Here There Be Writing Adventures!

Now that I’ve had half-a-sec to catch my breath following “Song Caster” Launch Week (…well, maybe two-fifths-of-a-sec. …okay, so maybe I’m not breathing), I thought it high time to let you in on some other writing-related news bits – sort of a “What’s Up Wednesday” for the Thursday crowd. In order of immediacy:

Can we talk about how this gorgeous button feeds my seafaring soul?

1) Hosted by Emily at Oh Magic Hour and Lindsay of The Broke Book Girls, it’s Swashbuckling Summer, a blog event dedicated to all tales pirate-y! Emily asked me if I wanted in, and I replied with a resounding, “AYE!” Check out my guest post on why the fantasy of the high seas calls to me, “Here There Be Adventure”. And be ye informed, there’s more booty to be won than you can shake a cutlass at in the event’s kraken-sized giveaway – including postcards featuring “The Song Caster”s Gant-o’-the-Lute impersonating a pirate! So chart a course that-a-way, mates.

Ahoy, Captain Gant!

2) Meanwhile, in the blog space of another friend, Michelle Proulx has gifted me with a short story – “Under Pressure” – starring Dani L (an alternate-dimension me!) and a hottie on the run called Korlethi, also known as Varrin from her humorous sci-fi novel, “Imminent Danger and How to Fly Straight Into it”. The short’s a fun little read, and makes me all the more determined to get my hands on Michelle’s novel the next time I’m on a book-buying spree (which will likely be soon, since Rachel Aaron’s “Nice Dragons Finish Last” is set to launch on the 15th, and you know I love me my Rachel Aaron books!).

3) Also related to blogging: The blog of Luna Station Quarterly – the women-authored speculative fiction magazine which I’ve been honored to have feature a few short stories of mine – is bursting with new life thanks to a full schedule of reviews, guest columns, and such. And guess who’s on the roster to contribute a little something once every quarter? By golly, it’s me! So you can bet you’ll be getting further bulletins as events warrant there. Also feel free to follow along with LSQ via their many social media presences to stay up to date on even the non-Danielle E. Shipley-authored stuff they do. ;D

4) And speaking of my short stories and publishing, I am ecstatic to announce that I’m signed on for inclusion in a paranormal anthology through Xchyler Publishing, slated to release this fall! This will be my first time working with The X as an author (as opposed to just reading their stuff and attending their launch parties on Facebook), and I’m all kinds of thrilled that they smiled upon my submission during their recent contest. (By the by, writer friends, they’re running another contest through the end of August for their next fantasy anthology. Think about it.) Extra squeals of delight due to the fact that my beloved pal Alyson Grauer (famed author of “Lavenza, or the Modern Galatea” from Xchyler’s steampunk antho “Mechanized Masterpieces”) shall ALSO have a story in the paranormal collection! Huzzah for anthology sisterhood!

And that, my dears, is all the latest. …not counting my Camp NaNoWriMo project which, so far today, has gone woefully neglected. Let’s see what I can do to remedy that.

Fare thee well, readers! And if you’ve got any exciting stuff happening in your world, the comments section is open to you. Share your glee!

“Train” or “All Aboard the Inspiration Express”

Where does a story idea start?

Real life answer: I might, for example, lament to my mother that I wish I were writing a short story. She would then offer up whatever ideas came most readily to mind in an effort to jumpstart my creative process. Some (read: most) of those ideas will be ridiculous beyond comprehension. Others will sound almost useable. And there are yet others that never make it out of her mouth, denied passage by her less than golden short-term memory.

This may prompt me to mention having read somewhere that people are more likely to forget a thing after having just passed through a doorway, which will in turn prompt Mother Dear to ask, “Why could that be?” Obviously, we’ll decide, it’s because some invisible creature lurking in the threshold is snatching our thoughts as we go by. (The only logical explanation, really.) And from that “orderly succession of related events”, I’ll have my story.

Fantastic answer: I would with humble pride suggest that you read my short story in the latest issue of Luna Station Quarterly to find out. (;

“Denied” or, in My Case, the Happy Opposite

From the Wilderhark world of “Still Broken” comes a new fairytale of magic at sunset, “Mercy Denied”. More than used to her music inspiring minstrel admiration, Princess Viralei views her latest marriage proposal as anything but extraordinary. The consequences of her refusal, however, will prove to be precisely that.

            (Reader/writerly types, what think of the mini-blurb? ^^)

            I submitted this short story to online speculative fiction journal Luna Station Quarterly (whom, you may recall, facilitated the two-way honor of publishing my drabble this past December), and rather than choose “to give a refusal to [my submission]; turn [the story] down or away”, they accepted the tale for their latest issue! And that issue is now available to be read online here (and is also, I believe, downloadable on PDF)! …Or, if you’d like to skip straight to my story, I’m fine with that, too. (:

            In other joyful acceptance news, the latest issue of Digital Dragon Magazine (more online spec. fic.) also includes a short story of mine – a humorous piece (completely out of the minstrel vein, just to mix it up) entitled “Superpower Outage”. If you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it, that’ll mean double fun points. Come on – you wouldn’t want to deny yourself that. (;

“Drabble”

This post exemplifies a drabble (almost) – a work of fiction totaling one hundred words exactly, further defined here.

            Inspired by this post, I wrote a drabble. Later that day, I happened upon an online magazine looking for drabble submissions. Several revisions later, I sent in my piece… and it was accepted!

            And now, this very day, the Luna Station Quarterly drabble issue featuring my story, “Still Broken”, is online and available for the world to see, making me – at long last – officially published. *the crowd roars approval*

            Spread the word! Tell your friends!

            And my post’s hundred words end… now.