I’m planning to actually do a Sunday linkdump later this evening – shock! – but for the moment here’s a roundup of some stuff that’s been going on in the writing area of my life recently:

• I’m writing yet another novel. More specifically, I’m over 45k words into another novel after less than two weeks of working on it. I have never worked this fast on anything except maybe my comprehensive exams. I’ve been yelling about it a lot on Twitter, and I worry that it comes off as bragging, and maybe it is a tiny bit, but my primary reasons are two-fold:

  A) I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN ANYTHING THIS FAST BEFORE WHAT IS HAPPENING
  B) I REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS BOOK

  It is, essentially, a book I decided I wanted to write in between the completing the second book in the Casting the Bones trilogy and beginning work on the third. I didn’t even originally intend for it to be novel-length; I thought it might be a novella, something easy and light and vaguely trashy based on an idea I had years ago and put aside until I could figure out how to approach it, namely: A (very) loose retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, only gay, and in space. Where Theseus is a bounty hunter and the Minotaur is the genetically engineered rogue supersoldier that he’s hired to hunt down. Working title is Labyrinthian.

  Having written three novels in very rapid succession that ended up having Serious Points, I wanted to write something for therapy, something fun and silly that might also, frankly, move some inventory. But it’s become a lot more than that. Honestly, I’m working so fast because it’s very hard right now to not work on it. I’m enjoying it that much. I aim to be done sometime in the next two weeks.

• I had a story come out in Strange Horizons, “Event Horizon.” So far the critical response has been pretty great. Tangent sez: “This is a very self-aware piece, asking why people do awful things even as it tells a gripping story…the subtext is powerful and shocking.” Lois Tilton at Locus gave it a coveted “recommended”: “Of all the horror stories I’ve read this season, this one evokes the strongest sense of malevolence.”
• “Across the Seam”, a story I wrote – in large part inspired by Rob’s own family history – about a Rusyn immigrant coal miner caught up in both gender troubles and a (true life) massacre of striking workers will be appearing in Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History in early 2014. I’m beyond excited about this.

Think that’s everything.

It’s been a majorly chaotic October and a lot about it has been difficult, but I realized a while ago that while I might get frustrated about things (agent-hunting has so far turned up nothing) and while I might experience doubt regarding specific projects, on the whole I don’t worry about whether I’m a good writer anymore. I know, objectively, that I’m good. Whatever else is going on, it feels pretty wonderful to finally be sure of that much.