Author Archives: Michael

Of surgery and coyotes

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Ah, surgery is fun! Apparently my intestines broke through my upper abdominal wall and had to be pushed back in and sewn up. Awesome! So I’m supposed to be recovering. But instead I’m messing around on my blog. You can only lay in bed for so long before becoming completely bored.

The good news is I’m feeling better. Besides, I’ve been through far worse.

I was blown away by the professionalism and staff at the hospital. Everyone was friendly, and I even had a nurse or two come back to post-op with their Kindles/Nooks and ask me which of my short stories they should buy. An interesting day to be sure. I’d never looked at surgery as a social meeting ground, but life is funny that way….

I haven’t been writing much the last two weeks thanks to the pain (before and after surgery). Of all the things a writer can encounter that has the capacity to deter, it’s pain. It jolts you from the world you’re creating. Not good. Also not good is editing on pain killers. So I’ve stopped editing LAMENT for the next few days.

I’m looking forward to wrapping up the editing of LAMENT and heading out on a western road trip in September. Preparations are under way for a campground tour of Montana. I’m looking at a month, which is perfect.

And speaking of Montana, I took this photo of a coyote in Many Glacier a couple years back. It was early October at about 6 a.m. The coyote actually wanted to play. It would sprint at me, stop short, splay its paws out, do a couple juke moves then run off and repeat. A beautiful animal. I had on my 300mm prime lens and the coyote was so close the lens was almost useless. But I did manage to get off a couple shots of the playful guy. I’ve always had a weird connection with animals (I’ll be posting a strange grouse story somewhere down the road here). This was one happy coyote. When it was done playing it sat down in the grass next to me and groomed itself. It sensed no danger at all, which is unusual. Maybe it knew I’m a friendly sort. 😉

Many Glacier is a harsh environment. The weather is hostile, and food is hard to come by in the cold season. I wondered how this coyote survived. As I left the scene, the coyote trotted off in the other direction towards the ice-covered mountains.

Anyway, feel free to download the image for use as desktop background. It’s sized perfectly for 1920×1200 and looks great.

Plasma Frequency Magazine cover art

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How cool is this? The cover art for the premiere issue of Plasma Frequency Magazine was inspired by my short story “Frequencies”. The cover was designed by Tai Ting, and it’s really trippy and beautiful. Most of the story elements can be seen within the art. Very cool.

On another note, the novel work is going well. Novel X is with my agent as I type this. We have a great working relationship but I still get nervous as hell when I send her something. I’d love to be all Clint Eastwood about it, but I’d be lying.

And with that, I begin editing The Prairie’s Lament.

Plasma Frequency Magazine – Frequencies

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Alright, this is pretty cool. My science fiction story “Frequencies” has been accepted for the flagship issue of Plasma Frequency Magazine.

I worked hard on this one, and I’m glad to see it go to a fantastic magazine. The story takes place in the future near Redwood National Park, and that’s all I’ll give away for now….

In other news, I wrapped up the second draft of Novel X last night. Whew! I’m not sure why that took so long. The first draft is still out with several betas. When I receive all of their comments I’ll start the third draft, which should be rather quick. Then it’s on to my agent.

The Old Weird South Anthology – Storm Fronts

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I’m beyond pleased to announce that my dark literary tale, “Storm Fronts” has been accepted by Q&W Publishers for their Old Weird South Anthology.

I write about nature, a lot. I don’t see the natural world as something we must separate from, but rather as something we must embrace to the fullest. This idea permeates much of my writing, and “Storm Fronts” is no exception. The story takes place in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and follows a lone woodsman preparing for winter just after he retires from a mining company.

The tentative release date is October 2012.

Work and more work

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My brain is mush. This is the kind of symptom one can expect when writing back to back first drafts. Would I do it over? Probably not, although I didn’t choose the novels. They chose me.

After finishing Novel X (102,000 words, and which falls clearly into the category of thriller), I started upon a new project titled The Prairie’s Lament (82,000 words). This novel is more literary, with a heavier emphasis on inner conflict. Two different novels, and that’s okay. I had to tell both stories, and wrote them between December 1, 2011, and April 14, 2012.

It’s been one heck of a productive winter, and I look forward to a spring of editing. Editing has always been far more relaxing for me. First drafts are all passion and exhilaration.

I’m excited to get the novels to my agent. Novel X should be in her hands in a month, after several editing passes. Am I really calling it Novel X? No. That’s a temporary name. I’m sort of gun-shy about releasing the title of that one. Maybe soon. The shocking thing is Novel X does not take place in Montana (lol), a state I’m infatuated with. Invasive and The Prairie’s Lament take place there. Novel X is set in the Chicago suburbs, inside a super mall (Bridgefield).

It’s shaping up to be an excellent spring.

BTW, here’s a great track I’ve been enjoying by a band called *shels. It’s titled “Leaving the Plains”, and is found on their 2011 release The Plains of the Purple Buffalo. The track was in heavy rotation during my first draft of Lament.

*shels – Leaving the Plains