Today I wrote a short story. This has been a busy month, and indeed in the last two weeks I have submitted ten stories – but wait, I’m not that good. The fact is, between August and September, I had to work on a couple of big projects that took up a lot of time. The little time left I used to relax, or to start working on a few shorts, that languished in various states of completion while I put much effort in the big ones.
By October the big projects were out of the way, and so I picked up the various half-finished things I had laying around, finished them and mailed to various editors. One already bounced back, but that’s part of the game.
Today I am writing a short story. Big news, you say. Sue me. A stand-alone one shot, that still has ties with stuff I did in the past. I’m improvising most of it, but I still have a general outline of sorts for the first half. It’s going to be in the 5000/6000 words range. The plan is to hammer out a first draft, have dinner, and then clean it up. Then I’ll mail it off to the editor, and hope he likes it enough to buy it. Otherwise, I’ll look for another market.
These days are particularly stressful for a number of motives, and focusing completely on a short story, to be started and finished in one afternoon, is a good way to keep my mind frpm getting caught up in useless worries. There’s problems, and big problems, but problems on which I do not have any control. So, all I can do is wait and see, and face the music. And try to keep sane.
I have just had a pitch accepted by a pretty high profile anthology, for some modern day lovecraftian horror. “Pitch accepted” means “hmm, sounds cool, can you write it? We might buy it.” It’s actually much better than it sounds. So I am doing some research for the story, because one thing I find it intriguing, when writing Lovecraftian stories, is to lean on the science fiction side.
The pitch was an off the cuff sort of thing. I saw the call, I pitched a story, based… listen this because it’s weird… based on the idea I am going to explore next on my Patreon podcast, Ten Minutes Till the Savages Come. Because nothing goes to waste hereabouts, and any idea that can be used twice is twice as good.
An idea, in this case, that sits at the intersection of music, psychology and philosophy, and that’s backed by a thick pile of articles – most of them available online – that I am reading.
In the course of my research – that now goes to feed TWO projects – I am also getting the chance to listen to some cool music. Like this…
Really, this writing business is getting more fun by the hour.
I have just finished the translation/revision/rewrite of my old story The Cursed Hieroglyph, hat I have half an idea of re-titling The Thing in the Library. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I am quite satisfied with the results – Nennius Britannicus and his boys came out of it bruised and singed but certainly wiser, and the Great Library of Alexandria was burned down once again. I mentioned this was, historically, quite a common occurrence.
I mentioned at the end of august how I was trying to do something in support of a cathouse in Lanzarote – because I like cats and because as a long-time Harry Flashman fan, I love the idea of telling people that I pay to help the ladies working in a cathouse. Yes, I know, it’s juvenile, so sue me.
Cats with no name, by Robert McGinnis
Anyway, in the intervening weeks I realized that with my finances in shambles there is very little I can do for the cats and the ladies. What to do? The only thing I can do, in fact, is write. And so I started writing.
I’ve just completed a new BUSCAFUSCO story, that in a few days I’ll post to my Patrons in the Five Bucks Brigade – just the time needed to translate it in Italian – because my patrons get my stories both in Italian and English. It’s a bit of extra work, but I’m happy to do it for my patrons. And as I’m at it, I thought I’ll post here a short list of what’s to come, in terms of short stories, for my Patrons in the next months.
First, as I said, in a few days, a 7000-words BUSCAFUSCO story set in Nizza Monferrato in the days before Halloween. After that, and in no particular order (or, in other words, as the fancy strikes me)
a new Aculeo & Amunet sword & sorcery story
a new caper of The Corsair
a new Tale of the Frontier
a new Valerie Trelawney Edwardian ghost story (the character will make her debut in print some time in the next months)
the first Helena Saratova (if that’s really her name) solo historical adventure
And this keeps us covered (and me busy) until March 2020. There will be more, of course, stuff that at the moment is so secret, I can’t tell you or then I’d have to kill you. AND the Open Outline stuff my Patrons are helping (?) me put together.
And I have to admit, I am quite happy with how things are shaping up. Going back to my old characters, for readers that I know appreciate them, is like taking a vacation.
And as I said, there’s more to come. So watch this space for news and, if you feel like, join us on Patreon. Because it’s good to be my patrons.
I am happy to announce I am working on a new BUSCAFUSCO short story, that will hit my Patrons by the end of the month. This is part of a special project I am working on (yeah, I know, I will tell you as soon as possible), and I am tapping the help of two friends for research. It will be a Halloween story, and it has to do with some pretty twisted real-life individuals and events.
Will the new story feature the Belbo Valley Crocodile?, you ask. I’m afraid not. But it might feature the Belbo Valley Panther – because, yes, here in the hills of Astigianistan, we have a lot of people with more money than sense, that buy illegal endangered wild animals, and then let them escape.
Maybe for this reason, the story is tentatively called “Ladies and Tigers”.
Karavansara 