In Print, May 2017 (and Progress)

Things have been happening in a variety of ways – domestic stuff, illness in the house, has certainly taken its toll, but the writing endeavour has kept on rolling.

A couple of pieces of important news take pride of place – on April 7^th Flame Tree Publishing in the UK picked up my story An Echo of Gondwana to feature in their forthcoming anthology Lost Worlds. They asked all contributors to keep it under their hats until the contents were formally announced on their blog – here’s the entry: http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-lost-worlds-supernatural-horror

 It’s a very proud moment to be featured as one of the new contributors to a collection also featuring classic works by names like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert E Howard, Rudyard Kipling, H P Lovecraft, Jules Verne and H G Wells! Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would feature on the same contents list as luminaries like these!

You can order the volume here:  http://flametreepublishing.com/Lost-Worlds-Short-Stories.html

This was also my first sale for full professional rates, thus something of a turning point. It’s wonderful to be able to cite a pro credit!

And I can now also cite a second – on May 2^nd my short story Cogito, Ergo Sum was picked up by Compelling Science Fiction, another pro market, and will be going to press June 1^st in their seventh issue. Two pro sales a matter of weeks apart is very encouraging and I have done my best to maintain output, with new ideas going into my notes, new stories appearing, and older works being given tweaks and revisions.

The Overcast magazine has shortlisted my story “Cursed with Clarity,” while Storyhack is making great strides toward their next release, in which, I have every reason to hope, I will be appearing.

Lovecraftiana went to press April 30^th and the edition can be ordered as a POD paperback here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/rogue-planet-press/lovecraftiana-walpurgisnacht-edition-2017/paperback/product-23123522.html

I have entries in a number of writing competitions, with others on the way.

At this moment I have 21 placements from 453 submissions, less 68 stories currently on submission (my record is 73 or so), which equates to an average of 18.3 rejections per acceptance across the entire campaign from the beginning of last year. This is a somewhat skewed figure, as acceptances did not begin to roll until September 2016, after my very first actually appeared in print.

It’s a while since I’ve posted any new essays on the craft of writing – I’ve been busy actually writing stories! But I’ll see what I can come up with, all the same!

ADDENDUM – my SF short story Fear of the Dark was picked up on May 19th by Aurealis, one of Australia's flag-carrier SF magazines, in print since 1990. It should be appearing later in the year in issue 104. I'm delighted to have a short-listing convert to an acceptance! And also, my fantasy short Magus, one of my "Avestium" stories, was just picked up by 4 Star Stories, for publication next year.

Best wishes,

Mike Adamson