2015 has been a good year thus far (as I expect the rest of it to be). I've had some work published, and that's exciting and great and all that, but that's The Little News and nothing compared to The Big News. Which is: My wonderfully wonderful wife is pregnant! Certainly not the first Hemphill to be born, but the first to us, and I couldn't be more excited! We have names in mind--strong, honest, awesome names--names that will ensure our child is the smartest, coolest, most loved being to ever walk the planet--but for now we're calling him/her Baby H. The due date is in October and, oddly enough, it happens to land on the 26th, which is my birthday! Whoop!
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| Picture Courtesy of Karlee Hemphill, aka Mama H |
Now, for The Little News. As I say, Things are happening!
Daily Science Fiction published a flash fiction story of mine titled Fields (Lords of Fate). This one is a magic realism/pseudo-fantasy story depicting a bloody battle from an unusual POV. It's short and punchy and a proud moment for me. I'm not really a science fiction author, I'm more horror and magic realism, but DSF is one of my favorite publications and I've been set on tricking convincing them to accept one of my stories. It also puts me 2/3 of the way toward that SFWA membership.
Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things dropped their inaugural issue last month and it includes a reprinted horror novella that was originally published in their sister publication Spark: A Creative Anthology. While Spark is the adult line of fiction, Ember is for youth and young adult audiences. I'm especially happy to be a part of this project because Ember is dedicated to reaching young readers and instilling in them a strong love for story. Not only that, they encourage young readers to write and submit their own work for future issues!
My contributor copies arrived today and they are flippin gorgeous.
Tales to Terrify re-released an oldie-but-goodie of mine in audio. I wrote Cheating the Shroud in 2011 as an homage to Philip K. Dick. It's a story about a head named Harold. Confused? You betcha. Better listen to the story so you know what's going on. It's also available through iTunes. And man, their timing couldn't be better. This news article about a real-life Harold the Head was released the same day.
And lastly, Rocky Mountain Revival, a local podcast here in Colorado, released The Homecoming in audio. This is a literary short story that's infused with a kind-of, sort-of sci-fi element. It's hard to describe. Let's call it magic-science-realism. You know what, you better just check that one out for yourself, too. Summing up my own work is strangely difficult. Harder than actually writing the stories.
More is on the horizon. More is always on the horizon. Some things are accepted and pending publication, like my story Sun Melody: A Plagiarized Life, which is due to appear in Space and Time at some point, and others are on wait lists or hopefully beaming from the murky depths of slush piles around the fiction world. But the biggest and best thing on the horizon is still Baby H!
