Atlantis Submission and Shortlisted

Today I submitted my short story "The Golden Staff" to Pill Hill Press's Quest for Atlantis: Legends of a Lost Continent anthology. The deadline for the anthology is February 28, so I just made it in. Here is a blurb about it:  After Sophia watched her love, Kastor, leave for war, she stumbled upon a strange golden staff. She journeys to the center of Atlantis and produces the staff to the Atlantean council. They deem the object to be a gift from the gods. Still disheartened from Kastor's departure, Sophia works on a flying machine to keep from thinking of him. That night, the staff is activated. The automatons are destroying the city, and earthquakes shake Atlantis to its core. Can Sophia survive the chaos before it destroys her? Will she ever see Kastor again?

In other news, I received an email from Pill Hill Press. They have shortlisted my story "Defying Gravity" for their Fire & Ice anthology. I was really surprised to see that my story was shortlisted for two reasons: one, the other stories I've sent to Pill Hill Press were rejected before the deadline for the respected anthologies and two, the story is a science fiction romance story, which is nothing like I've ever written before. I tend to write mysteries, horror, and fantasy, but I'm branching out a little bit here and there. I do like to experiement with new genres, and I'm pleased it was shortlisted, even though I know it doesn't really mean anything. Fire & Ice anthology's deadline in December 31, 2010. I still have a long way before I find out if it was accepted (unless they decide to reject it before then, which they could do, but I hope not).

Other than that, I haven't been doing much else. I'll be blogging in the next couple of days on February's goals (whether they were met or not) and March's goals.