Tag: short stories

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The Pulitzer, Publishing, Contests, and Beta Readers


I mentioned a few posts ago that I had a short story accepted for publication on Jitter Press. I have recently had another story accepted for publication for another online magazine, Uncaged Book Reviews. As the title suggests, they write and publish book reviews. For their October issue, they were seeking a few short horror stories to include for this Halloween edition. I sent in a story and they’ve agreed to include it in the publication. There is no payment, but it’s great exposure and I’m looking forward to seeing my stories published in different places.

With the publication of my recent work of poetry, “Men Are Garbage,” I felt it had the right social commentary to be considered for The Pulitzer Prize in a collection of Verse. I paid the $75 entry fee and sent four paperback copies of the book to the people who judge works for the Pulitzer. I feel this is a gutsy move and I’m not confident that I have the skill to win. I submitted anyway just to say I did. I won’t know anything one way or the other until next Spring. I am happy to forget about it until then.

I plan to submit some work to a couple writing contests. One of them has not responded to my email with questions about guidelines and things and their deadline is quickly approaching. I may wait on that contest until next year and focus instead on the one for the Tucson Festival of Books happening in March 2019. Their contest submission deadline is the end of October giving me plenty of time. Their contest rules are also straight forward and don’t require me to email them questions. I can just submit once I have the money for the submission fees.

Speaking of saving up for submission fees, I’m working three jobs (sort of) not including anything I do for writing. I am a partner with Starbucks, a stagehand for Centennial Hall (the home of Broadway in Tucson), and I work with local nonprofits and artists with publicity and marketing. I have a full plate and still find time to do some writing. Some of my third job work in pro-bono too meaning I don’t get paid for all those things I do. However, staying busy keeps me from going insane or falling into the darkness.

I’ve also sent my novella to my small group of beta readers. I’ve gotten a little feedback which pointed out I still have many typographical errors to fix. This is why we have beta readers. Imagine if I had self-published this work anyway. I am grateful to the readers I currently have but I am always looking for more. You can find that information on my Beta Readers Page and also search for it on Facebook. Those are the current crazy updates and I’ll have many more. I’m still trying to figure out how to get some VaudVil shows going again. The future looks bright, busy, and exhausting.

 

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Free eBook Downloads


Today only! Labor Day Special, all my eBooks are free to download on Amazon for Kindle. This includes fiction and poetry books as well as my latest collection of poetry, Men Are Garbage. Get your free download, give them a read, and I would appreciate a review. You can find all my works on my Amazon Author Page. If you have any trouble or if you miss your day to download, leave a comment and we can chat about how I can send you a free copy, but you must comment on this post on September 4 or after.

In other news, one of my unpublished stories was accepted for publication on Jitter Press. Once the story is published, I will post the link for you all to enjoy. This is exciting for me as it is the first story I’ll have published in the traditional sense. So far, I have only self-published all my work but continue submitting stories to online magazines. I’ll never give up and never surrender. It might take 45 years, but I will publish things and make a living from writing. I’m also nefariously plotting world domination with my spider minions.

I plan to have another small collection of fiction released in preparation for my larger paperback collection of short horror fiction titled “Morbid Museum” which feels never ending. I have a few stories to finish and a few more that still need revision. Also, I’m planning to begin writing another novel in November. I have many plans for my writing and never enough time to do it all. That’s the way life is, I suppose. Regardless of how long it takes, all these projects will be completed eventually. This does not mean I’ll be rich and famous but I’ll at least be able to say I accomplished something.

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A New Ebook

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My newest eBook went live today.  Dollar Tales from the Morbid Museum: Flash Fiction.  It includes four flash fiction stories and an introduction that is in its own way a story.  It’s a little introduction to the Morbid Museum and the curator of the museum, Mister Siris Grim.  There will be one, or possibly two, more installments of Dollar Tales from the Morbid Museum leading up to the release of the full collection of short fiction titled The Morbid Museum.  This will be a collection of horror, true crime, science fiction, and other genre fiction curated around the theme of death.  So exciting!

The first story in this new release is titled “Clyde.”  It’s about the ghosts of the Pac-Man game from the perspective of Clyde, the orange ghost.  Fun Fact: the orange ghost in the Ms. Pac-Man game was named Sue.  The next story is titled “Highway 491.”  This is a real highway that goes through New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah (partially).  Prior to 2003 it was called the Devil’s Highway because it was U.S. Route 666.  What kind of spooky things happen on the Devil’s Highway?  You’ll have to read to find out.

The next story is “Blue Ridge Mountain Hop,” a ghost story set in the Appalachian Mountains which are sometimes called the Blue Ridge Mountains because of the misty hue they reflect during certain times of day.  This is followed by the last story “Jesse’s Lament.”  This is a tale about a young man during the Civil War feeling homesick and missing his twin brother.  This story takes place during the Battle of Gettysburg on Culp’s Hill.  “Blue Ridge Mountain Hop” also includes some apparitions from the Civil War which is why I put those two together.

This new eBook will be available for free this week on Wednesday, July 4, only.  The promotion is in celebration of Independence Day and will only be available for free on that day.  As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, and any feedback will be heard and considered.  Who doesn’t love free stuff?  If you don’t have a Kindle device, you can download the app for free to any device from the App Store or Google Play Store.  I hope you enjoy the stories and I hope you’ll keep an eye out for any future works I publish.  I promise more are coming.  You can check the Projects page to see what else I’ve published.