Story accepted at MicroHorror

As part of my experimentation in genre, I've written another dark fiction piece and submitted it to MicroHorror for its 2009 Story Contest. It's up on MicroHorror now. Click here to read 'Prisoner'.

Short story submitted - 'The Dan experience'

I've submitted a second, longer piece for possible publication in the forthcoming Eve's Harvest anthology, to be published by Lip Magazine. The theme for the anthology is 'one'. 'The Dan experience' is about the disappointing emptiness of first love.

Submissions are being accepted via email or through WEbook. As I posted mine to WEbook, it's available for your reading pleasure here. You can also leave feedback. It's a bit scary submitting material that exposes bits of yourself, don't you think?

Vegetable poetry

Ha! It's not an oxymoron, but a challenge from Positive Words Magazine to write a poem of 10 lines or less or a short story of 100 words or less containing the word 'vegetable(s)'. In response I've penned a poem called 'Herbaceous Heart', which I've submitted.

Here's some more 'food for thought' on vegetable poetry:

Word History: Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" contains many striking phrases and images, but perhaps most puzzling to modern readers is one in this promise from the speaker to his beloved: "Had we but world enough, and time . . . /My vegetable love should grow/Vaster than empires and more slow." One critic has playfully praised Marvell for his ability to make one "think of pumpkins and eternity in one breath," but vegetable in this case is only indirectly related to edible plants. Here the word is used figuratively in the sense "having the property of life and growth, as does a plant," a use based on an ancient religious and philosophical notion of the tripartite soul. As interpreted by the Scholastics, the vegetative soul was common to plants, animals, and humans; the sensitive soul was common to animals and humans; and the rational soul was found only in humans. "Vegetable love" is thus a love that grows, takes nourishment, and reproduces, although slowly. Marvell's 17th-century use illustrates the original sense of vegetable, first recorded in the 15th century. In 1582 we find recorded for the first time the adjective use of vegetable familiar to us, "having to do with plants." In a work of the same date appears the first instance of vegetable as a noun, meaning "a plant." It is not until the 18th century that we find the noun and adjective used more restrictively to refer specifically to certain kinds of plants that are eaten.

Source: Dictionary.com

Paradise Anthology submission in

Sheesh a 25-word story is a tough ask! I did my best and sent in a sub. I did have a chuckle at the word limit for the bio being twice that of the short, short story!

The Paradise Anthology is seeking short stories 25 word maximum for their next issue to be released in February as part of the St Kilda Festival. Writers will be paid a minimum $20 plus a free copy of the magazine. One story only submitted per writer. Please send stories double spaced in 12 point Times New Roman plus a 50-word bio to paradisesubmissions@y7mail.com

WEbook submission: Shuffling sideways

Some nights I'm so tired I find it hard to write anything. The WEbook nanostory projects are fantastic for finding inspiration. The one I'm contributing to is themed 'What I did last summer' and each submission has to be exactly 50 words. That's not a lot of space to tell a story. It can be any genre, as long as it relates to summer holidays and is 50 words, no more, no less. My latest submission is 'Shuffling sideways'. If you're struggling to get going, give it a try. It won't hurt a bit!

WEbook submission: Squeezing a watermelon

If you haven't checked out WEbook yet, it's a cool place to workshop your writing, as well as make your own contributions to 'projects'. They also have challenges. I submitted a 50-word nanostory here, called 'Squeezing a watermelon'.

Short story submitted

Lipmag is seeking contributions for its first fiction anthology, titled Eve's Harvest. I've submitted a short story called 'Release'. Wonder if it'll get accepted for publication?