New Release: “Quivira”, co-authored with Gareth D. Jones, available now from The Society of Misfit Stories

August 8, 2018 in General Topics, Other Stuff

Bards & Sages Publishing has published “Quivira”, a tale I co-wrote many years ago with Gareth D. Jones. This was an interesting experiment that turned into a bit of lively world-building for both of us. I’ll go ahead and link to the tale here, should you wish to head right to it:

https://books2read.com/u/mleqYB

This tale is a pretty meaty novella at 16,000 words. One of our main characters is a farmer living on an agrarian world that smacks of high fantasy. The other is a hardened space prospector who gets in over his head with the locals. And they get caught up in an adventure that will reshape their lives.

To give a little background… I’d admired Gareth’s work for a number of years, ever since seeing a rather fantastic tale of his, “Looking In, Looking Out”, alongside one of mine in the now sadly-missed Murky Depths quarterly anthology of science fiction. I emailed him, and he back, and somehow the idea came about of co-writing a tale where two original characters of ours would meet each other. What was a blast was that as we passed revisions back and forth, I lost track of who had written what. I’ll take that as a good sign.

At $0.99 at the time of this post, what do you have to lose?

Finished a novel for a friend; Writing Roadblock

August 25, 2011 in General Topics

I recently had the pleasure to read the first draft of Gareth D. Jones’ novel Gap Years. I’m impressed.
Read the rest of this entry →

Pacing on each side of the Atlantic

July 6, 2011 in General Topics

I’ve been spending some quality time with Gareth D. Jones‘ initial draft of his upcoming novel, Gap Years. I say “upcoming”, because I’m sure you’ll inevitably see the novel on some book shelf at some point. I am now a Reader with a capital ‘R’, according to his blog. It’s a solid piece of fiction. This is just the latest time we’ve reached across the pond and helped each other out. As an aside, I started thinking about the contacts and friends I’ve made in the UK, and that got me thinking about the subtle contrast between fiction produced in the UK and the United States.
Read the rest of this entry →

Recent updates

October 31, 2010 in General Topics

In summary:

1) Gareth D. Jones and I are still looking for a home for our 15k+ length tale ‘Quivira’; if you are a party interested in a good piece by two solid writers, let us know. It’s an sci-fi / high-fantasy cross.

2) Still looking for a home for my novel, The Tyrant Stratagem. Only two rejections from agents so far; and I’m steadily spreading it to other agents as I go. So we’ll see.

3) Continuing to write new fiction, of course. Three completed drafts sitting around and one more waiting to be done — about 1/4 way in. Then it will be off to the races.

Thanks to all who nominated…

September 9, 2009 in General Topics

…”Best in Class” for the Parsec Award in the nod for short fiction. And thanks for the judges and especially the listeners, too. I didn’t win the award, which is honestly okay. I would have felt guilty if Michael Natale’s excellent “Under the Bed” hadn’t gotten the award. Honestly, the story is really that good, and perfectly narrated by Michael Stackpole.

This makes the fourth straight year Variant Frequencies has snagged at least one Parsec. Warm congratulations, guys.

Dragon*Con was fun, and it was especially nice to see all the folks I don’t often get to, like the Drabblecast gang, Rick Stringer and everyone else. Rick’s son, Neil, is going to be a writer. He just doesn’t know it yet.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the great fun I’m having with a collaborative project with Gareth Jones. We’re enjoying crafting a hybrid fantasy/sci-fi piece together, and as always I’m impressed by Gareth’s talent.

Stay tuned.