Promo Monday

Thank you for tuning into Promo Monday. Today, I'll talk briefly about Bloody Carnival and Mertales.

Title: Bloody Carnival
Edited by Jessy Marie Roberts
Publisher: Pill Hill Press (September 2010)
Link to Purchase: http://www.pillhillpress.com/books.html

Book Blurb: Step right up, step right up. It's a bloody good time! Rediscover carnivals, amusement parks, county fairs, the circus, rodeos and more in this gruesome tribute to the fun, fanfare and frivolity of festivals. Freak shows, rusted rides, demonic ringmistresses, demented clowns, melting beauty queens, flesh-eating fun-seekers, ghosts, gremlins and other terrors haunt the pages of this bloody collection of thirty-four short stories.

I haven't read all the stories yet. My story "Freak Show" begins on page 183 and focuses on a young, mutated child's formation into a full monster. This is the same monster as featured in my ebook Once Upon a December Nightmare.


Also, my friend Nicole Zoltack's story "Carnival of Shadows" begins on page 147 and worth reading. It's about teenagers entering a ghost-like carnival.


I received my limited-edition hardback copy last week. It's so cool! The paperback version is currently on sale through Halloween.

*****

Title: Mertales
Edited by Dulcinea Norton-Smith
Publisher: Wyvern Publications (October 2010)
Link to Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Mertales-Short-Stories-Water-Pearl/dp/0956036333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286843582&sr=1-1

Book Blurb: In this collection of short stories for teens, readers will be plunged into tales of terror and love, with unimaginable beings of the deep.

From the kelpies and banshees of Tim Reed's "Waiting at the Water's Edge" to the shark-men of Jerry Sutton's "Discovery on Neptune Two," we meet some of the less understood watery creatures.

Dark and dangerous, Mertales will captivate and thrill, as selkies, kelpies, mermaids and river gods keep you captive within its murky depths.

Once again, I haven't read all the stories yet. My story "Neptune's Treasure" begins on page 67. My story focuses on Aiden, who discovers how hard the recession has hit his family and a mermaid's treasure that could bring his family out of it.


I have two close friends with stories in Mertales. Aubrie Dionne's story "Tempest's Saviour" begins on page 80, and Nicole Zoltack's story "Beauty is Only Fin Deep" begins on page 247 and ends the book.


Last week, I also received my contributor's copy of Mertales!

Acceptance: Neptune's Treasure

I know that I have been a little frustrated and down the last few times I blogged, but today I am extremely happy. My short story "Neptune's Treasure" was accepted by Wyvern Publications for their Mertales anthology. Mertales is a print anthology that should be out in Fall 2010. I will let you know more details as I know them.

I had submitted "Neptune's Treasure" yesterday, so the response time was phenomenal. I did have to do some rewrites before the story was accepted.

Yesterday, I also submitted "Soul Survivor" to Abandoned Towers. They are a print (paying) and online (exposure) magazine. I wish that the story could be accepted in print, but they are already filled up through summer of next year, so I said it was fine to consider my story for the online magazine. I believe that exposure for "Soul Survivor" might be the best I can hope for concerning that story.

On Sunday, I received a rejection letter for "Hounded" that I sent to The Beast Within 2: The Beast Unleashed. The rejection email was quite short and your typical form letter:

Hi Cherie, Just finished up with Hounded.  I am going to pass though.  Thanks for your interest. Regards, Scott

Another friend submitted to them as well, so we obviously have no clue what they are looking for. I think "Hounded" can find another home though, so I'll be looking.

I still haven't heard from Wolfsinger Publications about my story "Hell Has No Fury" for their All About Eve anthology. Their deadline was August 31, so it has been well over a month. I'm not alone in not hearing back from them, so I'm going to email the editor today and see if I can get a response that way.

I haven't heard back from the few other things out there either, including Dead Bells anthology.

I would like to write some more short stories this month, if I get a chance. I am considering doing NaNoWriMo next month, if I get a laptop by November 1. NaNoWriMo is where you write a novel (50,000 words) in one month. I believe I could do it as long as I have a good idea and a laptop. I have the idea, but we'll have to see about the laptop. If I do it, then I'll have to push working on The Phoenix Prophetess rewrites and writing Moonlight Murders back. We'll have to see.

The main thing is that I finally have another story accepted. YAY!

UPDATE: I heard back from Dead Bells today as well. "Wishes" was short listed. I will know if it makes the final cut after October 15. 

It feels like a break up.

I received another rejection email today. This time it was about "Soul Survivor." Here is what was said:

Thank you for your recent submission to Pill Hill Press' The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror anthology. 

After careful consideration, I have decided to pass on your story.  This is not a reflection of the quality of your writing, I just didn't think the story was a good fit for The Bitter End.

I hope you continue to submit your work to Pill Hill Press in the future.

Best Wishes,
Jessy Roberts

Frankly, it felt like a glorified break up. "It's not you, it's me." *rolls eyes* It is nice that they think my writing is decent, but I'm getting to the point rather I would rather something be wrong with my writing and that I'm just not what they are looking for but nice story, by the way. *sighs* I suppose I am just getting tired of not getting a single story accepted. I just want one. Is that so much to ask for? I think if I could just get one story published that it would be the boost I need. Oh, I'm not giving up. No, I can't do that. I'm just frustrated and ranting a bit. That's all.

In other news, I finished writing "Neptune's Treasure" tonight. I hope to submit it to Mertales anthology that my friend Aubrie told me about. I sent it to my critique buddies, so I likely won't be able to send it out until Monday.

I also added up my work count for September. I wrote 18,563 words of original work. It is almost 3,000 more than last month. I hope to increase the number every month or at least match it.

I have some other works in progress. I am in the editing/rewriting stages for THE PHOENIX PROPHETESS. I'm going to work on MOONLIGHT MURDERS soon, and I have a lot of plans for it, including creating a new first chapter for it. I also have a few short stories that I wish to write for various anthologies.

I still haven't heard back from the All About Eve anthology, Dead Bells anthology, Sorcerous Signals, Wild Child Publishing, and The Beast Within 2 anthology.