Quick Thoughts - Updates! March 2016 Edition

I swear at some point I'll get back to having intelligent(ish) things to say about short fiction, but my brain just hasn't had much room for anything aside from reviewing recently so I'm not even going to try. Luckily I'm still get stories out and some of them even accepted so I figure I'd take some time to annoy you all with what's coming up in the land of me.

April:

I'm actually really excited about April for a number of reasons. My erotic M/M Thor/Loki short story will be appearing in Torquere Press' A Fool for Love anthology (and will available for purchase as it's own thing as well). It is probably one of the funnest things I've ever written and ridiculous but (I hope) rather awesome as well. I also have my second speculative poetry publication in Eye to the Telescope with "Ey Who Kissed the Sun." It's actually the third part of a five part longer poem that I'm now not sure what to do with, but I'm super excited to have another poem out there. It's…well, it's sweet and I think it works all right on its own. I'm rather terrible about my poetry, so I'm glad this one worked out. I guess I'll see what I can do with the rest of the poem this came from.

May:

I seem to be plodding along at about two publications a month, it seems, which is amazing really compared to my output any other year. May will see the release of "A Million Future Days" at Lackington's Magazine. There will be art paired with the story and I am so stoked about that. The story itself is…not particularly happy but is technically a story about the city I live in. Eau Claire is never named exactly but much of the details are there and it deals with social safety nets and charity and possible alternate futures and I'm rather proud of the story and very excited to be appearing in Lackington's. May is the release of the issue for sale. People wanting to read for free might have to wait a few extra months. May will also see the release of "Beta Tester" in the Theory of Love anthology from Torquere Press. This is another M/M erotica and my first strictly science fiction bit of smut, about immersive video games and a game tester and his manager/friend. There's dancing and hopefully a fun feel without being too shallow. Indeed.

June:

This is as far out as I can see at the moment, and is another busy month. I will have my story, "Medium," out in a super secret project from the Book Smugglers (and I am psyched to be published from them as they are one of my favorite publishers of great fiction and nonfiction). I can't say too much about it but I think I'll have an Inspirations and Influences up at their site sometime around then and the story itself definitely fits into their theme for the year. The announcement will hopefully be coming out soon. Until then, that's all I can say. Also out in June is my longest publication yet, a 12k novelette M/M paranormal romance called "Fieldwork" published as part of Dreamspinner Press' Walk on the Wild Side story-a-day June release. It's set in Chicago and features lots of shifters and pizza and hopefully is very cute. This is a romance story, so no sex, but lots of flirting and aside from the endless rounds of editing it's been very fun. It will also be released on it's own as an ebook which I'm looking forward to. Dreamspinner is probably the biggest of the M/M publishers and pay pretty well on top of being rather popular so there's a chance I might actually make some money on this even though it's just a short story. Here's hoping, at least! [And oh hey, another last minute addition. My M/M/F fantasy erotica "The Colors of Magic" will appear in the Torquere Press antho Time of Your Life. It's kind of a poly adult Harry Potter story with color theory and it's the first erotica accepted that's not strictly M/M, so hurrah!]

Other stuff:

I do still have another story, "Beyond Far Point," accepted but no contract yet so no official announcement. It's a flash and a bit lighter than my usual fare but I'm hoping still interesting. I'm currently hard at work on a number of things, too. Firstly trying to expand a piece of M/M/M erotic fairy tale to fit an upcoming call. It was rejected first time around (hard sell, the M/M/M plus probably a bit more violent—not the sex, but the story in general—than some are comfortable with, but we'll see if I can sell it yet…) but I'm working at expanding it to get it up to the new word count min. May 1st is a big day for smut deadlines with both a Lethe Press steampunk call and a Dreamspinner "celebrity" call that I want to submit to (thinking historical fantasy involving steam-hodags for the Lethe and a contemporary superhero romance for the Dreamspinner). In non-smut projects, I have a story titled "The Death of Paul Bunyan" that I'm rather pleased with but I'm waiting because the places I want to sub for are closed, so I think I'll use it for a new crit group I'm helping to put together. Which is my last project. If you know any spec fiction or poetry writers in or around the Chippewa Valley (in westcentral Wisconsin near-ish the Twin Cities of MN), please send them in the direction of the SPACECATs (facebook page here) or just have them contact me at cvspacecats@gmail.com. And that's about it. Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur