Check out 5×5 Fiction: Issue Four – Smoke.

2011 was a good year for me. I wrote a couple of dozen new stories, many of which have found homes in various anthologies, magazines and websites. I’ve had some very promising feedback on those stories that have seen the light of day, but I am also keeping some of them back for one of the projects I have lined up for 2012.

Last year saw the publication of no fewer than four anthologies and two magazines containing my stories and, indeed, the shelf in my house containing my own material is getting more and more full by the months. I’ve also been editing an anthology entitled 100 Horrors, being the first release from Cruentus Libri Press based here in my home town of Birkenhead, which adds another string to my literary bow and could well be the first release that bears my name on its cover, albeit in my role as editor.

100 Horrors is my first big project for 2012. It’s a chance to make a bit of cash and to see my name in lights – what writer could hope for more? The second is Dark Lightning, my first solo anthology, compiling all of my completed pieces of flash fiction, published and unpublished, into one easy to manage collection. 100 Horrors is slated for an early-February release, whilst Dark Lightning is pencilled in for May 2012, which leaves me with a good seven months to rest on my laurels…

Yeah, right.

I’m not one for making resolutions but I feel impelled to make one this year. 2012 is the year I complete (and hopefully publish) my debut novel. 2011 has been spent cranking out flash fiction like it’s going out of fashion and, as much fun as that is, it’s never going to pay the bills. If I’m going to live the dream and become a full-time, professional, published author, then full-length novels are where it’s at, baby.

So, when my first anthology as an editor and my first solo anthology as a writer have hit shelves and online stores across the globe, it’s going to be time to roll up my sleeves, crack my writing knuckles (that image sounded so much better in my head) and get stuck into my first novel.

In five or ten years (or however long it takes) I want to be able to point to 2012 and say “Yeah, man – that’s where it really started!”

I hope you’ll join me for the journey.

Anyway, long story short, you can check out my story Fragments here.

Enjoy.

Just a quick post this Saturday afternoon, since I’m waiting for my good lady wife to finish her various preparations and potions before we go out for a nice family meal for my mother’s 60th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mum!

Anyway, this will be as brief as I can make it. In the last week or so no fewer than three (count ‘em) anthologies have been released that contain my own stories within their pages.

First we have Monster Gallery, published by Static Movement and edited by George Wilhite. This anthology includes my stories The Flight and The Chase.

Next up is Daily Flash 2012, published by Pill Hill Press and edited by Jessy Marie Roberts. This anthology includes my stories The Best of Times and Time for Tea.

Finally, we have Daily Frights 2012, also published by Pill Hill Press and edited by Jessy Marie Roberts. This anthology includes my stories Perfection and Orphans.

Not only that, but two of my stories will shortly be appearing online. Fragments has been accepted for Flashes in the Dark, whilst High Stakes will be appearing in Issue 4 of 5×5 Fiction. I’ll post the appropriate links as and when the stories go up.

That’s all for now – must get ready for this evening’s festivities.

Sweet!

This post is by way of being a catch-up since my last blog entry. October is such a hectic month for me, writing wise. As the days shorten and the nights grow ever longer, writers of my ilk get their pens and their computer keys moving at a frenetic pace, churning out dark little tales in time for All Hallow’s Eve.

This year has been worse than most, purely in terms of workload. In terms of output, it has been substantially better since…drumroll please…I have completed my solo anthology! It is called Dark Lightning and is currently out with a couple of beta readers to check for any spelling and/or grammatical errors that I may have missed, whilst I pen the introduction and the acknowledgements page.

My first editor, Dustin LaValley has written the Foreword for the book, in which he says some very kind things about my work to date and I’m immensely grateful for the work he has put into it.

So this month is where I put the final spit and polish onto my collection, take heed of any notes given to me by my beta readers and then – finally - I can take the plunge and submit it to a publishing house.

Unfortunately, this means that I will not be partaking in the National Novel Writing Month this year. My original plan was to get stuck into my novel throughout November and December and have both the novel and the anthology ready to go early in the new year. It struck me, however, that I would be better served to finish one project before moving onto another. I know myself well enough to know that if I start my novel before my anthology is in a finished state, then the odds are that I won;t go back to it.

Editing and revising my work has always been the hardest part of the writing process for me and, given the choice between looking back over something I’ve already done or starting a fresh piece of work, the fresh stuff will win every single time.

That’s by the by, however.

What you’re really here for is the big list of new stories, right?

Here goes…

• Fade to Black – posted as part of Devin O’Branagan’s October Flash Fiction contest.
• Waterborne – posted as part of the MicroHorror Halloween contest.
• Beneath the Surface – also posted as part of the MicroHorror Halloween contest.
• The Face of Evil – posted at Thrillers, Killers ‘n’ Chillers

Still to come, my story Sentinels has been selected by Becky Regalado for inclusion in her blog shortly. Finally, my story Scum has been accepted for inclusion in an anthology by Cruentus Libri Press. Admittedly, this is less of a milestone since I am also the editor of that anthology, but still.

So there we have it. Half a dozen new stories for you to sink your teeth into. Here’s hoping that November is a bit less busy, but equally fruitful.

Later.

Excellent news for Hickesy, I’m sure, and one that led me to recall the first time I had a story accepted for publication.

You know something, Hicksey? I’ve got a secret for you and it’s a damned big one, so listen up…

…that high you’re undoubtedly feeling right now – it doesn’t get any less intense, no matter how many times it happens.

If anything, the feeling gets stronger – it certainly gets more layered – as each subsequent acceptance comes along. Each step along your career as a writer is founded on moments like these and, for me at least, it’s a drug.

I’ve been writing semi-seriously since January 2009. I say semi-seriously, because I’ve still got my day job in a local law firm to attend to as well as being a full-time dad and husband. I have a dream™ and that is to become a full-time, professional author, to be able to hand in my notice knowing that the dark whisperings in my head will be sufficient to support myself and my family.

My first story was published online in January 2009, in the now-defunct e-zine Micro 100, edited by Dustin LaValley, who is a fine author in his own right. The buzz I got when I first received that acceptance e-mail was indescribable, which is particularly galling for a guy who intends to describe things for a living. However, that paled when compared to the adrenaline rush when I went onto the Micro 100 site and saw my story made available for all to see, with my name printed beneath it.

A month later, my second story was accepted and published online, in the next issue of Micro 100. This time, the rush was slightly different; this time I knew that my first story wasn’t just a fluke. When the next month’s issue rolled around and included my third story, a couple of the comments said that my story was their favourite in the issue, which was another first for me and further validation of my career path. It meant that not only could I string a couple of sentences together, but that I could do so in such a way that there were people out there who actually enjoyed reading it!

In October 2009, I hit two milestones at once. I entered my story A Letter from the Trenches into the MicroHorror Halloween competition for that year and, not only it get published on a different site, but it was also one of six winners for that competition. The webmaster, Nathan Rosen, and no less a horror icon than Conrad Brooks presented the results in a wonderful video ceremony that nearly blew my mind.

Every time another editor accepted one of my stories to be posted online, be it Lori Titus at Flashes in the Dark or Angel Zapata at 5×5 Fiction, that feeling of euphoria came flooding back in a rush, slightly different from the first time, but also more enjoyable.

In 2010, I submitted one of my stories to a print anthology, Daily Bites of Flesh 2011, published by Pill Hill Press and that acceptance trumped all that had gone before. When the anthology had been released and I got my hands on a copy, it was a thing of wonder to me to hold that tome in my hands and flick through to the page that bore my work.

This year, I had an e-mail from Nelson Education in Canada, asking to include one of my stories in their Literacy books for students which was a particular thrill. It was the first time somebody had actively sought out my work and it was also the first time I was paid for my work – I was above the minimum rates advised by the Horror Writers Association and the Society of Authors, so I guess that technically makes me a professional writer.

In September, I hit another first, one of my stories was published in a print magazine. I was also accepted for a bunch of other print anthologies that are due out before the end of the year and each acceptance e-mail or contract that came through felt just as good as that first one nearly three years ago.

I’ve still got a way to go to achieve my dream – my first solo anthology, my first novel, my first book deal, my first film, radio and television adaptations (Hell, a man can wish, can’t he?), but I rest easy every night knowing that those things, when they come, will taste every bit as sweet as that very first acceptance e-mail.

Congratulations, Hickesy. You are doubtless feeling over the moon at this moment. Just know that it gets even better than this.

Best of luck.

Yes, all of a sudden the television gets really good for we horror aficionados, with virtually every channel bringing some creepy old movie or other out of the mothballs and into the half-light of our living rooms via the magic of television. Here in the UK, we’re already spoiled by having The Horror Channel but even that august institution pulls out the stops for Halloween. This year, for instance, they are running a Hammer Horror Halloween, featuring such great films as The Scars of Dracula, The Reptile, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb and many more.

For me, October means two other things. Halloween marks the deadline for my first solo anthology, tentatively titled Dark Lightning and I’ll be on the look-out for a brace of beta readers to flick through the finished article for me, before I send it out for publication.

The other biggie is the annual Halloween flash fiction competition over at MicroHorror. I was a proud winner in 2009 and, though I didn’t even enter it in 2010, this year I am determined to come back with a vengeance. The fact that I still have half a dozen slots to fill in my anthology is a welcome bonus, as I can kill two birds with one stone.

Then of course, we move onto November and the National Novel Writing Month. I have a notebook filled with research and character sketches for my first novel and I intend to get the lion’s share of it finished as part of NaNoWriMo.

If everything goes to plan then, by the time 2011 draws to a close, I will have my first solo anthology and my first novel completed and ready to be submitted to publishers. These are two significant landmarks in the career of any writer and the only thing that can stop me from reaching them is…me.

Ah.

It contains a reprint of one of my old stories from 2009, a darkly humorous (at least, it is to me) piece called ‘Henpecked’.

Check out the magazine, available for free viewing online and shortly available for purchase here.

Check it out here and feel free to leave a comment.