I have just released a new science fiction and fantasy collection. It contains ten short stories. Some of these have appeared in anthologies, but the majority of the collection are brand new, never before seen stories.
If you want to pick it up, here are the links:
Meanwhile, I’m working like crazy on a new series I’m really excited about. The first two books will be out in July. Now, back to writing!
I have a story in a totally awesome anthology edited by J.J. Adams and Hugh Howey. This is the first of a triptych of post-apocalypse anthologies.
My story was singled out in a recent review of the anthology on Wired.com, here’s an excerpt:
“Some stories hit with more force than others. “Goodnight Moon,” by Annie Bellet — a relatively quiet story about a group of astronauts saying their goodbyes and awaiting the end from their base on the moon — is both my favorite of the anthology and the one that wrecked me most thoroughly.”
Read the full review (and one of the stories free!) on Wired.com.
This anthology is chock full of amazing stories by award-winning and bestselling writers. Here’s the table of contents:
Introduction by John Joseph Adams | “The Balm and the Wound” by Robin Wasserman | “Heaven is a Place on Planet X” by Desirina Boskovich | “Break! Break! Break!” by Charlie Jane Anders | “The Gods Will Not Be Chained” by Ken Liu | “Wedding Day” by Jake Kerr | “Removal Order” by Tananarive Due | “System Reset” by Tobias S. Buckell | “This Unkempt World is Falling to Pieces” by Jamie Ford | “BRING HER TO ME” by Ben H. Winters | “In the Air” by Hugh Howey | “Goodnight Moon” by Annie Bellet | “Dancing with Death in the Land of Nod” by Will McIntosh | “Houses Without Air” by Megan Arkenberg | “The Fifth Day of Deer Camp” by Scott Sigler | “Enjoy the Moment” by Jack McDevitt | “Pretty Soon the Four Horsemen are Going to Come Riding Through” by Nancy Kress | “Spores” by Seanan McGuire | “She’s Got a Ticket to Ride” by Jonathan Maberry | “Agent Unknown” by David Wellington | “Enlightenment” by Matthew Mather | “Shooting the Apocalypse” by Paolo Bacigalupi | “Love Perverts” by Sarah Langan.
If you love great SF, and especially stories about the end of the world, pick this up. Thanks!
First, I am pleased to announce that I have a story in Fiction River #5: Hex in the City, which comes out today. It is available at Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle, as well as on other sites like B&N and Kobo as ebooks. There are a ton of great authors in this, including Jay Lake, Nancy Holder, Annie Reed, and others.
Next, I have a story coming out in an anthology though Baen next year. The anthology is a military fantasy one, titled Shattered Shields and edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Here are the details and table of contents:
Ashes and Starlight (Runelords) by David Farland
The Fixed Stars (October Daye) by Seanan McGuire
The Keeper of Names by Larry Corriea
The Smaller We Are by John Helfers
Invictus by Annie Bellet
Rising Above by Sarah A. Hoyt
A Cup of Wisdom by Joseph Zieja
Words of Power by Wendy N. Wagner
Lightweaver in Shadow by Gray Rinehart
Hoofsore and Weary by Cat Rambo
Vengeance (Frost) by Robin Wayne Bailey
Deadfall by Nancy Fulda
Yael of the Strings by John R. Fultz
The Gleaners by Dave Gross
Bonded Men by James L. Sutter
Bone Candy (Black Company) by Glen Cook
First Blood (Paksenarrion) by Elizabeth Moon
And finally, I’ll be signing books in Vancouver, WA at Vintage Books (6613 E. Mill Plain Blvd. Vancouver, WA 98661) on December 21st at 1pm. I’ll be there with other authors and it should be an awesome time. Please come by if you are in the area!
My urban fantasy story “Somebody Else’s Problem” will be appearing in Fiction River #5: Hex in the City next month. But you can listen to it for free on the WMG Publishing podcast for the next week! It has tattoos, telepathic rats, magic, and lots of action. What more could you want from urban fantasy, right?
As I said before, I’m super busy catching up on all the work that fell by the wayside this last six months.
But here’s a little preview of what to expect from me (and Doomed Muse Press):
First, the Pyrrh Series. Avarice, the first novel, will be out in October with the next three books following in 2013. The series is basically “Law & Order” with swordfights. Who wouldn’t love that? And check out the awesome cover by Nathie.
Then, in November, the first book of the Lorian Archive Trilogy will be out. You can read the first 3rd of the novel for free (see the sidebar under Casimir Hypogean) or the finished book will be available in November. The rest of the series will come in 2013. The series has lovely covers done by the awesome Tom Edwards:
I sold an SF novelette to GiGaNotoSaurus, it’ll be appearing in June.
I also got the cover for the second Lorian Archive book. The trilogy won’t be published for a little while longer (but should all be out this year, barring life catastrophe, knock on wood).
Have some shiny:
(Cover done by the awesome Tom Edwards)
My NaNo rebel project is not going well. I’m stuck trying to figure out if this story needs to be told in 1st or in 3rd person. So I’ve switched back to the novel (the sequel to A Heart in Sun and Shadow). I’ve never written a sequel before. It’s tough writing one for a book that is published, too. I can’t change details that were set in the first novel, so I’m constantly having to recheck the older book for things. I think I might take a couple hours today and make a quickie world bible or at least a list with the relevant details. I wrote the first book before I’d really nailed down how I prefer to write novels and I have zero cohesive character notes or world notes at all (which is something I started doing AFTER I wrote this one). It’s odd to go back and look at a work that I did a couple years ago.
In other news, I sold another story to Daily SF. This is my tenth fiction sale in less than two years (first sale was in December of 2009). Five of those have been to Daily SF. I guess it is true, you just have to find an editor who loves what you write and then sell them as much as you can. I’m glad so many stories of mine have found a home with Daily SF. They are a great publication (delivered to your email! Go subscribe! /end plug).
Oh, and I crossed the 1,000 books sold mark for my e-books. Hopefully the next 1k doesn’t take quite as long, but it is definitely a mile-stone.
So that is what’s up with me. Now, where did I put that outline? Back to writing!
I am pleased to announce that I have sold a short story titled “Nevermind the Bollocks” to the new monthly anthology series Digital Science Fiction. The story should be out in their second installment, so sometime this summer I think. This is my fourth pro-rate sale and, counting reprints, my seventh overall sale in the two and a half years I’ve been doing this. I hope this is a sign that between the books I’ve been studying, the workshops I’ve been doing, and the writing practice itself, that I’m still growing and improving.
I also have finally posted a collection of fantasy short fiction, which is will be available soon on Kindle and Nook and is already through the new, streamlined Smashwords grinder.
Here’s the cover:
It includes eight of my fantasy stories. More information can be found by clicking on the picture or you can get it directly from Smashwords by going here.
As for writing, well, I’m doing better. The novel is literally one working session away from done. I’m dropping my better half off at the airport today and then I’ll have almost three full days to get work done with zero social distractions. My top priority is to finish the novel and then finish the story I owe for the Mirror Shards anthology. Then it’s on to outlining the sequel to A Heart in Sun & Shadow and getting some other short fiction done as a warm-up to Clarion.
Speaking of Clarion, I’m starting to get excited and nervous about it. As we get ever closer to the start date and things begin to get sorted out like travel plans and housing, it feels more and more like this isn’t something abstract. And hey, at this point I don’t think I got in on an administrative mistake, since no one has corrected it yet. My Kickstarter project has only five days left, but it is pretty close to getting funded (only a few hundred left!) so I’m hopeful that the money will come through. The outpouring of both financial and emotional support by my friends and my fellow writers has really touched me. I thank all of you and I’m going to work my ass off at Clarion to make sure I don’t waste this opportunity.
So that’s what is going on with me. Lots of work, not a whole lot of blogging, sorry. I’ll do my usual monthly round-up next Tuesday (e-book sales have been pretty good to me this month, yay).
It’s nice to have good news for once coming in multiples. Most of the neo-pro writing life is being told no in varying ways, over and over and over. It’s good to hear a yes on occasion. It’s even better in pairs *grin*
So. A couple sales to announce. First is a reprint sale of my story “No Spaceships Go” (originally appeared in Daily SF in Dec 2010). The wonderful people at Scape– The e-zine of YA speculative fiction loved it so much they want it even though they don’t normally do reprinted fiction. So soon it will be available there as well.
Second sale is an as-yet-untitled story for the anthology Mirror Shards: Exploring the Edges of Augmented Reality (Volume One) being edited by my writer friend Tom Carpenter at Black Moon Books. The anthology is open to submissions until July, so get on it if you have an augmented reality story idea.
And finally, another interview for my indie-publishing side (I’m like the Hybrid Author of Doom here I guess) is up on Indie Reads. You can find the interview here.
Whew. Now back to the grind.
I got a Silver Honorable Mention for my story. My first Silver HM, so that’s something I suppose. I figured this story was HM level sort of thing, so it did better than I expected. My story for Q2 is, I think, going to be a Semi-finalist. I believe it is really good, but it might have a flaw that won’t work for the contest. We’ll see.
I have a couple more neo-pro interviews to post this week so the blog won’t be totally neglected while I finish this novel. I’ve been reading books on writing and reading tons of short stories lately. I have all sorts of plans, but I’m torn between what to do and what order to do it in. We’ll see. I might be posting a revised writing schedule for the year here soon.
Annie Bellet Old Site 