Category: Announcements

Specutopia Inaugural Issue!

written by David Steffen

Just a brief note to point out that the brand new speculative fiction magazine Specutopia has launched, edited by Dale Wise. They publish every 2 months in various and sundry electronic formats, for $3.49 you’ll get 7 short stories, including my story “Never Idle” about a man who can talk to cars and the woman he stops to help on the side of the road when she’s having car trouble.

If you want a sample of the kinds of stories are in the issue, you can read Greg Mellor’s “Hollow Spaces” for free on their website. If you check back around August 1st, James Beamon’s “Death of the World’s Greatest Detective” will be available to read for free.

Enjoy! And if you do buy a copy, feel free to make a comment here about my story or the issue in general!

Unsettled Foundation: Minneapolis-based “live anthology”

written by David Steffen

Hello everyone! For all of you out there, but especially those who are within easy driving distance of Minneapolis, I wanted to tell you about an upcoming event in which I will be participating. It is the debut event of the Unsettled Foundation live anthology series. Like a print anthology, authors submit their stories and an editor selects the ones they consider to be the best. But instead of binding them in a book, the selected authors read their stories aloud to an audience.

And my story “What Makes You Tick” has been selected! They’ve also asked me to send a second one since this one is so short. So I will be reading it to an audience at The Hollywood Theater in Minneapolis in an event beginning at 7:30 on June 23rd. I would love to see you there! No admission fee is required, but they do have donation incentive gifts for anyone who wishes to donate. I hope to see some of you there!

Sale! “Meat” at Pseudopod

written by David Steffen

Just a quick sale announcement, I sold my 10th short story yesterday, “Meat” to Pseudopod, to editor Shawn Garrett. It will be my third appearance on Pseudopod, and my second Pseudopod original. It’s a horror SF flash fiction story about a robot domestic helper who is trying very hard to complete a few simple tasks under adverse conditions.

Fare Thee Well, KD Wentworth

written by David Steffen

I heard the sad news today that the long-time contest coordinator of the Writers of the Future contest, K. D. Wentworth, has died from pneumonia. I didn’t know her on a personal level, apart from the occasional forum exchange, but by everything I have seen she was a very friendly person, and very patient with the questions all of the eager entrants of the Writers of the Future contest. She was one of the first editors I submitted a short story to, and I’ve sent her one story per quarter ever since. She was also one of our very first interviews here on Diabolical Plots back in August 2009.

K. D. was a writer as well as the coordinating judge and she leaves behind several books and dozens of short stories and novellsa to remember her by. The contest won’t be the same without her. She will be well remembered.

Book Giveaway Winner!

written by David Steffen

In case people have been wondering, I did do the drawing for the free Flush Fiction book last week as promised. And the name that emerged from the hat was Michael Hanrahan. Michael, if you see this post, could you please let me know what the best way to reach you is? I haven’t had any luck so far. I just need to get a mailing address so I can tell the publisher where to mail the copy.

I’ll give you at least another week to get back to me. At some point if I can’t get hold of you I’ll have to draw another name from the hat, so please get back to me as soon as you can.

Giveaway! Uncle John’s Flush Fiction Anthology

written by David Steffen

The day has finally arrived, the publication date of Uncle John’s Flush Fiction anthology. As I mentioned a few months back, I sold a story titled “Mysterious Ways” to the anthology. I am particularly excited about this sale, because I know many more people who are familiar with Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books than who are familiar with my favorite speculative fiction magazines.

The Bathroom Readers are a series of books with widely varying content, but what they all have in common is that each one is made up of very short segments which can be easily read during a trip to the toilet (not that you have to read them on the toilet if that’s not your thing). In case you haven’t heard of them, you can check out the Uncle John’s website to find out more, or you can find them at your favorite online retailers or brick-and-mortar stores (in the humor section). I think you’ll enjoy them.

So, to celebrate the release of Flush Fiction, and to help get the word out about the anthology, I’m hosting a giveaway of a copy of the book, which contains 88 stories of flash fiction, each one a perfect length to read in a few minutes of spare time. Â There are two ways you can enter (and you can do both to double your odds of winning!):

1. Post a comment here on Diabolical Plots in response to this announcement. It doesn’t matter what the comment is, just make it PG, and try not to sound like a spambot (or your comment might be filtered)
2. “Like” the Diabolical Plots Facebook page link I’ll post there.

Now, go ahead! Your deadline is the end of the day on Wednesday April 11, 2012 Central Time USA. After the deadline, I’ll do a random drawing of all the entrants follow the directions (and two for the people who do both). At that point I’ll announce the winner, and get in touch with them to get a mailing address to mail the book. Good luck!

Announcement: Canny Valley Comics

Hey folks! Remember me? Anthony Sullivan? You know… the other guy who supposedly contributes to this site?

Ahh well, I can understand if you don’t remember me. I’ve been AWOL for quite some time working on my visual art. Well that work has finally borne a little fruit in a new comic project that myself and the very funny Scott Wolf have started.

Canny Valley is a thrice weekly web comic with a focus on gaming and internet culture. with my art and Scott’s cleverness we hope you’ll give us a chance to entertain you.

Please take a moment to jump over to the site and check us out. Then come back here an let us know what you think! Also, I’d like to see if there is interest in seeing a making of post that walks through our process from inception to final comic.

Thanks to everyone for your time and support. This has been a long time in the works and I’m so excited to see it finally released.

Sale! “Mysterious Ways” to Uncle John’s

written by David Steffen

Woo hoo! I just got an acceptance last night from Uncle John’s for their Flush Fiction Anthology for my flash story “Mysterious Ways”. Yes, Uncle John’s of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. I am very excited about this one. Uncle John’s has a very wide readership, and this will be the first time I’ve been published in something that has a wide bookstore distribution. Exciting!

 

Pet Cartooning!

written by David Steffen

I wanted to write a post to draw attention to a service that I am offering that I call “pet cartooning”, converting a photograph of an animal into a cartoon image. This could be a fun surprise present for an animal lover, or a loving tribute to your own pet. Here are a couple of examples of the results of this:

Do you think you might be Interested? Generally, here’s what I’m thinking: For $10 paid via PayPal or check, I will take a clear good-quality photograph of one animal, and will use it as a model for creating a cartoon image like those shown above ($15 for two animals). The result will be cartoon style image modeled the original photo that I will deliver via email. Keep in mind:
–So far I have had good results for SHORT-HAIRED animals, with well-defined lines. I have tried this with my own dogs (two poodles and a papillon), and the result did not work well. Feel free to drop me a line anyway if you’re not sure. The animal doesn’t necessarily need to be a dog–I did the same kind of image of a horse to illustrate Drabblecast #67 “Malish” by Mike Resnick. I’m working on improving my technique so that I can handle longer-haired animals.
–The cartoon animal will be in the same position as in the photograph. I can make small alterations like removing red-eye effect, but the photograph will be acting as the model.
–Don’t expect photo-realism. Some details might be lost, but the result is intended to match the dogs image very closely.
–I’ll do my best to get this done as soon as possible, but this will partially depend on the level of demand. If you think you want to do this, especially if you’d like to try to get something for the holidays, it may be best to contact me sooner than later.

The design itself will cost that flat fee. If you’d like to have something with the image printed on it, like a tote bag, a mug, or a t-shirt, I can upload the image to my CafePress store for further products to be purchased. For an example of this, you can see an example set of products here.

If anyone has any comments, questions, suggestions, or if you decide you are interested, please contact me at: