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 … Continue reading Sale! “Mysterious Ways” to Uncle John’s
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:
I highly recommend listening to this podcast for your fiction fix. Not since the Drabblecast has any publication given me a stream of stories that I so consistently enjoyed. Their choice in style does remind me somewhat of the Drabblecast, though they take longer stories, but Rish and Big have instilled the podcast with their own brand. This Best Of list covers the episodes from Episode 0 all the way to the current Episode 114.
He has posted the first issue of the magazine, the October 2011 issue, and one of the two stories he reviewed was my “The Infinite Onion”, published in AE earlier this year. Brase says “This review is meant less to critique the stories and more to analyze the themes and narrative present.” I found it very interesting to see the discussion of my odd little flash story.
A thick skin doesn’t come naturally. You have to cultivate it. One of the biggest ways that I did this when I started writing fiction is critique forums. My particular favorite is Baen’s Bar. Post some stuff there in the Baen’s Bar Slush, get some feedback, post feedback on other people’s stories. Yeah, the negative comments can be hard to take at first, but you learn to extract the useful parts of them.
Just a brief post today to make an ebook recommendation. It’s one of my favorite stories, “Teddy Bears and Tea Parties” by S. Boyd Taylor, which I first heard on the Drabblecast. Don’t be fooled by the title; it is not for children. I am very serious about this. It’s a very dark story from a child’s point of view. Taylor’s an excellent writer, and I hope he continues to have success; I’ll be on the lookout for more of his stories.
I decided to volunteer for 3 episode artworks for now, and I’ve completed and submitted by the time of writing this post. These will go up on the Drabblecast site when it’s ready to launch, but I’ve asked for permission to show the artwork I’ve done here. And, for those who might be interested in such things, I will describe how I did each of these pieces of visual art from start to finish.
My 5th published story is now available. “Fruitful” at Digital Science Fiction, a story of parenting in the far future:
http://www.amazon.com/Therefore-Am-Digital-Anthology-ebook/dp/B005BSYWVO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310355865&sr=8-2
My streak of good fortune continues with a third sale in quick succession!
The story: “The Quest Unusual”, a story about a strange… knight?
The magazine: Daiy Science Fiction.
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.
