Orc Chieftain by Wulfgnar on deviantART
So yesterday was the deadline for the fourth quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. I’d submitted the Gettysburg time paradox story waaay back in July, but after workshopping it with some friends, I realized that it wasn’t quite up to par. On Monday, though, I workshopped another story with the same group of friends, and got some amazing feedback that helped me to turn a great story into an awesome one.
I originally wanted to submit that story to Tor.com, which opens up to submissions again today, but after finishing it up I wondered if maybe I could withdraw the Gettysburg story from WOTF and submit the better one instead. The thing about Tor.com is that they have a ridiculously long wait time–145 days average, up on The (Submission) Grinder. Since WOTF has a much shorter wait time (no longer than three months, since they announce the winners each quarter), I wasn’t too keen on taking this story out of the loop for more than a quarter.
So I emailed Joni yesterday afternoon, just a few hours before the deadline, but I didn’t think she’d respond in time to submit it. To my surprise, she responded in fourteen minutes (fourteen minutes!) and told me that the old story was withdrawn, so I was free to submit the other one! Awesome!
So now I’ve got a story in the contest that I’m super super proud of and think might actually have a shot at placing. And even if it doesn’t, the sooner I can run it through WOTF, the sooner I can run it through the other markets I want to submit it to (there’s only three more after this), which means the sooner I can self-publish it and get it up for you guys to read. It’s kind of hard talking about a story when none of you guys can read it, but trust me, I think you’re really really going to like this one.
Workshopping it Monday gave me an AWESOME idea for another short story / novelette in the same universe, about a runtling orc who uses his wits to free the hero from the dungeon and get him to kill the orc high commander, freeing all the disgruntled warriors to desert the Witch King’s army and return to their clans (which is what all of them want to do anyway). I am super super excited to write this story!
For those of you waiting for the next Sons of the Starfarers book, though, don’t worry, that’s coming along as well. I’m about halfway through Book IV: Friends in Command right now, and it should be finished (the rough draft, anyway) by October 15th. If all goes well, I’ll have it up for pre-order sometime in November, with a release date of January 1st.
Brothers in Exile
Isaac and Aaron are nothing if not survivors. Their homeworld lost and their people scattered, all they have left is each other. Then, in the Far Outworlds, they find a dead colony with a beautiful young woman frozen in cryostasis. She is also a survivor—and she needs their help.
More info →
Also, I’m happy to report that Book I: Brothers in Exile is now free on the main Amazon store! If you haven’t read it yet, feel free to pick up a copy, and if you have read it, I would appreciate it immensely if you could post an honest review. In order to feature it on a couple of sites, I need to get at least ten reviews, preferably with a high-star rating, but more than that I think it’s important just to have reviews that are honest and thoughtful. Anything you guys can do to help with that, I would appreciate it.
And that’s just about it. I have a lot of writing to do, so I’d better get back to that. See you guys around!
