Before I get to the excerpt, a little backstory on how "In the Time of the Martians" came about. I entered the world of media tie-in writing in 2004, when my Star Trek story "Full Circle" was published in Strange New Worlds VII. Media tie-in writing is, of course, writing based on characters and stories from … Continue reading “In the Time of the Martians”: An Excerpt
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Writing/Editing Update, March Edition
March continued the frenzied pace of February. Some extensions were required. I hate missing deadlines, but things happen, and you just need to keep your client or your editor in the loop. A previously planned week at my mom's (after we all quarantined, of course) complicated the situation. I had to work all day, every … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, March Edition
Writing/Editing Update, February Edition
I've been quite busy in the short month. I've started getting my self-published stuff, previously only on the Kindle, available for the Kobo, Nook, and Apple Book platforms as well. This entailed learning to create and edit ePub files, which has gone relatively smoothly. At some point I should do a post covering all those … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, February Edition
Writing/Editing Update, January Edition
Oof, it's February already! I seriously don't know how that happened. But I did manage to get some things done even though the month flew by and included an insurrection! Tales of the Weird World War. The cover is finally done! Take a look at it on my website. Now that that's finally taken care … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, January Edition
From the Vault: Gelatinous Pasta and Bad Mussels
We made a family vacation out of Shore Leave 30 (remember when conventions were an actual thing?), flying in early so we could do some general tourist stuff, since only the kid and I are sci-fi geeks. On our first night in downtown Baltimore at the Inner Harbor Holiday Inn, we decided to eat at … Continue reading From the Vault: Gelatinous Pasta and Bad Mussels
Writing/Editing Update, December Edition
Wow, not just any monthly update, it's also a year-end wrap-up. Obviously, 2020 was a brutal year on several levels, but I was productive. Over the year I submitted three short stories—"The Ghosts of Glenmirror," "The Day It Came from Beyond Outer Space," and "In the Time of the Martians"—and two essays (still secret), all … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, December Edition
Writing/Editing Update, November Edition
Well, November was a blur on several levels. It started with the election of a new president and ended with the old president still in denial about losing, while soaring pandemic numbers in Minnesota (and elsewhere) ruined a lot of Thanksgiving plans. In between I was working on a pile of manuscripts, on top of … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, November Edition
“Lost Gold and Quicksilver”: An Excerpt
For this post, I'm turning my blog over to my friend, fellow author, and occasional partner in crime, William Leisner . . . I, like Scott, am excited to be a part of Crazy 8 Press's upcoming anthology Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021. My story, "Lost Gold and Quicksilver," is set in the barnstorming era of … Continue reading “Lost Gold and Quicksilver”: An Excerpt
Writing/Editing Update, October Edition
Things got weird here in Minnesota with an annoyingly early winter storm. Most everything melted away by Halloween, but, obviously, there wasn't much of a Halloween with the pandemic on an upswing. We didn't even give out candy in our neighborhood, which was sad—we missed the costumes, and I missed eating the leftover candy. Tales … Continue reading Writing/Editing Update, October Edition
“The Day It Came from Beyond Outer Space”: An Excerpt
I'm excited that my story, "The Day It Came from Beyond Outer Space," is a part of Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021, currently funding on Kickstarter! This is the second volume anthologizing a wide spectrum of genre stories in homage to the pulp magazines of yesteryear. I love classic sci-fi of the forties and fifties, so … Continue reading “The Day It Came from Beyond Outer Space”: An Excerpt