“Laws of Impermanence” now on Uncanny!
My story “Laws of Impermanence is now available on the Uncanny Magazine web site! This story is weird even for me…
Cover reveal for Anthems Outside Time & Other Strange Voices!
Here’s the cover for Anthems Outside Time & Other Strange Voices, to be released by Fairwood Press in July! Many thanks to Patrick Swenson & the other friends who helped to choose the best one. I’m including a link to the pre-order page on the publisher’s web site, just, in […]
My Schedule for ReaderCon 30
Here's my Schedule for Readercon 30, July 11-14, Quincy Marriott, Quincy, MA: Writing Craft and Mentoring Programs Jack Dann, Theodora Goss (mod), Kate Maruyama, Kenneth Schneyer, Holly Walrath Fri 12:00 PM, Salon 4 Those who want to learn the craft of writing popular genre fiction have more options then ever. […]
“The Truth of Revision” Rebroadcast Again!
Nice surprise this morning: apparently Rhode Island Public Radio has rebroadcast my 2014 essay "The Truth of Revision" on their This I Believe New England program. I've already had two e-mails praising it. 🙂 http://www.ripr.org/post/i-believe-new-england-revision
“Keepsakes” sold to Analog!
I'm very happy to announce that Trevor Quachri at Analog Science Fiction & Fact has bought my novelette "Keepsakes". My guess is that it will appear sometime late in the year.
My complete bibliography
Because my ability to edit my Writertopia page seems to have vanished, I am now "transferring my flag," as it were, to LJ. From now on, my bibliography will appear here (until and unless I get a web site of my own): Collections: Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices […]
My first Worldcon!
I will be attending MidAmericaCon II in Kansas City, August 17-21: my first Worldcon ever! I'm very excited. Here's my schedule: Whose DNA is it? Thursday, 1:00 p.m., Room 2206 Helen Pennington (moderator), Marguerite Kenner, Howard Rosenblat, Kenneth Schneyer Panelists discuss DNA and your privacy, from a legal perspective. What […]
“Some Pebbles in the Palm” now live on Lightspeed
My strange little story "Some Pebbles in the Palm" is now available in both text and audio formats on Lightspeed Magazine. http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/some-pebbles-in-the-palm/
My schedule for Readercon 27, which will take place July 7-10, 2016, at the Quincy Marriott, Quincy, MA (new location): Friday July 08 2:00 PM C Cozy Dystopia. Gili Bar-Hillel, Bart Leib, Shariann Lewitt, Kenneth Schneyer (leader), Sabrina Vourvoulias. When we think of the world of Harry Potter, what comes […]
My Arisia 2016 Schedule
Here's my schedule for Arisia 2016, January 15-18, Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel: The Future of Mars – Literature, Panel – 1hr 15min – Faneuil (3W) – Friday 8:30 p.m. We grew up reading about Barsoom and the Mars of Wells and Bradbury. Today, we’re finally exploring the reality of the […]
Lightspeed buys “The Plausibility of Dragons”
John Joseph Adams at Lightspeed Magazine just bought my story "The Plausibility of Dragons." This is my first sale ever to John, and I couldn't be happier!
My Arisia 2015 Schedule
Here is my schedule for Arisia, January 16-19, Boston Westin Waterfront: Remembering Robin Williams —Friday, 8:30 pm – 9:45 pm — Marina 1 (2E) The world lost one of the great funnymen last year when Robin Williams died. From his start as Mork from Ork through cult hits like Toys […]
“Living in the Niche” now online
My story "Living in the Niche" is now available on Triptych Tales. I hope you enjoy it . . . unless your name is Wilton Soal.
Timeline of my author obsessions
I'm sometimes perplexed by inquiries about writers who have "influenced" me, or particular works that have stuck with me. I have tended to binge on a particular writer for a number of years — reading everything I could get my hands on by that person, buying new books as soon […]
Timeline of my author obsessions
I'm sometimes perplexed by inquiries about writers who have "influenced" me, or particular works that have stuck with me. I have tended to binge on a particular writer for a number of years — reading everything I could get my hands on by that person, buying new books as soon […]
“Selected Program Notes” now free online!
time-shark has put my story “Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer” online at the Mythic Delirium Web site. If you’ve been curious, now’s your chance. (And of course Mike hopes that this will inspire you to go out and buy your own copy of Clockwork […]
Submissions: The Long Road
I've heard many expressions of disappointment, frustration, and sometimes despair about story rejections. As a veteran of many story rejections myself, I totally get it. But sometimes I think new writers (or maybe I should say newer writers, since I'm relatively new myself) have an unrealistic notion of how long […]
Write-A-Thon!
As most of my friends know, in 2009 I attended the Clarion Writers Workshop, which changed my life as advertised. I have a whole mess of posts about it. Every year Clarion runs a Write-a-Thon to coincide with the workshop. The idea is that while the students are beating their […]
Analog buys “Life of the Author Plus Seventy”
I’m delighted to report that Analog Science Fiction & Fact is going to buy my story “Life of the Author Plus Seventy”. I mailed the signed contract yesterday. “Life of the Author” is another lawyer-SF story, something Analog seems to enjoy. It’s also, like my previous lawyer story in Analog, […]
The Next Big Thing Blog Hop
I’ve been tagged by the marvelous Heather Albano (author of the e-novels Timepiece and Timekeeper, and famous writer for Choice of Games) for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. This sort of thing is normally aimed at novelists, but I adapted it to fit one of my upcoming stories: What […]
My Preliminary Arisia Schedule
My tentative schedule for Arisia 2013, January 18-21: Friday, 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. (Bullfinch 3W) A Hero Like Me — Vikki Ciaffone (m), Genevieve Iseult Eldredge, Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, Ken Schneyer: How much does a reader want to be able to identify with the protagonist of a story? Does […]
Clockwork Phoenix 4 buys “Selected Program Notes…” + Annual Report
I just got the word that is going to buy my story "Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer" for Clockwork Phoenix 4. Very happy. This is my second sale to Mike; my story "Lineage" appeared in Clockwork Phoenix 3 in 2010. My 2012 report […]
Strange Horizons buys “Hear the Enemy, My Daughter”
I’m very pleased to report that Strange Horizons has bought my story, “Hear the Enemy, My Daughter”. SH is just about the perfect market for this piece. The first draft was written with the support of my Kickstarter project. (Yes, it takes me a long time to move from first […]
What do you tell young writers? A response to Nick Mamatas.
Although I think of myself as a writer, I am a teacher by trade. The ideal form of education, of course, is to develop the highest intellectual faculties of the students at all times — to be Socrates to each student. There is an optimistic vision of pedagogy (I first […]
Jealousy – Envy – Regret
Several people have written about professional jealousy, and have wisely (but not surprisingly) pointed out that it’s a bad thing. A destructive, corrosive, creativity-killing thing. Amen, ditto, yougogirl, ihearya. I think, though, that the analysis could use a bit more nuance — because people will employ the word “jealousy” when […]
Daily Science Fiction buys “The Age of Three Stars”
I’m pleased to say that I’ve sold my story “The Age of Three Stars” to Daily Science Fiction. This is the first of my post-Clarion stories to find a home. I wrote the first draft in the winter of 2009-2010, sitting in a coffee shop in East Greenwich while waiting […]
Abyss & Apex buys “Keeping Tabs”
My story “Keeping Tabs” will appear in the Fourth Quarter 2011 (October) issue of Abyss & Apex magazine. This was my Week 2 Clarion story, a real stretch for me in voicing. I’m thrilled.
What I wrote, revised, submitted, sold in 2010
Here is my personal fiction report for 2010: I wrote 80,700 words of new fiction this year. This figure is a little misleading, because it doesn’t include rewrite work. Still, it’s worse than either 2009 or 2008. I completed: 10 first drafts 4 second drafts 4 third drafts […]
My Nebula-Eligible Stories
Since I don’t think anything more of mine will be released before the end of the year, here are my stories from 2010 that would be eligible for the Nebula Award: "Tenure Track", Cosmos Online (November 23, 2010). "Six Drabbles of Separation", part of Trifecta XIII, "Stories from the […]
CSFW
I’m happy to report that I have joined the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop (CSFW).
September report
Here (very late) are my monthly statistics for September 8,500 new words of fiction written this month. 1 23 first drafts currently in progress. 2 10 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 4 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in the […]
August report
Here (a little late) are my monthly statistics for August: 7,800 new words of fiction written this month. 1 24 first drafts currently in progress. 2 9 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 4 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in […]
Drabblecast buys “Six Drabbles of Separation”
I’m pleased to report that The Drabblecast just bought my flash story, "Six Drabbles of Separation." Drabblecast is a seriously cool venue, and what’s even cooler is that the story is the result of an intensive collaborative process between editor Norm Sherman and me. I had sent several 100-word drabbles […]
Portrayal of Sex and Other Good Things
In her blog Nicola Griffith explains, skillfully and convincingly, why she often (usually) portrays sex as an ecstatic, mind-blowing experience, rather than as embarrassing, awkward or disappointing, which is frequently the case in literature. I’ll leave you to read her argument for yourselves, but I think it can be summarized […]
Kickstarter Success
Wow. The Kickstarter project worked. I now have a bunch of backers who have done me the honor of paying me to write. I owe them regular reports, copies of drafts, etc. Some of them are going to appear as characters in the stories. Some are going to give me […]
27 hours to go, $671 still needed!
Eep! My Kickstarter project has only 27 hours (to be precise, 27 hours and 49 minutes) until its deadline! I’m at 73%. I need $671 more in pledges to get any funding at all. Er, make that 27 hours and 45 minutes…
Kickstarter: 7 days, $1,011.22 left
With only one week to go, my Kickstarter project is 60% funded. I’m amazed and grateful. But: the project gets nothing at all unless the entire amount is pledged, and there’s $1,011.22 to go. If you can post a link to the project, that would be a great help.
57% elapsed, 53% funded, 19 days to go!
With 19 days left to go, we are 53% funded, which is pretty nearly on track. I’m thrilled and amazed that there’s been so much support. This is so neat. Still, we have $1,188 to go, and the project gets nothing at all unless the goal is reached. (Some people have asked me […]
First Lines Meme
I saw several other writers do this, and it looked like fun. First Lines Meme Below are the first lines from each story on which I am currently working. Not included on this list are stories I have submitted for publication. The stories are in alphabetical order by title. And, […]
Halfway there!
With 30 days to go, my Kickstarter project is 50% funded!
Kickstarter! Are You the Agent or the Controller?
So I’ve initiated a Kickstarter funding experiment. Whether it works or not, I had a blast putting it together — it’s the cheesiest, most gimmicky thing I could dream up. (And making the video was a hoot!) If the project or the presentation inspires or amuses you, would you consider […]
February Report
Here are my monthly statistics for February: 5,500 new words of fiction written this month. 1 22 first drafts currently in progress. 2 1 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 5 second drafts currently in progress 0 second drafts currently in the hands of […]
What is a Good Market?
The recent fracas about the lousy pay rates in some short fiction markets has led to a discussion of what constitutes a "good" market to which to apply, or a "good" credit to put on a cover letter. If you’ve been following my compulsive numerical analysis of things like honorable […]
My left arm
For those who didn’t already know, one more after-effect of Clarion:
Monthly Tally for August
Here are my monthly stats for August: 7,600 new words of fiction written this month. 1 19 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 4 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently […]
…@#$%! proof that the Clarion method works…
There are some people who think that the main advantage of Clarion is the networking. And, sure, it’s neat to have seventeen new friends who are all great writers. But the theory is that doing 100+ critiques in six weeks (35,000+ words of crit, for me), plus listening to 80+ […]
More good advice from Clarion
In an earlier post, I reported some of the good advice on writing I heard from the first three instructors at Clarion: Holly Black, Larissa Lai and Robert Crais. Now I’ve had time to report some good things I learned from the instructors in the final three weeks. I have […]
Clarion Report, Weeks 5 & 6
My report from the Clarion Writers Workshop, Weeks Five and Six
Clarion Report, Week One
This is long, so it’s under the cut for those who aren’t interested.
This meme makes me happy
Okay: Possibly the best result I could have had. I am all smiles. Your result for Which fantasy writer are you?… Ursula K Le Guin (b. 1929) 29 High-Brow, -9 Violent, -1 Experimental and 11 Cynical! Congratulations! You are High-Brow, Peaceful, Traditional and Cynical! These concepts are defined below. Ursula […]
Kenneth Schneyer 