Done!

Finished copy-editing the novel ahead of expectations. I'll go over the corrections again tomorrow or Monday but it looks good.

This one was easy; nice, clean writing and a fantastic story. It makes the work a pleasure!

Things Aren't What they Seem

I just got word that this anthology has passed on my story "Closing Time at Galaxy Video". Rejections are never fun, but two recent acceptances do help take the sting away. Plus I got some good critical comments from the folks at the PIT that should help me improve that one.

I'll probably send it back out in about a week, when I've had a chance to re-work it a bit.

Home Stretch

I'm down to the last 75 pages of the novel I'm copy editing for Permuted Press. It's a story of superheroes vs. zombies in the burned out ruin of Los Angeles. I'll admit that the description sounds kind of lame, and would have been a train wreck in the hands of most authors. But this author has done something remarkable with it.

The supers are fully realized characters with their own weaknesses and virtues. They're a complicated lot and you really feel for them. Likewise the merely human characters trapped in a nightmarish situation. He has neatly side-stepped the clichés of both the zombie story and the superhero story and created something that is relentlessly intelligent, emotionally real, and always intense. (I read the scene where the zombies in this world are explained last night, and it gave me the chills more then anything I've read in a long time).

At this stage in development I'm not sure I can give out the name and title, but I will when I can. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing this one in print.

This Will Not Be Pretty

I'm playing pick-up basketball with a group of men from my church tonight. It's a good way to help get back into shape, and could even be fun.

Thing is, I'm not much of a player. I'm taller than anyone else in the group, but that's never helped me before. They're all younger and more athletic than I am (two of the others are still in their teens and one may be going to college on a soccer scholarship).

As for my level of skill...have you ever seen a video of >gooney birds landing? I'm providing one as a visual aid. Instead of a big seabird, just imagine the gooney is a big white guy with a basketball and you'll get the idea.

Still, it'll probably be fun. :)

Meeting the World's Giant Scaled Anteater Needs

I heard last night from Richard Crawford that Daikaijuzine would like to publish "Panzersloth" in their June 21, 2009 issue!

In his words:

There are not nearly enough stories that feature giant scaled anteaters, and I'm glad to see you have addressed this critical shortage.

This was a fun one to write, largely because it was a silly send-up of the giant monster movies of the 1950's. Mostly though, it was fun because it was a chance to work with my friend Leah Clarke. It's her second sale, the first having come just a couple of days earlier, and well-deserved. She is a writer to watch and a delight to work with.

And, just in case you were wondering what the giant creature that menaces Chicago in the story looks like. I present Pansy (normal-sized version).

Writing and Spirituality

I'm not a 'Christian Author' per-se. I actually don't even care for most overtly Christian fiction. So much of it seems shallow, and narrow-minded, as if the author had a committee peering over his or her shoulder inspecting it for doctrinal errors. Fiction that has to pass inspection like that tends to bore me to tears. Worse, it strikes me as something that is so concerned with 'correctness' that it doesn't have any truth in it.

But good fiction? Ah, that's a totally different animal.

I believe that we all have a call; something that God has given us the tools and the opportunities to accomplish. I don't see it as something that God tries to force us to do (though I've certainly had times when it felt like that). No, I think it's more that there is something that each of can do that will give us deeper satisfaction--and be of greater benefit to others--than anything else. I don't remember the source of the quote but I remember hearing a definition of a sacred call that I really like.

"Where your deepest passion intersects with the deepest needs of the world, you find your call from God."

That is different for different people, it can be anything from healing, to teaching, to to art, or writing.

Many writers are non-religious, but I would argue that the best writers tend to be deeply spiritual. I've known a few who fall into both of these categories; they feel uncomfortable with scriptures and traditions, they are skeptical of doctrines and pronouncements, and may feel far from the God of religious devotion.

Yet, I would argue that many of these are deeply rooted in the reality of God, even if they wouldn't call it that. I say that because the essence of God flows through their writing. Without being heavy-handed, their works embody a deep sense of justice and compassion. They flow with wisdom, humanity and and grace. They don't offer anything remotely like doctrinal instruction but they touch the soul and call forth the very best and truest from the reader. When I find a story by one of these writers, I feel like my deepest faith is affirmed.

It is a wonderful gift to be able to do that, and I believe it is a sacred call. It's also the kind of writer I would like to be.

President Obama

No deep thoughts, I just like saying it.

President Obama, President Obama, President Obama!