Go to Baen's Universe to read "Salvaging Scottwell," my story about an obsolete police dog robot that gets an upgrade with unintended consequences to the Powers That Be: http://baens-universe...

Excerpt:

Max woke up inside his kennel, unplugged his tail from the wall, and ran an automatic systems check. Recharging his battery had taken a half-hour longer than last month. He connected to the BigDog network so that he could send an error report about the battery. The automated reply told him that his error report had been filed, and a handler would contact him if any further action was required. The last handler contact recorded in Max's memory log was three years old.

He limped to the door of the jailhouse. His right third leg had broken down two years ago. It had taken three weeks for his movement pattern to functionally reform, but he still limped. His speed was a fraction of his original specifications. His right second leg couldn't provide the same motive power. It had been designed for stability, not speed.

He stepped out into Scottwell neighborhood to begin his patrol. His tail wagged once. Scottwell was more than just the neighborhood that he guarded; it was as much a part of him as his paws. When he kept himself and his neighborhood protected and well-maintained, he was a Good Boy.

His tail drooped. He hadn't been a Good Boy for a long time.

Read more.

"The Radiator Burped" is now out in the (FREE PDF!) Fall issue of Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine. I wrote this story after Phil challenged me, when I was whining about not writing, to write a story about "a fairy and a dragon." I was feeling contrary, and neither fairy nor dragon is exactly what you might expect from that phrase.

It was difficult finding just the right home for a half-horror/half-humorous modern fantasy story about a gay man's trouble finding a person to pay half the rent, so I'm quite pleased.

Excerpt:

Eric chewed on his pencil as he re-wrote his ad. GPM seeks N/S housemate(s) for spacious two-bedroom . . . but he didn't want a pair of newlyweds. If he wanted cooing doves, he could have gotten them from his second-to-last boyfriend, the pet store owner.

Uniquely decorated . . . because his third-to-last boyfriend had wanted to be an interior decorator and had thought that psychedelic flower wallpaper best expressed Eric's artistic personality. Add in Eric's practice of displaying his paintings in progress, and sometimes the apartment hosted kaleidoscopic clashes of color and style.

Fully furnished apt. with washer/dryer . . . though the dryer had a tendency to shrink laundry, especially expensive shirts, which was the final straw for his last boyfriend, and the reason Eric couldn't pay rent.

None of the respondents to his last ad had seemed quite right . . . in the head.

"Hi! This is Eric. Please leave a message after the beep."

Read more.

A couple of years ago, I had a story accepted by a publication with a really long lead-time. The magazine is Art Times. The story is "Periwinkle Eyes." And the publication time is now! I got the comp copies in the mail today.

"Periwinkle Eyes" is out in the March issue. I'm really jazzed about this because it's my first print publication. Unfortunately, it's distributed by subscription only outside of the Northeast (New York and the like). If you're in that area, pick up a copy and take a look!

Excerpt:

For our first session, she wore a white dress. Even if she hadn't told me, I think I would have guessed. The sound of her movements was stiffer, more abrupt, than when we’d first met. I link that sound to the color white, but maybe she was just shy. I feared she was a skeptic who thought my paintings were popular only for their novelty value.

“Isn’t it the most amazing thing, darling, the man who painted this is blind!”

And now for the second major part of what I've been working on with my website!



Aswiebe's Market List is a free spreadsheet of science fiction, fantasy, and horror market listings. It has over 300 active markets listed, and the list is always growing.

I've been saving markets into my spreadsheet for years, because I wanted an easy way to find just a certain type of market without having to read through hundreds of listings. This way I can look at, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. I've chosen to share this spreadsheet in the hopes that others will find it useful.

I list only publications, contests, and anthologies that offer compensation beyond "royalties-only" or "POD shared payment." I list only contests that don't charge entry fees.

Go to http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html to take a look, download a copy, and sign up to be notified when updates are made.

x-posted a little for, again, obvious reasons

Spec the Halls is a winter holiday-themed contest for speculative creations.

This means:
* Christmas, New Years, Yule, Winter Solstice, or another winter holiday that you make up.
* science fiction, fantasy, or horror
* stories, poems, artwork, or anything else you can think of

Basics:
* No entry fee
* Reprints encouraged
* $42 first prize, $5 honorable mention--and the joy of spreading the spirit of Christmas and twisting it to your own ends.

Details here.

x-posted a little, for obvious reasons.

Testing, testing.