Posts Tagged ‘anthologies I’m in’

An anthology I’m in recently hit the virtual (and I assume not-so-virtual) shelves: Space Tramps, the fifth in the Full-Throttle Space Tales series, published by Flying Pen Press. It’s an anthology edited by the virtuoso that is Jennifer Brozek, and it’s got a hell of a line-up. I’m personally excited to read the other stories in there, but this blog being my main vector for shameless promotion, I’ll tell you about mine.

You know how in science fiction, people tend to get the best of many worlds? Great technology, cheap fuels, long lives, things like that? The stories in Space Tramps are about Not That. They’re about people who had to pay so that others would have that, or people who weren’t lucky enough to be born on the right system, or people who had a run of bad luck, or people who served in wars that were not glamorous or noble. These are stories about the hobos of sci-fi’s first worlds, and (particularly in my case) about downtrodden people in sci-fi’s third worlds.

My story, What A Mother Will Do, closes out the anthology. The blurb for that one on the site: “Will two refugees kill untold numbers in cryo-chambers in order to survive?”

Well, will they? And what does that mean? Only one way to know. (Which you can also get off of Amazon, if that’s your bag.)

I suppose I should point out that you can still get the other anthology recently published that has one of my stories in it, Human Tales. If you like short fiction, and you like the idea that I should have sweet sweet monies to go into my “designing games that aren’t Hit a Dude” coffers, I recommend checking those out.

Thanks for reading!

- Ryan

Jennifer Brozek, the Swiss Army Knife of small-press fiction, invited me to write for an anthology called Human Tales, published by Dark Quest Books. That’s now available, and I totally think you should check it out.

Be Wary and Beware…. There are tales that every parent knows and must pass on to their child… Tales of warning and terror…of those who break their vows and kill for no reason other than malice. Tales of saving the lovely princess from a prince that is much less than charming…and what it takes to bring her home, of rescuing babes from parents not fit to raise them, and the reason no supernatural can truly win a bargain with such vile creatures. These are Human Tales. Tales by: Ivan Ewert, Matthew McFarland, Seanan McGuire, Ari Marmell, Chuck Wendig, Sara M. Harvey, Spencer Ellsworth, Ryan Macklin, Jess Hartley, Shannon Page, Dylan Birtolo, Deborah Brannon, Alma Alexander, Renee Stern, David Lee Summers, James Sutter, Nathan Crowder.

I wrote a story in it called Cracks in Marble. It’s a romance story. In a book of cautionary tales about humans. I had a lot of fun with this one. :)

That I share a table of contents with folks like Wendig, McGuire, Hartley, Crowder[1], Alexander, etc. is pretty awesome. I mean, these folks are just damned good. These are folks whose work I admire.

This story’s the first in my re-entry into fictionland, after dabbling in it back in 2007 (between Finis and Jennifer Brozek’s web lit-zine, The Edge of Propinquity[2]). I’m remembering that I enjoy fiction writing, though it’s a different muscle than game writing (even when said game writing involves fiction). Honing that craft will only help me do both.[3]

Speaking of anthologies…

…might I also recommend one recently put out by Timid Pirate Publishing, Nate Crowder’s company? Growing Dread is his latest release, a biopunk anthology. I heard some readings of it at NorWesCon this past weekend, and damn if it isn’t creepy-neat.

- Ryan

[1] Nate Crowder recently spread a vicious rumor about me being a class act. His last line about meeting me is of particular amusement for Apocalypse World fans. Or, at least, it’s of particular amusement to me.

[2] I re-read my TEoP series from 2007, Hidden City, a year and a half ago. That I made so many glaring mistakes and bad decisions is embarrassing. That it’s public is more so, but it’s made the lessons from those mistakes and decisions hit home. I’m a much better writer today, not just in fiction but in all arenas, because of doing that series.

[3] You know, the aspiring polymath way.