Mouthful

The Winter 2007 issue of Mouth Full of Bullets is out. The talented BJ Bourg has put together a fine publication-- and this issue even includes not one, but two Bo Fexler pieces. The first is "Highs and Mellows." This story is only available in the print edition, for now. Eveuntually, it'll be in the archives. Until then, just pony up the six bucks and buy a copy. It's worth it for stories like "Your New Fan" by Keri Clark. Damn. That's great writing there. And it's in good company.

The second story is "Lord of His Domain," and it originally appeared at Powderburn Flash. This one is available online at Mouth Full of Bullets.

And now, back to the novel. 22 thousand words written and it's still fun. But don't worry, I'll still be writing short stories. Bo has a lot of misadventures yet unwritten.

• Story currently in progress: Bo Novel
• Last story finished: final edit of "Skeletons of Past Loves"
• What I should be doing: nothing, I'm on vacation
• Current song: Hey Mister, by Custom

And Happy Holidays to You Too

It's that time of year-- and from working ages in retail, I know first hand how the holidays bring out the "best" in people. Nevertheless, Christmas is just around the corner, the kids have been let out for Christmas Break, and there's plenty of social obligations that people get through with gritted teeth and/or alcohol. And there's a Bo Fexler short story, titled "Holiday Beating" over at Powder Burn Flash.

Maybe next year I'll write some cheerful holiday tripe.

Probably not.

Until then, I've a novel to work on, classes to prepare for, short stories to write, a grad course to take, and computer training courseware to edit. For now, with the wind howling outside my little Michigan home, I've got a candy cane and plenty of Diet Pepsi.

• Last story finished: Big Instruments
• Story in progress: Bo Novel #1 (just passed 10k)
• Reason for not writing: Enjoying not having anything I *have* to work on.
• Today's Song: Elf's Lament by Barenaked Ladies (What a funny song!)

Entry

DBA Lehane has a short story contest going on right now. The stories are twenty-six words long, with each letter starting with a successive alphabet letter. I happen to have submitted an entry-- not a Bo Fexler piece. Couldn't figure out how to work that in... =)

You can click here to read the entries. You can also comment (vote) on entries.

Vote Quimby!

• Story in Progress: Bo Novel #1, NaNo2007
• Last Story Completed: Mighty Maids Mystery
• Reason for not writing: writer's block (aka what next?)
• Current song: Criminal by Fiona Apple

Soft around the edges

Today, Fictional Musings posted my short story "Celiac's are People, Too." It is a Bo Fexler story, but minus the sex, violence, and much of her edge. It's a story I've been kicking around for awhile and when my head cleared enough the other day, I managed to get it into the computer.

People with allergies, intolerances and disorders are, I think, more prone to blame things on their condition, which is what makes the idea behind this story so intriguing to me.

But then again, I'll readily admit that many things in the world to me are amusing and ripe for story possibilities. I'm quirky that way.

• Last story finished: Celiac's are people, too
• Story in Progress: Merry Maid Murder (at super-snail pace)
• Reason for not writing: Ill... though I think I've finally nailed down why. For this week...

Good or Bad

Muzzle Flash just posted the shost story "Bad Dream." Bo's up to some naughty stuff. ;-) But it's for her case and for her client. Besides, I don't think the man *really* minded...

In other news, by the middle of this week, I finished the 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month. Not done with the story, but there's a solid tale in the middle of it. It joins two other stories that are in limbo. I don't know where I want to go next-- too much thinking perhaps.

For now, I have to clean my desk so the stupid cable guy can get to my TV to put on the digital box that I *don't* want but can't avoid because my cable company is playing 'jack the customers!' Yea!

• Last story completed: Bad Dream
• Story in Progress: Merry Maids Murder & NaNoWriMo2007
• Reason for not writing: Writer's block
• Current Song: Sex is not the Enemy by Garbage (one of my FAVE bands!)

This time, it's personal.

There's a new site out there for crime and mystery fiction: Darkest Before the Dawn. And the first story published by them is a Bo Fexler story called "Misguided Flight." Gotta be a good site, right? It's run by the same folks who run Powder Burn Flash, only Darkest Before The Dawn takes fiction up to 10,000 words. Perfect...

"Misguided Flight" follows Bo as she takes a case to find a missing young woman. A woman who doesn't tell her parents nearly half of what's going on in her life. A woman exploring what life has to offer. A woman who only picks controlling men for relationships. Part of the investigation affects Bo deeply. It's a struggle for her to stay focused on the case, not on the choices she made.

So, read and enjoy!

• Story in progress: NaNoWriMo2007; Bad Dream
• Last story finished: Misguided Flight (and first accepted...)
• What should I be doing: Grading papers. I *hate* grading papers... especially some of these history assignments.
• Song I'm listening to: Uninvited by Alanis Morissette

Irritations

After a fantastic run of acceptance and publication this past year, I seem to have fallen a bit into a slump. Not for lack of ideas! Or even of stories. The problem is I've been working on things that are too long for most publications OR that are, ah, well, not going to be accepted by most places. Usually for sexual content.



The other thing holding back some of my completed stories is 'themes'. I hate themed issues. Almost as much as I hate celebrity 'news'. Few of my stories fit into any themes because they are just written as stories. Everyday stories. Cases where Bo uses her brain, body, and fists to get what she wants. Fun stories. But not themed. And several of the places that used to take regular stories-- with profanity, sex and violence-- have gone themed.



Somedays it seems like I'm the only fan of hardboild crime noir pulp fiction. From the number of emails and comments-- and hits-- I get, I know that I'm not, but pulications don't seem to cater to our ilk so much. Or they go themed.



I hate themes.



So, I wait. Iwait for publications that take my kind of stories. And in the meantime, I'm going to try to work on some shorter stories that do fit the requirements of the publishers. And my NaNoWriMo story.

• Last story finished: Edits of "Family Affairs of Adult Children"


• Story in Progress: "Merry Maids Murder" (working title!)


• Reason for not writing: Working on NaNoWriMo2007-- currently over 13k words (out of 50k)


• Song in my head: "Back in your head" by Tegan and Sara