Author Archives: ogresan

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About ogresan

Richard Parks' stories have have appeared in Asimov's SF, Realms of Fantasy, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, and numerous anthologies, including several Year's Bests. His first story collection, THE OGRE'S WIFE, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. He is the author of the Yamada Monogatari series from Prime Books.

I’m Calling This a PSA. Humor Me.

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Yamada_DH_FinalCover_smlFunny thing. While the official publication date of Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter was and is February 6th, it seems the physical book is available sort of…now-ish. I’ve checked, and both Amazon and Barnes & Noble list it in stock. It also is/will be available at some brick and mortar B&N, though don’t ask me which ones, and the Nook ebook edition is already listed. I’m sure the Kindle will follow shortly. So all you people who don’t like to do the pre-order thing? No excuses. The book’s ready when you are.

So it’s not official, but it is real. And now it’s that emotionally difficult time for me known as “launch time” when I’m simultaneously proud, excited, and terrified. New Book. Every writer should get to experience this at least once. Preferably lots of times, but at least once. There’s just no other feeling in the world quite like it.

As for the book itself, I like it, but feel free to tell me what you think. Don’t worry (if you were)–my ego has been worked over by experts. Nothing left but scar tissue, so I’m up for it.

Clockwork Phoenix #4

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Not a bad way to start the new year. Almost literally. I got a request from Mike Allen, the editor of the Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, for a small tweak in the story I’d submitted. The request came in just before midnight on the 1st, I approved it, and the confirmation of the sale came in just after midnight, January 2nd. So my slightly surreal, modernist fairy-tale, “Beach Bum and the Drowned Girl,” will be appearing in CP#4.

Pleased as I am about that, it’s not really what I wanted to talk about today, other than to note that “Beach Bum and the Drowned Girl” has something in common with “Three Little Foxes,” an entirely different sort of story that appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #105 last year– those were the only two usable stories I wrote last year. Right. All year. While 2012 was a pretty good year in some ways, so far as writing progress goes, it kind of sucked. While I’m not the most prolific writer I know, I’m usually more productive than that. I generally manage 8-12 stories a year, and usually sell most if not all of them. Those two stories I did write were, in my humble opinion, pretty good ones and I sold them both which makes me happy, but they shouldn’t have been alone. 2012 was a fallow year. Continue reading →

Rose Petals in the Grand Canyon

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WRITING 02I don’t know who said it first, since the saying has been attributed to many people over the years, but it goes something like this: “Publishing a short story is rather like dropping rose petals into the Grand Canyon and listening for the thud.”  As you’ve probably deduced by now, as a general rule there is no thud. If you’re lucky, a few people will care enough to comment on the story–pro or con–when it’s posted, and if you’re really lucky two or more readers will get in an argument about it which will make other people want to read it just so they know what these folks are on about. But mostly you publish a story, whatever the venue, and in a month or so it’s as if you didn’t do anything at all. This is not a complaint, mind you, but for most writers slogging in the short fiction trenches, it’s just the way things are. So when you get some recognition beyond that, say an award nomination or Best of the Year nod, it tends to perk up your day.

All by way of saying that “In the Palace of the Jade Lion” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #100 was listed in Lois Tilton’s Locus Online year-end review as one of her favorite stories of the year. I’m glad. It was one of my favorites, too.

Happy New Year. May we all have something to celebrate this time around. Heaven Knows we could use it.

Summer

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Summer

We had to take our elderly cat Summer to the vet yesterday. She had been having increasing trouble keeping her legs under control, and couldn’t walk more than a foot or two without collapsing, exhausted. We expected the worst and unfortunately were not disappointed. The vet discovered a mass that had been hidden under her rib cage until it became too large to hide there anymore. He gave us an option, which he didn’t recommend and made no sense to us, either. Summer was twenty years old, weak and frail, and we weren’t going to put her through all that for no real hope. So we said our good-byes and stayed with her through the end.

I still remember our hello, though. I came home from work to discover a calico kitten hiding in our bathroom. Just a tiny thing then, and she never was very large. She took one look at me and hid behind a standing mirror, and that pretty much described our relationship for the next fifteen years. Continue reading →

Bits of Pieces

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cropped-photo041.jpgWhile finishing up the credits page for that new book, I had to step through my bibliography and pull out my book-length projects in chronological order. Including the two novellas publishes as stand-alone limited editions and all the collections, it came out to thirteen:

The Ogre’s Wife
Hereafter, and After
Worshipping Small Gods
The Long Look
On the Banks of the River of Heaven
The Heavenly Fox
Spirits of Wood and Stone
Black Kath’s Daughter
The Blood Red Scarf
A Warrior of Dreams
Our Lady of 47 Ursae Majoris and Other Stories
Ghost Trouble: The Casefiles of Eli Mothersbaugh
The Ghost War

And soon: Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter

The new book makes it an even fourteen. Twice seven. I like that. Nice round number, that one. May it prove auspicious.