Brace for a Little Braggadocio

I've been sitting on some very good news for the last couple of weeks while I delved into blog chains and awards posts. Now that I have some time to write a theme-free entry, I figured I ought to share it with you folks. Perusers of my twitter machine and brand spanking new facebook apparatus (which, by the way, is in desperate need of "likes") have already heard the news, but I'm not quite ready to cease my akimbo brag pose just yet. 

Those of you who've been following my writing exploits for a while know I've been focusing on short stories since the end of last year when I decided to put my novel on pause. When I made that decision, I had to adjust some of my short-term goals to accommodate the shift in gears. As one might expect, the first milestone on that list was to make a bona fide short story sale to a paying market. I can now cross that one off.

I Am Pleased to Announce . . .

A Giant Mess of Darkness, a science fiction story by Yours Truly, will be published next month in Ray Gun Revival. If you're unfamiliar, RGR is an e-zine that harks back to the golden age of sci-fi pulp serials like Astounding Science Fiction. All of the stories appear free to read on their website, though you can also get a Kindle subscription if that's more your style. I highly recommend giving them a read if you're a science fiction fan, and not just because they gave me money. My story is set to run on June 25, though that may change. I'll keep you fine folks up to speed, including another dose of braggadocio when the story goes up.

By the by, an odd thing happened when I received the word that RGR wanted to publish the story. I happened to be on vacation that week, and the girl and I had taken a trip to Kennedy Space Center. As the day was winding down and storm clouds were a'brewing, we made our way over to the Astronaut Memorial. That's when I got the email from RGR on my phone. What's odd about that, you ask? Well, A Giant Mess of Darkness is essentially a story about an astronaut in peril. Weird.

I hope you'll all be able to give my story a read next month. Many of you have offered words of encouragement that have helped to keep my nose to the grindstone since I started this thing, so I'll be glad to share the fruits of my labor with you guys and gals. I currently have nine other submissions that I'm waiting to hear back on (with a tenth almost ready to go). Hopefully it won't be that long before I get to brag at you again.

Oh, and happy Memorial Day. 

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via cc