Choose Your Own Adventure

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the blob in Curt's kitchen.

This post is mostly about what unchecked expansion means to writers: you, me, most everyone who reads this blog.

If you want to be read, at whatever level, you must learn to brand yourself. It's one of the first lessons I learned when I started. It's the reason I purchased my domain (http://www.aaronpolson.com/) before I had anything worthwhile to slap up there. Being read may (or may not) translate into cash someday. Someday. Meaning, this is about making money. Which, much to my wife's chagrin, is not my favorite topic.

People who know a lot about money like to talk about growth. (hence, "Unchecked Expansion")

I used to work at a bookstore. We talked at length about "expansion". New stores in the chain, new sales in the existing stores, blah, blah blah. Beat Last Year! (i.e., did we make more sales than the same day last year?) Yeah, we checked these things all the time.

I also took calculus in high school. I learned that things do not expand without limits.

A bookstore chain cannot continue to build new stores and sell more each year. It. Is. Impossible. Stores close. Sales drop.

The opposite of expansion happens. Big publishing's revenues are contracting. They've stripped themselves to the bone, merged, hostile take-overed, and now, now people still aren't buying books like they used to. The $9.99 e-book will kill us all. Go ahead, run shrieking into the ether.

As mid-list authors, Brian Keene and JA Konrath have their own models of expansion. I read their blogs. I like to see how these things work. Both are hardworking writers who must continually expand their reach because other parts of their revenue stream constantly contract. A vicious situation, to be sure.

Unchecked expansion doesn't exist. Except in fiction. (Yes, the blue sponge is still growing)

I stepped into two new arenas last week: I listed my Friday flash with #fridayflash and sold two reprints ("Catalog Sales" to Ghostlight and "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" to Triangulation: End of the Rainbow--I love what they did with Dark Glass). I guess you could call it "expansion" or "branding". I just want more people to read my stories. The money (sorry, Aimee) is negligible right now.

So choose your own adventure. Decide how hard you want to work (my hat's off to those making a living at this writing thing). Nothing expands forever.

Writing is nothing if not choosing your own adventure. This is what I chose for Curt:

Curt waits for the gun. The blue mass changes. A shape presses against the skin...a face, fingers.

Gail screams. "Sophia...Sophia's gone!"

Guess she shouldn't have tip-toed downstairs to check on her cow-sponge, eh?

Fucking cows.

Reviewy-Tuesday

Catching up on some reviews and other news.

I've posted my recommendation of See No Evil, Say No Evil by Matt Betts at Skull Salad.

Jorge Solis of Fangoria.com had some nice things to say about Dead Bait, including my contribution, "Grim Adaptations":

My favorites in the collection are Tim Curran’s “Piraya” and Aaron A. Polson’s “Grim Adaptations.” In both tales, dead fish are reanimated back to life as zombies to feed off of humans...

Luke Reviews covered Monstrous back in May, but I've only recently stumbled across this lovely send up of "A Plague from the Mud":

In this tale, Polson presents us with a slowly evolving tale of dread, as the clues are all there, and we all know what will happen, but we can't turn and look away. This dark piece works that dread well, playing on suspense and short bits of story with lots of breaks, nailing the suspense of the dying town of Monument, Oregon.


Finally (for the review portion of the post), Tom Powers at Small Press Reviews mentioned "Dancing Lessons" while covering Triangulation: Dark Glass.

...a girl poignantly encounters an animated carnival monster who may be her dead father...

In other news,"Precious Metal", a short-short accepted by the venerable Albedo One last year, is due out in their next issue. I'm giddy about this, as Albedo One has a long and storied track record.

Last but not least I found myself listed in the International Science-Fiction Database. They only have two of my shorts listed: "A Plague from the Mud" and "The Ox-Cart Man". Weird to be listed at all. I must be "real".

Oh, and I've added the "followers" bit to the sidebar. I wrestled with it for a while, not wanting to seem to narcissistic, but I think it can be a good social networking tool for visitors. So, there it is.

Now, Let's Have A Traffic Jam...

So you've discovered what your protagonist lusts after, now frustrate her/him with a good old fashioned traffic jam (I'm writing metaphorically here, unless a real traffic jam works).

Nothing creates dramatic tension (uh, suspense) more than making the protagonist wait, and every good traffic jam carries an element of danger (more suspense!). Would you really want to find yourself in the middle of the cluster-$&#^ above?


Speaking of traffic jams (I don't have a better segue), A very nice review of Triangulation: Dark Glass popped up on Sunday at SF Crowsnest, including a favorable mention of my story, "Dancing Lessons".

Although well-written these didn't hold up as well as Arron [sic] Polson's very short story, 'Dancing Lessons', where a small girl briefly aids a resurrected hobo who was temporarily augmented as his body started to fail...

Nice mention. Nice blurb to add to the website and all, but my name...oh well. What's in a name, anyway?

Cover Art Goodness

Triangulation: Dark Glass is now on sale. The collection includes some wonderful tales. (Hidden behind which my own "Dancing Lessons" can be found.) The cover of Triangulation: Dark Glass smacks of dark fantasy goodness, doesn't it?

Triangulation: Dark Glass (Thus Far)

Triangulation: Dark Glass will be released in time for the PARSEC's annual Confluence convention, on the weekend of July 24-26, 2009. The anthology includes the following stories (in no particular order):

"The Milton Feinhoff Problem" -- Mark Onspaugh

"More Things in Heaven and Earth" -- Jason K Chapman

"One Touch to Remember" -- David Seigler

"Deadglass" -- Lon Prater

"Souls on Display" -- Kurt Kirchmeier

"Imaginal Friend" -- Ken Chiacchia

"Saint Darwin's Spirtuals" -- Dave Thompson

"Windows to the Soul" -- Gerri Leen

"Monstrous Embrace" -- Rachel Swirsky

"Dancing Lessons" -- Aaron Polson (What's he doing in this list? Seriously.)

"A More Beautiful Monster" -- Loretta Sylvestre

"Audition for Evil" -- Amy Treadwell

"Broken Things" -- Kathryn Board

"Perchance to Dream" -- David Miles

"On the Path" -- Kelly Harmon

"Seeing Is" -- Craig Wolf

Contest entries are still to be judged, so the TOC will increase. I'm honored to find my little tale with such august company. (I tried to provide blog/homepage links where possible, and would be glad to update the others if someone points me in the right direction...)

March in Review

March began fairly lamb-like and it looks to end the same.

I wrote three short stories this month: "The Watchful Eyes of Los Abuelos", "Fed by Other Than the Sun", and "Heroes Can Live Forever". The first two are solid efforts. The last needs a good deal of work. I also penned a piece of flash entitled "Inked" which needs another quick edit before it heads out to submission land. A few stories left home for the first time in March, and I hope they don't find themselves too lost out in the wide world.

During March I put the final edits to The House Eaters. Yep, the "s" is back just 'cause I like the way it sounds better than "Eater". The title works either way. Currently, I'm querying for that one. I also tinkered with Rock Gods and Scary Monsters some. More work is needed. One of those 3 AM epiphanies struck me about Rock Gods...a "now playing" list is going to accompany each chapter to help set the tone.

I sold a few shorts, most notably to Triangulation: Dark Glass and Return of the Raven. Some long standing subs came home alone (i.e., were rejected), including a 137 wait from Murky Depths. Try, try again.

Ruthless People's Magazine was kind enough to publish my dirty little "Man Bites Man" and The Black Garden was released in March.

Oh, and I tried to anger some Morlocks, but they wouldn't bite. Do you realize they have a Wikipedia page for Birkin Bags but not Permuted Press? True.

(stupid Morlocks)

My Week of Red Dirt

We just returned from a week-long expedition to see my Great-Aunt Gladys in Oklahoma City. Yes, the dirt is red. No, not blood red, but red enough to surprise me. I'm ashamed to say this was my first trip to our neighbor to the south, even though I've lived in Kansas for thirty-four years.

Greeting me on the return was an acceptance from Parsec Ink for the Dark Glass Anthology (after a requested rewrite). I'm flattened and flattered. This should be a great collection.

I also won first prize in Catherine J. Gardner's ScaryCircusAct competition with my "living carousel" concept. It seems Wolf Dude didn't want anything shoved up his--well, you have the idea, don't you? Thanks, Cate. Sorry, Wolf Dude.

The funny bit: The story for Dark Glass mentions the Living Carousel. Spooky.

I'll try to post some Okie pics in the next couple of days. Now, I need to unpack.