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MEMBER BOOK GALLERY | RECENT MAJOR SALES AND AWARDS

Here's where you can find out about workshop members' latest sales and other accomplishments in the world of science fiction and fantasy--click on the links to visit the publications, publishers, author sites, or book information.

LISTINGS FOR 2005

December 2005

James Allison (former OWWer) and Charles Coleman Finlay sold "The Third Brain" to Subterreanean. They originally workshopped it back in 2003. Charlie's hard drive crashed and he lost all his crits, but he's sure they need to thank a bunch of you. Thanks!

Tom Barlow sold a story to Hobart Magazine.

Leah Bobet sold "Towers" to Strange Horizons. She sends "thanks to Keby Thompson, Elizabeth Bear, Eric Bresin, Jeff Weitzel, Eric Foulkrod." And just about a day later, she sold "Lost Wax" to Realms of Fantasy. She says, "Thanks on that one to Kathryn Allen and Amanda Downum for looking at it on a tight deadline."

Heather Clitheroe has a poem in Ripe Magazine. She says, "I'm pretty excited and happy about it!"

Sue Curnow's story "Justice" is now out in The Sword Review.

Rae Carson tells us: "Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine would like to publish 'First Waltz,' my heavily workshopped sci-fi short. If ever the OWW resulted in a group project, this is it. Thanks go to Gene Spears, Dan Sackinger, Ken Rapp, Martha Knox, Jo Anderton, Jodi Meadows, Holly McDowell, and Aaron Brown. (And probably a few others...I seem to have lost my notes on this one.) THANKS, GUYS!"

Christiana Ellis cries out: "Behold! A Podcast Christmas Carol. It is a podcast-themed adaptation of the Dickens classic, and I helped write and produce it!" Congratulations. Pod people is going to have a whole new meaning in a few years.

Mark Fewell's story "Cockroachboys" can be found in Susurrus Magazine. And his story "A Time For Every Paradox" can be found in Astounding Tales.

Nancy Fulda won the Apex Digest Halloween Contest. The story, "Ghost Chimes," will be published in issue four of the print magazine. And her story "Kitjaya" placed as a finalist in the third quarter 2005 of Writers of the Future, which means that it's being held for possible inclusion in the anthology.

Rhonda S. Garcia was so excited about her first fiction sale -- to Abyss & Apex -- that she forgot to tell us the name of the story! But she says: "I want to publicly thank Susan Curnow, Elizabeth Hull, Elizabeth Bear, Kat Allen, Jean Seok, Anna Kashina, Larry, Stella Evans, John Tremlett and most of all, John Borneman and Greg Byrne, who both took a look at this story and helped me figure out the final draft. Thanks to Pam McNew for loving it. As to the rest, besides being fine writers, they all helped me keep from digging out my eyes and retiring from the writing world in a funk at one time or another."

Christine Hall sold three stories in one week! They include two workshopped horror stories, "Black Karma" to Nocturnal Ooze and "Burning" to Byzarium. She's grateful to Donna Johnson, John Hoddy, Teri Foster "and everyone else who helped with critiques."

Christopher Kastensmidt's story "Wizard's Study" was just accepted for publication in the July 2006 issue of Beyond Centauri. He writes, "Since the sale came just one day after I joined OWW, I'm not sure if I can credit the workshop with the assist. But then again, we write speculative fiction, so who knows what karmic forces were involved in this sale?"

Sandra McDonald's story "A Lock of Ra" aappears in the December issue of Lone Star Stories.

Pam McNew's story "Maggie's Christmas List" ALSO aappears in the December issue of Lone Star Stories.

Michael Merriam sold his story "Jenny's Magic" to Beyond Centauri for their July 2006 issue. He would like to thank workshop members Stella Evans, Alan Johnson, Jodi Meadows, and Becca Patterson for helping him beat this story into shape.

Karen Miller's novel THE INNOCENT MAGE has been nominated for an Aurealis Award, Australia's equivalent to the Nebula. Karen writes: "I'm gobsmacked and chuffed. As ever, so much credit goes to the workshop which encouraged me not to give up." That kind of news just makes us smile.

Kevin James Miller's new collection THE CRAZY COLORED SKY AND OTHER TALES is now available from Silver Lake Publishing.

Aimee Poynter has good news, too: "I just wanted to let you know that I was just accepted to Clarion 2006 on the strength of two stories that went through OWW, 'The Triangle Is Still Burning' and 'The Society of Crows.' The quality of my writing took a huge leap forward after I joined OWW, thanks to all the blunt but fair feedback. Extra thanks to those who reviewed the two stories I used for the application. You guys rock!"

David Reagan sold his story "Nothing to Hide" to The Other Truth, a brand-new satire Web site. He advises everybody to check out their guidelines because they need more new writers.

Erzebet YellowBoy has two more short story sales to end the year. "A Remedy for Sorrow" (workshopped as "In The Garden," which won an EC in Sept. 2005) will appear in Not One of Us. Her story "Bird's Eye" will be found in SLEEPING BEAUTY, INDEED, an anthology due to be released by Torquere Press in 2006. Erzebet says: "My deepest thanks to all who helped me with these stories. :)"

November 2005

Charles Coleman Finlay sold "Hail, Conductor" to Talebones. He thanks Marsha Sisolak, chance m, and everyone else who reviewed it when he workshopped it.

OWW Member Sales and Publications:

Two cool. Leah Bobet sold two stories to On Spec in two days! One is the briefly named "Metis" and the other is the longishly named "And its Noise as the Noise in a Dream; And its Depths as the Roots of the Sea." Leah says, "Thanks for both (squished together!) go out to Celia Marsh, Elizabeth Bear, Jaime Voss, Cath Emery, Meredith L. Patterson, Jeremy Tolbert, Kyri Freeman, Simon Owens, Christiana Ellis, Kathryn Allen, and Rebecca Willman for their reviews when both stores were workshopped."

Sue Curnow sold her short story "Justice" to The Sword Review. She sends "Huge thanks to all of those who reviewed it on OWW."

Two cool too. Mark Fewell sold his story "Cockroachboys" to Susurrus for their December issue. And you can look for his time travel story "A Time For Every Paradox" in Astounding Tales.

Ian Morrison sold short story "A Pile of Leaves" to Deep Magic for their November issue. He calmly states, "This is my first sale and the help I received from OWW members was invaluable." To which we add... "Woohoo!"

Steve Nagy sold his short story "Ye Shall Eat In Haste" to The Third Alternative (aka Black Static). He informs us there was "much jumping for joy since I like this piece and it's the prologue to the current work in progress. An earlier version did appear on the OWW."

October 2005

Elizabeth Bear has had a very good few weeks, selling a pseudo-Victorian vampire detective novella, "Lucifugous," to Subterranean, Czech translation rights for HAMMERED, an as-yet-unnamed short story collection to NightShade books, and a novelette, "Gone to Flowers," to the anthology EIDOLON I. Not to mention the sale of "Los Empujadores Furiosos" to On Spec. Wow.

Mike Blumer signed a 5-book YA contract for The Secret Books of Gabendoor. Book One is THE BOOK OF SECOND CHANCES, workshopped, of course. He tells us "Now I have to create: Reader discussion guide, trading cards, maps, bookmarks, door hangers, and a ton of other stuff." Poor fellow!

Kimberly Colley's short story "Kiss, Jack" appeared in the October 2005 issue of The Harrow. She also sold her short story "Unrequited Frost" to Aoife's Kiss, tentatively scheduled for publication in Sept. 2006.

Cat Collins' story "Breia's Diamond" was accepted for an anthology forthcoming from Daw. She says: "I don't know any dates or details yet, but the theme is 'Places to be; People to kill.' I'm mildly ecstatic, to say the least. Cheers, and thanks to you all!"

Mark Fewell's story "The Woman In The Mirror" has been published in Dark Recess Issue #1. The magazine can be downloaded in .pdf format.

Charles Coleman Finlay's collection WILD THINGS is finally available in stores. He had a book launch for it at Bakka-Phoenix books in downtown Toronto on Saturday, Oct. 22, where he saw current and former OWWers like Leah Bobet, Karin Lowachee, Derek Molata, S. K. S. Perry, and Helen Vorsters. And his short story "The Moon Is Always Full" appears in the Oct. 31 issue of Strange Horizons.

Adrian Firth wrote: "Kill the fatted calf, light the frankincense and myrrh, and dance in the streets. I made my first short story sale! Reflection's Edge accepted 'The God of the Gaps.' Should be up in October. A googleplex of thanks to the OWW team, and to reviewers Michael Merriam, Carlos Jimenez-Cortes, Paul Lister, Jeanne Haskin, Lawrence Payne, F.R.R. Mallory, and also some people whose names I've lost. You know who you are! Thanks again."

Donna Johnson sold her sword and sorcery flash "In Chains" to flashme for their October 31 issue. She says "I should thank everyone who patiently helped me with it here and elsewhere, especially Elizabeth Hull, Christine Hall and PA, Bob Allen, Teresa Thorne and members of DII -- Thanks a bunch!"

Kevin Paul Jones sold his story "Curiosity," workshopped a couple of times last year, to <The Harrow for publication sometime next year. He says, "I'd like to thank everyone who offered advice and crits, I'd thank you all by name, but I lost the individual crits to a dying computer :)"

Martha Knox was published last month in Chick Flicks. She told us that "the story is a SF story, 'Prima,' that I posted on OWW and received many helpful crits for--thanks!"

Kelly Link's novella "Magic for Beginners," which appears in her new collection of the same name, may also be found in the October/November issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Michael Merriam's story "Rija's Tale," which was workshopped on OWW, appears in the fall issue of Gryphonwood. As if that's not enough, he also sold his short story "Rainfall" to Deep Magic. He would like to thank workshop members Alan Johnson, Becca Patterson, Jodi Meadows, Amos Peverill, Karen Swanberg, and Dena Landon for their helpful reviews and suggestions, adding "I could not have done this without them!"

Egg-on-our-face dept.: Last month we forgot to mention Regina Patton's first genre publication! Her SF short story "A Speck in the Universe," which she workshopped at OWW last fall, was published in the August/September anniversary special issue of AlienSkin.

John Schoffstall sold his short story "Fourteen Experiments in Postal Delivery" to Strange Horizons. It will probably be published around March, 2006.

Calie Voorhis sold her first short story, "Afternoon Download," to Deep Magic. She sends "Many thanks to SFF in general and my reviewers in particular! Special thanks to Mark Reeder!"

Jeremy Yoder's true story "King of the Bus" sold to a bus anthology called Where Do We Get Off? Armed Bandits, Angry Roosters And Other True Tales of Global Bus Travel.

September 2005

OWW Staff Sales and Publications:

Charles Coleman Finlay sold "Abandon the Ruins," the new Maggot novella he workshopped recently, to F&SF. Charlie says, "I was experimenting with the opening and the ending, and they needed significant revisions before I sent it out, which my reviewers pointed out. Unfortunately my hard drive crashed and I lost all the reviews before I had the chance to send out individual thank you notes... so thanks to everyone who reviewed this story!"

OWW Resident Editor Kelly Link has a new short-story collection out: MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS, featuring her Hugo-Award winning story "The Faery Handbag." Find out more (and order) at her Web site.

OWW Member Sales and Publications:

Brad Beaulieu's OWWorkshopped story "The Pieces of Emperor Phun" appeared in the July issue of Quantum Muse.

Leah Bobet's story "Lagtime" will appear in a future issue of On Spec. She says that "thanks go to Stephanie Burgis, Elizabeth Bear, Dena Landon, and Stella Evans for their crits when it was workshopped back in the day." Also, her story "The Girl With the Heart of Stone" will appear in Strange Horizons in early 2006. This time the "thanks go to Siobhan Carroll, Katherine Miller, Dena Landon, Tempest, Christiana Ellis, Chance, Eric Bresin, and Adrienne Allman for their crits."

Chris Dolley (re)sold his novel RESONANCE to the Science Fiction Book Club.

S. Evans sold "Water, Fire, and Faith" to Strange Horizons. She says "it's my April Fools THEY FIGHT CRIME challenge story. That's #3. If I want, I can join SFWA now. I'm especially jazzed because this story is very near and dear to my heart: it's about mermaids, the Mississippi River, Minneapolis-- particulary the bit where I live, near the Stone Arch Bridge, and the Pillsbury A Mill, which apparently will be torn down sometime in the near future to make a 27-story condominium complex called the Flour Sack Flats." Look for it (the story, not the complex) in early 2006.

Non-fiction selling machine Heidi Kneale sold her story "A Life in the Day of a Cat" to the anthology TWISTED CAT TALES. She adds that "It's been more than half a year since my last fiction publication, so I'm pretty stoked about this." As well she should be! And her fantasy musical comedy "Who Am I" won Second Place at the annual Stake Roadshow as well. Oh, and she sold two more non-fiction SF-related articles, "Nebula Birthplace or Refiner's Fire?" to IROSF and "Workshopping and Critique" to Vision Magazine.

Chris Manucy's first published short, "Cat Whisker Wound," can be found in the July issue of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. Congrats, Chris!

Karen Mayer's fantasy novel, THE KINSHIELD LEGACY, workshopped in its entirety at OWW, has won the 2005 ArcheBooks Publishing Co. novel contest for the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category. Karen tells us, "It's due to be released in Oct 2005 in hardcover. My special thanks go to the OWW members who helped me find the flaws: Carol Scarr, Tony Valiulis, Jo Van De Walle, and (former OWW member) Susan Hopewell. This will be my first fiction publication. Thanks for making OWW such a terrific site!" You're welcome.

Sandra McDonald sold two novels to Tor! She tells us that "ALCHERINGA is SF adventure full of military intrigue, romance, and myterious ancient alien technology. The first chapters were critiqued at OWW and James Patrick Kelly picked one as an Editor's Choice in 2004. It'll be out in 2007 in hardcover and paperback. The second novel is a yet-to-be-titled sequel."

Pam McNew's poem "Thoughts, From A Sin Eater" appeared in Fortean Bureau.

Michael Merriam has two stories appearing in September. "Darkly Though The Light Waters" appears in the September/October issue of Sorcery and Science. And "Angel Above," a science fiction romance novelette, is being serialized in two parts in the September and December issues of Lyrica: A Webzine Of Romantic Fiction.

Karen Miller wrote us: "I just wanted to let you know that the book I was working on while a member of the workshop (THE INNOCENT MAGE: KINGMAKER, KINGBREAKER BOOK 1) is now published, and is a #1 bestseller here in Australia. In its early incarnation it was selected Runner Up Best Fantasy Chapter by the editorial team. Needless to say I'm beyond thrilled as it's my first published fantasy, and I just wanted to say again how important the workshop was in getting the work up to scratch and keeping my little flame of self-confidence alive in the days when I was drowning in a sea of self-doubt." We're glad we were here for you, Karen!

Ruth Nestvold, with co-author Jay Lake, sold "The Candadian Who Almost Came All the Way Home From the Stars" to Sci Fiction. Ruth says "I want to thank Deb Coates, Katherine Miller, Christine Hall, and Linda Dicmanis for their suggestions when it went through the workshop."

Sarah Prineas's story "Crow's Changeling" was published in Strange Horizons.

Jeremy Yoder's story "A Lesson in Heroics" was accepted for a humorous fantasy anthology entitled BASH DOWN THE DOOR AND SLICE OPEN THE BADGUY. He sends "Special thanks to reviwers Aaron Brown, Joshua Palmatier, Raymond Walsh, Seth Skorkowsky, Michael Goodwind, and Tim Brommer. And my thanks to those who set up the writing marathon. Most of this story was written during that month when I was really pushing myself. (Which meant writing during lunch hours, in my car, in a deserted parking lot, while hunched over my newly purchased Alphasmart.)" In addition, Jeremy's story "Always Greener on the Other Side," accepted almost 2 years ago, just came out in the anthology FANTASTICAL VISIONS III, with beautiful artwork by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

August 2005

This month's OWW Staff achievements:

Kelly Link, OWW Resident Editor for Short Stories, won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novelette with her story "The Faery Handbag." Please join us in congratulating Kelly!

Charles Coleman Finlay, OWW Admin, sold his short story "The Moon is Always Full" to Strange Horizons.

Member Sales and Publications:

Elizabeth Bear won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer! It's a recognition that will come as no surprise to OWWers who've been following her career. Congratulations from everybody at OWW!

John Borneman had a busy month. He sold flash fiction "Elwin's House" to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, flash humor "Bee Carefull" to Defenestration, plus two poems: "Schadenfreude" to Illumen and "Excerpts from the Evil Alien's Handbook" to Beyond Centauri.

We've heard a rumor that K. Tempest Bradford sold "The Seventh Reflection" to the THOU SHALT NOT... anthology for her first pro sale.

Chris Dolley's RESONANCE is available already as a special offer from Baen WebScriptions.

Nora Jemison's story "Cloud Dragon Skies," with illustrations by Frank Wu, was published this month in Strange Horizons.

Way Jeng's first pro story "The Rain God," appears in the October issue of Realms of Fantasy. Way writes, "I posted this one up at OWW a while back. I assumed Realms'd hold it in inventory for a year or so before using it, but I guess not." Why wait for a good thing?

Robert Keanalley's first novel, COVEN: ECHOES OF THE PAST, was published by Booksurge Publishing. Rob writes: "I'd just like to thank this site, the staff and the members for all the help over the years in fine-tuning this project that has finally culminated in what I hope will be an enjoyable book for everyone who reads it." To find out more about the book and ordering it, check out Rob's website.

"Red Sky" by Celia Marsh appeared this month in Strange Horizons.

Joshua Palmatier's first novel THE SKEWED THRONE is available for pre-order from Amazon! If you've been waiting to order it, now you don't have to wait any longer (Go to http://tinyurl.com/8m3kl).

Sarah Prineas's short story "The Red Cross Knight" appears in the August issue of Cicada (with four illustrations!). And she sold her short story "A Treatise on Fewmets" to Lone Star Stories for the August/September issue.

John Schoffstall's story "In the Flue" won the Grand Prize at the 2005 Writers of the Future Contest. John tells us that "In the Flue" was a June 2003 Hot Air Challenge story. He sends "special thanks to those who critted it on OWW, and made it a better story: Vikki Everson Green, Ruth Nestvold, Leah Corsaro, Jesse Werner, and Debbie Moorhouse." Congratulations, John!

Jeremiah Tolbert's "This, My Body" appears in the August issue of Interzone.

Sandra M. Ulbrich sold her fantasy short story "A Reptile at the Reunion" to Michele Acker's anthology A FIRESTORM OF DRAGONS. She tells us, "It's my first sale, and I couldn't have done it without the feedback I got from my OWW reviewers."

Jaime Voss sold another poem. "Roses" will appear in the Autumn 2005 issure of Illumen.

Wade Albert White sold his story "Murder in Candy Land" to Ideomancer. Wade sends "thanks to OWW reviewers Robert Haynes, Way Jeng, Rajan Khanna, Michael Keyton, Heather Marshall, Jen Lee, and M. Thomas for all their sage advice."

Erzebeta YellowBoy had a great month with two short story sales. "The Trickster in My Belly" will appear in JABBERWOCKY 2, due out this fall, and another of her stories, "A Sure and Certain Song," will be appearing in Fantasy Magazine, also scheduled for publication in the fall.

July 2005

Jo Anderton's flash fiction story "The Feast," which was workshopped right here on OWW, placed 3rd in the AHWA (Australian Horror Writers Association) Flash Fiction and Short Story Competition. It will be published in the 6th edition of Shadowed Realms. She says "many, many thanks :)"

Leah Bobet sold her poem "Happily Ever After" to Aoife's Kiss.

D. Melissa Bowden sold her short story "Eternity" to Insidious Reflections for their July issue. She says, "it's one I ran through the OWW, and I got lots of great help on it." It's her first sale -- congratulations!

Hannah Wolf Bowen's story "The Midnight Train, She'll Take You There," aka, the train unstory, appears in the latest issue of Chiaroscuro.

Mark Fewell sold his short story "All Wars Are Old Wars" to the very first issue of Tales of the Talisman. (See "Market News" above for more information about Tales of the Talisman.) Mark also sold "The Woman In The Mirror" to the debut issue of Dark Recesses Press, which is scheduled for release October 1, 2005.

Charles Coleman Finlay sold "Passing Through" to F&SF. Thanks to Chance, Marsha Sisolak and Jaime Voss, who took a look at it.

Ilona Gordon and her husband Andrew sold LOST DOG and an untitiled sequel to Anne Sowards at Ace/Berkley. They emailed us to say, "We would like to thank the many wonderful people on OWW for their friendship, skill, support, and all the time they have put into making our work better. Thank you to Larry (Insert-The) Payne, to Jeff Stanley, to Christiana Ellis, to Hannah Bowen, to Nora Fleischer, and also to Mark Jones, Del Whetter, Elizabeth Bear, Steve Orr, Betty Foreman, Kyri Freeman, and Diana Cacy Hawkins. Without you, we would have given up long ago. We also would like to thank Aaron Brown, Elizabeth Hull, Deb Cawley, May Iversen, Cath Emery, Richard Rogers, Susan Elizabeth Curnow, Scott Clemens, David Emanuel, and John Tremlett for their continual support and infinite patience. Special thanks to Sonya and Jason Sipes for their friendship and advice, to Penelope Hardy and Chance who must be the most patient people in the world to put up with our IMs, and to Charles Coleman Finlay and Ellen Key Harris-Braun for believing against all odds that one day, somehow, somewhere, we would make it into print." Charlie and Ellen point out that it was hardly "against all odds"--talent and persistence will get you at least two-thirds of the way there. But we're still very happy for you. Congratulations!

Vylar Kaftan sold her short story "Buddha's Happy Family Jewels" to Vestal Review. She said, simply, "Yay. :-)"

Heidi Kneale saw her article "The Appeal of Fan Fiction" in The Internet Review of Science Fiction.

Steve Nagy's short story "A Paradigm of Coats" appears in the latest issue of Lenox Ave.

Amanda Oestman squeed when she sold "Wrack" to Strange Horizons. She sends a "thank you to everyone who critted it, especially Jodi Meadows and Rae Carson, who went above and beyond to beat goodness into the story." It's her first sale ever -- congratulations!

Simon Owens' short story "This Hand Waving" appears in the latest issue of Chiaroscuro.

Michael Pignatella sold his short story "Waiting for Mr. Snickers" to nanobison and short story "Footprints in the Snow" to Aoife's Kiss.

Marguerite Reed sold "Bearing Witness" to Strange Horizons. It's her first pro short story sale -- congratulations!

John Schoffstall sold "Adventures in Dog-Walking in Downtown Philadelphia" to Strange Horizons. He tells us that "it was suggested I write this story by Elizabeth Bear. She was right. Thanks, Bear!"

June 2005

Elizabeth Bear, who, you may recall, reported the sale of TWO novels last month, started off her latest e-mail to us this way: "So, you probably aren't going to believe this..." It turns out that she's sold TWO MORE novels to Spectra, one titled CARNIVAL and an unnamed second novel. After woo-hooing, she added "now I have two books to write before mid-November. Um. See you guys at Christmas." Keep us in mind if those books need crits, Bear! ;-)

Hannah Wolf Bowen's "Vision" appears in Say... have you heard this one?

Mark Fewell has two stories up at Astounding Tales, "'A wish,' said the goddess." and "After The Rain."

Charles Coleman Finlay has seen his novel THE PRODIGAL TROLL in stores, which is very cool.

Vylar Kaftan's story "She Called Me Baby" appeared recently in Strange Horizons.

Wendy Koenig placed 2nd Honorable Mention (5th place) in the Fiction category of the 2005 Florida Freelance Writers Association Contest, with the second chapter of her current novel-in-progress, UNDER TWIN SUNS. Congratulations, Wendy!

Sandra McDonald's "Constituent Work" appears in Say... have you heard this one?

Catherine M. Morrison, aka Chance, appears in Say... have you heard this one? with "The Last Bee Tree in Lynchburg County."

Andre Oosterman's story "Spotting Starwhales" will appear in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Andre says "This would not have happened without the help of a small army of OWW reviewers: Joshua Canete, Claudia Casser, Linda Dicmanis, William Freedman, Robin Holmes, Bill Kohler, Jeff Kuczynski-Brown, Brit Marshalk, Thomas Mays, Amos Peverill, Philip Spencer, and Zvi Zaks. Thanks a lot, everybody!" Andre's story "The Island of Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev," reported in an earlier newsletter, appeared in the June 14th issue of SFFH.

May 2005

Elizabeth Bear wrote us, "very pleased to announce the sale of two books to Roc/Ace -- the heavily posted (twice!) BLOOD & IRON, which was workshopped as SHADOWHAND in 2002 and as BRIDGE OF BLOOD & IRON in 2003, and its sequel, WHISKEY & WATER. Thanks go out to: Ruth Nestvold, Kathryn Allen, Mel Melcer, Larry West, Rhonda S. Garcia, Leah Bobet, Walter Williams, Randy Simpson, Villy Ellinger, Jeanne Peltier, Bill McKinley, Hannah Bowen, Ilona Gordon, Beth Bernobich, Penelope Hardy, John Tremlett, Kyri Freeman, Siobhan Carroll, Terri Trimble, Jim Grady, Elizabeth McGlothlin, Shawn Farien, Marsha Sisolak, Walter Williams... and probably some other folks whose names are lost to antiquity, as that was two hard drives ago." She also reports the sale of a novelette to Interzone. "Wax" was workshopped as "Strike a Light," and she sends "many many thanks to Stella Evans, Rhonda Garcia, Leah Bobet, Kathryn Allen, Terri Timble, Kyri Freeman, and Tony Valiulis." Congratulations, eBear!

Leah Bobet sold "They Fight Crime!" to Strange Horizons. She told us "it's a April Fools story (so technically a challenge story)," but she forgot to mention it's the second year in a row she has sold her April Fool's story! "And thanks go out to Elizabeth Bear, Amanda Downum, and Jaime Voss for their crits and suggestions."

Mark Fewell's "After The Rain" has been accepted by Astounding Tales. He tells us "This is yet another that had been posted on the horror workshop before the workshops merged." Astounding Tales also accepted Mark's story "'A wish,' said the goddess."

Nora Jemison sold a slipstream short story called "Cloud Dragon Skies" to Strange Horizons. She's excited because it's her first SFWA-eligible sale! Look for it in August under the name N. K. Jemisin.

Alaya Johnson sold "Among Their Bright Eyes" to Flesh & Blood for their fall issue.

Peter Mackey saw his SF short "The Observed" in the spring issue of Far Sector. He informs us the story "was workshopped in two incarnations in 2002 and 2003, and benefitted from a number of insightful reviews. Abundant thanks to all who contributed their comments and suggestions. And thanks to the OWW-SFF staff and membership for continuing to keep this a lively, stimulating environment." You're welcome!

Chris Manuncy sold "Cat Whisker Wound" to Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. "This story got lots of great feedback on OWW -- including Robert Sinclair, Eric Bresin, Melissa Alsgaard, Cat Freeze, James Lemacks, Andrew Ahn, chance, and probably one or two I didn't write down, but am no less grateful to. Thanks!"

Sandra McDonald sold "Life Sentence" to the anthology TWENTY EPICS. Since the conceit of the anthology is short epics, we're wondering if she managed to tell one entirely in a single sentence...

Joshua Palmatier tells us "I just heard from my editor at DAW that they plan on releasing THE SKEWED THRONE in January '06... in hardcover! Gah! I'm totally excited." Gah! We're totally excited too!

S. K. S. Perry didn't email us with the news, but we heard that he's sold his sword and sorcery story "Harbinger" to the SHADOWSWORD anthology, and we were happy enough that we decided to share it anyway. Go Steve!

Sarah Prineas's story "Liberty Pipe" appeared recently in Strange Horizons.

David Reagan has been accepted to write a story for the Liquid Laughter Project's first anthology, MEDICINE SHOW. He tells us, "Authors were asked to send a story as an audition piece (I used a workshopped story, naturally) and twelve were chosen to contribute. Each story will be written in sequence after the previous story is completed, serial-style. I'm hitting in the two hole, with a July 31st deadline. I think this second sale might be sweeter than the first. Now I just have to write a kickass story..."

M. Thomas had three sales to report! "Cicada" appeared in Lone Star Stories Issue #8, and you can look for "Buddha's Fall" in Fortean Bureau and "Fire and Ash," which may or may not come out under the title "Devouring Majole," she warns us, in On Spec.

Ray Walshe emailed us to say that "More Hero, Less Human" sold to Amazing Journeys Magazine for their June issue. He sends "thanks to Carlos Jimenez-Cortes, Roger McCook, Ian Morrison, John Schoffstall, Jeremy Yoder and many others for their valuable feedback."

We heard from Heidi Kneale that former workshopper Anne Wingate published her workshopped novel RENTWING at Fictionwise.

April 2005

Elizabeth Bear reports that her novel HAMMERED is #3 on the April Locus best seller list, that her novellette "This Tragic Glass" was longlisted for the Tiptree, and that just sold workshopped story "And the Deep Blue Sea" to SCI FICTION, "for which thanks go out to John Tremlett, Chris Coen, Kathryn Allen, Craig Hickman, and Ejner Fulsang." That's not a bad year... and she did it all in one month.

It's about time! J. M. (Mike the Janitor) Blumer, of Serendip fame, just signed a contract with YA publisher Windstorm Creative for THE BOOK OF SECOND CHANCES. He reports that "They have first refusal rights on 4 more in the series. I guess I'll have to get a typewriter for the basement of the Serendip."

Leah Bobet IM'd the newsletter editor a couple nights ago with this news: "THE YEAR'S BEST FOR TEENS antho with my monkey story in it is out. That be all. :)" That be pretty good!

We hear strangled rumors that Hannah Bowen sold a story to ChiZine that was tattoed on the skin of a former editor she had ritually killed and flayed. No word yet on the publication date. Perhaps Hannah will email us with any corrections or addendums.

S. Evans didn't report any news this month. This is just a note to let her know that we're concerned.

Charles Coleman Finlay's short story collection WILD THINGS is now available for preorder from Subterranean Press. There's a limited edition of 250 signed numbered copies, containing an exclusive chapbook for $40, and a fully clothbound hardcover for $25. To order either one, go to Subterranean Press.

Simon Haynes, better known until now for being the creator of SONAR, which many OWW members use to track their submissions, sold a series of three novels featuring Hal Spacejock to Fremantle Arts Centre Press. The first title will appear in November 2005.

Nora Jemison saw her fantasy short story "L'Alchimista" in SCATTERED COVERED SMOTHERED. And her fantasy erotica short story "Red Riding-Hood's Child" was published in Fishnet in just the last week or so.

Vylar Kaftan sold his story "She Called Me Baby" to Strange Horizons. He says, "I workshopped the story on OWW and got great feedback on it which really improved the story. And I wish I'd written down who critted it. This is one of the first stories I put up, and I didn't know that feedback would vanish when I deleted it." Whoops. Sorry.

It must be spring -- sales are blooming everywhere. Sandra McDonald sold her story "The Heirs of Cenpa" to Lone Star Stories and her story "The Writer's Orchard" to new publication Fictitious Force.

Steve Nagy sold his story "A Paradigm of Coats" to Lenox Avenue for their July/August 2005 issue. He wrote "Thanks to eBear a bit for this one. If you hadn't sold them a story, they wouldn't have come on my radar."

Ruth Nestvold sold "Feather and Ring" to Asimov's and "Rivers of Eden" (co-written with Jay Lake) to Futurismic. Ruth says that "'Feather and Ring" went through the workshop ages ago, and I don't know anymore who helped me out with it -- but thanks to them all anyway. 'Rivers of Eden' went through only recently, and I'd like to thank Wade White, Daniel Sackinger, Jeff Spock, Linda Dicmanis, and Robert Haynes for their help in whipping it into shape."

André Oosterman writes: "Dear OWW: I don't know what's happening, but for some strange reason people started buying my stories. I just sold 'The Island of Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev' to SFFH. This is the third sale in three months, after a barren spell of over a year. As always, the story greatly benefited from reviews of Gene Spears, Carlos Jimenez-Cortes, Travis Jeffers, Treize Armistedian and Zvi Zaks. Thanks a bunch, guys." Dear André: We suspect what's happening has something to do with those folks mentioned there at the end. Call it wild speculation....

Much-loved OWW alum Sarah Prineas sold her short story "Crow's Changeling" to Strange Horizons.

Michelle Thuma recently sold her fantasy short story "Echoes of Me" to Realms of Fantasy. Or, as she said, "WOOOOoooooooOOOooo!"

Steve Westcott sold two stories, "Hell's Bells and Bunny Resurrection," to Eternal Night webzine. He adds, "'Hell's Bells' was workshopped around eighteen months ago with 'Bunny Resurrection' being a new story, ready in time for the Easter break. I also have my next two novels under consideration with a UK publishing house. Many thanks to the workshop and my critter buddies. Without the support and useful crits I would not be where I am now. Struggling! No, seriously. Many thanks to you all for helping me hone my meagre writing skills." Not so meagre, we think.

March 2005

Nigel Atkinson's story "Knitting with Water," which won an EC back in 2003, appears in the March 2005 Deep Magic. We've heard that he also has another story in the DEEPER MAGIC VOL. 2 anthology.

Elizabeth Bear reports that she sold her vampire novelette "Wane" to Interzone and her vampire short story "House of the Rising Sun" to The Third Alternative. "Thanks on the first go out to John Tremlett, Kathryn Allen, Chelsea Polk, Megan Crewe, and Clarissa Smith for reviews and comments, and to Celia Marsh for the title, and thanks on the second go out to Charles Coleman Finlay, Chris Coen, Chelsea Polk, Kathryn Allen, Jaime Voss, Gary Peterson, Hannah Wolf Bowen, Leah Bobet, and Jonathan Alexander for reviews and comment. This is the 6th market for 'Wane' and a whopping #14 for 'House.'"

Leah Bobet's short story "Building A Taller Chair" appears in the March 2005 issue of Fortean Bureau. She also sold her short story "Dog Days" to TEL: Stories and will see her short story "Displaced Persons" reprinted in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION FOR TEENS.

Scott Clements's stories "Into Pohjola" and "Darkness in the Light" appear in the DEEPER MAGIC VOL. 2 anthology.

Deborah Coates saw her story "Magic in a Certain Slant of Light" published at Strange Horizons.

Wendy Delmater's poem "Feanor" will be published in Parma Noele, the print literary magazine of the New York Tolkien Society.

Woot! Chris Dolley sold his SF novel RESONANCE to Baen. Chris told us "It was actually picked out of their electronic slush pile - just goes to show that it does happen:) I didn't workshop this particular book at OWW but I did win the Editor's Choice award twice when I was a member of the original Del Rey workshop." Look for RESONANCE in hardcover in November, 2005.

Charles Coleman Finlay's story "Moons Like Great White Whales" was published at Strange Horizons. Meanwhile, his story "Horny in the Underworld" appeared in the latest issue of Electric Velocipede. And his story "Still Life With Action Figure" appears in the latest issue of Argosy.

Anna Kashina's novella "Mistress of the Solstice" (workshopped a couple of years ago) placed in the quarterfinals for the Writers of the Future Contest, first quarter of 2005. She says "I gather it is not being published anywhere, but feel like celebrating anyway." Heck, yeah!

After an noted absence in this section, Heidi Kneale returns like a boomerang! Her story "Mrs Brown's Excellent Scones" will appear in the April/May issue of AlienSkin. Her article "Reviving Literacy through Science Fiction and Fantasy" will appear in the Internet Review of Science Fiction. And she also sold three (yes, three) articles about computer gaming to the Indonesian children's magazine, Oki Nirmala--Fun and Fantasy. She tells us she "wrote the articles in English and they will be translated into Indonesian. Good thing; I can only speak about four words of Indonesian and they all relate to food." As a market note, she tells us that "Oki Nirmala accepts fantasy stories (in the vein of fairy tales) written in English (also to be published in English). Stories should be about 500 words long and geared to the 8-11 year old set."

Darren Moore's story "The Most Daunting Task" won 2nd Place in the 2005 NESFA Contest.

Andre Oosterman's story "The Navel of the Universe", which was selected as Editor's choice in 2002, will appear in a 2006 issue of Electric Velocipede. Andre would "like to thank all the OWW members, who flooded me with reviews, for their efforts. I am especially grateful to Debbie Moorhouse, who went through the entire manuscript in painstaking detail, in search of the Holy Grail of editing, i.e. the clean copy."

Ian Tregillis has been accepted to Clarion East. Congratulations!

Jeremy Yoder's story "Of Pawns and Kings" appears in OR Christian Science Fiction, which is, he informs us, "an ezine I learned about from Rae Carson, so a special thanks to her."

February 2005

Brad Beaulieu's flashfic "A Trade of Shades" appears in the current issue of AlienSkin. Brad sends his "thanks to Deb Cawley, Roger McCook, Joanne Bradley, Kevin Miller, Randy Simpson, Carlos Jimenez-Cortes, Eric Bresin, and Kirk Rafferty for their help in refining the story on OWW!"

Leah Bobet's "Displaced Persons," which originally appeared in Strange Horizons last summer, will be reprinted in THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTSY FOR TEENS, edited by Jane Yolen and Patrick Neilsen Hayden. Leah reminds us that "Displaced Persons" was a workshop challenge story. Also, her story "Building A Taller Chair" will appear in March issue of Fortean Bureau, and two poems, "Glass Slippers" and "The Lady, In Waiting," will appear, respectively, in the print and online issues of Aoife's Kiss in March. She says "thanks to everyone who made suggestions on the pieces, especially Jaime Voss, Chance, and Kathryn Allen."

Angela Boord sold "Maenad," the flash story she's been peddling for a year or so, to Lone Star Stories for their February issue. She said ":-)".

Marlissa Campbell sold her short story "Dracula's Pharmacopoeia" to Horror Carousel for the June 2005 issue. It's her first ink-and-paper sale! She sends "many thanks to OWW reviewers Gill Ainsworth, Michael Keyton, Michael Pignatella, Kevin Miller, Dan Strong, Cathy Freeze, and Lyn Payne."

Deb Coates sold "46 Directions, None of them North" to Asimov's. Deb says "I got a lot of great feedback on this one from the workshop. In particular, a comment from Chance (coupled with some back and forth Charlie Finlay and I had about it) that helped me 'get' what the story needed. Thanks!" She also sold "Magic in a Certain Slant of Light" to Strange Horizons. "The story never went through the workshop, but I did get some timely help from the mailing list thanks to a discussion a couple of months ago where Ebear (I think) said something like 'ask yourself what your character wants most in the world and then take it away from them,' which turned out to be just what my character needed to know at a critical moment in the story."

Mark Fewell's story "Just Came Back From The Crash Test" can be found in AlienSkin. "This is another story that had been posted on the horror workshop before the workshops combined," he tells us. Nice to know!

Charles Coleman Finlay sold "The Slug Breeder's Daughter" to Subterranean. He thanks Amos Peverill, Leonid Korogodski, Roger Anderson, sharelle toomey, Jaime Voss, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Key Harris-Braun, and Walt Williams for giving him the feedback he needed to turn it around so quickly.

Nancy Fulda, who just joined the workshop, sold "The Man who Murdered Himself" to ALL THE RAGE THIS YEAR: THE PHOBOS SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY, Vol. 3, which came out last September. She was also a semi-finalist for the 3rd Quarter 2004 of Writers of the Future. We hope that everyone will make her feel welcome.

Martha Knox sold her story "Naked" to Naked Snake Online for their March 2005 issue. She's pretty excited: "This is my first publication in the sci-fi/fantasy /horror genre, and my first paid publication ever. I appreciate how much my fiction writing has improved since joining this workshop. Thanks!" She found this market through the Spicy Green Iguana listings (http://www.spicygreeniguana.com).

Karen L. Kobylarz's short story "Imperishable Stars" will appear in the April, 2005 issue of Leading Edge. She informs us that "the story was workshopped back in 2002. Thanks to current and former members who took the time to review the story: Dena Landon, Jessica Ebacher, A. Bruno, Ray Lacina, Kathyaleen Stemper, and Mary Kay Moore." Also, her short story "Cleopatra's Needle," which appeared in Paradox last year, has been nominated for the Fountain Award, presented by the Speculative Literature Foundation.

Mailing list mainstay Ron Leming reported that he sold his art "Alley Run" to a science fiction RPG book called ROCKETSHIP EMPIRES 1936, a notable event for two reasons: "Actual money involved, and a request to do further art in the future."

Pam McNew didn't bother to mention it to us, but we noticed her poem "Little Dark Stupa Girl" in the latest issue of Lone Star Stories.

Darren Moore's story "Path To F'dar" placed 6th out of 143 entries in the 2004 Science Fiction Writers of Earth SF/F Short Story Contest. He says "the story was critted on OWW about four years ago, thank you!" We're happy you stayed with it, Darren.

Sarah Prineas's "Winged Victory" appeared in the latest issue of Lone Star Stories.

John Schoffstall sold his story "Errant Souls" to Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. According to John, "This story was critted on the workshop about a year ago. Special thanks to my critters, Carol Burrell, Bill Kohler, Keith Katsikas, John Walborn, Mur Lafferty, M. Thomas, Ruth Nestvold, cathy freeze, Raymond Walshe, and Kyri Freeman for making this a better story!"

M. Thomas sold short story "The Tinker's Child" to Aeon, due out in August 2005. M. gives "Thanks to all reviewers who suffered and persevered through each draft." Suffered... persevered...? Ouch!

Mikal Trimm's poem "And We Shall Go A'Questing" also appears in the latest issue of Lone Star Stories. You can't get away from OWW members and alum!

Jaime Lee Voss sold two poems, "Kittens" and "Monday," to Orson Scott Card's online poetry magazine, Strong Verses. "Stunned and shocked sums it up," she told us. Her poem "Once Upon a Time" will appear in the March issue of Raven Electrik. She says, very humbly, "that makes eight poetry sales to genre markets since November."

Dave Wood sold two stories in one week! His fantasy story "Hatchet" will be in Dragons, Knights, and Angels and "The Diary of Sasquatch" (just a little late for this month's challenge) will appear in the Eggplant Library. "As always," Dave wrote, "thanks to all the members of this awesome workshop who challenge me to be better with every critique, and teach me something new with every submission I review!"

Jeremy Yoder informed us that he's had a non-fiction piece published in CHRISTIAN MIRACLES: AMAZING STORIES OF GOD'S HELPING HAND IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES, now available at Amazon.

January 2005

The first book in R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, THE DARKNESS THAT COMES BEFORE, was selected by Publisher's Weekly as one of the "Best Books of 2004." Volume 2, THE WARRIOR PROPHET, was just released.

Sam Butler told us it "feels like I've been holding my breath forever. Anyway, I'm pleased to announce, with great help from the gang at OWW, that I've signed a three-book deal with Tor. The first part of the trilogy, REIFFEN'S CHOICE, was workshopped over the last year on OWW, and is due out in the spring of '06. Thanks to everyone, especially Susan Jett, Andrew Ahn, Jodi Meadows, Aaron Brown, Sandra Ulbrich, Ian Morrison, and Holly McDowell. Could never have gotten this book right without their help." This was Sam's first fiction sale. "I've had no fiction sales before this, although I've had a great many rejections over the years, mostly with mainstream novels. Regarding what helped me from OWW, I would say it was very much the reviews. Finally finding a place where I could get feedback that wasn't the 'It's great!' of friends or the generic 'No thanks' of editors and agents was a great help. And enough folks told me that the middle was slow that I knew I had to do something. Susan Jett and Andrew Ahn were especially helpful. I also discovered that, if anything, my reviewing other people's writing was even more helpful than the reviews I received. I found writing a review was a great way to codify my own thoughts about the process, and to force myself to recognize similar problems in my own writing. If I complained about something in someone else's story, I couldn't very well do the same thing in my own. Really, I can't emphasize that aspect of membership enough. For that reason alone, I intend to keep posting and reviewing on the site. The honest give and take of the critting process is a great thing. I'm halfway through the second book now, and hope to start posting once I get the chapters into some sort of recognizable shape."

Cat Collins wrote us with this understated announcement: "WOOOOHOOOO!!! Huzzah, yippee and omigosh. I can't stop smiling. SLEEPING DRAGONS, my first book, just got accepted for publication by Five Star Publishing." Five Star is an imprint of Thomson Gale that specializes in genre fiction. Cat continues: "The book was completely workshopped about two years ago, if not more, and completely metamorphosed as a result. The OWWers taught me the mechanics of writing, and gave me so many great examples of the craft. Thank you all so much, but particular thanks to those who stuck by me so loyally -- Kevin Kibelstis, M Thomas (bless your pom-poms, girl!) Derek Molata, Amy Alward and A.K. Wrenn. I'm currently writing the third in the series, and hoping they'll also want to see the second book. Wish me luck!" Luck, Cat!

Mike Farrell sold his story "Galva's Prize" to Flash Me. He says: "Thank you Ian Tregillis, A. Creg Peters, Kevin Kibelstis Andrew Ahn, Tracey Stewart Deb Atwood, Roger, McCook, Alex Van Rossum, Treize Aramistedian, and Gary Peterson for reviewing the story and helping me."

Mark Fewell's short story "Night of The Space Princess" appears in the Nov/Dec issue of Calliope. For more on Mark's long list of publications, see his homepage.

Charles Coleman Finlay's "Pervert" was selected for THE YEAR'S BEST SF, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Kim Jollow writes to tell us that "Writing's not going badly--took fourth in Ralan's contest and made the quarterfinals in Writers of the Future, both with OWW-ed stories. Little things, but hey!"

Andre Oosterman sold his short story "Love is in the Blood" to Alien Skin for the Feb/March 2005 issue. He says: "I'd like to thank my OWW reviewers for much needed advice."

Joshua Palmatier reports that he and his agent have just agreed to a three-book fantasy contract with DAW. He tells us that "the first book in the series will be THE SKEWED THRONE, whose first few chapters were workshopped at OWW, and should be out sometime in 2006. Once a release date is set, I'll let everyone know. The other two books will be sequels. I have to thank OWW, and in particular all of the wonderful people of the Vicious Circle -- the critique group we formed on our own and ran using OWW (composed of Carol Bartholomew, Mike Blumer, Bonnie Brunish, Kishma Danielle, Laurie Davis, Dorian Gray, Penelope Hardy, Heidi Kneale, Robert Sinclair, and Larry West) -- as well as all of the others at OWW who helped me improve my writing technique. Everyone at OWW was supportive and encouraging. It's a great place to experiment with writing, among professionals and friends. Thanks to everyone who had something (good or bad) to say about my writing and who helped to make it better." This was Joshua's first fiction sale, but he made it a big one.

Debbie Smith made her first pro story sale, to the DARK DELICACIES anthology. She informs us that the story is now called "The Fall" but was posted in the workshop as "Afraid of the Dark." She accomplished it with a little help from her friends. Debbie tells us "This was my first 'invitation only' anthology. A friend wrangled the invitation for me. I didn't think I had a chance of selling to an anthology which already had stories by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson and Neil Gaiman. But I submitted anyway and... they bought it! I want to thank Jeff Spock for the title. Jeff, Vylar Kaftan and Anita Buehrle gave me great reviews that allowed me to do a polish before I sent it in. I also want to thank Kelly Link. She read the first draft of this story at Clarion West, and suggested I write it from a different point of view. That made all the difference in the world."

Jaime Voss sold two poems, "Sir Once Forgotten" and "Clockwork" to Star*Line. She said: "A 30 minute acceptance for these totally floored me. These are the first submissions I've made for 2005 and I'm hoping this bodes well for the rest of the year." Less than two weeks later she sold her poem "Destiny" to Between Kisses. Hrmmmm.