Legio-X

Where has the year gone? It feels like we just started 2023; now we’re looking at the end of November! It’s been a tumultuous month for me, so there’s a lot to cover.

“In the Web of Fate” continues to be my main focus. The first two scenes are done. In fact, I ended up merging them. The third is giving me trouble. While action and some tense dialogue loaded with subtext build a lot of momentum at the start, what is now the second scene relies on a lot of inner monologue and description in the beginning to set the stage for what’s coming. This slower pace is trickier to work with, especially given all the moving parts. There’s a sensual setting, sex, a steady rise in tension, a chase on foot, and three-on-one knife fight to finish things off.

Present Me curses Past Me for devising such a complicated scene.

Fortunately, it’s almost done. I’m near the end of the chase, and the fight might be the most straightforward part of the whole thing. Unfortunately, it’s taken the last half of October and all of November to make it this far. I have serious doubts over whether or not I’ll be able to finish the entire story by the end of December, which is the deadline for Magic and Mischief, my target anthology over at Three Ravens Publishing.

I do have some other markets in mind–Savage Realms in particular–so it’s not catastrophic if I don’t finish “In the Web of Fate” by New Year’s Eve, but I’d also like to dedicate all of 2024 to my romance novelization of “The Gale at Quiet Cove”. If writing doesn’t flow more smoothly once this scene is done, I may set the story aside at a scene break and come back later. Leaving major projects unfinished doesn’t sit well with me, but novels are a much better time investment from a career perspective.

If you follow this blog, you likely already know, but just in case you didn’t see the post, it seems Paperm!nd Press is no longer moving forward with the anthology that would’ve featured “What Good Fathers Do”. Devastating news, but at least my contract includes a rights reversion clause and allows me to keep all payments. I feel this story could sell to other pro-rate markets, but I’ll be happy to find it a home anywhere. It’s currently under consideration in Allegory‘s flash fiction contest. Fingers crossed!

Submissions in general have been rough this month. Lots of rejections along the lines of “This story is great, but we get more than we can take, so we had to make some hard choice. We hope you send us more!” Which is gratifying. Maybe the best way to get rejected. But it’s still a rejection. “Warden of the Wex Wood” doesn’t have many markets left. Adekon may yet take it for Brief Encounters, but if they don’t, I think my best shot is Sword & Sorcery Magazine.

On a brighter note, I did find a new market for “Good Boy”. They don’t open for submissions until January, but Gazmyk looks promising. If Nobilis Erotica seriously considered this one, it should have a decent shot at a brand new magazine.

Other than writing and submitting, I’ve also been overhauling my worldbuilding notes for Tales of the Watchers. Most of them date back to the very beginning of my writing career, so they don’t necessarily mesh with my current view of the setting. Tyrism received a revision earlier this year, so now I’m giving a similar treatment to the Faith of the Mother. Most of the broad strokes aren’t changing, but I want to add detail to make it more distinct from your average “Fantasy Christianity”. One of the bits I intend to hammer is the focus on creation as an act of worship, building on the idea of sub-creation advanced by Tolkien.

After revising the Faith, I intend to design a new map–geography has only come up in general terms–tinker with the notes on magic, and detail selkie culture for the first time. All of this will lay the groundwork for novelizing “The Gale at Quiet Cove”.

On the reading front, Paladin’s Faith is the fourth book in my favorite fantasy romance series, The Saint of Steel, and it’s coming out next week, so I decided to brush up on the World of the White Rat by reading Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine. I’m already done with the former and about two-thirds of the way through the latter. They lean more towards fantasy than romance, but romance maintains a very strong presence throughout both books. I’m really enjoying the “RPG-style adventuring party” vibes. I’d love to see more of them in fantasy romance. Paladin’s Strength and Paladin’s Hope come really close, but it would wonderful to see a slightly larger party across more of the traditional “classes”.

Hmm, maybe it’s something to look into writing myself.

Life outside of writing goes well enough, though not for astronomy. If it’s not cloudy, it’s cold! A shame, because the sun sets so early these days. I’m hoping we hit an unseasonably warm stretch with clear skies soon, especially since a couple eyepieces and a filter are on my Christmas list. The winter sky is lovely, so I really want to try them out!

One area I can’t complain is football. I came into this season expecting OSU, at best, barely make bowl eligibility. I hoped they could beat OU in the last Bedlam. Making a bowl, winning Bedlam, and making the Big XII Championship Game against Texas were never on my radar. Whatever happens Saturday, I consider this season a resounding success. Go Pokes!

Win or lose, I’ll be back with another update in December…if I’m not lost in writing, the holidays, and Paladin’s Faith!

I held off on this announcement for a while just to be sure everything was in order, but the hardcover edition of the fantasy mystery anthology Fantastic Detectives–which includes my novelette “The Skull in the Tree”–is out now on Amazon!

Since this is only the second time my work has ever appeared in hardcover, I’m ecstatic! Of all the magazines and anthologies where my work is published, Fantastic Detectives is probably my favorite. The only thing that could make this better is an audiobook version.

About Fantastic Detectives

From worlds like our own, except for a touch of magic or the supernatural, to completely unique fantasy realms, there will always be those who use their powers for murder and mayhem.

Come meet the stubborn detectives who simply won’t let those crimes go unsolved…

• A Duelist-at-Law intervenes in the matter of a deadly affair of honor. • A private detective who takes on ghosts for clients…provided their estate can pay him. • A poet attempts to avert a man’s unjust execution…using strategically applied haiku. • A rabbi wizard has a Hell of a hard time tracking down an undead murderer. • An albino nun investigates a murder that could only have been committed by an angel. • A knight-mage atones for her past sins by tracking down the source of an evil blood curse. • After wizards battle…someone has to clean up the mess.

Plus even more stories from some of the finest crime and fantasy writers in the field! Contributors include: Reed Bonadonna, Gregg Chamberlain, Robert Finegold, David Keener, Emma Melville, Jeff Patterson, Maria Prokopyeva, Daniel Robichaud, Donna Royston, Shannon Taft, David Tatum, Martin Wilsey, and Austin Worley.

About “The Skull in the Tree”

A skull glares at the cottage from its perch in an old oak tree. A skull whose terrible carvings promise ruin for an innocent family.

Knight-Mother Arlise Dun knows the power of curses bound in blood. Even better, she knows how to break them. But how can she hunt down the hexer responsible for so much misery without endangering her own infant daughter?

If you’re interested, you can find the hardcover here

Some sad news to report today: my military sci-fi flash fic “What Good Fathers Do” is no longer moving toward publication in Sour Spaghetti and Other Stories. Paperm!nd Press informed me this morning that they aren’t going to be able to publish the anthology.

“What Good Fathers Do” would’ve been my first published work in my new sci-fi setting, so it’s especially disheartening to learn there’s a new roadblock to sharing it with the world. Nevertheless, Paperm!nd has encouraged me to go ahead and seek a new market for the story, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. I already have my eye on a few magazines and flash fic contests. Hopefully one of them will yield some good news soon!

After a long, long wait, “A Helping Hand” is finally published in Brief Encounters #9!

If you were expecting it to be Issue #12, you’re not alone. The original draft cover concept shown to me was for Brief Encounters #12, so I guess Adekon decided to go ahead and use it for Issue #9.

“A Helping Hand” is my earliest story following the vigilante Whippoorwill. At this point in her career, she’s a lot more raw. Inexperienced, unrefined, and isolated, but still recognizable to anyone who’s read “An Oath to the Sun” or “Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill”.

This story also serves as an origin for her adopted daughter and eventual sidekick Rosa Coronil, the Kingfisher. I hope everyone enjoys this peek at their past!

Here’s my blurb for “A Helping Hand”:

Since the Crash of 2026, Whippoorwill has fought a one-woman war on crime and corruption in Oklahoma. And despite the crushing loneliness of life as a vigilante, it’s gone well…until now.

Bleeding from a gunshot wound and on the run from gangsters, she finds herself forced to lie low with an orphaned little girl. But even as they bond over shared history, the gangsters are closing in. If either of them is to survive the night, she’ll need a helping hand from an unlikely source.

If you’re interested, you can find Brief Encounters #9 on Amazon

This past week has been so hectic, I forgot to mention “Decisions” is out now in the latest issue of The Lorelei Signal!

The Lorelei Signal has been one of my dream markets since 2015; being dedicated to three-dimensional fantasy heroines, it seemed like a perfect place for one of my stories featuring Arlise. The fact its editorial staff agreed is a massive confidence boost! And how awesome is this piece by Marge Simon, which accompanies my story?!

“Decisions” was my first published piece starring my most prolific heroine, so seeing the story reprinted–without the missing italics marring the version published in Fifty Flashes–is awesome.

After joining the Order of Watchers, Arlise Dun believes she has found redemption in shielding folk from magic and monsters…until a familiar dilemma rears its ugly head during an encounter with a werewolf cub. Will she make the right decision this time?

“Decisions” is available to read for free here. And don’t forget to check out some of the other fantastic stories in The Lorelei Signal!