My novella ‘Blood and Light’ has been accepted to appear in Argosy’s upcoming Apocalyptica anthology which, as the name suggests, will feature stories about the end of the world.
Anyone with a passion for pulp fiction will likely be au fait with Argosy, which has been published on and off since 1882. In 2013, the title became the property of a UK editor, Daniel Bazinga, who is working to re-establish it as a force in the world of fiction. I put a lot of work into ‘Blood and Light’ – it is 11,000 words long and went through a great many permutations before reaching its current form – so I’m pleased it has found such a notable home.
In local news, I have been selected to take part in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine’s ‘New Writers Unearthed’ interview series. Under the stewardship of author, academic and ASM art director, Eugen M. Bacon, its goal is to speak to new or less established writers and “pay attention to your work and uncover your process of writing speculative fiction”. My interview is scheduled to happen in the next couple of months and will appear in issue #68 of ASM (September 2017).
Just quietly, I also have a story shortlisted there – I won’t name it, because to do so would spoil ASM’s blind reading process – but I’m quietly confident it could become my second acceptance at the magazine. (Check back next month for a post about misplaced confidence and crushing disappointment.)
Lastly, I’m approaching the final turn in a novel I have been writing since the middle of 2015. It’s a mainstream piece set in the Australian outback around the late 1960s or early 1970s and has the working title ‘Old Iron Guts’. I’ve not had much success with my ‘straight’ fiction in the past, but it feels more complete than the last novel I wrote – so I’m hoping it will be the work that finally draws the attention of a big publisher.