THE MIDNIGHT COURT

The holiday weekend was quite a productive one for writing, I managed to complete the first, then a second, then a third, and then a fourth draft of THE MIDNIGHT COURT.

The short story is not terribly long at just under 6500 words, but it is the first of what I hope will be a serial that leads to other cool things. Best thing about it: I was asked to write as a sort of proof of concept for the Grantville Gazette. I was given guidelines, the historical figures I should focus on and then set loose.

Special permission and mandate in hand, I went to work.

One thing about Eric Flint's 1632: it's rigorously researched, and people will catch you slipping if you do. Knowing this, I was a bit daunted.  I had to do a great deal of study and research before I could even write word one. Every other thing I have previously written or tried to write involved the use of knowledge I already possessed or things I made up from whole cloth. I had a great deal of research on historical figures from a culture and religion alien to me and anything I had studied before.

It wasn't all drudgery: I have always loved history and learning of times and places I have no experience of, so the research had its pleasing moments, but I did cram reading about 3000 pages of different history texts and biographies into my brain over the course of about a month and a half.

About half-way through the research I started to figure out where I was going, and how to get there.

Then, about two weeks ago, I sat down and started to actually write.

I think it came out well.

Initial feedback was pretty good, though I did get caught on an error: did you know that arab warmblood horses have only been around for a hundred years or so? Arab horses were awesome then, but the sub-breed of warmbloods hadn't been created.

Now, I wait for further word from the editorial board.

Excited.

Fingers crossed.

The Busy Ahead

I see some busy ahead, so I may not be posting here as frequently as I just resumed posting (is that as tortured and twisted a sentence as it seems?).

I want to post frequently, but I am also giving myself a bastard of a deadline for A Friend To The Watch while I await word from Baen on The Last Captain (which should come soon, I hope.). I am setting a tight deadline in hopes that I will finally add to the pile of DONE SHIT rather than the shittier pile of TO BE DONE SHIT that I have accrued over the last year or so.

I am also still percolating on what to do to bring my next Grantville Gazette story, A Time Piece, to a tight and entertaining conclusion.

So, off to work it is...

How Did Chicon Go, You Ask?

Why, it was most excellent, thank you.

I did what I usually do, drank, ate and mucked about with some of my favorite people. Alistair Kimble was my wingman and guide for it all (I lost my guidebook within minutes of getting the damn thing.).

Highlights included:

Dinner at Gene & Georgetti's. Mark Van Name was kind enough to invite us after I'd suggested the place as somewhere he might like to dine. I hadn't eaten there in more than 14 years, and they did not fail my recommendation.

A Literary Bheers with Chuck Gannon, which was lots of fun and resulted in a tale that shall be told a few more times in the future.

The Baen Party: I love this publishing house, and know many of their authors, so I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Hanging at the Big Bar and soaking in the sights and conversation with folks like Writer's of The Future winner, David Carani and several other winners of that competition, including an old hand, Myke Cole.

Another fine dinner with Eric Flint, Chuck Gannon, and several other contributors to the Grantville Gazette. It was nice to put faces to names.

I also met a few more people I have seen before but not had opportunity to speak to before...

BANK ON IT! SOLD!

The short story I wrote for Eric Flint's 1632 e-magazine, The Grantville Gazette, has been accepted for publication. The story is titled Bank On It, a teaser for which is now up on the website.

I am blown away by how quickly things moved on this. It took a while to finish the story, if only because my knowledge of chemistry was not sufficient to move the plot along. But I finished it two weeks ago and now it's a done deal.

I am over the moon that this has happened. It's no novel, but it is getting paid for the written product of my mind, something I've wanted since I was 10 years old and first understood where all the books I loved came from. While I've been published for game modules and adventures, this is fiction, flat out, and that's a whole 'nother level of process.

I am very blessed to have friends who gave encouragement and guidance, for me as an individual and for the story in particular.  Thanks to: Chuck, Mark, Rob, Rick, Alistair, and most especially Alan, who, a few years ago, saw that a beat man might have more skills than those necessary to walk a beat. It was you that gave me that first glimmer of hope, that first spark of confidence. Thank you.

I hope you will read and enjoy the tale, and hope to write many more that see publication.