Last year, I was challenged to write a 100 word horror drabble for Black Hare Press. “100 words!” I thought. “Should be easy.” Only it wasn’t. It took me three goes over three months to get it right, but in the end my little Christmas tale — slightly humorous and very dark — was accepted into the December Issue. You can find it at this link: A Song for Dorian.
Tag: Sales
Story in Aurealis #145
I’m super pleased to announce my SF/Dark Fantasy short story, “She who Played for Morrocks” is now available here at Smashwords for AUD$2.99.
The story is about two different species of human who both value music and each acknowledges the other’s sentience. Their attempts to respect each other are muddied by preconceptions, misunderstandings and instinct.
And what a beautiful cover for this issue, by Atelier Sommerland.
Story to be Reprinted in Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013
My story, “The Silence of Clockwork”, edited by Elizabeth Fitzgerald and originally published in the 2013 Conflux Convention Programme, has been picked up by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene for The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror Volume 4: 2013 which will be released in late November.
This is the first time I’ve had a story in one of these and I’m especially chuffed as this story is written in the same world as my steampunk fantasy novel, Heart Fire, and is told from the point of view of one of the major characters, a centuries-old shapeshifter known as Ruk. One of the problems I had when writing this story was to not give in to overloading it with backstory, while at the same time telling enough of Ruk’s past to make his actions feel logical.
It’s certainly an honour to be part of this impressive table of contents:
• Lee Battersby, “Disciple of the Torrent”, Tales of Australia: Great Southern Land
• Deborah Biancotti, “All the Lost Ones”, Exotic Gothic 5 Vol I
• Trudi Canavan, “Camp Follower”, Fearsome Journeys
• Robert G. Cook, “Glasskin”, Review of Australian Fiction Vol 5 #6
• Rowena Cory Daniells, “The Ways of the Wyrding Women”, One Small Step
• Terry Dowling, “The Sleepover”, Exotic Gothic 5 Vol II
• Thoraiya Dyer, “After Hours”, Asymmetry
• Marion Halligan, “A Castle in Toorak”, Griffith Review #42
• Dmetri Kakmi, “The Boy by the Gate”, The New Gothic
• David Kernot, “Harry’s Dead Poodle”, Cover of Darkness Magazine
• Margo Lanagan, “Black Swan Event”, Griffith Review #42
• S.G. Larner, “Poppies”, Aurealis #65
• Martin Livings, “La Mort d’un Roturer”, This is How You Die
• Kirstyn McDermott, “Caution: Contains Small Parts”, Caution: Contains Small Parts
• Claire McKenna, “The Ninety Two”, Next
• C.S. McMullen, “The Nest”, Nightmare Magazine
• Juliet Marillier, “By Bone-Light “, Prickle Moon
• David Thomas Moore, “Old Souls”, The Book of the Dead
• Faith Mudge, “The Oblivion Box”, Dreaming of Djinn
• Ryan O’Neill, “Sticks and Stones”, The Great Unknown
• Angela Rega, “Almost Beautiful”, Next
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, “The Raven and Her Victory”, Where Thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe
• Nicky Rowlands, “On the Wall”, Next
• Carol Ryles, “The Silence of Clockwork”, Conflux 9 Convention Programme
• Angela Slatter, “Flight”, Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales
• Anna Tambour, “Bowfin Island”, Caledonia Dreamin’
• Kaaron Warren, “Born and Bread”, Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales
• Janeen Webb, “Hell is Where the Heart is”, Next
Sale to “Kisses by Clockwork”
My steampunk/fantasy/dark romance, “Siri and The Chaos-Maker, has been accepted in Ticonderoga’s upcoming anthology, Kisses by Clockwork. I wrote the first draft for this story during Clarion West 2008 and have been tinkering with it off and on ever since. It’s set in the same world as my novel, Heart Fire, but in a different country and era.
Contributing to Kisses by Clockwork’s 105,000 words are:
- Marilag Angway, “Smuggler’s Deal”
- Cherith Baldry, “The Venetian Cat”
- Gio Clairval, “The Writing Cembalo”
- M L D Curelas, “Ironclad”
- Ray Dean, “Practically Perfect”
- Stephanie Gunn, “Escapement”
- Richard Harland, “The Kiss of Reba Maul”
- Rebecca Harwell, “Love in the Time of Clockwork Horses”
- Faith Mudge, “Descension”
- Nicole Murphy, “The Wild Colonial Clockwork Boy”
- Katrina Nicholson, “Lady Presto Magnifico and the Disappearing Glass Ceiling”
- Anthony Panegyres, “The Tic-Toc Boy of Constantinople”
- Amanda Pillar, “A Clockwork Heart”
- Angela Rega, “The Law of Love”
- Carol Ryles, “Siri and the Chaos-Maker”
- DC White, “South, to Glory”
Clockwork Kisses is scheduled to be published in April.
Many thanks to my Clarion buddies and to my novel crit group, Egoboo WA (Satima Flavell, Helen Venn, Joanna Fay, Sarah Parker, Keira McKenzie and Laura E Goodin) for critting this for me.
Sale to More Scary Kisses
Sold my paranormal romance story, “Snake Charmer”, to More Scary Kisses, to be launched April 2011. Here’s the Table of Contents and a blurb from the Ticonderoga Publications website:
Heather Albano – “The Dark Season”
Annette Backshall – “Hunting Rabbits”
Liz Coley – “Marriage of Convenience”
Dayle A. Dermatis – “Matchmaker”
Roxanne Dent – “Miss Luella’s Magic Shop”
Felicity Dowker – “Berries & Incense”
Donna Maree Hanson – “Phantom Love”
Martin Livings & Talie Helene – “The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker”
Kirstyn McDermott – “Frostbitten”
Nicole R. Murphy – “The Protector’s Last Mission”
Jason Nahrung – “Resurrection in Red”
Amanda Pillar – “Philomena and the Blond God”
Carol Ryles – “Snake Charmer”
Fraser Sherman – “Sword of Darcy”
Eric Steele – “3am”
Frank Summers – “Dances with Werewolves”
DC White – “The Dark Night of Anton Weiss”
More Scary Kisses promises vampires, aliens, fairytale princesses, parallel universes, voodoo, werewolves, wizards, phantoms, dryads and cherubim.
CAROL RYLES 