Coming Full Circle

Last week I dropped in to let y'all know that I'm still here, I've just been busy. And one of the things I've been busy with is BRASS STARS.

Some of y'all might remember that this SF Western novella was first published by Eggplant Literary Productions back in 2013. That was a year that felt like a really big deal as far as my writing career was concerned. This novella was accepted and published, and - after ten months and a shiteload of queries - I also found representation for The Steampunk Novel.

It felt like the wheel was starting to turn in my favor after five years of working really hard to not only polish my craft, but push beyond short stories. I shared links and the gorgeous cover art and told myself that This is it. This is the break I've been looking for.

And then things... just didn't go the way I thought. BRASS STARS sold, but not well. And then the publisher folded less than a year later and I was left with a book I loved, but was now a reprint.

What to do?

My first thought was to find another home for it, but that proved unsuccessful (despite getting all the way to final consideration at another small press). And I was worried that maybe this little book that I really love so much was, well, maybe not that good. (I know, I know. Why am I telling you this? In the business side of things everything is supposed to be shiny and wonderful.)

The good news is, I still love this novella to death. It's not a fancy book. It's not a literary book. It is a book about a snarky, sweary, determined woman who wants revenge. And a psychopathic, cybernetic horse. I mean, really? What's not to love?

So, I am republishing this one myself, complete with additional revisions (about 10% new material) and a brand, spankin' new cover. The exact release date has not been decided on yet, but I should have a preorder page up on Gumroad in the next week or so.

In the meantime, you can check out the cover and blurb below.

Tashndelu Sand has traveled across the deeps of space in the company of Snyder - a cybernetic beast who has no ones best interest in mind - to Paradise, a lonely town on a desert planet, to find the
last man in the posse that killed her mother. The plan is simple. Get in, kill Brannigan, and get out, and nothing is going to stand in her way. Not John Crow, an Extra Sapien like herself, trying desperately to win her heart. Not Diamondback Jack, a retired gunner who is determined to save her soul. Not even her own fear of the brutal darkness growing inside her.
Fifteen years ago, Brannigan shot her and left her for dead. It’s time to return the favor.

Award Eligibility: 2016

Hey, folks.

My publication activity this past year is pretty simple.

I self-published a collection of short stories in February - The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise. Of the stories in that collection, two were previously unpublished. (The others were all reprints from my semi-pro/pro sales in previous years.)

These two are all shorts and eligible for awards where the criteria is "published between Jan 2016 - December 2016". 
Made
The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise

If you are interested in reading any of these for consideration, I am offering a free eBook copy on request. You can reach me via email annagrace(dot)carpenter(at)gmail(dot)com

Also published in 2016 was my Southern Gothic/Horror/Dark Fantasy novella - Of Lips and Tongue. If you are interested in a copy for consideration please contact my publisher, John Hartness, at Falstaff Books - john(at)falstaffbooks(dot)com or contact me at the email address above.

There are also several short stories that were published in the Grantville Gazette which I co-wrote with Eric S. Brown.
 - An Army of Scarecrows
- The Monster Society: Snowbound
- The Lost Monster

The Monster Society stories can be read for free via the above links. 

Cover Reveal! Of Lips and Tongue

I'm pleased to announce that my Southern Gothic novella trilogy, Touch, is forthcoming from Falstaff Books.

I've been sitting on this news since the beginning of March, but the time has come to share! My lovely, creepy novellas are going to be out soon. Ish. I can't tell you how excited I am that y'all will be able to get your hands on these books. (I love all my books, but these are especially special to me.)

Today I can give you a look at the cover for the first book, Of Lips and Tongue, and a tiny peek at how it all begins.

"On a hot July day, Mama went cracked, locked my sisters and me in the tool shed, and lit us up like  a Christmas tree.

Addie, being the eldest, tore apart every shelf looking for something to break down or pry open the door, but Mama was cleverer than that; all that was left was the jars of turpentine and cans of old paint and the stacks of paper that were meant for the church fundraiser. Smoke curled in around the edges and every board was lined in shimmering red. I knew, right then, we weren't getting out."

   

Coming Soon from Falstaff Books!

This Girl Needs to Get Paid: Or Why I Sell My (Self-published) Books Through Gumroad and Not Amazon

A few weeks ago I put my short story collection (The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise) up for pre-order on Gumroad. Another writer friend contacted me and said "I saw that you have a new book coming out, but when I looked for it on Amazon, I couldn't find it."


I told him I prefer to distribute my self-published* work through Gumroad because I get paid considerably more per sale that way. (If you aren't familiar with Amazon's rates they take 30% of the money and give you 70%. Unless you are selling something for $0.99, in which case they take 70% and give you 30%. Gumroad charges $0.25+5% of the price. Even on the $0.99 sales, I make a much higher percentage with Gumroad.)


"Yeah, but Amazon has such a big piece of the marketplace."


But I make more money with Gumroad.


See, here's the thing. I understand browsing for books. I understand that Amazon are not only a marketplace, but also an aggregator. (When was the last time you didn't use Amazon to look for that book you read a few years back but can't quite remember the title or author?) I understand that while bookstores still maintain 40%-ish of physical book sales, they only have 10% of ebook sales (while Amazon has 90%). I understand that they have Top Seller lists out the ass (a couple years back I was in the Fiction - Western - Science Fiction top 10 multiple times) and algorithms that (sometimes) recommend your book to folks looking at (supposedly) similar work.


But I make more money with Gumroad.


Based on observation during the period Eggplant Literary had my SF Western novella on Amazon, the vast majority of my sales come through personal referral. That is, when I told someone to check it out or I tweeted about it or posted a link to a review. When I didn't do those things... there was just the eerie silence of watching my book plummet through the sales rankings.

Just being on Amazon was not enough.
Let me repeat that.
As a debut author with a small publisher, just being on Amazon was not enough. Sales did not magically trickle through due to algorithms or Top 10 lists. (This, by the way, is not a surprise. Targeted promotion and marketing is fucking key for authors of any level with any size publisher selling books through any venue or marketplace.)

So, when my sales are still overwhelmingly coming from me telling folks "Hey, you should buy my book," where do you think I want to point them? A marketplace that takes 30% of my profit or a marketplace that takes a little over 5% of my profit?

"But Amazon!"

Yeah. But I make more money with Gumroad. And I need to get paid.

*A publisher is welcome to sell my books however they see fit. From the trunk of their car, on Amazon, even dropped from a helicopter like a near-flightless bird over Cincinnati.

FORTHCOMING! - The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise

Coming on February 16th!

"Eleven stories about love, survival, and the depths of the human heart. 

Eleven worlds – some remarkably similar to our own, some dramatically different.

From the clammy dungeons and mysterious rooftops in The Spider Thief and the Sorcerer to the muddy, voodoo protected shores of Lake Ponchartrain in Legacy to the highrise slums of Venus in The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise, this collection of short stories will take you out of the everyday world and into the realm of 'what if'?

What if magic and knowledge were things that could be leased and reclaimed?

What if voodoo could open a woman's heart to the possibility of love?

What if the things that mattered most were not things at all?

Explore the possibilities in this short story collection from A.G. Carpenter."

That's right, folks. I have a short story collection coming out this coming Tuesday. It features some of my favorite, previously published stories, plus one brand new short story, and one brand new novelette. 

You can preorder a copy in paperback or .epub. (The ebook will also be available from the usual vendors like Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Scribd, etc.)

New Release: Dust

Available for Kindle!

Available for eReader!

Half-Fae cop, Jonas Flannery has lost enough partners in his years on the job - to drugs, to corruption, to the monsters that prowl the streets. When his current partner, Lola Rodriguez, is whammied by a dying pixie queen, he finds himself in a race against time to find the drug producing Dust farm, free the other Corlun, and save Lola before the magic breaks her mind.

Novelette
Urban Fantasy
Noir

Short Fiction in 2014

I've not had a lot published this year, but as the SF/F awards season starts to gear up, I thought I would share what I've had published this year.


Vessels for Destruction - Nature Magazine: Futures (Feb 6, 2014)


The Collections Agent - Stupefying Stories (Feb 14, 2014) [Now as an ebook reprint]


The Spider Thief and the Sorcerer - Crowded Magazine (May 15, 2014)


Legacy - Beast Within 4: Gears & Growls (October 31, 2014)

Publication and Wordage (Update 10.31.14)

First, a little publication news. I have a story available on QuarterReads. It's neat little site that has a collection of short fiction, each story is available to read for the low price of twenty-five cents. Mine can be found here: Call-Center


You can expect some of my other short stuff to be available there before too long. Once I get a chance to submit it and everything. 

Also, as I announced last week, Beast Within 4: Gears and Growls is available today! It contains my short story "Legacy" as part of an anthology of stories examining shapeshifters in a steampunk world, edited by Jennifer Brozek. You can purchase a copy here: Beast Within 4: Gears and Growls

This is one of my first stories actually published in print so I'm even more excited than usual about it's release. (And it's a really cool story. And I got to share the ToC with Ken Liu and Folly Blaine.) 

In writing news, I am still working to finish up the SuperSecretProject before NaNoWriMo begins. (Not that it's going to happen, but you know, words is words.) I am very close to the end and it's killer. And disturbing. I love this little book so much it's hard not to talk about it in more detail, but I can't because reasons. 

Once the SuperSecretProject is done (by which I mean the first draft is safely in the hands of The Agent for further review), I will be starting on a new project for the duration of the year. The goal is to knock out a bunch of it during the National Novel Writing Month. Not so much because I have to participate in NaNo, but it is a good excuse to stay on target with the daily wordcount. 

The new project is a Space Opera with a complex set of character that are simply terrifying me because I am very much afraid I will screw them up. But, my best stories tend to be those I fear I won't do justice to. So, come tomorrow, I will be running full tilt into the writing breach to try and finish my third project this year. Or, at least, get a good start on it before January. 

Happy Halloween!

Newly Available! (9.15.14)

Things have been busy around here. I've been working on two different projects for the other pen name and gearing up to start releasing my previously published work in ebook format.


The Collections Agent is available now from Kobo. (You can also purchase it from Inktera, iBooks or Nook.com. Or read it via Scribd.) If you like it (or if you hate it) you can always rate it or leave a review over at Goodreads.

In the Cool of the Day will be available tomorrow from Kobo. (It will also be available from Inktera, iBooks or Nook.com, and Scribd, once the files are approved.) 

You can look for individual editions of Insomnia and Happy After All to be released in a month or so. I am planning a single volume collection (that would also include things too short to make good individual ebooks and possibly a few unpublished things), but I have no specific timeline on that release.

In the meantime, I'm writing writing writing in between being busybusybusy. As usual.

Happy Monday! 

Lessons Learned from Writing A Sunset Finish

Thanks to A.G. for letting me guest blog today. My first novella A Sunset Finish came out a little before A.G.'s novella Brass Stars did last year. It's thrilling to get something longer than a short story published, and not quite as daunting as writing a novel. She asked if I'd do a Lessons Learned theme for the guest post. It was a great idea since I learned quite a bit writing A Sunset Finish.

1. Research pays off. I've lived all of my life in New Mexico and near many Pueblo Indian reservations, but I didn't know enough pueblo folklore to write A Sunset Finish off the top of my head. I was somewhat fortunate when it came to the music and dance aspects of the story because I had studied some local Native American music in college. But even my music experience was limited. To make up for the gap in my knowledge, I took trips to ruined pueblos, attended dances at the Pueblo Cultural Center and visited the libraries frequently. My favorite book for study was Dancing Gods by Erna Fergusson. While gleaning the information from it about pueblo ceremonies, I also found myself thinking up different short stories and a possible alternative history book. Two of the short stories I thought of during that time of research have already been published and another one is on the way this summer.

2. Watch out for repetition in longer stories. I sent A Sunset Finish to three places before it found a home. One of the editors who rejected it told me that it was well written except for being so repetitive. I had no idea what she was talking about. So I boohooed to my best friend who said, “Well, I thought that too, but a lot of published stories are so I didn't say anything.” After that, I read it with a different eye. Indeed, I had several chapters in there that were rehashing the same emotions or the same mysteries. I cut most of the scenes where Bruce's dad appeared and about half the dates between Stephanie and Bruce. It was accepted at the next spot I sent it to: Jupiter Gardens Press. Looking back on stories I've read, I now believe several novels would be better as novellas if the repetitious scenes were cut out :)

3. Don't waste time watching rankings. After A Sunset Finish was released, I was introduced to the world of rankings, which I had largely ignored. I made it to my publisher's best seller list, and then I was addicted. Watching rankings cuts into precious writing time and can be depressing. This month I've made a huge effort to not look so often and only focus on new stories. My production has gone up, even though I find myself looking more than I should.

4. Self-promotion is hard. I think most writers are introverts; I know I am. But now we are expected to tweet and blog and Facebook all the time. I really enjoy swapping blog posts with people like A.G. where we talk about the craft. I see it as a definite benefit to growing as a writer. But time blogging is also time not writing new stories. There needs to be a balance. I see some writers promoting every day, and I honestly don't know how they do it and still get their next novel out on time. I admire them, but for me, I need time to let my head settle on a story and crank out the words until it's done.

Thanks again for having me here, and please come and check out A.G.'s post on my blog at enchantedspark.com coming in June.  

Spiders! (Update 5.15.14)

First, a bit of publishing news. The Spider Thief and The Sorcerer is live at Crowded Magazine. This one is light-hearted, free and has a lot of spiders. (Arachnophobes, beware!)


Secondly, next week I have a guest blog post from Melinda Moore. She's putting her own take on Lessons Learned and telling us about her book A Sunset Finish.


(On the flipside, I will have a guest blog over on her website http://enchantedspark.com/ on Wednesday the 21st talking about how I came to write Brass Stars.)


In writing news, the novel-ish (a part of the series I'm developing around the MC of The Spider Thief and The Sorcerer) is now past 43k and will continue to grow steadily as soon as some other RL business is taken care of.

Relationships and Other Fascinations (Update 5.5.14)

Every writer has themes or tropes they keep coming back to. Particular twists of fate they like to visit on their characters. Particular character types that intrigue them.


Some days I feel guilty about the fact I like to write primarily female MCs, usually tough, lonely and with a secret/not-secret talent. I start wondering if it's too formulaic that they tend to find a partner who is slightly older, capable but not a Prince Charming to their damsel in distress. (Mostly because my damsels may be in distress but they tend to solve their own problems with fists or magic or guns.) I worry that no one will be as interested in seeing how misunderstandings and hurt feelings happen and resolve without relying on the dreaded Big Misunderstanding (which I loathe in general principle).


But the truth is, I like exploring relationships between my characters. I like looking at what makes families tick. How children grow up and create their own families. How friends become lovers. Or enemies. (Or enemies become lovers.) I like the interaction because I think interaction is a significant part of the human experience.

The latest project (which was a short story that grew into a novella that is still growing into a real novel) has a relationship at its core. The Steampunk Novel has a relationship at its core. Why? Because a wild and imaginative as I can make my stories, the thing that tends to motivate my characters is the other people in their lives. And, because people need to act like people, and real people interact.

(Even Tashn, who is possibly the coldest, most driven character I've written yet, interacts. It doesn't end well, but she still interacts with those around her.)

In writing news: The aforementioned former-novella is up past 40k now. There's a fair chunk still to go, but I am reminding myself that there are really only two sequences left. BIG sequences, but they're all scenes in a row which makes them easy. Er. Easier. The plan is to have it all wrapped up by the end of the month.

"The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer" is due out from Crowded Magazine on May 14th. I'm very excited about seeing this one make it into the world and I will post the link as soon possible.

Also, reorganizing the blog. It's a slow process, but I'm working on it. Added a bibliography for the shorts. Next up is the flash fiction. At that point I will probably drastically reduce the "Published" list in the sidebar. (It will be redundant, that's why.) And, I don't know. Try and remember to write on the blog more often. (I'm currently experimenting with being more active on Twitter. And stuff.)

Happy Monday, folks!

News and Good News - 2.5.14

First off, an apology. Well, more like an excuse. I had almost gotten settled into a regular blogging schedule and then writing stuff got real. (In a good way. More on that in a minute.) And just about the time I was wrapping that up there was this snow event that kind of fucked up the Southeast. Me and mine were able to stay warm and not get stuck anywhere. (Of course, we also salted, shoveled and took a flame-thrower to the road outside our house to enable safe passage up and down.) Long story short, I've been kind of busy and blogging just wasn't at the top of the list of things to do.

Next up, some publishing news.

1. The 2014 Campbellian Anthology is available for FREE download, thanks to Stupefying Stories/Rampant Loon Publishing and several mirror sites. It features the work of 111 up and coming SF/F authors (including myself) who have qualified for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It will only be available for a limited time so be sure to check it out now!

2. "Vessels for Destruction", a dark SF flash story, is Nature Magazine's "Futures" story for February 6th, 2014 and is live on their site HERE.

3. I have an agent! After a lot of queries and hard work the Steampunk Novel (and it's sequels) is now repped by Bob Mecoy of Creative Book Services.

Finally, market news.

Unidentified Funny Objects 3 is currently in the Kickstarter phase but will be opening to submissions March 1st: DETAILS HERE. They are a pro-paying market and produce quality books. If you like humorous SF/F and would like to help support them, please do. If you're a writer looking for a good humor market, this is one to try. (But wait until the submissions period opens March 1st.)

And, Apocalypse Ink Productions is looking for linked novella trilogies. They like things dark, speculative and more-or-less contemporary. They also offer a small advance and 50% royalties of net profit.

And that's it for this week.
Stay warm! (Or if you're on the other side of the globe, stay cool!)

Sending Words into the Void

I recently found out that "In the Cool of the Day" was the most popular story of 2013 over at Abyss & Apex.


Which is flattering and amazing and I'm completely thrilled by that.
It is frequently a very lonely thing having a story published. Sometimes you get feedback or comments or see your links retweeted, many times you don't. (Well, I suppose Neil Gaiman doesn't have that problem, but for the rest of us...)


I tend to focus on writing the next story more than trying to figure out if anyone is reading the current one, but it's hard not to sit and wonder if anyone is actually reading what I write? Some days it feels like I would have a better chance of having my words read by standing on my front porch and throwing pages out into the wind. (Not today because snow and I'm not standing outside for any length of time, thank you very much. But most days this would be a viable if somewhat ridiculous option.)


So, finding out that people do indeed read some of what I write is just an amazing feeling. It's like having my story accepted all over again.
Scratch that.
It is having my story accepted again. By every one of you.


Thank you.
Thank you. 
I deeply appreciate knowing that y'all are out there.

2013 In Review

2013 was a year that felt like I spun my wheels. A lot.

I was deep in the query trenches for the bulk of the year, trying to find an agent for The Steampunk Novel. That search also led to two different R&Rs (one in June and one in November), taking even bigger bites out of my limited writing time and reducing my short story output drastically.

In fact, this is my slowest year to produce new shorts since I started W1S1 in 2011. In fact, by my count, I only finished two new stories this year. (Although, I did revise several things, including two which sold. More on that in a minute.)

So, lets look at my submissions stats for the year. (These numbers cover micro-fiction through novella length. The numbers on the agent quest are larger. Much larger.)

Submissions: 44
Rejections: 37
Acceptances: 4 (There are still a few out there that haven't come home yet.)
Publications: 4

The acceptances were:
"The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer" (forthcoming, Crowded Magazine, April 2014)
"Vessels for Destruction" (forthcoming, Nature Magazine's Futures)
Brass Stars (Eggplant Literary Productions, November 2013)
"Love Like Dysphoria" (Southern Gothic, New Lit Salon Press, October 2013)

The publications were:
"Caught" (Stupefying Stories Showcase, June 14, 2013)
"In the Cool of The Day" (Abyss & Apex, July 2013)
"Love Like Dysphoria" (Southern Gothic, New Lit Salon Press, October 2013)
Brass Stars (Eggplant Literary Productions, November 2013)

The two new stories written for the year were "Made" (a contemporary fantasy with a cowardly vampire) and "Kraken" (creepy flash about a man becoming a monster). And I revised "The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer", Brass Stars, and The Steampunk Novel. (I've also been working on "All That is Precious" and "Damsel", but those are not done yet.)

Looking back I think it was a productive year, but more time was spent on improving my craft by refining existing work and less on creating new work. And that's okay. But this year... this year I want to start putting more out on submission again. Which will mean not only refining my work, but getting new words on paper in the first place.

(More on how I intend to accomplish that shortly.)

Happy Twelfth Night, folks! 

Writing BRASS STARS: Dust, Sky and Religion in Space

The early drafts of Brass Stars (and there were two and a half before I got to the one that was published by Eggplant Literary Productions) didn't have much in the way of religion. Tashn wasn't much a believer in anything except revenge and it didn't seem necessary to develop a system of belief for the other characters who popped in and out of the story.


There was, of course, mention of the crucifix her mother had given her, but Tashn never put much stock in it. She carried it for two reasons. One: because her father believed it was strong medicine that would protect her in the future as it had in the past and it was a small concession to his outlook on the world. Two: because it was a constant reminder of what had happened - a concrete little piece of the injustice done to her and her mother.


But that was the extent of the mention of religion, barely more than speck of history from the long-lost Earth.


Then Jackson became a central character and a foil of sorts to Tashn's quest for vengeance. He was on a mission of his own: redemption. And that meant I had to think harder about what sort of belief system might exist in the dusty edge of space.


The result was, at first glance, a kind of Yin/Yang or a dichotomy between flesh and spirit.
The idea of Sky: the invisible, eternal and all-encompassing thing sometimes called Space. Boundless and intangible, its appearance changing based on the perspective of the viewer, but never its nature.
The idea of Dust: the physical, palpable and corruptible matter of the universe. The building blocks that every visible thing is made of and to which we all return.


It was a simple idea.

But on paper it was complex. Tashn knew and acknowledged the existence of both, but rarely in a meaningful way. John Crow relished the nature of Dust, the needs generated by the physical and the satisfaction that came from sharing in the tangible. And Jackson looked to something transcendent to make up for his own corruption.


And that corruption and redemption, much like Tashn's need for revenge and Johnny's need for love, played out in the physical realm but reflected something that was more than just flesh and bone.


I tweaked and fiddled and put stuff in and took it out and finally decided to let it all ride. I'd chosen not to use a specific existing religion or spiritual system because I didn't feel it needed to be one special thing or another, so why would I try and make it into one special thing or another?

And that was that. Dust. Sky. Redemption. Judgement. Loss. Love. And a merciless young woman with a score to settle. All the makings of a good story.

Goals

Last December I proposed the following goals for myself during 2013.


1: Find an Agent Who Can Sell The Steampunk Novel
2: Finish the Novellas I started This Year but HAVEN'T FINISHED
3: Write another Novel or Two
4: Sell my Short Stories

Two of those (#2 and #3) were things I could control. And with that thought in mind I finished up BRASS STARS and put some good effort into ALL THAT IS PRECIOUS and SURVIVOR. I've also revised The Steampunk Novel (and am currently delving into another revision round) and started work on the rewrite of THINGBREAKER (a magic-punk thriller).

#4 was one that required a combination of doing the work I could to ensure I met the goal, and waiting for the alignment of the stars that ensured my story hit the right desk at the right time. (Remember, the best way for that to happen is to make sure that a story is on someone's desk to be read, rather than sitting in a drawer gathering dust.) I used the fantastic Submission Grinder over at Diabolical Plots to help me tackle the short stories, sending each one out to a new market as soon as it got booted from the previous one.

In addition to a handful of short stories I wanted to find homes for, I was still trying to meet the goal of selling a longer work (novel or novella) that I had set for myself in 2012. So, I did pitch contests on Twitter, summarizing both The Steampunk Novel and BRASS STARS in a microscopic 130 characters. I got requests for both, but ultimately they turned into rejections.  

I dug in deeper, researching publishers that took novella length, speculative fiction and submitted the MS for BRASS STARS to Eggplant Literary Productions.

In the meantime, I was having some success with the shorter work. I placed "Love Like Dysphoria" with New Lit Salon Press in their Southern Gothic anthology. And later in the year, I sold "The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer" to Crowded Magazine. (And last week I sold "Vessels for Destruction" to Nature Magazine's "Futures" column.)

I'd also been working hard at goal #1. Starting in December of last year, I'd been querying agents with The Steampunk Novel. Dozens and dozens of queries sent out over nearly eight months. Hours worth of mindnumbing research on AgentQuery and QueryTracker trying to find every single agent who might be a good fit for my alternate history/fantasy/steampunk/murder mystery mashup.

I got requests to see more. And a lot of rejections - most from the initial query and some after partial or full requests. A lot of rejections.

Then I got a letter from Raechel Henderson of Eggplant Literary saying "Yes! I love this and here's a contract." (Okay. She didn't quite say that, but it's close.) And suddenly BRASS STARS was scheduled for publication. Only a few days later I got a phone call from an agent who'd been looking at the full MS of The Steampunk Novel. He was interested and wanted to know if I could do some more revisions.  

Hell, yes, I could do some more revisions. So we talked and brainstormed and I started in on those just this past weekend. Along with still working on The Magic-punk Thriller. And all the "OMG! I have a book coming out Monday!" madness that precedes a release day.

"And this is all great, but what is the point here?" you say.

The point is this. I'm sitting here, realizing that I have successfully accomplished one of the things on my List of Things To-Do. (Admittedly, the Sell a Novella goal was for 2012 so I'm almost two years behind, but it has been done.) I'm also realizing that the list never gets any smaller.

Writing goals are not destinations, they are mile-markers. It's not like saying "I want to visit Australia" and then going and being like "Well that was hot and those koalas sure were cute but now I've DONE that so cross it off the list." Every goal I reach reveals a new one. 

Every story written makes room for a new one. Every sale is a step up to the next. Every goal achieved gives way to another one down the road.

The list never gets any smaller. It just gets different.  

P.S. My SF Western novella, BRASS STARS, is available now from Eggplant Literary Productions: http://eggplantproductions.com/e-books/brass-stars-g-carpenter/

Cover Art for BRASS STARS

Ever since I first saw the sketches for the cover art, I've been waiting on pins and needles to see the finished version. And today it arrived in my in-box. I can't tell you how thrilled I am.

The artist is the amazing Lex Paul. More of his work can be found HERE and HERE

More info about my novella (including a free excerpt) can be found at Eggplant Literary Productions: http://eggplantproductions.com/e-books/brass-stars-g-carpenter/

And, if you want to know more about Eggplant Literary Productions (and check out some of the other awesome books they've published), be sure to browse their site: http://eggplantproductions.com/

"Brass Stars" - Sneak Peek

Eggplant Literary Productions has the official page up for Brass Stars. It includes the blurb and an excerpt from the novella.


You can check it out here: http://eggplantproductions.com/e-books/brass-stars-g-carpenter/


The full novella will be available Monday, November 18th.


Stay tuned for more updates (and the awesome cover art).

Southern Gothic Now Available

(I should have posted this earlier in the week, but I've been scattered.)


Southern Gothic: New Tales of the South, an anthology that includes my own flash piece "Love Like Dysphoria" is now available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Google Play 


In addition to over 15 stories and poems the book features original artwork by Nathan Mark Phillips.