Category Archives: Science fiction

No, seriously, not dead yet.

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hi.

Yeah, it’s been a while. And while I really enjoyed the audio posts I was doing, I think I need to call a hiatus on them for the time being; some of it is hosting issues and a lot of it is just that lately I haven’t felt much motivation to sit down in front of my dinky little mic and ramble at you. So if you were enjoying those, thanks so much for listening, and this is me telling you that I really hope that they’ll return at some point soon. Possibly when I’m in a better place, mental health-wise.

There’s something about spring semesters, I swear.

There is news, though.

  • First and foremost, I’m very late announcing this here given that I’ve been talking about it a lot of other places on the internets, but I’ve sold what I’ve affectionately taken to calling The Big Gay Space Opera – what I co-wrote with a BFF of mine – to Samhain Publishing, under the title Line & Orbit (previously Rosetta). Right now the release date is slated for sometime in early 2013. It will be out in both ebook formats and trade paperback. I’m really, really excited about it, you guys, I can’t even tell you. It’s been a long, strange road with this book and I’m really happy it’s finally found a good home. Right now we’re just in the early editing phase but watch this space for much more about it once I have more to give. I’m hoping to throw together some contests and freebies and whatnot.
  • I’ve sold a slipstreamy piece of something called “The Scarred Utopian Takes a Wife” to Jabberwocky, for release this fall. I love Jabberwocky, so that’s awesome.
  • My story “The Thick Night”, which originally appeared in Strange Horizons, will be reprinted in the 2012 edition of Lethe Press’s Heiresses of Russ: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, due out this winter. Also very awesome, especially given the company it looks like I’ll be in.

That’s pretty much it for the moment. Given that the audio thing is on hiatus I’ll be trying to post here more regularly, though. Who knows: I might even try my hand at actually writing things about things again. Shock and awe.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in News, Sale, Science fiction, Slipstream

Comps/life/things update (SPOILER ALERT: I PASSED)

Posted on March 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

No podcasty-thing for this week, as I’m battling the second iteration of comps-related illness that I’ve had so far this year and my voice is a wreck (though perhaps it would actually be a husky, sexy wreck). However, since the last few installments have all dealt with my weathering of my comprehensive exams in some manner, I should note at this point that I’ve officially passed both and will be proceeding to PhD candidacy just as soon as I get my ass in gear enough to get the paperwork turned in.

So that’s good.

A couple of note-worthy things:

  • Circlet Press has fixed the malware issue on their site and it’s now safe to once again go and cast your vote for your top five favorite Circlet stories to be included in their best-of anthology. And again, my story “Catch & Release” is up for a vote, so if you haven’t voted for it that would be a lovely thing to do.
  • I’ve fixed some of the broken links on my fiction page; stories on sites that have vanished into the ether are now linked in their Archive.org editions. I may actually host the stories here myself, but for now this seems like an okay stopgap. I’ve also linked to the Smashwords edition of “We Are Such Stuff”, lately out of print from Torquere Press.
  • I’m still working on the untitled angel novel and I really like where it’s going now.
  • Stay tuned for some super-awesome amazing news in the next week or so. Seriously, I can hardly stand it how much I want to talk about this right now.

Hopefully next week — or possibly even this Friday — we’ll be back with more audio. In the meantime, wash your hands carefully and frequently. Cough cough.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Erotica, News, Science fiction, WIP

Not-Podcast: Subtle world-building fails and current WIPs

Posted on March 4, 2012 | 2 Comments

Fresh new post-comps edition of the ongoing podcast-esque project. I talk about something I’m running into in one of the books I’m currently reading that is proving to be a barrier to me really immersing myself in its world, and that I feel is often a stumbling block when it comes to constructing really vital, believable fantastic worlds of any kind – especially hard to deal with because of its subtlety.

I also read a bit from one of my current two WIPs (short SF time travel-gone-wrong piece). The text of it is after the cut. Enjoy.

Continue reading →

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Audio, Excerpt, Musings, Science fiction, WIP

“Catch and Release” up for a best-of vote(!)

Posted on February 17, 2012 | 1 Comment

So this is good news in an otherwise difficult week: Circlet Press is going to release a print anthology of the best of their digital library in honor of their 20th anniversary (yay Circlet!), and my 1001 Nights retelling in space, “Catch and Release”, has made the shortlist. The final ToC of the anthology will be decided both by Circlet’s editors and by a reader poll. So if you read “Catch and Release” and you’d like to see it in print, you can go here and vote for it, as well as up to four other stories. And you should -  there are some fantastic stories and equally fantastic authors on that list.

Circlet’s made a business of putting out not only top-notch erotica but also top-notch writing, period – I’ve been continually impressed by the quality of work that I’ve seen them put out, and it’s been an honor to be a part of the anthologies in which they’ve included me. They were actually my very first publication ever and I’ll always be grateful to them. Congrats, Circlet. Here’s to many more years of SFnal porny goodness.

I’m including a lengthy and NSFW excerpt of “Catch and Release” below the cut.

Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Erotica, Excerpt, M/F, Science fiction

New edition of The Not-Podcast Thing

Posted on February 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Wherein I talk about how I personally go about finding fiction markets, I read a bit of the current novel-shaped object, and my cat yells at me.

I like doing these, and I like Soundcloud, but I think I may need to move to a different host. At some point I’m going to run out of space.

As always, please give me things to talk about if you want me to talk about about anything specific.

The text of the excerpt I read is under the cut.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Audio, Excerpt, Science fiction, WIP

Audio-blog-not-podcast-maybe: Yay I’m feeling better and I wrote a thing

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

New thing-what-I-don’t-feel-comfortable-calling-a-podcast. Turns out I’m feeling a lot better this week. Also I wrote a story that I actually like. I read a bit of it. Text of the excerpt is under the cut.

As always, please get in touch with me with any questions, anything you want me to read or talk about -  really anything.

Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Audio, Excerpt, Science fiction

New semi-sort-of-maybe-podcast episode

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 1 Comment

So faced with the fact that – right now, at least – writing blog posts is hard for me, I’ve decided to try just talking. I hesitate to call it a podcast. It’s podcast-esque.

Note: I mean that I’m in my third year of grad school. Not third semester. Blahblah.

You can read the excerpt I read aloud below. From untitled time-travel-war-thing.

Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Audio, Excerpt, Science fiction

WIP Wednesday: Untitled Dystopian Queer Angel(?) Novel

Posted on December 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet–a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/14157/uncensor

I’m █████ to ████ █████ the ████ █████ I’m ███████ on. I ████, it █████ █████-██████. We’ll see.

██████ I ████: I ████ it’s set in a █████████ ████████ ██████. I ████ ████ █████’s a █████ of █████ █████ ████████ ████████████. I ████ my ████ ██████████ are █████ █████–a man ████ a ███████ ██████████ who has ████ ████████ ████ a ██████████ and who has ███████ to ████ █████ the █████████–and ███████–a man ████ a ██████ ██████, a ██████████ ████, and ██████████ ██████, who █████ to ███████ ████ he is an ███████████ of St. ███████ █████████. I ████ ████ █████ and ███████ ████ ██████████ ████ a █████. I ████ ████ the ████ █████ not ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ████████████ but ██████ the ███████ of a ████████ █████████ █████ to ███████ a █████ to █████████ the ██████████.

██████ I don’t ████: ███████ or not ███████ ██████ is an █████. ███████ or not █████’s ██████ is one of the ████ ████. ███████ or not █████ ████ be a █████ ██████.

█████ I ████ all of ████ out, ████ a █████.

- – -

He ████ ███████ the ████, ███████ his █████ ███████ it, ██████ ████ ████ and ██████ ███████ ████ and █████████ on. He no ██████ ██████████ how ████ he had ████ ███████.

█████ he had ███████ ████ the dog-man, █████ had ████ a █████ ████ of ████████ and ███████████ █████. ████ had ████ the ████, and for a ██████ █████ he had ██████ ████ ████. █████ was █████████ █████ the █████ ██████, so █████████ ████ the ██████ and ██████████ █████ ████ he had ████ all ██████ him, the ████ ███████ in the █████ █████. The █████ had ████ a ██████ ████…

████.

And he had ██████ in it, ████████ █████ in the ██████ of an ████████ █████ ████ █████, ██████ █████ ███████ ████ his ████ ████, ████ ██████ up to the sky and his ████ ██████. █████. ████. █████ ████ ████ ██████. He ██████████ ████ ████.

████ a ██████ and the █████ of ███████ █████████ ██████ him, and the ███████ of ██████ had ████████. The █████ ██████ him ███████. He was ██████ █████.

████ or █████ he █████ a █████ ████ ██████ to him ████ the █████ did, and █████████ in him ████████ him ████ the █████ was █████ and the █████ was ███████, and he ███████ and ████ ███████ ████ █████ and ██████ his ████ ██████ ███████ as his ████ was ███████ ████ ███████. He was ███████████ █████, █████████ and █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ a ████. ████████ █████. ██████ ████ was so █████ to ██████, ████ ████ was so █████ to ████.

████ was not ████. ████ was a ████ ██████ of it. He ███████ ████ and ██████ on, ██████ ███████ ███████, ███████ ██████ ██████████.

Why was he ████? █████ had he ████ ████? It ████ a ████ for the █████████ to ████ to him—to ████ ████████ █████████ as █████ as the ████ of his █████████—but ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████████, ██████████ to ██████, and ██████ by a ████████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████. ████ he █████ ████ ████ ████. By ████ the █████ was ████████ and far ████ ████████, no ██████ █████████ to ████ in. █████ was ███████ his ████. He ███████ in a ████ █████ of ██████ and ██████ his ███████ █████ ███████ the █████ of his ████ and █████████.

He ████’t ████ why, █████ all ██████, he ██████ be ███████ ███████████.

Uncensor This

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Excerpt, Fantasy, In progress, M/M, Paranormal, Science fiction, WIP

Agony/Ecstasy, “Wetwire”, and the Erotica of Augmented Reality

Posted on December 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

I’m foregoing the semi-usual Muse Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Whenever-The-Hell-I-Write-It  post in favor of one in honor of a release I have today: Jane Litte’s  (of Dear Author) BDSM-y anthology Agony/Ecstasy. You can pick up a copy here and I highly recommend it, because I’m in some extremely good company.

I’m also a bit of an oddball, though, and I’d like to mark the release by talking about why.

“Wetwire” started out just straight-up erotica, but part of the way through the inception process, something interesting happened: I started to think about Themes. Those themes eventually expanded to fill most of the mental space of the story, until I ended up feeling like the sex was mostly a way of talking about something else. Two primary something elses, actually. They are:

- William Gibson’s idea of  how “the street finds its own uses for things”. “Burning Chrome” is one of my favorite short stories ever, and Gibson is one of my favorite authors ever, so of course, setting out to write cyberpunk porn, it makes sense that he would be lurking in the background (not like in a creepy way). But the idea is interesting to me beyond that. What I ended up writing about was that initial moment in the emergence of a new form of technology – or a new evolution of an existing one – when it’s not yet widespread or widely commercial, when the only people making much use of it are techies and hackers. At those moments, its actual use might be extremely up for grabs – people might use it for a whole set of things for which it was not originally designed, and for which it may not be used by the public in general once it goes mainstream.

Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Book launch, Erotica, Excerpt, Kink, M/F, Science fiction

WIP Wednesday: More Mars novel-in-progress-and-almost-done-thank-God

Posted on September 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

I keep saying how I’m into the home stretch on this novel. The thing about home stretches: they stretch. A lot. The last book I did, the one I co-wrote? I think I was “almost done” with that thing for like three goddamn months. I don’t think that’s going to happen here, but man does this thing seem to be taking its time with ending.

But here’s another piece of it.

(if you want setup, I refer you back to this post, wherein I explain what the hell the whole thing is about) Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Excerpt, In progress, Science fiction, WIP