And it’s Monday. Today’s short story is Winter. Mike Resnick was editing an anthology about Deals with the Devil, and he wanted a story. So I wrote him a story. I would have bowed out of this one because it was before the birth of my first child and frankly, I couldn’t understand why morning sickness was called “morning” sickness, as I was nauseous all day long, with maybe an hour or two of sort of normal. That hour or two was the time in which I could sit at a computer and write. And it was early days, and because I was young and new, I really didn’t want to make another professional angry. But I liked the story I did write. It’s here. Click the link and you should be able to … Continue reading
Category Archives: Short Stories
I seem to have misplaced April. First: News. I have sold DAW Books the first four novels in the series that is now called The Burning Crown, but which I’ve called The End of Days arc for decades. I have no titles, but do have deadlines — the first of which is July of 2020. That’s when it’s due to the publisher. It’s not a publication date >.<. This is the last arc of the Essalieyan universe. I expect it to be roughly the same as the Sun Sword in length. (Well, no, I originally thought, it’s just these two books, right? I have endings! Greek Chorus: No, Michelle, try to be realistic for once. You thought the Sun Sword was two books, too — Broken Crown and Sun Sword. But I had key endpoints and the first endpoint was … Continue reading
Last July, I started republishing ebook versions of my out of print short stories. I still have fifty-nine to go, but sold Silence, and added a book to my deadline plate. Since I publish the short stories, I am unlikely to seriously tick me off if I let things slide. I promised I would have a print version of Memory of Stone and Other Stories for my print readers. I’m grateful for the many years of support print readers have given me. This doesn’t mean that I’m less grateful for the support ebook readers give me now, but I started writing and publishing in a time when the only medium was print, and many of you have been with me since I started. Also: I have an iPad, but I still prefer reading … Continue reading
I have finally managed the last little bits and pieces of associated formatting & ISBN retrieval and back-cover blurb writing (which I am not terribly good at, sadly), and have finalized three short stories. As decided by general consensus, the shorts are being released in chronological order. One of the things that really strikes me, rereading them, is how much technology has changed, because two of the three are set in the theoretical now, which would really be the now of the early ‘90s. Honestly, sometimes it is very hard not to revise everything. Shadow of A Change is the first of the three (or the 9th of the sixty, depending on how we’re counting). It was originally published in Dinosaur Fantastic, edited by … Continue reading
There are two stories, which are much shorter than the previous six. They were written at about the same time – very early ‘90s, and overlapping by a month. It’s interesting for me to reread them, because I often don’t reread my short fiction unless I’m looking for specific details in a particular story – for instance, when looking up the Maker’s Guild in Memory of Stone. As I approach the task of proofing them (and describing elements of each story to the graphic designer), I’m struck by the sense of watching myself change as a writer over a decade and a half. These stories were written twenty years ago. All stories come from the sum of our experiences, observations, and interests, but not in completely predictable ways. I do not remember … Continue reading