Valentine’s Day Flash Up in Every Day Fiction

The story I wrote about here is now up in Every Day Fiction. It is a Valentine’s Day story for curmudgeons, or perhaps the recently, bitterly divorced, or those about to be. You’ve been warned.

When I read about the effects of space radiation on the brain, I immediately wanted to use this in a story. Initially I wrote a version of the second half of my flash for a contest calling for 500-word flash fictions on Valentine’s Day that Apex Magazine was running. When the story didn’t win, I cast about for another market and was fortunate enough to find helpful and understanding editors at Every Day Fiction who helped me transform it into something better.

So if your relationship with your loved one is strong and enduring, or if you want to churn up all your feelings of hatred and resentment all over again, check out the story here. And please vote and comment! We authors live for that.

Photo credit: Debora, Happy Valentine’s Day, 13 Jan. 2013. CC BY-NC 2.0.

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Valentine’s Flash Accepted by Every Day Fiction

I’m pleased to report that my flash science fiction/horror, “My Feeble Valentine,” has been accepted by Every Day Fiction and will appear there on Valentine’s Day. This was an interesting acceptance process, since I first submitted only the second part of the story. Although the readers liked it, they felt it was too cryptic, so then I wrote the first part and resubmitted. Then they accepted it, but the editor in chief rated it as “marginal” and recommended more revision. Not wanting to displease him, I put in still more elaboration and then cut fifty words to get it back down to their 1,000-word limit.

I like the result, and appreciate the feedback and opportunities to revise. Also, I am proud to have been accepted by Every Day Fiction, which pays a bit and is the first Canadian journal to accept my work for publication. I look forward to their review/comment process, which I hope will give me even more insights into this story.

In other news, I am Associate Editor of Gemini Magazine, and the editor, David Bright, liked my audio found poem, “Can #4: Friskies Chicken and Salmon in Gravy,” so much that he is featuring a link to it on Gemini‘s home page. I wrote about my can poems here, here, and here. I’m flattered that David liked this one so much and really appreciate the advertising. 

I encourage you to visit Gemini, not only to click on the link to my poem and check it out, but also to sample the eclectic, high-quality literary fare there. And of course, please look out for my Valentine’s Day story in Every Day Fiction. 

Photo credit: Debora, Happy Valentine’s Day, 13 Jan. 2013. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Prose Poem Up in Cactifur

My prose poem, “My parents’ books will be the death of me,” is up in Cactifur here. While I am thrilled to see it there, and honored to be in good poetic company, I got a little fancy with this one, and the editors did not entirely get it–I take full responsibility for this. The poem is framed by this: “ll:” and this: “:ll.” These are meant to be musical repeat signs. I really intend for the whole poem on the page to appear as it appears below the title, but if this does not fit their format, that’s OK. The problem is, this, “LL:,” as it appears in the title, makes no sense at all, which is why, without attaching any blame to the editors, I do want to explain how it came to be there. I hate to annoy editors, but I plan to contact them directly, and apologetically, as well.

In light of this contretemps, I of course asked myself, “Do you really need those confusing repeat signs?” and the answer, for now, is, “Yes, yes I do.” The poem is based on a recurring dream, and both its recurring-ness and my recurring sense of distress while in the dream are fittingly represented by the repeat signs.

In answer to a question posed in the poem, no, I do not need The History of the Italian Madrigal in three volumes, yet I believe it is still on a shelf somewhere in my house. The decanter is here as well. 

Update: Jim Thompson, the editor of Cactifur, has fixed the title. So everything is OK now. With the poem, anyway.

 

Photo credit: Untitled (bookshelf). Original uploader, Ђорђе Д. Божовић at English Wikibooks. 22 Dec. 2005. CCA-SA 3.0.