Category: Announcements

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:

 

Sale! “The Quest Unusual” to Daily Science Fiction

written by David Steffen

My streak of good fortune continues with a third sale in quick succession!

The story:Â “The Quest Unusual”, a story about a strange… knight?

The magazine:Â Daily Science Fiction.

I’m particularly excited about this one, since Frank Dutkiewicz and his reviewer cronies have worked very hard to provide reviews of Daily Science Fiction for Diabolical Plots. I’m looking forward to being involved on the fiction side.

 

Good news! Another new sale, thus reaffirming my irrational superstition that my sales always come in pairs. This time the story is “The Infinite Onion”, an improbable SF story about a research company that is trying to find new ways to profit from portals to parallel worlds. The venue is AE Canadian Science Fiction Review. Huzzah! I am excited! That is all. 🙂 -David Steffen

Sale! “The Infinite Onion” to AE Canadian Science Fiction Review

Good news! Another new sale, thus reaffirming my irrational superstition that my sales always come in pairs. This time the story is “The Infinite Onion”, an improbable SF story about a research company that is trying to find new ways to profit from portals to parallel worlds. The venue is AE Canadian Science Fiction Review. Huzzah! I am excited!

That is all. 🙂

-David Steffen

Sale! “Fruitful” to Digital Science Fiction

written by David Steffen

I don’t often post about myself but I wanted to share some good news. I’ve sold my short story “Fruitful” to Digital Science Fiction. I’m very pleased that this has happened now. I was getting rather down about the writing, more than a year having passed since the last non-reprint sale.

I’ll post more information when it’s available, but the story is an off-world future SF story on a world with robot nannies where reproduction is the primary currency. I hope folks like it.

It is slated to appear in Digital Science Fiction’s 2nd issue, in July. DSF is planning to have a monthly anthology release, each one with 10 new science fiction stories. They’ve released the table of contents for their first issue, and they’ve gathered some familiar names, such as Ian Creasey, Ken Schneyer, David Tallerman. I’m looking forward to reading it!