Market Deaths

Murky Depths, Crossed Genres (the magazine--not the publishing company), and all forthcoming anthologies from Library of Horror Press are dead. I'm sad in the case of Murky Depths (but glad to have "Shoes for the Journey" published before its demise--it was a beautiful mag) and Crossed Genres (which published my longish-short "Down There" earlier this year). The Library of Horror situation rankles a bit. I had two stories slated for future publication from LoH, one in Witchology and the other in Made You Flinch, Again (again?).

This--the frequent death of short story markets--more than anything, puts me off writing more shorts. Markets come and go--even after you've signed a contract. If I'm running my writing life as a business, I'm not sure it makes much sense.

But then again, I'm not sure anything I've done in my writing career makes much sense. I tend to follow my heart:

A Love Letter to January

Actually, I'm pretty glad January is over. It's been cold, so cold. The kids at school are about ready to explode with cabin fever. I'm tired of dry skin and cracked hands.

Bring on the sun! Bring on spring!

But first, let me pause to reflect:

I wrote three new short stories ("Tommy of the Flood", "Empty Vessels", and "The Distillery") plus one flash piece ("Fuzzy") inspired by one of Owen's books and another flash that will remain nameless for the time being. I edited a couple other bits and launched them in to the ether.

I placed a drabble with Drabblecast, a weird flash piece with Everyday Weirdness, and a magical realism short with A cappella Zoo.

A few things were published on the web, but my favorite appearances for January landed in Monstrous from Permuted Press and Northern Haunts from Shroud.

I tinkered with Rock Gods and Scary Monsters a bit and wrote about 3.5K on The House Eaters.

In support of the small press, I took out a subscription to Murky Depths and purchased the latest edition of Black Ink Horror (#5).

Whew.

January was a good month for personal reflection, too. Thanks for all the great discussions.

I'm going to go play with my kids.