Deliveries today brought me two joys: my author's copies of The Phantom Queen Awakes, now available at Amazon.com, containing my short story, "Ravens," and Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF, now available for pre-order nearly everywhere; officially available on March 30, containing my short story, "Twittering the Stars."
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Looking over "Ravens," I'm struck by what a product of that particular month it was: had I written it before, the middle would be different; if I wrote it now, the ending would be different. Some of my stories are distinctly more attached to different periods in my life than others, but this one is particularly strong. I have a feeling I'll be able to look at it years later and know, yep, I know when that was written, even if I can't remember the actual writing of it.
By someone else's design, not mine, the story breaks are marked by little black birds, which is marvelous.
The Phantom Queen Awakes also contains stories by Katherine Kerr, Anya Bast, Elaine Cunningham, Katherine Kerr, C.E. Murphy and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brigidsblest, contributing "Washerwoman," which has a lovely subtle touch of revenge and satisfaction mixed in with its questions about how we react to prophecy. I still haven't combed through the other stories, but I'm looking forward to it.
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I may have more to say about "Twittering the Stars" as we get closer to its official publication date of March 30, but for now, two small points:
1) Looking over "Twittering the Stars" was a good reminder that I really, but really, must pay attention to proof pages and not simply say, headache, because otherwise, "Mari" will be spelled "Marie." Oh well.
2) I'm going to go out on a rare, rare limb here and just say that "Twittering the Stars" was one of the very few stories I wrote last year that entirely pleased me. Saying that, of course, virtually ensures that it will soon start gathering terrible reviews. See the ending of point 1 above.
(Oh, and I should note, in the context of point 2, that "Ravens" was actually written in 2008 - not last year.)
************
Looking over "Ravens," I'm struck by what a product of that particular month it was: had I written it before, the middle would be different; if I wrote it now, the ending would be different. Some of my stories are distinctly more attached to different periods in my life than others, but this one is particularly strong. I have a feeling I'll be able to look at it years later and know, yep, I know when that was written, even if I can't remember the actual writing of it.
By someone else's design, not mine, the story breaks are marked by little black birds, which is marvelous.
The Phantom Queen Awakes also contains stories by Katherine Kerr, Anya Bast, Elaine Cunningham, Katherine Kerr, C.E. Murphy and
brigidsblest, contributing "Washerwoman," which has a lovely subtle touch of revenge and satisfaction mixed in with its questions about how we react to prophecy. I still haven't combed through the other stories, but I'm looking forward to it.************
I may have more to say about "Twittering the Stars" as we get closer to its official publication date of March 30, but for now, two small points:
1) Looking over "Twittering the Stars" was a good reminder that I really, but really, must pay attention to proof pages and not simply say, headache, because otherwise, "Mari" will be spelled "Marie." Oh well.
2) I'm going to go out on a rare, rare limb here and just say that "Twittering the Stars" was one of the very few stories I wrote last year that entirely pleased me. Saying that, of course, virtually ensures that it will soon start gathering terrible reviews. See the ending of point 1 above.
(Oh, and I should note, in the context of point 2, that "Ravens" was actually written in 2008 - not last year.)
