I have 3 stories, including 2 novellas, that will be published in September and October (2010):
"To Love the Difficult," a science fiction novella in Panverse 2 (September 1, Panverse Publishing, Trade Paper $15.95). This is a postapocalyptic "romance" and gradually unveiled "who will make it" and "who's who" survival mystery featuring a prickly, troubled couple of unusual provenance, a messed-up raccoon, and an old yellow dog named Pinky.
"Richard Dadd," a steampunk novella in The Shadow Conspiracy, Tales of the Steam Age Volume 2 - this is September, Book View Press, available in eBook form, including for the Kindle . . . (don't ask me price, like I would know?) This story felt similar to "green carnation" (that is a link to a web-design service - I hope they get some customers) inspired material and - I guess The Picture of Dorian Gray - with a few twists. Sarah Zettel's story "The Persistence of Souls," in Shadow Conspiracy 1 has been nominated for a Sidewise Award in Alternate History.
According to Oscar, when questioned about the oddly-popular 1894 book titled The Green Carnation, "I invented that magnificent flower. But with the middle-class and mediocre book that usurps its strangely beautiful name I have, I need hardly say, nothing whatsoever to do. The flower is a work of art. The book is not." So, possibly "Richard Dadd" channeled something. I can only say that the character's voice was a pleasure to channel. Maybe some readers will enjoy the story and character. There's some research gone into it.
"The Epicurean," a short, humorous horror story with a science-fictional (or, let's say "sci-fi" or "weird science") twist, in Blood Lite 2: Overbite (September 28, Gallery/Pocket, Trade Paper, $16) edited by Kevin J. Anderson for the Horror Writers of America (HWA). This story is about as good as lots of writers who love being listed on internet lists ever get. I read the reader reviews for Blood Lite 1 and lots of people seemed to have bought it because they were Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris fans, both authors featured in that book. These readers didn't like a lot of the other stories in the book and definitely wanted to comment on it on Amazon. In particularly, although Joe Lansdale's story seems to have amused a few readers - most of the Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris fans singled it out for hatred and revilement - i.e. a particularly offensive and sucky story. Of course this was after I'd turned back my page proofs, so what I have to say about "The Epicurean is," in 2008, I set a goal of writing several different short stories of different types, or accomplishing certain types of "story goals." "The Epicurean" is a traditional "puzzle" or ironic story, explaining what happens to an individual with an unavoidable behavior pattern (in this case, a tragic combination of the weaker aspects of human nature and a Vampire "hell-bent" to keep eating just like he always has). The way I told the story was meant to be similar to those written by Chekhov in the 19th Century (1884 to 1902), and have somewhat of a discourse or narration of the ironic Chekhovian manner - or possibly some of Shirley Jackson's highly-structured, linear stories as well. The story's science-fictional (or let's say "George Noory science") provenance is - it offers an illustration of how high blood cholesterol (HDL and LDL) affects not only today's modern humans, but also the vampires who feed upon them, and how this horrible contemporary health trend or "obesity epidemic" even contributes to the unconscionably awful phenomenon known as "spontaneous human combustion."
I'm awfully glad that Judy Tarr passed along a link today about web fiction and readership - talking about why we who have an internet presence should rethink how we present information and the difference between voluble internet commenters/"aspiring writers" or Aspergery chroniclers and actual readers - who seldom "comment." I knew that. But I'm a human being, too. When I see somebody take the time to list my name and make a special point of bragging they've never read anything I've written - which is not difficult to access or find - yeah, it doesn't feel very good. It would be preferable to be totally left off such a list. One or two "thanks" from a couple of real readers would be more than I ever expected or asked for and keeps me going for a very long time.
If you haven't read anything I've written, at least half a dozen things and my first novel are free or darn close to it via Book View Cafe. But of course, commenters post to put their own name forward in public, do they not? Not to talk about any actual writing, or readers.