Category Archives: Process

Story Time: The Last Waltz

Posted on by

Today’s Story Time is “The Last Waltz,” which was the very first story I published in the late, great Realms of Fantasy magazine way back in the February, 1995 issue, and only my fifth professional (as in getting paid for) sale. I went on to sell stories to Shawna  McCarthy at Realms twenty-six more times by my count before the magazine ended, but TLW, a little dated as it may be, was a sentimental favorite of mine, even though it’s never been collected. Maybe next time.

At this point I’m also going to end Story Time as a regular weekly feature. Putting each story into display-shape for online takes time I should be spending on new material, and right now time is the one thing I don’t have much of. I’ll still do them now and again, but otherwise I hope to return to a more regular blogging schedule.

Story Time: A Mother’s Love

Posted on by

Late again. My only defense is that it has been a very busy day. I had a story due and I barely made that in time, in addition to trying to get a handle on a project affecting almost all of my books, and a writer’s group meeting. On the plus side, Scott Andrews over at Beneath Ceaseless Skies has picked up “In Memory of Jianhong, Snake Devil” for the next “Best of” yearly compilation of the magazine. That’s always a boost to the day.

Regardless, and just under the wire, today’s Story Time is an original piece of flash fiction, “A Mother’s Love.” Enjoy. And if you can’t, at least you didn’t pay a lot for it.

 

“A Mother’s Love” will remain online until next  Wednesday. You know the  drill by now.

Story Time: Fox Tails

Posted on by

This week’s Story Time is the novelette that began the Yamada Monogatari series, “Fox Tails.” It was originally published in the June 2005 issue of Realms of Fantasy.

As I’ve said before, I originally conceived of Yamada no Goji as a sort of noir style detective in Heian Japan. Unlike some cases, I did know it was a series when I first wrote it. I don’t always know that, witness the Eli Mothersbaugh stories. What I didn’t know and couldn’t have imagined at the time was how much Yamada would evolve over the series from my original concept. Yamada had his own ideas, apparently, but I didn’t mind. Ill behaved characters are usually the best.

Story Time: A Garden in Hell

Posted on by

I probably should have mentioned that there wasn’t going to be a Story Time last week on account of the July 4th holiday, which felt more like a day of mourning to me anyway, so and regardless, there wasn’t one. This week’s entry is “A Garden in Hell,” originally published in Fantasy Magazine #5, in December 2006. The story was a meditation based on my reading of Buddhist philosophy, which eventually culminated in one my favorite novels,  All the Gates of Hell.

And yes, according to some texts, Guan Shi Yin really does have a demon form she uses in situations as appropriate. I would think “A Garden in Hell” certainly qualifies.

Standard Reminder: “A Garden in Hell” will stay online until next Wednesday, July 18th, when another story gets its turn.

Story Time: Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King

Posted on by

Today’s Story Time is “Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King,” which first appeared in Weird Tales #341, August/September 2006. Mostly what I remember about writing it was I was meditating, as one does, on the nature of wights, and specifically tomb wights. You think “ogre” or “ghoul” and a specific image is likely to pop up. Wights were always a little harder to pin down. According to Katharine Briggs (my go-to for information on such things), wight is from old Germanic meaning “being” or “creature.” Vague, much? Truth told I still don’t claim to have much of a handle on them, but I had fun playing.

As always, “Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King” will stay online until next Wednesday, July 4th. Then, something else. That’s the deal.