It’s only September, but the holiday feeling has been in the air the past month or so for me. I’ve been working on a story for Dreamspinner Press’ Christmas Dreams – Mistletoe Madness anthology. I just sent “Rivals” in this morning, the deadline day. It was a fun story to write, just under 10,000 words. The anthology is for this Christmas so I should know soon if this is accepted or not.
In other news, Nerdvana (edited by Fred Towers, from STARbooks, ISBN: 1934187577, list price: $17.95) is up for pre-order now from Amazon and other sources. I’m excited about this since “Adventures of Jake #1” will be the first story I’ll make a little money for as well as my first story in a book that will be available nationwide. It’s going to be fun to read the other stories in here too to see what the other authors created from the theme. (Caution: Nerdvana contains adult subject matter)
Over in Neutral Zone land, things have been static. Work picked up for the summer and I haven’t been able to give time to it and get the short story done. Work kept me from finishing a short story for the Games in the Dark anthology. I’ve got a good chunk of that story written so I am going to finish it and hope to find somewhere else to shop it to. Work will lighten up by mid-October so I can get back to Neutral Zone and finish that editing job. Reading David Inside Out by Lee Bantle further drove the point home that I need to finish working on Neutral Zone and work to get it out there. There is a market for this kind of story–Martin, Bill and Lee have all proven that to me this year.
Jeff — Thanks for your insightful review of David Inside Out. It helped generate some momentum for the book.
I’m glad you’re encouraged to move forward with your own novel. There is a big market out there for gay-themed young adult novels. My publisher, Henry Holt, was specifically looking for a gay-themed teen novel for their list when they bought my MS. And I have found that it is not just gay boys who have been drawn to it, but also straight girls who are curious about and touched by the challenges of someone coming to terms with sexual identity.
Cheers!