Random Friday

Did I tell you I have a new flash story coming out? “The Call” will be the e-mailed story for Daily Science Fiction on Monday, May 14. If you’re not signed up to get their e-mailed stories, this is a good time to do it. Or you can wait a week, and they’ll have it posted on their site.

Spells & Swashbucklers, an anthology of pirates and magic from Dragon Moon Press, has my short story, “Maskèd Panama.” The official launch party will be over Memorial Day weekend at Balticon, but it’s available for purchase now (paperback at Amazon) (Kindle).

I did pick a winner for the Live and Let Fly giveaway contest and e-mailed to find out what format of e-book was preferred. Nutschell, if you’re reading this, check your e-mail. If I don’t have a response by next week, I’ll pick another winner.

It’s been a month since I’ve done a post on genres, and I do intend to get back to them. Life’s just been hectic — to keep those up while doing the A to Z posts would have required a lot more pre-planning (which I’m noting for next year). I will start those again next Friday. I’ve actually been pleased to see people find my blog in search engines by looking for things like the definition of urban fantasy or what makes cozy mysteries different from hard-boiled ones. Clearly, these posts are filling a need.

The A to Z challenge was a lot of fun, and the hosts of the challenge encouraged everyone to do a reflections post. They said, “You can put up your Reflections post anytime between now and Saturday May 12th.” Mine will go up tomorrow. If you’re interested in my thoughts, what I liked, what I’d do differently, come check it out. Otherwise, feel free to go enjoy the weekend. It’s supposed to warm up about 10 degrees here and be sunny (which still leaves it cooler than California and Nevada — springlike weather here generally is for the most part in the 60s and 70s). I may even get outside to plant the flowers I bought from the fundraiser at my daughter’s daycare (begonia, portulaca, impatiens, and geranium).

Q & A and blog contest

"Hadley Rille 5k"Hadley Rille Books is celebrating 5 years of publishing, and one of the things they’re doing is having a giveaway contest for a Kindle 3G. Clearly, I have a soft spot in my heart for this publisher, since Eric had the good taste to select stories I had written for two of his anthologies (Barren Worlds and Ruins Metropolis). The truth is, though, that they’ve published a lot of good writers, and they’re working on publishing more.

I’ve been looking at Lawrence Schoen’s Buffalito Destiny for a while, and his collection Sweet Potato Pie and Other Surrealities looks good, too. And there’s Push of the Sky by Camille Alexa, and Destination: Future, edited by Z.S. Adani and Eric Reynolds. Or The Best of Abyss & Apex. And I’m keeping my eyes out for Cate Gardner’s book, Theatre of Curious Acts, which isn’t even available for pre-order yet. Lots to choose from!

Which brings us to both the contest and the question for the week. Go look over the catalog of their books, browse, see what grabs you, maybe order something, then come back here and answer the following question: What one book from Hadley Rille would you most like to win?

One winner, to be announced December 6, will receive the book they want (trade paperback). Winner will be decided in a nice, low-tech, random fashion (either rolling of an appropriate polyhedral die or the traditional number drawn from a hat — with your number corresponding to your comment number in the thread for this post). Yes, I will ship anywhere.

This contest is actually staying open for a while — until December 3. (I’m planning to order a couple books for myself as a prize for completing NaNo this year, and it’s easier to order everything at once.)

Any questions, let me know. And please — support a great publisher. Oh, and leave your entry below.