitor among their own ranks. Will Joe and company be able to handle this pincer maneuver?

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

This first of Joe Abercrombie's three standalone follow-up novels to the original First Law trilogy follows new protagonist, Monza Murcatto, otherwise known as the Serpent of Talins. She is a woman with only one thing on her mind: revenge. When Grand Duke Orso kills her brother, and Monza herself nearly dies in the same attempted double-murder, she becomes hellbent on getting revenge on the Grand Duke and the six other men who carried out the deed. However, badly handicapped by her wounds from her near-assassination and no longer quite the fighter she once was due to damage to her right hand, Monza's only hope of claiming those seven lives is to hire a crew of adept and able bodied killers to help her. And what a crew it is: a northern barbarian seeking to be a better man, a paranoid and pompous poisoner and his young apprentice, a former serial killer obsessed with numbers, a female former-Practical of the Union's Inqusition, and the world's most reliably unreliable professional solider of fortune with more than a taste for alcohol. It's Kill Bill meets Ocean's Eleven in a fantasy world, and it's a pure delight from start to finish.

Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry 

Following on from King of Plagues, as the DMS searches high and low for the turncoat, Hugo Vox, this tale features the most truly high-concept story in the Joe Ledger series since the "zombies" of Patient Zero. Here, it's Joe Ledger versus Vampires. But as with every Ledger novel, a new antagonist isn't the only novelty. Not only do these blood-suckers have a mind to dominate the world, they have the means to do it thanks to a series of nukes with which they're threatening to irradiate the world. In the wake if this ticking clock, we also see the introduction of a new organization equally as secretive as Mr. Church's DMS: Arklight. An organization of women Assassin's led by a woman named Lilith, these femme fatales are hellbent on destroying these real life monsters for their own reasons. And among their number is one particular killer named for a certain string instrument who might’ve just managed to capture our damaged hero's damaged heart. A thrill of a read with an oh so satisfying ending.

On one final note (by god, I have rambled on, haven't I?), I'd like to offer my hardiest congratulations to my colleagues Gareth L. Powell and Jendia Gammon on the successful launching of their new publishing venture.

Stars and Sabers imprint and logo

With publishing being the maddening clusterfuck it's been as of late, this is a bold business decision, but if anyone can do it well, these two can. Jendia, having started off as an indie writer who has now gone hybrid with her books The Shadow Galaxy and the multi-award nominated The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, has a great mind for these things. And Gareth, a personal inspiration for me and my third (space opera) novel, brings both a past in the corporate world and lots of experience as a freelancer as well. Both of them certainly feel confident in their ability to start a new imprint now, as you can read on the Stars and Sabers website.

At the moment, they're running a crowd funding campaign through Ko-Fi for the imprints debut anthology, (as well as Indiegogo), and they've already done a cover reveal for it. Since they began crowd-funding, they've already amassed 45% of their funding goal for this book. Good, but still miles to go before they sleep.

Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers due out February 2025

They've also compiled a murderers' row of talent to supply stories, including Ai Jiang, Pedro Iniguez, Jonathan Maberry, Peter McLean, Cynthia Paleyo, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and a number of other top-tier talents. If you'd love to see this book in the world, and see their new imprint get off the ground, please consider contributing to the cause.

— IMC 🙃