Promo Monday

On today's Promo Monday, I would like to promote the blogzine Hazard Cat. My good friend Lisa Rusczyk is the editor and creator of it, and she does a fantastic job picking stories, poetry, art, etc. about cats. As a cat lover myself, I enjoy reading it, and I even have my story "Hounded" published on it.

"Hounded" Blurb: Toby Hound is not only a private investigator, but he is also a were-hound. When the lovely and mysterious Catherine "Cat" Reynolds comes to his office, Toby is intrigued. The woman is certain her sister is missing, and Toby believes that she may be on to something when he discovers that four other women are also missing from the area in the past three months. His investigation takes him to a bar called the Wolf's Den that is run by a werewolf. Amanda "Kitten" Reynolds scent is there, and Toby knows that he is on the right trail. When Cat comes into the picture and screws up the investigation by being taken herself, Toby must race against time and the full moon to find Cat and Kitten before it is too late.

You can read "Hounded" here.

Also, if you enjoy the blog and have a Kindle, you can buy the blog on your Kindle here.

Published: "Hounded"

My detective short story "Hounded" was published today on Hazard Cat. Hazard Cat is a new free webzine created by my friend Lisa Rusczyk. Please stop by here to read "Hounded." Also, please feel free to comment. *smiles*

Cats and Sorceresses

I've received my third acceptance this month. I'm shocked! Yesterday, my detective story "Hounded" was accepted into Hazard Cat, which is a webzine created by my friend Lisa Rusczyk. It is a free webzine, so anyone can go and read my story. It should be on the website next week. I wrote "Hounded" back in September 2009, so here is the blurb for it: Toby Hound is not only a private investigator, but he is also a were-hound. When the lovely and mysterious Catherine "Cat" Reynolds comes to his office, Toby is intrigued. The woman is certain her sister is missing, and Toby believes that she may be on to something when he discovers that four other women have disappeared from the area. His investigation takes him to a bar called the Wolf's Den, which is run by a werewolf. Amanda "Kitten" Reynolds' scent is there, and Toby knows he is on the right trail. When Cat comes into the picture, she screws up the investigation by being kidnapped. Toby must race against time and the full moon to find Cat and Kitten before it is too late.

I also finished writing the first draft of my fantasy, sword and sorcery story "Magna's Plea." I plan to submit the story in April to the Sword and Sorceress 25. The story is based off my fantasy world in my Phoenix trilogy. Although "Magna's Plea" takes place around 1700 years before Yssa. Here is the blurb for the story: When the kingdom of Amora is besieged by their neighboring kingdom, Princess Magna knows taht something msut be done to save them both. They capture Prince Cyrun of Apentha, and he'll be beheaded at dawn, unless the Apenthans relent. Yet, the Prince has more up his sleeve than he lets on. As the enemy storms the city, Magna must do whatever she can to save her kingdom.

I still have one more short story I want to write for this month. It is called "Soul Drinker," and it is loosely based off the Yanomamo tribe in South America. I plan to submit it to The Way of the Wizard anthology.

I have five submissions still out there in the publishing world.

I hope everyone has a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Acceptance, Rejection, and NaNoWriMo...oh, my!

Yes, I do have a lot to update today, and I wanted to get it all out of the way before my life becomes devoted to NaNoWriMo.

Today, I heard back from Wild Child Publishing about my 10,100-word horror story titled "Once Upon a December Nightmare." My story was accepted, and I am working on sending the contract to the editor-in-chief. I do not know when it will be out though. Although based on what I think I can do with revisions and such, it could be out as soon as late March, early April. I will have to discuss things with the editor to know more.

Here is the blurb about ONCE UPON A DECEMBER NIGHTMARE:

After their night of a movie and dinner is a bust, Cassie, her best friend Mary, Mary’s sister Denise,and Denise’s boyfriend James all decide to go joyriding on an old mountain road. A tree blocks their path back to the main road, so the four turn the truck around in an eerie clearing where four deer carcasses are placed. Thoroughly spooked, the four begin the seven-mile journey back to civilization. When the old truck’s lights go out, they decide to brace the cold December night and walk back to the mainroad. Their cell phones don’t work, the truck is broken down, and they aren’t the only ones out there in the forest. Something or someone is hunting them. Will they get out alive or will the ominous message of the dead deer happen to them too in their December nightmare?

The story is loosely based off an event that happened to me and my friends when we decided to go joyriding one December night. Fortunately, our nightmare did not end as tragically and horrifically.

On to the rejection, I submitted "Hounded" to The Nautilus Engine on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I got my rejection. This is what the editor said:

Hello Cherie

Thanks for letting me read "Hounded".  Unfortunately, I see a few too many Philip Marlowe take-offs (I've even written one myself).  I'm going to pass on this one but I'd be happy to read any future efforts you'd care to toss our way.  Good luck! Thank You,

Ron Warren
www.thenautilusengine.com

I'm embarrassed to say, but I had to look up Philip Marlowe. I do suppose my story is in the same vein as his, but it is also quite different. I suppose I'll just have to find a place that takes those types of stories before I submit "Hounded" elsewhere.

Now, on to NaNoWriMo, for those of you that don't know what it means, it is National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November. The brave writers out there attempt to write an entire novel (minimum 50,000 words) all in the month of November. I have decided to make my own attempts at NaNoWriMo this year. For those that are planning to participate, please add me. My username is bookworm0753. I have my laptop coming (hopefully by Halloween), and I have my outline set to write my novel VIRTUOSO.

Here is the blurb for VIRTUOSO:

Nadia Godunov is a violin virtuoso in her freshman year at Wyderly College in Ridgewood, VA. When her drummer boyfriend, Marcus Giovanni,and she have a terrible car accident, both will never be the same. A month after the accident, Nadia wakes up, finding that her left hand is broken and that her boyfriend is dead. While she copes with her grief, she finds that moving on is hard to do. When she dreams, she senses that her boyfriend is still with her. She tries to regain proper use ofher left hand, so she can continue being the violin virtuoso she once was. She even finds a new boyfriend, medical student Derek Smith. Yet, something isn't right with young Nadia. Lately, she has been having terrible headaches, and she has found she can move things with her mind. Best or worse of all, her former boyfriend just might not be as dead as she once thought, and he wants to win her back. What is a girl to do when all she wants to do is pick up the pieces and move on with her life?

VIRTUOSO is a YA Fantasy novel with a touch of romance. Honestly, I could see this book becoming a trilogy, but for now, I'm focusing on just starting and finishing it in November.

As for other writing news, I'm still waiting to hear back from several publishers. I will keep everyone updated as I can. November I'll mainly be focused on finishing VIRTUOSO though, so please don't expect quite as many updates, although I will keep updating where I'm at with NaNoWriMo. I'm getting excited about November.

Also, Happy Halloween!

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. 

Rejection and Submission

I know I always seem to mixing the bad with the good. Today I received an email about "Bella's Battle." It was rejected for the Skulls and Crossbones anthology. Here is what was said:

Greetings, Ms. Reich--
Many thanks for submitting your story, "Bella's Battle" for consideration in this anthology. Unfortunately, we have decided not to include this piece in this volume. We received over 70 submissions, and as pleased as we were about that, we nevertheless had to make difficult choices. In addition to focusing on women pirates as either main characters or focus of the story, we were aiming for a wide range of pirating, in various settings and interpretations of piracy, and we were unable to include all the stories we wish we could have.
Although we found the premise of "Bella's Battle" intriguing, we would have liked to see more emphasis on Isabella's decision to becomea pirate. Certainly, a sibling at sea can be a powerful motivator, but she hadn't seen Juan Pedro in awhile and more background into the relationship the two of them had before he was "lost at sea" would have strengthened that element of your story. That said, we hope thatyou will consider us as a possible venue for your work should we be granted an opportunity to do another anthology of pirate stories.
Many thanks again and good luck to you with future endeavors, authorial and otherwise.
Best wishes,
Andi Marquette and R. G. Emanuelle
--
Mindancer Press can be found here:
http://bedazzledink.com/?page_id=35

I do believe that the story needed more information to fully work, but I was working with a 7,000 word limit, and the story was very close to it. They were very kind though, and I definitely would keep them in mind for the future, if they were to do another pirating anthology down the line. As for "Bella's Battle," I would actually like to expand it when I have time and add all they mentioned. I could easily see the story branching out into 20,000-30,000 words, so sometime down the line, I'll have to go back to it and continue writing.

In other news, I submitted "Hounded" today to The Beast Within 2: The Beast Unleashed anthology. They have a two-three week response time, so I should know something about the story fairly soon. I really do hope it has a chance and it is what they are looking for.

I also should hear back from the All About Eve anthology in the next couple of days. If I don't hear back from them by October 1, then I'll have to email them and see what is going on.

I did hear back from Wild Child Publishing about "Once Upon a December Nightmare." It was just an email to inform me that the submissions editor now has my story, and it'll take another six-eight weeks before I hear back on it. *sighs*

In other writing news, I plan to submit a story to Mertales. My lovely author friend, Aubrie, told me about it, and she recently had her story accepted to it. I hope to find time this week to write the story that is currently titled "Neptune's Treasure."

I must admit that it is sometimes a little frustrating to get all these rejections. They aren't rejecting my writing skills though. None of them had said that I'm a terrible writer or that I should never submit again or anything like that. I just haven't found the right audience for my stories yet. I'm not going to give up, but it is frustrating at times to have a perfectly good story but to hear that it isn't just quite right for them. Oh, well. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the things I have out there now. *crosses fingers*

"Hounded"

I finished writing "Hounded" today. It is a mystery/were-creature short story that I have written for the anthology The Beast Within 2: Beast Unleashed. Here is what it is about:

Toby Hound is not only a private investigator, but he is also a were-hound. When the lovely and mysterious Catherine "Cat" Reynolds comes to his office, Toby is intrigued. The woman is certain her sister is missing, and Toby believes that she may be on to something when he discovers that four other women are also missing from the area in the past three months. His investigation takes him to a bar called the Wolf's Den that is run by a werewolf. Amanda "Kitten" Reynolds scent is there, and Toby knows that he is on the right trail. When Cat comes into the picture and screws up the investigation by being taken herself, Toby must race against time and the full moon to find Cat and Kitten before it is too late.

"Hounded" is 4,741 words long, which is good, since the anthology is calling for stories from 2,000-5,000 words. "Hounded" is now with my critique buddies, so when I hear back from them and make changes, then I'll be ready to submit it.

In other news, I didn't get anything else accomplished today. I do plan to work on Moonlight Murders this week, if I get a chance.