"The Rugmaker's Lovers" at Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Earlier this week, my short story "The Rugmaker's Lovers" was published in the 158th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

They chose this line as the pull quote: "Something sat in the rugmaker's belly, small and solid and chill, and her husband's songs ceased to warm it."

This is one of my favorite of my stories, and I hope you'll stop over to read it. I love secondary world fantasy, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been one of my favorite sources of short fiction for some time. I don't write as much of the subgenre as I read, but whenever I do complete a short story that fits the bill I send it to Beneath Ceaseless Skies first.

"The Rugmaker's Lovers" took several years from the day I started it to its publication date. I hope I've become more efficient since then, but seeing something that I loved and struggled with for so long finally "in print," so to speak, is a great feeling.

"Speaking Up" at 4 Star Stories

This month I have two publications to announce. I'm doing it in two separate posts because I like to keep things neat like that.

I've fallen a few days behind on these, but I am pleased to announce that 4 Star Stories chose to publish "Speaking Up" in their most recent issue. This one's a little different for me. It's a sci-fi story from a child's perspective, and I was very happy that it found at home at 4 Star Stories.

I have been writing along, although my submissions have slowed. I need to pick those back up, soon, as almost every accepted piece has now been published and almost every piece out on submission has come back to me. I'm looking forward to restarting the adventure!