I just signed and mailed off the contracts for my first short story collection, to be published by Lethe Press sometime in 2010. The collection will include all of my published erotica and some original stories, including a steampunk erotica novella titled "The Electric Lash". Heh.

This will be my first book in print. I'm very, very excited. Here are the old-timey skeletons again - I didn't think I'd use them again so soon, but what the fuck. EVERYONE DANCE!

Subterranean bought my 20k horror novella "Her Deepness" (the first in my Lovecraftian-industrial alternate-Patagonia quartet - I'm currently working on #2). Actually, technically Bill accepted it in February, but I had to keep my mouth shut until now, and OMFG THAT WAS SO HARD because I am by nature a blabbermouth, and this was my first (and so far only) sale of the year. No word on when it'll be published.

BTW, much thanks to kellysarah for looking over the various geological/mining terms I used in the novella, and not laughing too hard at some of my very laughable mistakes.

And now it is time to dance.

1) I am now the proud owner of a sleek black Acer Aspire One (aka ELEVENTYONE!1ONE!): I've named her Patti. Patti Ellison. :) Do not ask me how this miracle transpired. Let's just say Patti and I are going to be racing toward a couple of fast-approaching deadlines. And we shall win. Oh yes, we are bitches and we shall win.

2) My last 2008 sale, let me show U it! I wrote a 25-word story called "Vermeer Blue" for a Twitter-based micro-fiction market called Thaumatrope (don't laugh, they pay quite well). It was accepted, and will appear on April 9, 2009.

This year kind of sucked, but mainly it rocked.

So, I guess this announcement right here means it's ok to say that "Horses" sold to Postscripts. Although, I'm sure most of you had figured it out already.

The final contributor for Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet is...me! My teenage-lesbians-in-creepy-suburban-Tacoma horror story "The Engine of Desire" was their final acceptance for the anthology. I found out two Sundays ago - not being able to say anything has been KILLING ME. I feel much better now. :D

I've been given the go-ahead to post the details: "Take Your Daughters to Work" (which was first published in Subterranean #6 last year) will be reprinted at Apex Online. YAY!

Also: I don't think I mentioned this before, but my fake-out squirrel/bloody harbles blog entry of several months ago was retitled "The Foraging" and included in the Shirley Jackson Awards chapbook Jack Haringa Must Die!. Please buy a copy to show your support for both horror awards and nuts of all sorts, myself included!

I woke up this morning to find the third sale of this week (!) in my email. It's another reprint, but it's a great market and I get teh monies, so as far as I'm concerned, it counts. I'll post the details when I'm given the go-ahead.

Ok, it is way too early - where's my fucking coffee - HERBERT!

... will be the reprint of "The Unattainable" (previously published in Cowboy Lover: Erotic Stories of the Wild West) in Maxim Jakubowski's Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 8, coming out in January 2009. Go me!

(FYI, this has nothing to do with the Sunday post - that's a separate "go me!" that I'll post more about when I'm given the go-ahead.)

Details to come.

:D

Also, it's raining again, with thunder and lighting to boot. Everything is silver and green and brick red outside, here in the industrial Valley of the Shadow of the Power House. Life is good, but sometimes it's fucking great.

It'll appear online sometime this summer.

Oddly, I'm not so bitter about missing WisCon anymore. Maybe because it's only 9:30am and I'm already wearing a tiara and glugging champagne. :D

EDIT: Fellow Clarionites at WisCon - if any of you happen to see Holly or Kelly, let them know I sold the story - thanks!

It looks like a few other writers are blogging about this, so I guess I can, too: "The Unattainable" will be published this April in Cecilia Tan's and Lori Perkin's Cowboy Lover: Erotic Stories of the Wild West*, by Thunder's Mouth Press.

Yee-haw! (Also, thank god, because I think I would have shot myself if it had been rejected, lol...)

Pseudopod is buying my teeny tiny flash "Brimstone Orange" as a reprint to podcast on their site. Yay!!

It's been a full two years since I first started submitting my surreal story about taking out the trash - "Jetsam", also known as "The Little Story That Got Trunked a Bajillion Times". This was the first story I wrote after my novel, and the first story I ever sent out into the cold world of slush. Well, today it finally found the right home: "Jetsam" has been accepted for Issue 4 of Sybil's Garage, a speculative magazine that's been garnering some good reviews for its fiction. I thought "Jetsam" would be a good fit for this market, as they often publish more idiosyncratic and "experimental" genre fiction than many of the mainstream markets, and it looks like I was right.

I am gobsmacked. Also, pretty happy. Cause, I've been waiting two years to use this "Kermit goes fucknuts" icon.... :D

My submission to Field Guide to Surreal Botany made the cut - I found out last night. Now I have to wait and see if it's going to to up on the website or into the guide - either way, it's a good thing.

I won't say what my entry was, except that it draws together all the things I love best: young girls, death, suburbia, and my favorite scientist of the 20th century. :P

My Mythos-tinged short story "Take Your Daughters To Work" will be published by Subterranean Magazine sometime in the future. First pro sale of a full-length story. And I already got paid! Subterranean rocks! Go buy their books now!

And: much, much thanks to Holly, Kelly, Michael Swanwick and the Clarionites for helping me whip the story into a publishable state. You are all the wind beneath my wings. I know, I know - pathetic fallacy, said bookism, blah blah. :P

Bonus: now I can join the HWA as an affiliate member and troll the message boards. Let teh drama begin!