Category Archives: GLBT fiction

End-of-the-Month Thingamabobs

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I survived April, woohoo! :D Actually, I was supposed to post a Wobbly Noob Diaries entry regarding an epic bike ride I did yesterday with Andy, but I’m really too worn out to do anything remotely thoughtful. Forget it. I’ll post it whenever, I guess.

I just got the cover art for the upcoming single author anthology that’ll be released by Queerteen Press at the end of May. It’s pretty much all of the short stories that’ve been published since the beginning of the year (a total of nine) compiled into one volume.

In somewhat related news, I received some pretty nice reviews of a couple of short stories, which I’ll be adding to my Fantasy Fiction Page. The Novel Approach just posted one for “Clouds’ Illusions”, and QMO Books tackled “Erl-King”. As for future historical fantasy stories and how I should best publish them, I’m trying to sit on that for now as I’m waiting for some important publisher info that’ll help me make my final decision. Once I have it, I’ll definitely post my thoughts here.

Though some doubts remain, I am getting my writing mojo back, and I was able to set aside Rose and Spindle and go back to focusing on Helleville. The story still feels like I’m fumbling my way through the dark, i.e., I still feel like I’m outside my element, writing something contemporary that’s not about Eric and the superhero gang, but the story is progressing nicely. Since I’m still feeling my way forward, I can’t provide a more accurate description of the story’s quirks and so on, but on the whole, it’s like taking all the gothic elements in Desmond and Garrick and modernizing them. No torture chambers, though, but each household does have its “pet” ghost.

I don’t see my confidence growing till after I pass the 20,000-word mark, I suppose, and that’s being generous. :D Maybe 25K to 30K.

Now Available: Clouds’ Illusions

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Here’s short story number seven from me! :) “Clouds’ Illusions” is a modern fairy tale-y thing that, frankly, I really can’t describe more accurately as it’s a story that you shouldn’t read literally. Yeah, it’s an extended metaphor about a gay kid’s process of maturation.

Five-year-old Simon, along with his parents and older sister Amy, go to a carnival one day. When a sudden deluge separates the family and leaves Simon alone and frightened, the child undergoes a journey of maturation as he searches for his parents and sister.

Wandering through the ruined carnival, Simon encounters rain-soaked clowns, muddied carnival-goers, and a special young boy named Brian, who’s also lost. The longer Simon stays in the carnival and the rain that continues to threaten everyone’s fun, the more he learns about life, and he leaves the carnival a man with hopeful prospects ahead of him.

“Clouds’ Illusions” is a modern fairy tale, a metaphor for a young gay man’s coming-of-age with all its illusions and truths, and the wisdom that comes from the marriage of rain and sun.

An excerpt can be read at the book page, and you’re also entitled to a new release discount of 20%, which will be good for a week. :)

Trivia bit: this story was inspired by this song (rather sentimental, I know):

A Bit of a Wonky Transition

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And so the winner of the epic work-in-progress stare-down last week turned out to be Helleville, which wasn’t surprising, seeing as how that story’s already nicely outlined in my writing journal, while the fairy tale I began was more like a let’s-see-what-happens-next thing.

On one hand, I’ve been able to make significant progress with the new book. As of today, I’ve got over 8,000 words written, and so far, so good. I’m slowly getting the hang of Noah’s voice as well as his mother’s, and I’m about to let loose with the setting.

My inspiration for 'Helleville'.

On the other hand, I’ve been having a pretty tough time transitioning from Eric’s point of view to Noah’s. I don’t want Noah to sound like Eric at all and give readers the same old, same old.

That said, I do find it difficult to fully get inside Noah’s head. He’s Eric’s complete opposite by way of temperament, and Helleville is written in third person limited omniscient, so there’s even more distance between the reader and the main character. Since I’m still in the process of writing it, I’m way too emotionally and mentally close to the story, so I can’t make any objective judgments about how the story’s turning out overall. That won’t happen till the massive revisions after the first draft’s written, but I do wish I could accurately assess it right now.

I must admit that I’ve been tempted to just chuck any attempt at new contemporary fantasy series and simply focus on expanding Masks to however many volumes it’ll take me to write it (I initially gave myself no more than ten books for the series) and then publish occasional short fantasy fiction on the side to keep my historical fantasy skills up to date.

But I don’t know how that would work out. I’m currently reading a historical mystery series that runs eight volumes long as I type this, and the author told me that she’s just resurrected her characters and is working on a new installment. I wonder if she’s doing that because of the same issues I’m currently having, switching over to a new character and a new world in the same genre after being fully immersed in something else for six volumes of the series. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is, and I empathize completely.

At any rate, it’s full steam ahead with Helleville, and while it looks like this book will end up being a full novel, I’m still not sure whether or not to turn this into a series.

Now Available: Erl-King

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After a few weeks’ break due to the release of Mimi Attacks!, the next short story is finally available.

Baltasar grows up in a world of absolutes, of black and white, right and wrong. Just as his brothers and sisters who went before him, the boy is groomed to follow only one road, at the end of which is a life no different from his parents’ and grandparents’. His parents’ strict teachings and the naïveté that results, however, render him ignored and friendless, and Baltasar spends much time alone.

During one of his solitary wanderings in the countryside, he stumbles across an enchanted land and its melancholy, ageless ruler — a land full of color and magic, and a bond that defies everything he’s always known about the world. But what’s unusual, tempting, and exciting doesn’t always lead to a clearer path, and Baltasar is forced to choose between two wildly diverging worlds, with each exacting a high price.

“Erl-King” is a retelling of Goethe’s ballad by the same title.

Since this is a short story, not a novel, it’s only available in e-book format. If you purchase directly from the publisher, you’ll receive a 20% new release discount, which will be good for a limited time. You’ll also see an excerpt posted there, and if you do purchase the story, I hope you enjoy it!

Now Available: Mimi Attacks!

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And the day finally arrives for this book to be available, LOL! I do feel pretty badly, though, skipping all of 2011 and not keeping the Masks series updated till now. But I am trying to make up for that by (hopefully) releasing Dr. Morbid later this year.

So here’s the blurb:

Following Arachnaman’s bigoted, hateful attacks, life in beleaguered Vintage City finally quiets down, but it doesn’t last long. Eric’s father begins to show symptoms of extreme fatigue, symptoms that Eric notices in a number of other people he sees elsewhere. Along with the superheroes, he tries to find a common denominator in all this, the surprising result being a new perfume shop that hawks very strong fragrances. A familiar pair of supervillains is suspected, but before the heroes can further investigate the motives behind this threat, people exhibiting symptoms of illness are transformed in the most shocking way, throwing Vintage City in a state of panic.

In the meantime, Eric monitors the Unofficial Calais Fan Club, which is now exploding with romantic Mary Sue fanfiction involving Calais as well as curious messages posted by a girl who’s apparently wildly in love with the superhero. References to her making “new friends” alert Eric to suspect that she and the current mayhem being inflicted on Vintage City are somehow tied together. The stakes are now raised for Eric, whose father has become a victim to a new crime wave and whose superhero boyfriend might also be under threat. All this, and he’s yet to survive school and find a job.

And all y’all know the drill, yeah? If you purchase directly from the publisher, you’ll receive a 20% new release discount, which will be offered up to a week after the release date.

The e-book is officially released today, and you can purchase a copy here. The print book, though technically scheduled for release on March 31, is already live at the publisher’s site, which I’m guessing means that you can pre-order a print copy now. :)

The coming week will see me neck-deep in revision work for Dr. Morbid, and once that’s done (can’t say for sure how long that phase will take me), I’m starting on the new series I mentioned before. I’ve been thinking about it on and off while working on Dr. Morbid, and I’m getting really hyper. I can’t wait to get started on it. Even though it’s another contemporary fantasy, I’m hoping that the new scenery and new characters will stoke the fires well enough to keep that dreaded burnout from happening. It tends to eat me up whenever I work on two or more stories back-to-back in the same genre.

It’s best to focus on the positive and the “what ifs”. So I’ll do that. :)