What is it with vampires this week?

I honestly don't know, but. . .

Doctor Omega and the Shadowmen is out, featuring stories of the eccentric French time and space taveller. This collection from Black Coat Press features new stories plus a number of reprints of Doctor Omega stories from Tales of the Shadowmen. One of these is "The Heart of the Moon", my story about the doctor and a motly crew of vampire hunters who travel to the vampire city of Selene.

In related news, I'm working on a Jed Puma story for Black Coats' French language imprint, Riviere Blanche. Jed Puma is a French comic book character from yesteryear who travels the Old West with his judo instructor, Tashi. Jed is a skilled martial artist and prides himself on never wearing a gin. My story teams him with Doc Holliday in pursuit of (you guessed it) a trio of vampire gunfighters.

I'm having a lot of fun working on the story and, whenever I finish a scene, I use google-translate to put it into French. Hopefully side by side English and French manuscripts will help the editors because this story is being published only in French.

and another retry

I've been wondering about another marked for "Gilgamesh" sinch the Zombie Kong Anthology passed on it. It's an odd piece; I essentially rewrote the Gilgamesh Epic updating the characters to the pulp era. Gilgamesh is the "Man of Bronze" who lives on the 86th floor of the tallest zigurat in the city of New Urku, Enkidu is the wild man raised by apes in the jungle, and Humbaba is the giant ape who scales skyscrapers with a pretty woman in his hand. It was as fun as anything to write, but hard to find a market for.

I just sent it off to the good folks at "Strange Horizons".

Fingers crossed.

Try Try Again

I just got a rejection from Asimov's for "Schrödinger's Outlaw." That's not a huge surprise though I had my hopes. It's off to Daily Science Fiction now, where it will be a much better fit, IMO.

Wish me luck!

Productive Month

I've finished up my second draft of my mash-up novel. I don't want to say too much but it's something in the tradition of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, however where P&P&Z is humorous parody, my reworked classic will be a horror/adventure novel more in the vein of Peter Clines' The Eerie Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Lycanthrope. I am itching to spill the beans on the title, but don't want to give anything away without the publisher's say so.

In the meanwhile this has been a very productive month for Short stories. I just wrapped up "Kemosabe" for Moonstone's Lone Ranger anthology, "The Gray Reapers" for the Spider Chronicles by the same publisher, and "Don Camillo and the Secret Weapon" for Tales of the Shadowmen vol 8. Now I just need to put together something for vo3 three of Moonstone's Green Hornet anthologies and I'll be done with licensed characters for a bit.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to write stories about characters I've loved since childhood, but too much of it and I really start missing creating my own characters and their adventures form scratch.

The Doldrums

I've got so many projects and so little energy for any of them.

Darn you seasonal allergies!!!

On another note

Two rejections followed in short order by a contract. My story "the Un-Kosher Golem" will appear in Baconology: Fried Bits of Horror by Library of the Living Dead Press.

Yay!

Rejections Still Sting

I just heard from the folks at Tor.com that they're going to pass on "Closing Time at Galaxy Video." That wasn't unexpected, Tor is a hard market to crack.

I also received a rejection from James Roy Daley for "Gilgamesh", my submission for his Zombie Kong anthology. His note was friendlty and encouraging, and suggested that he liked the story but that it just wasn't a good fit.

Rejection is easier these days than when I first started out. I think my first rejection was a form letter from Omni magazine for a flash fiction story I wrote in college. I was so crushed by that and a few other rejections that I stopped sending stories in for about 20 years.

Rejection is part of the business. Since I started writing again I've had more than 20 stories accepted, and that affirmation helps a lot. It also helps when you get an encouraging note with the rejection and (IMO) shows a lot of class on the editor's part. Just the same, even the kindest rejection still stings, and I find myself wondering if my stories are complete rubbish and whether I should just stop.

If you've ever felt this way, I can sympathize. My only advice is what I tell myself: "Don't quit. Keep writing and keep sending those stories to people who might reject them. When an editor gives you encouragement, take it to heart. When an editor gives you criticism, take that to heart too and learn all you can from it. But as long as there are stories in you that want to be told, don't ever give up!"