Top five

At Chris Rhatigan's Death By Killing blog, guest blogger Sandra Seamans lists her five favorite flash stories of 2010 in today's post "Top Five of 2010: Sandra Seamans."

Included in her top five is my story "Dead Things," published by Big Pulp. She says:

"Michael’s story is as old as time, but the pov he chose to tell the story pumped fresh life into the tale."

57

I received my 57th acceptance earlier today, this time for a private eye story I wrote back in 2003.

I also learned that three stories previously accepted by the same publisher have now been scheduled for publication.

Essay

I don't track my nonfiction and other writing the way I track my fiction production, but I did finish and submit a 450-word essay this evening. A writer I've known for many years (one of several Internet friends I've never met in person) is putting together a collection of essays about bad dates and on Tuesday sent me the call for submissions.

I guess I've been lucky because I've never had a truly bad date, but there is one that has haunted me for nearly 40 years. So I wrote about it.

Kindling

For every J.A. Konrath there's a Michael Bracken.

I received my first royalty check from Amazon Digital Services Inc. (ADSI) for the five titles I made available for Kindle: $15.

Granted, none of the five titles are novels. Two are novellas; three are short stories. Four have been previously published; one is original. Four are crime fiction; one is romance. The novellas sell for $2.99; the short stories for $.99.

I also have seven titles available from three different publishers (two novels, a short story collection, and four short stories) and have short stories available in two anthologies available in Kindle format. My royalty check from ADSI does not reflect income from these titles.

Although I have mentioned all of these titles here and on my website, I've not been actively promoting them the way some writers promote their work.

I prefer to spend my available time writing new material.

Even so, here's my pitch: If you have a Kindle and want to read some good crime fiction, good romance fiction, or good confessions, try some of my titles. They're all available here: Michael's Kindle Titles.

Brand names

When I first started writing confessions in the 1980s, I quickly realized that editors deftly removed brand names from the stories they published.

"I drove my Rambler to Sambo's and ordered a Royal Crown Cola to drink while studying the menu" became "I drove my car to a chain restaurant and ordered a cola to drink while studying the menu."

In the belief that the less work a manuscript requires prior to publication increases--however minutely--the odds of the manuscript being accepted, I learned to write fiction without using brand names.

During the past few years things have changed. Confession editors are no longer excising all brand names from confessions prior to publication, and I recently read a confession that had so many brand names in it that I thought I was reading a shopping list and not a short story.

So I wonder which serves a story better: frequent use of brand names or complete removal of brand names?

I think use of brand names can be a crutch, a way for writers to create a character using shorthand--after all, a woman who wears Levi's and Polo shirts is quite different than a woman who dresses in Dolce & Gabbana and Manolo Blahnik--instead of making the character come alive through words and actions.

At the same time, use of brand names can date a story. Readers significantly younger than me may not even recognize the three brand names in my example above:

The Rambler was manufactured by American Motors, back when the U.S. had four major automobile manufacturing companies. The last Rambler was manufactured in 1969. American Motors was purchased by Chrysler in 1987 and renamed Eagle.

Sambo's was a chain of 1,200 restaurants that went bankrupt in the early 1980s and, apparently, only the original restaurant, opened in 1957, still exists.

Royal Crown Cola may be better known today as RC Cola.

If it's important to set a story in a particular time and place (pairing that RC cola with a Moonpie would likely set a story in the South in the 1950s), then brand names may be a valuable addition to a story, but if time and place is less important than the story itself, use of brand names would detract from the story and would be especially distracting to future readers unfamiliar with the brand names.

So, even though confession editors seem more open to the use of brand names, may I suggest that brand names be used judiciously and only when their use truly enhances a story.

Thirty-five

I completed my 35th short story of the year this evening, a 4,500-word St. Patrick's Day confession I started writing October 14. The final draft is printing now and it'll go in the mail tomorrow.

It's been almost three months since I completed a new short story, an anomaly not indicative of how much writing I've actually been doing. I didn't write much fiction in September--the month began with a family issue to address followed by a week of illness, and a load of other writing and editing filled up the last half of the month. But I returned to the keyboard in October and have been putzing around with various stories, adding bits to this story and that, outlining some new stories, and generating a variety of story ideas that I hope to get to soon. But generating ideas, outlining stories, and writing beginnings and middles don't create finished manuscripts. Only writing complete manuscripts accomplishes that goal.

56

I received my 56th acceptance earlier today, this time for a 6,200-word confession.

Published 2x

My Christmas stories "Bittersweet Homecoming" and "Fatherless at Christmas" appear in the December issue of True Confessions.

Published

My erotic deal-with-the-devil's-minion story "The Loophole" was published in Men at Noon, Monsters at Midnight (StarBooks Press, Christopher Pierce editor) back in June but my contributor's copy just arrived.

55

I received my 55th acceptance of the year via email this afternoon, this time for a Valentine's Day romance/confession.

Published

My Christmas confession "Santa's Little Helper Saves the Day" appears in the December True Story.

Published

My Thanksgiving confession "Turkey for Two" appears in the just-published December issue of True Love.

Published

My crime fiction story "Tides" appears in the just-released anthology Beautiful Boys (Cleis Press), edited by Richard Labonte.

Published

"My Lover's Secret," a confession, has been released by Lady Leo Publishing. It's available in various electronic formats.

54

I received my 54th acceptance today, this time for a confession.

53

I received my 53rd acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a bit of crime fiction.

Published

My article "Sky Island Gardening" appears in the November/December Texas Gardener.

52!

I received my 52nd acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this time for a short story featuring Waco-based private eye Morris Ronald "Moe Ron" Boyette. Boyette has appeared in several published stories since his "birth" in "Feel the Pain" (Flesh & Blood: Guilty as Sin, Mysterious Press) in 2003.

With this sale I've achieved my annual writing goal--to average one acceptance per week--and every sale from now until the end of the year is gravy.

Which is a good thing because I haven't finished any new manuscripts since early September.

Published

My Thanksgiving story "Home for the Holidays" appears in the November True Confessions.

Published

My ghost story "Pushing Coal" appears in the just-released anthology Specters in Coal Dust, edited by Michael Knost and published by Woodland Press, LCC.

To order directly from the publisher, go here: http://www.woodlandpress.com/book/folk-lore/now-shipping-specters-coal-dust

I've been tweeted

I don't have a Twitter account, but the SFWA tweets my blog posts. Even more unusual is that someone else--Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen--quoted me in one of her tweets on October 10. Go figure, huh?

51

I received my 51st acceptance of the year in today's mail, this time for a Christmas confession I wrote in 2008.

50

I received my 50th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, for a hot, summer confession.

49

I received my 49th acceptance of the year in today's mail, this time for a 6,100-word Christmas story.

Food for thought

While reading Kevin Burton Smith's "Murder on the Menu," an article about food in mysteries in the current (Fall, 2010) issue of Mystery Scene, I was surprised to see this:

And we should mention Hardbroiled (2003), edited by Michael Bracken, a collection of tough private eye stories in which food plays an important role.

It's nice to know that somebody other than the contributors remembers the anthology.

Published

My story "Too Good To Be True" appears in the Winter True Experience.

Kindling

Now available for Kindle: "Pick." While stealing the contents of a file folder, a B&E man witnesses a mob killing. Then his life gets complicated.

As time permits, I'm making my previously published crime fiction short stories available for Kindle, most of them for a mere 99 cents.

48

I received my 48th acceptance of the year this afternoon, for a 5,700-word Christmas-themed confession I submitted August 22.

Passport

A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at a writers conference in Mexico. I haven't been outside the U.S. since I was a teenager, and that was a one-day trip into British Columbia, Canada.

I agreed, then learned I needed a passport to travel to Mexico. The process of applying didn't seem particularly difficult...until I saw the questions I had to answer about my parents. My dilemma is that my parents have been dead for many years and I have limited family documents.

I had to obtain a copy of my birth certificate--at least I knew where I was born--and I found the answers to some of the questions there. I found the rest of the answers by digging around in my files, but it took a while.

I'm lucky I didn't need information about my grandparents. I might never have completed the application...

47

I received my 47th acceptance back on September 4 but failed to note it here, for a story written as a confession but sold to an anthology.

Published 2x

My erotic story "Tossing the Caber" was published in Teammates and my erotic mystery "Smooth Strokes" was published in Boys Getting Ahead. Both of these anthologies were released several months ago; my copies just arrived.

Writers love writing

If you are in a relationship with a writer, or are contemplating a relationship with a writer, read this:

http://agrammar.tumblr.com/post/1127991128/offended-by-rank-objectification-of-writers

The recession hits home

A couple of years ago, when a few of my primary fiction markets dried up and a few others started dragging payments, I altered my household budget. I eliminated fiction income from the budget and adjusted my projected expenses based on the presumption that my only income would be provided by my three biggest clients.

It's a good thing I did. Even though I brought in more money last year than in any year since 1996, my year-to-date income in 2010 falls short of 2009. I continue to sell fiction at a steady pace, but the long-term markets I'm writing for continue to drag payments and the new markets I've found don't pay as well as the markets I lost.

Through careful budgeting and a little luck my year-to-date income after expenses is slightly better than last year, but I don't like the financial direction my fiction writing has taken. It's no longer a question of budgeting cash flow as much as it is budgeting time and effort.

Do I step back, adjust the type of fiction I write, and take a hard run at some of the remaining top markets? The risk, as I learned early last year when I took a hard run at Woman's World, is that I may wind up with a lot of unsold and possibly unsellable short stories.

Do I attempt to increase my productivity, writing more for lower paying markets in an attempt to compensate for lost income? The risk is that I wind up Walmarting myself, making a little money from each of many sales rather than making significant money from each of only a few sales.

Or do I continue to write for the better paying markets that still publish my work, even though they now drag payments several months? The risk is that the publications don't survive the recession and disappear owing me significant amounts of money.

The life of the average freelancer is not easy. The life of the average freelance fiction writer is harder still.

And the recession just complicates everything...

ArmadilloCon, again

Elspeth Bloodgood, Kim Kofmel, and I share "Memories of Fandom Past" at ArmadilloCon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elzes/4989118670/. Joining us but not pictured: Cat Conrad.

Published

My confession "The Secret Lives of Teachers" has been released in various electronic formats. It should be available for Kindle within the next few days.

Published

My romance story "An Engaging New Year" appears in Passionate Hearts, released this month in various electronic formats. A print edition is forthcoming.

Kindling

I am in the process of making some of my previously published short crime fiction available on Kindle. Rather than bore you with how much money I'm earning and how I'll soon retire to a villa on the south of France, how about if I tell you about the first three stories?

When the lady of the house seduces the ex-con tending her lawn, murder isn’t far behind.

Available now.






The Baker High School class of 1974 had big dreams. Then one father’s small crime changed everything.

“Dreams Unborn” was named one of the best mystery stories of the year by Joyce Carol Oates and Otto Penzler, editors of The Best American Mystery Stories 2005.

Available now.


When two young men break into a house and discover evidence of a horror beyond any they could imagine, one of them is forced to choose the lesser of two evils.

Uploaded this evening; should be available within 48 hours.

Published

My story "Dead things" was published today at BigPulp.

"What do you do...?"

I received the following via email this morning and thought I would share my response.

"Do you have confession stories that have not been accepted after sending them around? What do you do with them?"

I don't have many unsold confessions. Up until the black confession magazines (Black Romance, Jive, etc.) ceased publication a few years ago I had sold every confession I'd ever written. Now, with fewer confession magazines and the existing magazines (True Love, True Story, etc.) not as interested in some of the stories that would have easily sold to the black confession magazines, I have a few confessions hanging around in the filing cabinet.

But I do what I've always done:

1) If I can see a flaw in the story, I revise, retitle, and send the story around again. (I've sold a few this way.)

2) If I don't think there's a flaw in the story, I wait until an editor changes jobs and submit to the new editor. (I've sold many this way.)

3) And, lately, I've been keeping my eyes open for opportunities--anthologies, other magazines, epublishers--that don't identify as confession markets but have guidelines that make me think a confession or confession-like story might be appropriate. (In the past couple of years I've sold half a dozen or so this way.)

Interviewed

Haven't gotten enough of me yet? Last month I was interviewed by Aurora, a website that reviews and interviews the authors of young adult fiction, and the interview was posted this morning. Check it out at http://aurorareviewsarchives.blogspot.com/2010/09/interview-michael-bracken.html.

Published

"My Undercover Lover," a confession, appears in the October True Story.

Published

My erotic crime story "Slash and Burn" appears in the just-published paperback anthology Boy Fun, and the e-book anthology Beach Challenge.

47

I received my 47th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, for a story I submitted earlier this afternoon. I originally wrote the story as a male-viewpoint confession but sold it to an anthology instead of a confession magazine.

Published

"Loving My Neighbor," a confession with a Halloween tie-in, appears in the October True Love.

Video killed the writing star

Another first: I'm part of a book trailer promoting Passionate Hearts, an anthology of short romance fiction. Watch the trailer at http://www.freado.com/book/8040/passionate-hearts.

Thirty-four

I finished and submitted my 34th story of the year, a 2,900-word bit of erotica. I started writing the story on December 20, 2007, and had about half of it written. I picked it up again Monday when I realized it fit the theme of an anthology that just sent out an open call for submissions, and I finished it this morning.

46

I received my 46th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for 4,400 words of violent crime fiction about a hired killer.

ArmadilloCon pics

Michael Bracken (moderator) and Thomas M. Wagner answer the question "Are Online Sites the New Fanzines?"
George Wilhite, Michael Bracken, and Joe R. Lansdale discuss "Writing in Other Fields." Not pictured: Steve Wilson and moderator Michael Ashleigh Finn.

45

I returned home from ArmadilloCon this afternoon to find my 45th acceptance in my mailbox. This one's is a 6,600-word Thanksgiving-themed confession I submitted July 18.

Marketing gone amuck

I can't claim to have seen everything, but this comes close: My name (and the names of the other contributors) on a tote bag promoting Passionate Hearts, a forthcoming anthology containing one of my stories:

http://www.zazzle.com.au/passionate_hearts_bag-149385558866592477

Great review

In a Bookgasm review of The Baddest of the Bad, a collection of the best material from the first three issues of Out of the Gutter, Rod Lott writes:

"...followed by the even-better 'Professionals,' in which Michael Bracken spins a story of a male prostitute who gets into big trouble with one of his johns."

ArmadilloCon

I'll be at ArmadilloCon (a science fiction convention) in Austin, Texas, this weekend. I'm on three panels (moderating one of them) and will be reading "Pushing Coal," a ghost story to be published later this year in the anthology Specters in Coal Dust, at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

If you are also attending, say howdy.

Thirty-three

I finished and submitted my 33rd short story of the year this evening. This one's a 1,000-word horror story, inspired by a folk song, that I began writing yesterday evening.

Thirty-two

I finished and submitted my 32nd short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,700-word Christmas-themed confession that I started writing July 19, 2007. I'd completed the first scene--just shy of a thousand words--some time in the past and wrote the balance of the story over the course of several days this week.

44

I received my 44th acceptance today, this time for a romance to be published in an anthology of romance stories.

Thirty-one

I finished and submitted my 31st short story of the year earlier this evening, a 3,000-word Christmas confession that I started writing on July 30.

43

I took a break from office work and went grocery shopping. When I returned, my 43rd acceptance of the year was waiting for me. This one's a romantic/erotic story about finding a modern-day "handsome prince." In my story, the handsome prince is a rich Texas cowboy.

42

My 42nd acceptance of the year was waiting in my inbox when I checked email this morning. This time it's a ghost story, accepted by the editor of an anthology of ghost stories set in the Appalachian coal mines.

40, 41

I received two acceptances today, my 40th and 41st of the year. The first is for a story about a hitman and what he sees through his rifle scope. The other is for an article I wrote for a gardening magazine.

Published

"I Was a Topless Waitress," a confession, was released in electronic formats by Lady Leo Publishing.

The publisher describes the story this way:

When Samantha ”Sandy Beaches” Beecher loses her job as a Web site designer, the only job she can get is waitressing topless at Mountain Tops.

The money becomes seductive, allowing her to pay off her debts. But, she soon learns that the real money’s in stripping, and she seriously considers making the change until one night, her world falls apart, and Samantha must decide what kind of woman she really is.

"I Was a Topless Waitress" is currently available from the publisher's website and should soon be available from Amazon and other sources.

This Little Piggy Went to Market

What I'll be doing on Facebook next Wednesday:

MICHAEL BRACKEN presents “This Little Piggy Went to Market: How I’ve Sold More Than 800 Short Stories”

You're invited to visit www.facebook.com/janice.curran to participate in this special Featured Friend event for writers! Click on over Wednesday, August 11, between 12 and 1 P.M. Central/1 and 2 Eastern to read Michael's tip, comment and ask questions. Have to miss the event? The thread will remain posted so you can view it at a later time. Hope to see you there! :-)

Janice Curran, host
www.facebook.com/janice.curran

Published x2

My story "Burning Love" appears in the September True Confessions and my story "Lessons in Love" appears in the September True Story.

Story thirty

I finished writing my 30th short story of the year a few minutes ago. It's a 6,100-word Christmas confession I started writing on May 2, but I only wrote the first few paragraphs back then. I picked the story up again Sunday morning and finished writing it this evening. The final version is printing out now and it will go in the mail tomorrow.

Submitting to the mathematically challenged

I've been surfing the net this evening, searching for places to submit unsold stories, and I've stumbled across too many "paying" publications that reveal mathematical ineptitude in how they describe their pay rates.

For example, one site that claims to pay professional rates states that they pay .05 cents per word.

Say what?

Five cents per word is usually considered a professional rate.

One-twentieth of one cent per word is not.

If they truly pay a professional rate, then they should state that the pay rate is:

5 cents per word

or

$.05 per word

but NOT

.05 cents per word

As it stands, their stated pay rate is either abysmally low or their editors lack proofreading skills. Either way, would you want them to publish your work?

39

Mail delivery was quite late today, but well worth the wait. In it was my 39th acceptance of the year, this time for a confession I wrote back in early 2008.

OKC in 2011

I've received--and have accepted--an invitation to lead two sessions at the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc.'s 2011 Conference in Oklahoma City, May 5-7.

38

I received my 38th acceptance of the year earlier this evening, for a confession I wrote back in 2008 and revised earlier this month at the editor's request.

Story twenty-nine

I completed my 29th short story of the year today, a 6,600-word Thanksgiving-themed confession that I started writing on July 18, 2007. I'm printing the final draft now and expect to drop it in the mail tomorrow.

34, 35, 36, 37

I received my 34th, 35th, 36th, and 37th acceptances of the year a few minutes ago, all from the same publishing company in England. One story was accepted for an anthology being put together right now and the other three for future projects. The oldest story was written in 2005; the other three in 2009.

With these four acceptances I've now received exactly the same number of acceptances as I did all of last year, and I'm placing stories faster than I'm writing new ones.

Why am I unhappy?

In "The Creativity Crisis" (Newsweek, July 19, 2010) Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman write, about creative people, "They're not particularly happy--contentment is a kind of complacency creative people rarely have."

That explains a lot.

What's happening at my Barnes & Noble

The section for westerns at my local Barnes & Noble is growing while the section next to it--anthologies (which contains both fiction and non-fiction)--is shrinking.

The section devoted to books about writing is shrinking rapidly.

33

I received my 33rd acceptance of the year in today's mail, this time for the romance/confession I submitted July 4.

Published

My story "Professionals," which first appeared in the second issue of Out of the Gutter back in 2007, has been reprinted in The Baddest of the Bad, a collection of the "baddest" stories from the first three issues of the magazine.

When "Professionals" was first published, Bill Crider noted that it "reveals that Bracken is himself a real pro when it comes to crime shorts."

The Baddest of the Bad, edited by Matthew Louis and published by Gutter Books, is available directly from the publisher at www.GutterBooks.com, Amazon, and other retailers.

31, 32

I received my 31st and 32nd acceptances of the year this morning. One was for the 5,000-word Halloween-themed confession I finished and submitted this weekend; the other was for a 3,000-word Thanksgiving-themed confession I wrote in 2009.

Story twenty-eight

I completed and submitted my 28th short story of the year today. It's a 5,000-word confession/love store tied to Halloween that I started writing back on May 5. I wrote only part of the opening scene back then and wrote the bulk of the story this week.

Story twenty-seven

I completed my 27th story of the year a few minutes ago. It's a 4,800-word confession/romance. The final draft is printing now and it'll go in the mail the next time I pass a mailbox.

Kindling

I have four titles available for the Kindle, and sometime overnight my latest--"I Slept With My Sister's Husband" (Lady Leo Publishing)--became by bestselling title, surpassing All White Girls (Wildside Press) in second, my self-published Unbridled Love in third, and Just in Time for Love (Hardshell Word Factory, recently bought out by Mundania Press) in fourth.

Published

Tomorrow, July 1, is the official release date for "I Slept With My Sister's Husband," a confession released in electronic formats by Lady Leo Publishing. The Kindle version has been available for about a week; the PDF version went live earlier today.

This is an old-school confession in the sin-suffer-repent mode, the kind of confession that the remaining confession magazines don't publish much any more, if at all.

Lady Leo Publishing has accepted two additional stories for release later this year and sent another one back this past weekend for minor revisions to one scene before issuing an official acceptance.

The official coronation

In "Diversify Your Career: Exploring Fiction-Writing Options" (Romance Writers of America's Romantic Writers Report, July 2010) Vivi Anna writes:

In today's unstable publishing market, it is important for an author to be flexible and willing to change. That means thinking outside the box to stay published and to make an income.

Towards the end of the article, after suggesting alternate markets for novels, she delves into short fiction and writes:

Can't stay away from romance? There are a whole slew of magazines looking for romantic "true" stories. The "Trues" as they are known in the industry: True Romance, True Confession, True Love, True Experience, and True Story are always looking for well-written, emotionally fueled stories. Crime writer Michael Bracken is sometimes referred to as the "King of Confessions" because of the more than 170 stories he's written for the "Trues."

It's in print, so the rumors must be true. I have been crowned "King of Confessions."

More ApolloCon pics

Lee Thomas, Michael Bracken, and David B. Carren discuss horror on the "Shiver Up Your Spine" panel. Not pictured: Gabrielle S. Faust and moderator Stina Leicht.

Bill Crider moderates "Writing 101" with Michael Bracken and (not pictured) Katherine Eliska Kimbriel, Stine Leicht, and Julia Mandala.

ApolloCon pic

Visit Patrice Sarath's blog post "ApolloCon 2010 --Wrap Up" and scroll down to the second photo to see me on the "No Excuses!" panel (left to right: Rosemary Clement Moore, Katherine Eliska Kimbriel, Michael Bracken, Patrice Sarath, Rhonda Eudaly).

The woman in red, the only audience member visible in the photo, is Rebecca, known better in these parts as Plot Monkey.

30

I received my 30th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for 700-word bit of crime fiction.

Never tempt fate

When I read Dean Wesley Smith's May 6 reply to one of the responses to his blog post "Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Rejection "--"Always plan for sales. Expect rejection but plan for sales."--I was flabbergasted.

A successful pro who expects rejection? That's the antithesis of my attitude. When I submit a manuscript, I expect acceptance.

Was I being cocky or egotistical? A quick thumb through my files seemed to indicate that I wasn't. Many recent manuscripts were accepted upon first submission, I was receiving twice as many acceptances as rejections, and year-to-date sales were exceeding my goal. The numbers seemed to confirm my expectations.

I shrugged my shoulders and figured to each his own.

But I should known better than to tempt fate.

Since May 6 I've received five acceptances...and 16 rejections. I've received about half my year-to-date rejections within a seven-week period, and year-to-date rejections now outnumber year-to-date acceptances.

Ouch.

Funny how fate has a way of reminding us of our place in the world.

Nook News

Earlier today, Barnes & Noble announced their new, improved, and renamed e-reader. It's a half-size Nook that can only be used to read erotica. They anticipate sales to rise rapidly because, "Everybody wants a little Nookie."

29

I received my 29th acceptance of the year in today's mail, this for a 4,000-word confession written back in 2008.

Kindling

Yesterday, for the first time, I saw Unbridled Love on a Kindle. Although everything else appeared fine, none of the paragraphs were indented. I resolved that problem and uploaded the revision this morning.

So here's the sales pitch:

Melissa Grant, the 25-year-old owner of a tack shop, is disgusted with the way the new riding instructor at Rocking Horse Stables treats her classmates during their first lesson, and her attempt to confront him is thwarted when she bursts into his apartment over the observation room and finds him half-undressed.

Will an escalating series of attractions and repulsions set against the backdrop of the riding stable where Hans Edelmann teaches and the narrator has her shop--including their preparations for the annual competition at Stallion Stables, the pending sale of Rocking Horse Stables, and the narrator’s mistaken belief that Edelmann is interested in an older woman--lead to true love?

Unbridled Love: A Romance with Horse Sense is available exclusively for Kindle.

Order yours here: Unbridled Love.

Those were the days

One of the panels in which I'll be participating at ApolloCon is "Paper, Pixels, Podcasts," a discussion of how science fiction fans have communicated in the past and in the present, and how might they communicate in the future.

I'm on the panel to represent fandom past. Beginning with the first issue in December 1973 and continuing through the final issue in November 1979, I edited Knights, a science fiction fanzine that began modestly with a small print run produced on a ditto machine. When the readership increased beyond the ditto machine's capacity to produce readable copies, I produced several issues on a mimeograph before Knights graduated to a publication that was typeset (pre-desktop publishing, mind you) and printed on an offset press.

Along the way I published columns, articles, and letters from SF writers and editors who were already successful and several who have since became successful--Charles L. Grant, Thomas F. Monteleone, David Gerrold, Robert Bloch, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Algis Budrys, Bob Tucker, Gene Wolfe, Don D'Ammassa, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, William Rotsler, Rick Wilber, Barry N. Malzberg, Christopher Priest, Richard A. Lupoff, Ted White, Grant Carrington, Gregory Benford, Patrick Hayden, Al Sirois, Robert Silverberg, and many others--as well as artwork by people such as Phil Folgio, Thomas Canty, and many, many others.

It was a heady time for a young writer-to-be.

Learn more at:

"Knights"

"More Than a Footnote"

P.S. A quick Internet search reveals that copies of Knights--the ones not in university collections--are selling for $30+. If you're interested, I've a few copies of later issues that I've been toting around for years and would be willing to part with for slightly less than the going rate.

ApolloCon

ApolloCon starts one week from today in Houston, Texas. I'm scheduled to appear on four panels--details below--and I hope if you're there that you'll stop by and say howdy.

Fri 10:00PM - 11:00PM
Shiver Up Your Spine
Seattle I
Michael Bracken, David B. Carren, Lee Thomas, Stina Leicht (M), Gabrielle S. Faust

Sat 10:00AM - 11:00AM
Writing 101
Seattle I
Stina Leicht, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Michael Bracken, Julia Mandala, Bill Crider (M)

Sun 10:00AM - 11:00AM
No excuses! Writer's Boot Camp
Seattle II
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Rhonda Eudaly, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Patrice Sarath
(M), Michael Bracken

Sun 11:00AM - 12:00PM
Paper, Pixels, Podcasts
Tucson
Pat Virzi, Mel. White, Michael Bracken, Amy Sisson (M), Melanie Miller Fletcher

Story twenty-six

I finished my 26th short story of the year this evening. It's 1,900 words and was written for me, not in response to a call for submissions or to meet any particular publication's requirements. For that reason, I haven't a clue where to submit it. But I'll send it somewhere.

Story twenty-five

I finished and submitted my 25th story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 2,200-word bit of erotica to meet the requirements of a call for submissions sent to me a month or so ago.

Same name, different game

Until I started surfing the Internet several years ago, I thought my name was unique. I was wrong.

The author of Hey, We Can Play This Game shares my name but isn't me, nor am I Michael B. Bracken, the author or co-author of several books such as Perinatal Epidemiology. There's also a Mike* Bracken out there who reviews horror movies and may be the same Mike Bracken who was the horror expert on the game show Beat the Geeks, and recently another writer named Michael Bracken--perhaps one already mentioned--has had quite a bit of his non-fiction appear in Google searches for my name.

I wonder how much identical or nearly identical bylines impacts our writing careers. Might editors purchase something from one of us thinking we're another one? Might a reader purchase a book from one of us expecting the work of another?

Then again, maybe one of us needs to become really, really famous before I concern myself with the answers to these questions.


*FYI I'm not "Mike."

28

I received my 28th acceptance of the year today, this time for a confession I submitted on May 9.

When editors move on

I learned earlier today that this is the last day at work for a magazine editor who's published many of my stories in her two magazines.

I find that every time an editor moves on, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm dismayed that I will have to learn the likes and dislikes of a new editor. On the other hand, this means that all the stories the outgoing editor rejected can be resubmitted.

I've been selling to these two magazines for several years and have worked with several editors over the years, but there's no guarantee this will continue. The new editor might love my stuff and accept many stories during her tenure or the new editor might not like anything I write and I might not sell to these magazines again until after the new editor's tenure expires.

I've had both happen to me in the past. In a few cases my sales increased when a new editor took over; in a few cases my sales dwindled; and occasionally my sales dried up completely.

This editor leaves with three of my stories in her slush pile. It might not be long before I know what the new editor thinks of my stuff.

The slow purge

I'm becoming increasingly disenchanted with social networking. Through MySpace I'm linked to many other writers, who care as little about me as I care about them because we were both trying to push our books when we linked. Through Facebook I'm linked to a small but odd mix of friends, family, and other writers, and I'm leery of posting anything there because my writing life and my personal life don't mix well.

Because I've not published any books lately, I've not much to promote (Go to amazon.com now and buy my books. All of them.), and because personal information is available to the world once it's posted on Facebook, I've been cautious about what to post, if I post at all.

I have connected with some lost friends and family, and for that I'm grateful. So, while I'm reluctant to leave either site on the off-chance I might yet connect with another lost friend or family member, there's no good reason for me to remain linked to so many people.

Therefore, at the pace of two or three a week, I've been purging my "friends."

My criteria? If you have more than 500 friends, you won't notice when I unfriend you. If you haven't logged on to your MySpace page in six months or more, you may not even remember you have a MySpace account and won't notice when I unfriend you. If we haven't swapped some kind of personal message in some form through one medium or another for six months or more, you probably won't notice when I unfriend you.

And so, one by one, I'm saying a silent farewell to my social network.

But I'll keep hanging abound here for a while. This I enjoy.

27

I received my 27th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for an erotic story involving baseball.

Batter up!

Published

My story "The Gimp, the Vig and the Ring" appears in the just-released anthology Muscle Men.

The call for submissions did not specifically mention crime fiction, but didn't rule it out, either. So, the "muscle man" I wrote about collects debts for the mob.

ApolloCon, ArmadilloCon

I'll be attending two science fiction conventions this summer: ApolloCon in Houston, Texas, June 25-27, and ArmadilloCon in Austin, Texas, August 27-29. I don't yet know which programming events I'll be participating in, but I'll probably be on a panel or two and may even do a reading. If you're at either of these conventions, stop by and say howdy.

Seven years, or 84 consecutive months

With publication of stories in the July True Confessions and July True Story, I have now had one or more short stories published each month for 84 consecutive months.

26

I received my 26th acceptance of the year this morning, for a vampire story. I originally wrote the story in response to a call for submissions for a vampire anthology, but missed the cut. Instead, it sold to an anthology of extreme horror.

Published 2x

My story "Fun in the Sun" appears in the July True Story and my story "Reunion at the Lake" appears in the July True Confessions. Both are romance/confession stories.