Category Archives: Writing

Do You Have the Time?

Posted on by

Sorry I’m late. Regular readers know, as a rule, that the blog goes live on Monday, and it is now Tuesday, and not even very early on Tuesday. Since we moved to New York state, as also some of you may know, we’ve been working on our new house, as well has having work done. I don’t claim to be the handiest fellow on the planet, but there are things I can do, and things I can’t. One thing I believed I could handle was the sun/mudroom, our three-season room that had sheetrock but no paint, window trim, or flooring. Its turn came at last so I’ve been working on that for the last few weeks, including rain delays, trying to get things finished before winter (the room may be indoors, but table saw, miter saw, and router are strictly outdoor critters which don’t take kindly to being rained/snowed on.) Anyway, to cut to the chase, the room was finally finished on Sunday, but in getting it done we had put off several errands that needed doing. That was Monday pretty much all day.

So here I am on Tuesday with a long, boring explanation of why this is going up Tuesday and not Monday. Also to talk a little bit about time management. Most of us who write do not have either the privilege or obligation of writing full time. Most of the time that I’ve been writing it’s been something I’ve squeezed in around all the other obligations of my life, mostly working for my actual living but not confined to that. Pretty much the same story as anyone else in my situation. We find a way, though having a regular schedule for most life events helps. At least that way you know what time might be available to you and you take it. In those situations your primary requirement is either being alone or having a very understanding spouse, significant other, or partner, because you will likely be taking time from those with a legitimate claim on that time.

I’m embarrassed to admit that, so far this year, I’ve only written two complete stories, “In Memory of Jianhong, Snake-Devil” and “On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts.” What’s more, I have absolutely no idea how I did even that much. I haven’t had a regular schedule since we moved here and I went into semi-retirement. Before I would have written in the evening after most of the day’s obligations were done, but redoing a house mostly on our own has been very demanding, and by evening almost all I’ve been good for is taking a nap, listening to music, or playing a bit of Skyrim. Now that the house is mostly done, this has to change. Whether or not I’ll have further work obligations is yet to be determined, but I still have this one obligation to myself that isn’t being met. I just have to find the time. We all do.

Story Time: Courting the Lady Scythe

Posted on by

Today’s Story Time is “Courting the Lady Scythe,” which first appeared in Ekaterina Sedia’s anthology, Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy in 2008. The anthology won a World Fantasy Award for the editor in 2009.

This story is set in the same universe as A Warrior of Dreams. Like any decent universe, there’s more that goes on beyond what you see in the main storyline. There are legends and fables and cautionary tales, and this is one of those. Which one is something you’ll need to decide for yourself.

Standard Reminder: “Courting the Lady Scythe” will be online until next Wednesday, October 25th. After that, there will be something else in its place.

 

 

Story Time: The Plum Blossom Lantern

Posted on by

I’m a bit late with this, so I have to apologize. A remodeling project took most of my day so I’m just getting to this now. Story Time this week is based on an Edo period ghost story called “The Peony Lantern.” The Edo period Japanese did love their spooky ghost stories, and who could blame them? However, I’d always felt there was aspect to the idea being neglected, and that was the ghost’s point of view. Once you look at it that way it becomes a different story entirely, and so my version, “The Plum Blossom Lantern.” Its first appearance was in Small Beer Press’ Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet back in 2003.

Standard Reminder: “The Plum Blossom Lantern” will be online until next Wednesday, October 18th. After that, there will be something else in its place.

Reviews and Whatnot

Posted on by

Quick Sip Reviews takes a look at Beneath Ceaseless Skies #235.  Aside from the fact that they liked the stories, it’s nice to find a review site doing short fiction reviews. You don’t see that much anymore. Novel reviews are easy to find by contrast, and part of the reason for that is there is so much short fiction it’s hard to keep track of even for dedicated fans. Novels are a little more manageable, though in sheer numbers they’re not too far behind. Even so, it’s easier to specialize in one facet of our fractured genre at novel length and keep a handle on things that way: Space Opera, Mannered Fantasy, Alternate History, Historical Fantasy, Hard SF, whatever.

Short fiction is a little harder to categorize, at least at first glance, and you sometimes can’t be certain how to pigeonhole something until you’ve read it, and sometimes even then. It sounds rather crass and limiting, to “pigeonhole” like that. It sounds limiting—and it is–but how else to break down the avalanche of material into manageable chunks? Once upon a time it was easier, there wasn’t so much and everything in genre was either sf or fantasy, and a reader/reviewer usually preferred one or the other. Now I don’t know how anyone could hope to keep up.

There are still some places where short fiction is reviewed regularly. Locus does a decent job, and has top notch reviewers. Locus was and is the trade magazine for the sf/fantasy field and it’s in any practitioner’s best interest to keep on top of what’s going on, yet I have to confess I recently let my subscription lapse after (mumble) years. Why? I’m still trying to figure that one out myself. I think it has something to do with how I’m seeing myself in relation to the genre, and considering things that I once thought were true which now I know aren’t. Pretty vague, I know, but right now it’s the best I can do. I’d still recommend it to anyone with an interest in what’s going on in sf/fantasy. No one place covers the field better or more completely.

 

Standard Reminder: Since I’m now on a weekly schedule with the Story Time page, on Wednesday the 11th of October “The Trickster’s Wife” will be replaced by something else. Read it while it’s there.

 

 

Story Time: The Trickster’s Wife

Posted on by

This week’s Story Time is “The Trickster’s Wife,” originally published in Realms of Fantasy Magazine back in 2001 and later included in The Ogre’s Wife: Fairy Tales for Grownups, my first ever story collection and finalist for the World Fantasy Award. In a way this piece is a meditation on the nature and limits of fate. Mostly, however, it is a simple revenge story, using inevitable fate as the weapon.

Almost everyone knows the Norse myth of Sigyn, Loki’s wife. For his many crimes  Loki is bound to a rock in a cave where a venomous serpent drips poison on him, causing him to writhe in agony. His faithful and devoted wife catches the venom in a bowl to spare him the pain, but every now and then the bowl has to be emptied, and in that time the venom hits him and his thrashing causes earthquakes. But Sigyn is always there to catch the poison again, even though, one day, she will spill the bowl and Loki will thrash until he is free of his chains, signalling Ragnarok, the end of the world.

I always thought fate handed Sigyn a very raw deal. It occurred to me that perhaps Sigyn thought so too. Which puts her activities in an entirely different light, and so the story.

 

Standard Reminder: Next Wednesday, October 11th, the Story Time will change.  Until then, I hope you enjoy “The Trickster’s Wife.”