Read my story, "The Consolidated Brotherhood of Truly Bearded Santas" for free in The Again

I got your Christmas story right here, pal: A reprint of "The Consolidated Brotherhood of Truly Bearded Santas" is now available for free in The Again, an online magazine of odd fiction from the U.K. If "odd fiction" is too nebulous a term for you, here's a handy chart depicting the kind of things they like to publish. Their fiction is free, but you can show them some support by purchasing one of their stylish and functional coffee mugs.

TCBoTBS was originally published last December in Stupefying Stories, so if you've read it before, you'll have to pretend to be surprised. Visually, though, it's much different--this version has several brand-new illustrations from artist Jennifer Hung. My favorite is this image (see below) of the beloved Germanic Christmas character Krampus tearing open a package of ground beef. I'm confident we'll be seeing this soon-to-be classic holiday tableau next to the Nativity scene for generations to come.

Aw, I was saving that beef for taco night!

I hope you enjoy the story. Merry Christmas!

The Again No. 6: Dec. 2012

Read my story "Lucky" in issue 2.1 of Stupefying Stories

Stupefying Stories issue 2.1, which includes my short story "Lucky," is available starting today through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I'm fortunate enough to know a few of the talented scribes published in this issue, including, in no particular order, Samuel M. Johnston, Ada Milenkovic Brown, Courtney Valdes, and Elizabeth Berger. Be sure to check out their work, too.

Here's a quick excerpt of "Lucky":

Dr. Gustaw stopped walking, turning to face Alan. “Here’s the Wikipedia version. Think of luck as a form of magnetism. It pulls you toward a certain outcome based on the positive or negative charge of certain particles.”

“Luck particles? There are luck particles?” Alan said

“Until they’re officially named Gustaw particles, yes. The guy at MIT wants to call them Ludtener particles even though I discovered them first. But that’s neither here nor there. An instance of good luck causes a buildup of positive luck particles. Bad luck, negative charge. With me?”

“I guess.” Alan wondered if he could find his way out of the building from here.

“Unlike magnetism, opposites don’t attract. Good luck attracts more good luck, and vice versa. The bigger the charge you’ve accumulated, the more good or bad luck you get. That’s happenstantial attraction. Ludtener uses a snowball/avalanche analogy, but I think it’s more cyclonic. Tornado.”

“So why am I supposed to lose an eye? Too many black cats crossing my path?”

Dr. Gustaw glared at Alan. “You don’t believe in that hokum, do you? I’m a scientist, sir, not some witch-doctor.”

“No offense.”

“You are what I call a class-four attractor,” Dr. Gustaw said. “If your test results are accurate, your luck center is a hundred times more attractive than class ones—average people.

“How many classes are there?”

“Theoretically infinite, but practically speaking, seven is as high as you could go. If you could attract more good or bad luck than that, you’d either be a god or suddenly burst into flames. I’ve met one class six, and she won two lotteries before dying in a bowling accident."

Where to buy

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Pro sale! "Athlete's Foot" to appear in Crowded Magazine

I've achieved a writerly milestone: my first pro-level fiction sale! My short story "Athlete's Foot" will appear in the first issue of Crowded Magazine. Crowded is a new speculative fiction publication based in Australia, which means I've now sold my work on three different continents.

My non-writer friends have asked me, "So what's a pro sale? Does this mean you're going to quit your job and wear a beret and move to a fancy chalet in the Alps like some pretentious artistic jerk?" Sadly, no. In writer's parlance, a pro sale is any magazine for which you're paid a minimum of five cents per word. It may not sound like a huge amount compared to one's day job--as Merlin Mann might say, writing to make money is like learning ventriloquism to meet girls--but it's not too bad for something I created out of nothing. I'll still act like a pretentious jerk, mind you, just without the beret (and with the day job, in case my boss is reading this).

I'll post publication dates and other details as they arrive. Crowded seems like a cool magazine, and I hope you'll consider supporting them.

Crowded Magazine

"Lucky" to appear in November's Stupefying Stories

My short story "Lucky" will appear in November's issue of Stupefying Stories. It should come out in the next couple of days. If you can't wait that long, here's a sneak peek at the cover art.

Stupefying Stories is a great little magazine from Bruce Bethke and Rampant Loon Media. November's issue is guest edited by the illustrious M. David Blake, a talented author hailing from Hillsborough, North Carolina. This will be my second story to appear in their magazine, so I obviously think it's a pretty good one. <hardsell>Issues cost only a couple of bucks, so you really have no excuse for not buying one.</hardsell>

The Again magazine to reprint "The Consolidated Brotherhood of Truly Bearded Santas"

​Merry Krampus!

Photo: riptheskull​

The Again magazine will reprint my short story, "The Consolidated Brotherhood of Truly Bearded Santas" in their December issue. It's a snazzy-looking publication, with some delightfully creepy illustrations in every story (I'm really excited to see what they come up with for my story).

The Again is free to read, so you really have no excuse not to check it out. If you'd like to support the publication, you can buy one of their stylish and functional coffee mugs.

In case you missed it, this story was originally published in the December 2011 issue of Stupefying Stories, another fine publication of science fiction and fantasy.

The Again