The Way Forward in 2020

So Broadswords and Blasters is dead. At least for the foreseeable future. Why? A lot of reasons, but the amount of time and money Cameron and I were pouring into it, and the relative lack of return we were seeing on it was draining. From most objective standards, our experiment to launch a New Pulp magazine was a glorious failure. Even with our shoestring budget, we didn’t quite break even. We didn’t win any awards[1]. Hell, we weren’t even nominated for any to the best of my knowledge.

And yet.

This past month, with the announcement of our closing, showed that what we did mattered to a number of people. We were the first paid publication (hey, you could buy a burrito at least) for a number of writers. For others, we gave them a confidence boost when they needed it. I’m sure a few people stuck around for our social media feeds (okay, by that I mean Twitter, because I ignored Facebook for the most part), including our allegedly legendary Follow Fridays where I tried to highlight our contributing writers, fellow publications, and friends of the mag. We worked hard to be apolitical in a time where everything is political (how much we upheld the status quo is probably up for debate, but it isn’t one we’re all that interested in having).

We did succeed in one aspect. Our goal, from day one, was to publish action-adventure stories. We weren’t interested in avant-garde structures or allegories or Big Idea stories. We still managed to get stories featuring morally complex characters, plots that tended toward shades of gray as opposed to black and white, and damn if we didn’t get some stories that made us laugh and others that brought a tear to the eye. If there was one big failing, it was that we didn’t get enough readers exposed to the great writing going on in the indie scene and that will be my biggest regret.

So what’s next? For me, at least, it is chipping away at a fantasy novel featuring Liam the Black (a short story featuring Liam is set to be published some time this year by Kzine). I’ve already got stories in upcoming issues of The Dark City Crime & Mystery Magazine, Econoclash Review[2], and Cirsova.

It’s working on more short stories for more markets. It’s reading more. Reviewing more. It’s submitting more places than I did the year before. I should also finish this[3].

Anyway, that’s my year set out now that we’re one half of one twelfth through the year.

None of us getting younger, you know?

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[1] We did come in 3^rd place among Fiction Magazines in the Critter Poll of 2019.

[2] Now an imprint of Down & Out Books

[3] Seriously, me? 2017? I know at least one person was enjoying it.

ALTERED STATES II (A Cyberpunk Anthology) Out Now!

Grab it here!

It features my short story LIMITLESS and happens to have some of the same characters from my NaNoWriMo novel, PROJECT PROMETHEUS.

If you do grab it, remember writers thrive on reviews, and even if you don’t feel comfortable leaving one on amazon, I’d love to know what you think of the story.

New Realm Vol. 5 No. 2 Out Now!

My short story “Temple of Sashirak” is featured in this month’s issue of NEW REALM. It features the itinerant wanderer and magician Liam the Black against an ancient evil looking to be reborn.

And all for less than the price of a grande macchiato.

Grab it here!

New Realm Vol. 5 No.1

Grab it here: https://www.fictionmagazines.com/shop/realm-issues/new-realm-vol-05-no-01/ Features my short: “Sword of the Legion”

Would love a review if you do get it.

Phase 2 Issue 6

New issue of Phase 2 is out now. Click the link to grab your copy.

Come on, where else are you going to get quality science-fiction for less than a cup of coffee?

Phase 2 Issue 5

Oh look! A story by me! And it’s not even on this site. Woo hoo!

Slightly more serious, you can check out my story “A Brief Flash in Darkness” in this issue of Phase 2, along with some other great sci-fi stories written by a group of excellent writers.

Published Again! (And a bit of a contest)

 

Hey, look, I’m in another book! Yes, I already mentioned this on my social media feeds, but strangely, inexplicably, I forgot to mention it here.

I wrote a story months ago for a contest. The winner would be published in Dark Future’s first Annual Anthology. You might remember Dark Futures for being the place that’s serializing my Burned Lands arc (the final segment of part two goes live end of this month, and I’m picking away at the next segment).

Anyway, you can find the anthology here! Oh, and it features a character that is going to be the central character for the final quarter of Burned Lands.

State of Submissions

It’s all well and good that I’m being published places like Dark Futures and Reader’s Carnival, but one only pays a token and the other only pays in exposure. The truth is, I submit to Reader’s Carnival because it ties-in to Writer’s Carnival, and as a start-up e-zine, they struggle for submissions. Speaking of, if you are looking for more of my fic, some of it is posted there as well.

I have submitted pieces to paying markets in the past, but nothing has been accepted as of yet. So one of the things I’d this weekend was take a previously rejected piece and find a new market for it. To that end, I am ever grateful for ralan.com which is a great site for finding paying spec fic markets.

I have a few other pieces sitting there, collecting the proverbial dust. My plan for the week, in addition to my usual duties over at Writer’s Carnival, is to polish at least one other piece up for submission and send it out into the wild. I understand my style of fantasy is about fifty years out of date. Seriously, does anyone want sword and sorcery style fantasy any more? It seems everyone wants the big sweeping epic these days. Ahh well. Maybe it will see a Renaissance.

Exciting News!

My short story, “A Message to Deliver,” is to be included in Dark Futures 1st Annual Anthology. I’ll be joining Doug Langille and Shaun Adams as contributors (among many others), so its a small Midnight Abyss reunion of sorts. 

A Short List of Publications

I’ve been published more at different points in my life (college I am looking at you), but never as broadly as I have been in the past two years. I’ve been included in two anthologies to date, and my work’s been featured a few other places as well.