Tick-tock, tick-tock

A week from today, I'll be at Dragon*Con for the first time in three years, and my head's about to explode from the waiting. I'll be attending A.C. Crispin's writing workshop, which looks like it's going to be a blast. In the interim, I really ought to be working on the rewrite of The Blood Prayer.

Problem is, I can't stand to look at the thing. Therefore, I'm blogging instead.

I know, I know. I'll get back to it tonight, I swear. I really, really want it to be over and done with, so I can get to work on the sequel rewrite that I've been putting off for a year now. I'm aching to get busy on something new, but now it looks like that'll have to wait for November, when I dive into book III of my Majadan trilogy.

*sigh* If only it wasn't for that pesky day job.

Hey! As long as you're hanging around, why don't you slip over to Barnes & Noble and grab a copy of Dreams of Steam.

Dreams of Steam is now for sale!

It's officially gone from "coming soon" to "get yours today."

Read about it at Kerlak's website and order your copy online at
Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Get to it!

Table of Contents:
Flight of the Dragon - Rachel Pixie
Dead Man's Hand - Jared Millet
The Bunker - Stephanie Osborn
Black Rhino - M. Keaton
The Ballad of Angelina Calamity - Angelia Sparrow
Endeavour of the Rose - Sidney M. Reese
Blood and Brass - Kimberly Richardson
Five Copper Bowls - Dale Carothers
For the Love of Steam - Missa Dixon
In the Mountain Skies - Stephen Zimmer
Harry Was One of Us - Sara M. Harvey
Engine 316 - Nick Valentino
An Odd Demise - Allan Gilbreath
Artificial Love - Dwayne DeBardelaben
Phoenix - H. David Blalock
Ultimate Weapon - Jeff Harris
Long Shots - Kirk Hardesty

Dreams of Steam!

Well, well, well! Kerlak Publishing's Dreams of Steam has a cover and a book trailer! It also includes a story called "Dead Man's Hand," by some guy whose name looks almost exactly like mine.

Where Was I?

Oh, yeah... Finished "The Merlin House" and set it loose into the wild (cross fingers). In a way, it's a riff on the same ideas as the "backwards" episode of Red Dwarf, only done with horror instead of humor. Also, I repolished last year's flash fiction piece "Tag" and sent it off as well.

I'd like to trim down "Venera" again before I send her back out into the slush pile jungle. It did okay at Writers of the Future, but I'm learning that I'm sending stories off to that contest before they're really ready. I'll have to make sure I take a little more time on the next one.

Also, I'm taking one last slog through The Blood Prayer. It's been long enough since the last time I swam through it that I'm finding lots and lots of stuff to fix, plus coming up with more and more ways to flesh it out. Goal: 95,000 words, more or less. Then on to the sequel, then Book III for Nano.

On another front, it looks like I've been accepted to A.C. Crispin's master class for novelists at Dragon*Con this year, which I'll be taking in addition to her two-day basic writing course. Can't wait!