It’s been a while since I last wrote on this blog, but I have reasons. Good reasons, even.
A Dragon and Her Girl, the second of the LTUE Benefit Anthologies, is all done and ready for publishing. You can preorder it on Amazon, and it will be available on Kindle Unlimited through the end of May. On June 1, it will become available on all the ebook platforms possible.
This anthology is exciting because I got to work with one of the nicest, most gracious, and prolific authors I know: Mercedes Lackey. I’ve enjoyed her short stories for years, and eventually I’ll get around to reading some of her novels (I really haven’t read any of them, honest). She and co-author Elisabeth Waters were so kind to let us include their story in A Dragon and Her Girl. The other authors in the anthology were great to work with, too. I think I’ve been blessed to work with amazing authors so far in my editing career. It’s been a joy working with Jaleta Clegg again, too.
In December, my son (who was due at the end of January) decided he’d had enough of baking and came very early. He spent a bit of time in the NICU to make sure he wasn’t going to have any of the issues often associated with premature births. He’s home, off the CPAP, and he and mom are doing fine now.
I’ve been stuck a bit on writing because of spending all my time on the above two items. I (along with Jaleta) also finished selection for Twilight Tales, the third LTUE Benefit Anthology, due for release in February 2021. It’s a light horror (think “Twilight Zone”) anthology in honor of Betty Pope, and will feature 31 tales of light terror and woe. We are now working on selecting the theme (and the honoree) for the fourth anthology in this series.
I’m about to begin work on editing A Universe of Stories, a short collection of stories by winners of the first American Fork Library creative writing contest. This anthology gives those winners the opportunity to go through the editing process and even earn a little money from the sales of the anthology. This will be an ongoing series, published first in ebook format, with a print omnibus version available after 3-4 of the ebook anthologies have come out. I’ll post more about this anthology (and its sequels) when it gets closer to release.
If you want to pick up signed copies of Trace the Stars and A Dragon and Her Girl, I’ll be at Life, the Universe, & Everything in February. A bunch of the authors in those anthologies will be there, too. I will also have a few copies of All Made of Hinges if you’d like to read “Napoleon’s Tallest Teamster“, my clockwork android story set in 1870s France.
That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by!
Life, the Universe, & Everything 43 starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday evening (February 13-15). I’ll be on a panel about Hayao Miyazaki, then MC-ing the release of Dog Save the King (the seventh in the LTUE Benefit Anthologies series, co-dited with Jaleta Clegg). Following that, I’ll be overseeing a memorial gathering for my long-time friend, Melva Gifford, who passed away at the beginning of January. She was one of the founders of the Leading Edge and LTUE, and she helped with both of them for many, many years. She will definitely be missed. 
Most of my time at LTUE will be at the Hemelein Publications table just outside the Boardroom at the Provo Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. Come by and chat, hang out, pick up a few books, and get a chance to win a signed and numbered Kickstarter hardcover edition of The Horror at Pooh Corner, an anthology of Lovecraftian Winnie-the-Pooh stories. There are only 100 of them in total, and only three left. It’s beautifully illustrated by Leila May and Meredith Dillman and has a gorgeous dust jacket illustration by Jessica M. Douglas.
