Author Archives: ogresan

Unknown's avatar

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.

Saving Your Skull – You Might Need it Later

Posted on by

A well known editor used to tell an anecdote about a writer who submitted a new story just about every month. The stories weren’t very good, but the polite and upbeat cover letters, the consistency of the submissions, the fact that the writer was clearly working hard and not just retelling the same story over and over, all caught the editor’s attention and he found himself almost looking forward to the monthly submissions. He showed one to a friend and remarked upon the writer’s persistence. His friend agreed that the story was ok but nothing exceptional.

A year or so later his friend called him on another matter and the editor said, “Remember so and so? I just bought a story from him.” Continue reading →

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Posted on by

Unless you’re one of the people to whom the Grand Design was handed on a platter, “meaning” is where you find it. And when one is in that particular karmic space, one finds the strangest things to puzzle over. For instance, I’ve been going around and around over possibly the stupidest, least consequential questions in all creation: why do I have no problem re-reading an old story series but balk at watching TV re-runs?

Continue reading →

Rediscovering My Inner Fanboy

Posted on by

I signed the contracts this morning, so I can go ahead and announce that “Skin Deep” from Eclipse 2 has sold to Witches: Wicked, Wild, and Wonderful, a (partly) reprint anthology from Prime Books due out next March. The editor is Paula Guran, and I’ll be sharing a ToC with Jane Yolen, Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin, Tim Pratt, Margo Lanagan, Elizabeth Bear, Tanith Lee (see the link for the complete ToC) and that’s just for starters.

See, I’ll also be sharing a ToC with Andre Norton. Andre Norton was one of my very first influences; I actually discovered her before I read Bradbury or Heinlein, and my novel A Warrior of Dreams is dedicated to her, as well as Lord Dunsany and H.P. Lovecraft, for reasons that should be clear to anyone who reads it. Pardon the “squee!” but sharing a book with Andre Norton invokes my inner fanboy. We don’t see him that often, but nice to know he still lives here.

Drop the Lamp and Back Away Slowly

Posted on by

Everyone’s read that type of story, and you know the ones I mean: Deal with the Devil, Genie in a Bottle, Magic Fish, Magic Ring, et many ceteras. And anyone who has read that kind of story must come to one reasonable conclusion, and that is, if you come across any kind of wish-fulfulling object and actually make a wish, you have to be out of your ever-lovin’ mind. Continue reading →