Tag Archives: sales

Night of the Nyctalope

Very excited to see the TOC for Black Coat Press‘ upcoming anthology, “Night of the Nyctalope“, and thrilled to have one of my stories included!

“The Girl from Odessa”, is set, rather unsuprisingly, in Odessa during the chaotic years after the Revolution, and features some familiar characters from my story Catspaw. It was my first time writing about the Nyctalope, a fascinating character you can read more about here.

The full TOC is:
Introduction by Jean-Marc Lofficier
Jean de La Hire: Night of the Nyctalope Steps In [Rien qu'une Nuit] (1944)
Travis Hiltz: First Steps (1900)
Matthew Dennion: The Angel and the Exorcist (1906)
Matthew Dennion: Dangerous Territory (1909)
Martin Gately: The Dam Busters of Mars (1911)
Chris Nigro: Justice and Power (1917)
David McDonald: The Girl from Odessa (1919)
Emmanuel Gorlier: Una Voce Poco Fa (1936)
Philippe Ward: The Hour of the Grail (1936)
Matthew Dennion: The Road Not Taken (1942)
Chris Nigro: Requiem for a Regime (1945)
Travis Hiltz: Showdown at Steam Town (1949)
Emmanuel Gorlier: Madison Square Garden (1949)
Roman Leary : The Devil You Know (1950)
Emmanuel Gorlier: The Algerian Dilemma (1959)
Jean-Marc Lofficier : The Ides of Mars (2012)

A Significant Milestone

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One of my big goals this year was to make at least one sale to an Australian market. I have been very happy with my US sales, but there is nothing like selling something locally, especially in a scene as vibrant and healthy as the Aussie one. So, I am thrilled to announce my first Aussie sale! And, not only is it wonderful to look forward to seeing a story of mine published in Australia, the fact that it is with Fablecroft Publishing, who have done some great work over the past few years, makes it even more satisfying. Looking at the ToC, this will be an awesome anthology.

From the Fablecroft website:

It is with great pleasure that I announce the table of contents for Epilogue (the anthology formerly known as Apocalypse Hope). I had more than 200 submissions for this anthology, many of a very high quality, and it was difficult task to sift through them to pick out the finest gems. I present the final lineup, and look forward to bringing these stories to you in print.

“Time and tide” by Lyn Battersby

“Fireflies” by Steve Cameron

“Sleeping Beauty” by Thoraiya Dyer

“The Fletcher Test” by Dirk Flinthart

“Ghosts” by Stephanie Gunn

“Sleepers” by Kaia Landelius

“Solitary” by Dave Luckett

“Losses beyond the kill point” by Kathleen Martin

“Cold comfort” by David McDonald

“Mornington Ride” by Jason Nahrung

“The last good town” by Elizabeth Tan

Thank you to every author who sent in submissions, which came from all around the world – some rejections were very difficult to make, and I wish those authors the very best in finding their stories a home.

For those interested, the final contents include 11 stories, nine by Australians, one from the US, one from Sweden. There are six female authors, and five male. The stories are all original to the anthology.

I’m delighted with the line up for Epilogue, and can’t wait to show it to you all!

I have to give a big shout out and thanks to my good friend Steve Cameron (who is also on the ToC) who was a massive help. We spent a few frantic hours in the bar at Conflux proofing and critting “Cold Comfort” and his input there, and at many other times, has been invaluable.

This is the perfect way to cap off what has been a very satisfying year as a writer. Hopefully next year will be even bigger and better!

A productive week

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Well, the last few weeks have been crazy busy, but the sort of busy that makes you feel like you have been really productive. Over the last few days I have been able to put a few ticks in the win column! The big one is that I sold two stories over the weekend, which is a wonderful feeling. I try not to talk too much about a story until I have signed the contract but the first one is a big one (my biggest sale so far, and I will definitely be talking about it in a post coming soon!), and I am also thrilled with the second sale.

Last year I submitted a story to an anthology I desperately wanted to get into, but sadly it was rejected. A bit discouraged, I put the story up with my online crit group and it was absolutely panned. That’s never fun, but reading the feedback I realised that the editor had been quite right to reject it, and it had deserved the negative but constructive feedback. It just wasn’t up to the standard it needed to be. However, I still loved the concept despite there being so many things wrong with it. So, I gutted it and added the things it needed, like conflict and character motivation and made sure there was a real story arc.

As a result of that excellent feedback, and an editor who was happy to work with me on making it the best story it could be, I am excited to announce that Venus Transiens will be appearing in the upcoming Horror, Humor and Heroes 3: The New faces of Science Fiction.

I also have two stories that have progressed to the second round of reading, both in markets that would mark another milestone, and I finally worked up the courage to submit to a pro market. Add NaNoWriMo, and finishing my uni work for the year (I ended up with a HD, a D and HD), I haven’t had much rest.

I also had a wonderfully convivial writer group meeting on Sunday which, as usual, has left me inspired and reinvigorated, and motivated to keep on writing.

Now all I need to do is catch up my Doctor Who watching!