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Interlude

Now she's looking for a dog:

My wife has been in accelerated travel mode since last Thanksgiving. We've been to Disney World, Dollywood, the Biltmore, California, and elsewhere. A week ago we got back from a twenty-six day cruise to the Caribbean and up the Eastern seaboard, down the St. Lawrence to Quebec and Montreal, followed by a train trip and three days in Ottawa, and I've been unproductive in writing any new project until now. . . .

Finally, cranked our a new 5200 word short story called Eavesdropping at the Keyhole to Forever which I will soon be marketing: editors beware. I like the story and hope to find it a good home.

Current Projects:

I'm working on a young adult novel called Tunnel at the End of the Dark, the sequel to The Princess, the Knight, & the Knave. So far about six chapters. 

During those times I can't stand to look at Tunnel . . ., I hope to produce some more short stories and outline YA sequel novels for Mistress of Vision and Junak Silverhand. 

I'm having difficulty getting into writing mode on an adult novel titled The Last Martian from Arkadelphia. Perhaps because the book isn't about Martians or Arkadelphia. It's not even sci-fi. I've written about 100 pages, but I think I'll hack and chop these into a different form.

For relaxation, I've got some blank canvases in the studio and enough acrylic paint to cover my frustrations.

If I get any extra time, I will research electronic publishing for mathematics textbooks. I hope to package Essential Mathematics for college students(all 19 chapters complete, but more problem sets needed) sometimes this year. 

How did I have time to do anything when I held a day job?

I'm thinking of combining four new short stories with six previously published into a Kindle ebook tentatively titled The Last Starship from 51 Pegasi D & other stories. This seems to me a better option than peddling reprints. All I need is a striking cover, and I already have one in mind.

I'm pleased with what I've learned so far by publishing The Princess, the Knight, & the Knave and Wobbling Star with KDP. If I publish either Mistress of Vision or Junak Silverhand with KDP, I expect to improve considerably. Next I'll be researching Barnes and Nobles and EPUB.

Other news:

My young adult novel New Vision didn't make the semi-finals of the ABNA. I didn't expect it to: I don't thing YA sci-fi is big like YA urban fantasy. However, I got what I wanted, a review from a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Here's the complete review:

"Part high fantasy, part natural history, and part anthropology, this story recalls an older narrative tradition that readers of Dubois’s The Twenty-One Balloons will recognize: details of a fascinating new world are as important as the plot. Kailin and her brother Dreng are trying to escape from a life of slave labor by fleeing into the mountains. Dreng picks up a salamander along the way, which he names Henki. Not long after, Dreng disappears. Searching for him, Kailin is caught up in a massive volcanic eruption but her life is saved by Henki, who turns out to be an immortal, metamorphic entity that takes on the shape of other creatures in order to study them. In saving Kailin, Henki’s substance becomes enmeshed with hers. Baffled, he takes her to the site of one of his previous lives, a village of reptilian humanoids, the Vanhem Pi. While Henki seeks counsel from the headman, Kailin is nursed to health by the all-female villagers. Her memories of slavery and flight are gone, but in exchange she has intuitive understanding of this strange community. Then an attack by the savage Piktas disperses the village, and Kailin is off wandering again. The conclusion is loose, clearly signaling that a series is intended, and the plot construction as a whole is not a strong point. But the story remains engaging throughout; like the middle-school readers for whom it is intended, it is wide-eyed and keenly observing of its imaginative universe."

I renamed the novel Mistress of Vision, and prepared a proposal to pitch to agents. If I don't get some requests for a full manuscript in the next six months, then I'll put it out for the Kindle. 

Like their parent company the UK Publisher Angry Robots,  Strange Chemistry had open submissions at the end of April.  Strange Chemistry is a new division focusing on young adult science fiction and fantasy. They also seem to be really nice folks, so I sent them a proposal for my young adult novel Junak Silverhand. Hopefully, I can get a request for a full manuscript, but in any event, feedback would be nice.

My flash fiction piece Perchance to Bleam appeared the April 26 issue of Futures:Nature

Someone gave Wobbling Star a five star review on Amazon. My first customer review. Sweet.

Jeff Chapman featured my story The Unicorn Dilemma from NewMyths as story of the week in his blog. Thanks Jeff,  I appreciate the publicity.
Jeff Chapman's Writing: Story of the Week: The Unicorn Dilemma
jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com

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