Time Travel Anyone? (Plus a Smattering of Cover Art)

Permuted Press (yes, that Permuted Press) has guidelines up for a new time travel themed anthology. I'm sure competition will be tight, but my muse doesn't seem to care right now. Check out the guidelines here. They open in April.



I shared the link to "The Awful Majesty of Being Gary" last Friday, but I couldn't help sharing the cover art to Port Iris #1.

Green is such a lovely/creepy color, don't you think? The morbid little grave, strange little dude, and shafts of light are just perfect. Port Iris has kicked off with a very nice aesthetic.

Gary Sump might appear again...if I can decide what he'll do next. It's hard to be a god.

I received my contributor's copy of Aoife's Kiss #32 yesterday. A story I used to teach in Sophomore level English inspired my story. "Distillation" is set in an apocalyptic/dystopic future where not everything is as it seems. (Like, when is it?)

The first lines:

Scars are curious things, whether worn as badges on the flesh or pressed deep inside one’s memory. I will always remember the night we lost the old man. It was black and silent, no hints of life outside the factory. He looked at me, his face bunched with wrinkles and his eyes damp. “They’re out there tonight. Can you hear them?” he asked.

Aoife's Kiss #32 has some nice poetry by Bruce Boston and Marge B. Simon, and plenty of fiction. Purchase at the genre mall.

Enjoy Tuesday.

We Have a Winner-Ninja; Monday Rant (Die, Wikipedia, Die)

First and foremost, Carrie Harris is the winner of my "help this schlub write a query" contest. If Ms. Harris will ninja her address to aaron_polson (at) hotmail.com with choice of book (The Black Garden or Monstrous) I will be happy to ship off her book post haste. I sent one query off with edits recommended by my dear readers and received a full request. Fingers crossed, but not too tightly, 'cause I know it's going to take more than one full request to land an agent. My naiveté is spent on the publishing process. I'm in this for the long haul.

The Rant^TM:

At the risk of angering all those wikis hiding in their parent's basements, I must add to the list of why Wikipedia sucks.

We all know the articles are either too brief or ramble on. The "editors" might check for facts, but sure can't take care of grammar, syntax, or style. I'd rather read a roomful of cereal boxes than a poorly written Wikipedia article, rife with misspelling and misinformation (yes, despite your best efforts, ye Morlocks, misinformation does exist on Wikipedia).

Here's the reason for the rant: Wikipedia has removed the Permuted Press article. Yes, Permuted is a "small press". Yes, I understand the Wikipedia content rules about advertising, promotion, yada yada. But, c'mon? Permuted not worthy of an article?

Permuted books have been optioned for film. Stories from Permuted anthologies have garnered honorable mentions in the Year's Best anthologies. Kim Paffenroth writes and edits for them. Um, yes, that Kim Paffenroth, the one who won the Stoker Award a few years back.

The folks at Wikipedia should not be the arbiters of reality. What happened to an "open source" encyclopedia? What happened to democratizing the process. Is this just further proof that power does indeed corrupt?

Look, a Wikipedia article does not advertise anything, as it shouldn't. But should the Morlocks that offer up articles for deletion be allowed to do so, just because they don't feel like something is important? Have you even read the trivial bull-shite on Wikipedia about semi-pro basketball players, actors, or musicians? Better yet, have you read any article about a video game? Talk about trivial.

Monstrous

Permuted Press's giant creatures anthology, Monstrous, is available for pre-order (at least at Barnes and Noble...more pending). The book includes my tale of beetles gone bad, "A Plague from the Mud"--my first anthology sale way back last March.

I've been waiting to share this cover for a while:

So excited!