Just a few more days until my first short story is available for free through Queerteen Press!
I want to talk about the brief history of some other stories I have coming up later, too. It's been really interesting for me to track the journey's of some of these.
"Cane and Able" will be released for 1.99 on 1-13-13. I wrote this in 2009 and it received an Honorable Mention in the 78th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. I had only been back into serious writing for a year, and this award was a sign that I was on the right path, and that my writing might actually go somewhere behind my computer. I will probably make a few minor edits, but for the most part it will remain intact. Also, my dad was in the hospital when I found out about this. I got to show him my award, but he never got to witness my first paying short publications, and won't get to hold my books in his hands. I am glad he saw that I was doing something with my lifelong dream, though.
"Smoke Break" started out as a short story for the writing course I took through Long Ridge Writer's Group. This was rejected by several editors, and by the comments I received on the last one, I think it's because the story is misunderstood. I was told people wouldn't think the story is "funny", they wondered why my MC hates someone who he doesn't actually hate, and they asked if a manager would really turn a blind eye to an employee smoking weed in the parking lot.
Yes.
The story is about a bigot trying to convince his co-workers about the upcoming Race Wars, and is not supposed to be funny, but a reflection of some of the screwed up conspiracy theories I have actually heard people talk about in good ole Indiana!
Now "Death Panel" . . . this is a dystopia about a world in which the worst fears of of certain conservative groups come true. Only 9 more days!
