Apologies for my long absence!

I realize it has been quite a while since I have had anything new to put in here!

The first thing I would like to do is to thank everyone who has sought me out to give me any feedback on Ice after the Pseudopod podcast. It is all very encouraging and I appreciate if very much.

I currently have two stories out for submission, and another two ready to go out shortly, so hopefully something will come of my efforts! I have a few other pieces in the works as well.

‘The Cursed Wreck’ is another Lovecraftian piece: Leah Ingersoll, a graduate student in Nautical Archaeology, is troubled by mysterious shifting artifacts on an underwater site off the coast of Turkey. I admit this piece was heavily influence by my own degree program, but despite it or because of it, I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

‘Happiness Man’ is the story of a man who invents his own God in order to fulfill his spiritual needs. I wrote this story a while ago, with a specific magazine in mind. However by the time I finished, it had changed formats. It’s been rejected once already but I’m not quite willing to give up on it.

‘Keep off the Grass’ is a fantasy horror piece told from a child’s point of view, and set in a world where the environment is very dangerous indeed. In all honesty, I was inspired to write this by the background material a friend of mine prepared for a home-grown setting for a role playing game. I liked the ideas presented quite a lot, and turned it n to this piece. I haven’t submitted this one yet, but that’s more a logistical matter than anything else – I want to send it to a Canadian magazine, but I need Canadian stamps for the SASE. I will be sending it out in the next few weeks, however, as I am headed up to the Great White North for my sister’s wedding.

‘Soul Proprietor’ is actually a re-write of a very old story of mine. I actually first wrote it in a university creative writing class back in, oh… 1998? Wow. I sent it around to a few places at the time (okay, two – I admit a disappointing lack of tenacity back then), but it was ejected. Still, I like the setting, and the premise. It’s the story of a man who buys souls. I thought that if I spiced it up a bit it might have more appeal. It also needed a stronger ending. I re-wrote the whole thing from a first-person point of view, and added a final scene which I think gives the reader a greater sense of closure. Hopefully it will have more market appeal this time around! I haven’t sent it out yet as I am trying to decide where it should go – it also needs to be properly formatted. Ahh formatting. I should do a post about the submission process, and about how I (eventually) choose where I will send my stories.

‘The Shadow of a Place’ is a piece still under construction, but the idea was to take an old convention of horror and modernize it. I don’t doubt it has probably been done before, but it was still an interesting premise for me. In this case, it’s the idea of going to visit a childhood or college friend and finding them much changed by strange events, places, or both. I started writing this on a bright sunny beach on Paradise Island, partly because the incongruity amused me. Especially as I had just read Ambrose Bierce’s short story ‘The Suitable Surroundings’.

So, that’s what’s in the works. I’ll try to post when I have news on any of these fronts, but I admit it is more likely to happen if it is good news! Honestly, however, this has not been a great writing year for me. I was very busy with school and work at the beginning of the year. I am trying to make it up this summer, however – see above!

One of the things that has been keeping me busy is work on my Dissertation project. This June, I traveled to Harbour Island (Briland) in the Bahamas to do some logistical research and help determine the feasibility of the project I have in mind: a community survey. This will let me examine a colonial maritime community and use the information I gather as a basic for comparing it to more urban and agricultural societies. Or such is the basic premise. My trip and the follow up work I have been doing this summer have been very encouraging. This is a viable project with a string amount of community interest and support. My next big hurdle is going to be finding funding! Tomorrow, then, I am attending a grant writing seminar offered through campus. I hope that it will prove useful.