Tag Archives: black swan white swan

Human for a Day anthology with Beneath the Silent Bell, the Autumn Sky Turns to Spring Now Out and Obligatory End of Year Awards Pimpage

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The anthology Human for a Day, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW Books), is now out with my story “Beneath the Silent Bell, the Autumn Sky Turns to Spring”! It’s available at bookstores and online booksellers such as Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com in print and as an ebook.

Also, the Nebula Award nominations are now open, and the Hugos are coming up, so herein the obligatory shameless pimpage for the short stories I’ve had published this year for your consideration:

  • “Black Swan, White Swan” in anthology End of an Aeon, edited by Marti and Bridget McKenna (July, Fairwood Press), also produced as a podcast by PodCastle (listen to it for free!) and reprinted in my Mortal Clay, Stone Heart ebook collection.
  • “Biba Jibun” in Apex Magazine issue #23 in April (read it for free!)
  • “The Princess and the Golden Fish” in Cricket Magazine, serialized in the January through April issues.
  • “Requiem Duet, Concerto for Flute and Voodoo” in Daily Science Fiction in September (read it for free!)
  • “The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk” in podcast Drabblecast in August (listen to it for free!) for their Lovecraft Appreciation Month and reprinted as an ebook.

And a final plug in this plug-filled post, I’m running two deals for the month of December:

New eBook, New BOGO deal: Mortal Clay, Stone Heart and Other Stories in Shades of Black and White

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Happy December! With the Prix Aurora Award win of The Dragon and the Stars anthology (containing my short story “Mortal Clay, Stone Heart”), it seemed like a propitious time to publish a new short story ebook collection. Introducing:

MORTAL CLAY, STONE HEART AND OTHER STORIES IN SHADES OF BLACK AND WHITE

Available for $2.99 at:

And for the month of December, anyone who buys it can get their choice of my “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” or “The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk” ebook for free.

Just drop me an email with your Amazon, B&N, or Smashwords order/transaction number for Mortal Clay, Stone Heart and which ebook you’d like, and I’ll email you a coupon to download a complimentary copy from Smashwords in whatever format you like.

Cover art and table of contents:
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Self-fulfilling Prophecy and End of an Aeon

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In a perverse display of self-fulfilling prophecy, thus far during this lovely, quiet, stress-free first week post-legislative session 2011, I have written exactly two new words. Two.

Okay, okay, that’s net, not gross, as in I was doing an editing pass on a couple chapters and so that figure includes tweaking, cutting, rewriting, and polishing. But it’s still a far cry from “productive” and makes me want to slap myself in the face and yell, “Just get off your ass and write, you slacker!” Which would probably disconcert my co-editors.

Or I could give a gun to my muse a la this utterly apropos comic from Jim C. Hines. Just what my crack-whore-trollop of a muse needs: a firearm.

In other news, the long-awaited End of an Aeon anthology with my “Black Swan, White Swan” in it is back on track, slated to come out in July. I really like this story—inspired by one of my favorite ballets, Swan Lake—and I was worried that it seemed to be caught in some sort of publishing limbo hell. I sold it to Aeon in early 2008, then the magazine closed down but planned to release the last of its inventory as this anthology, which has subsequently been plagued by computer issues and other slowdowns. (Of note, this is not, by far, the longest lead time I’ve experienced, which is why I wasn’t actively stewing or fretting about it.) So I was greatly relieved to hear from Patrick Swenson, publisher of Fairwood Press, letting me know to expect page proofs soon and with a concrete release date. He also mentioned that it will be released as both a trade paperback and an ebook (in multiple formats). Hurray!

Shiny cover:
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