"Blessed are the Sowers" goes live (7/28) at Daily Science Fiction

My story, "Blessed are the Sowers," goes live at Daily Science Fiction.  It will be emailed to subscribers tomorrow (7/28) and will be available to all others a week later.

The story comes with the following adult content warning:

This is not the most violent story, nor the most sexually explicit, that Daily Science Fiction has published. Still, both elements exist, sufficiently so that the most sensitive among our imaginative readers may wish to steer clear. We hope you don't, of course.

While I'm proud of everything I've had published (yes, even the silly stuff), this is my first "pro" rate publication, and I'm particularly enthusiastic about it.  It's a flash piece (1000 words), and I've found that I like doing flash pieces.  I was never very interested in writing poetry, but flash fiction reminds me a bit of doing poetry: you must make every word count.

People will be able to comment on the story at:

http://bit.ly/DSFfacebook 

So... you can expect me to become involved in a vicious flame war shortly after.

Novel #2, Shadow Knights

After bombarding a number of publishers with my recent flurry of short fiction, I've resumed work on my second novel, tentatively titled, "Shadow Knights."  I figured it was time to give those folks a breather so they can cut all those checks to me, or more likely, send some big dudes over (some of whom may be ninjas) to kick my ass.  

Wait... what about my first novel, "Dragon Rising," you ask (ok, you didn't really ask).  Dragon Rising was intended as a teen level novel, but I'm having trouble restraining my unrelenting thirst for blood and sex, and as a result, I'm having trouble keeping it in the "teen appropriate" range.  There's a story to be told, but I may need to retool Dragon Rising for an adult audience (Which is a shame, since I think I have a real talent for juvenile humor.  I had included a character named the Dread Lady Dick Puncher.  Still makes me giggle.)

Anyway...  Shadow Knights has always been my "baby."  I know all of you are familiar with my bio (ok, no you're not).  I spent a great deal of time as an undergrad and graduate student researching Native American history and culture.  Shadow Knights is a fantasy novel set in an alternate North America and the characters are Native Americans.  I've borrowed words, names, and cultural practices from a variety of Native American nations (and I worked in some Sanskrit words, just to mix it up).  I've also created a world with a modern economy based entirely on magic (e.g. no electricity, no internal combustion engines, no computers).

There's lots of sex, mayhem, and shit getting blown up (some of my favorite things).  And yes, there's a fair amount of juvenile humor. Can't wait, right?

Oh!  Speaking of sex, mayhem, and blowing shit up, I just learned my upcoming story, "Blessed are the Sowers," is going to get a "for adult audiences" warning from Daily Science Fiction (appearing July 28th for subscribers, a week later for everyone else).  I think that's awesome!!!   The exact language of the warning the editors wrote is pretty cool, and I think I'm going to make it my tag line once the story goes live.

RLR

Loco-Thology 2011 now available.

The print anthology, Loco-Thology: Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Loconeal Press), in which a story of mine, "Lilah," appears, is now available for purchase. Click on the image on the right side of the page for more information.

Sign up for Daily Science Fiction if you haven't already.

If you'd like a free spec-fiction/sci-fi/fantasy short story emailed to you daily, sign up at http://dailysciencefiction.com​/  DSF is up for SFWA status, and if they are approved, I'll be eligible to become a Science Fiction Fantasy Writers Association member myself, and my cousin, Mishell Baker, will be able to upgrade her SFWA status.  The majority of the DSF stories are 1000 words or less, and you receive them in your inbox daily, M-F.