Received my two contributor copies today of Trail of Indiscretion #9, which contains my short story "Brickhouse".  TOI is a good looking small press magazine, with some interesting stories (and comics!).  Ran across these guys last year at the Baltimore Comic Con, and submitted something their way.  Readers of Requiem will recognize "Brickhouse", of course, which is one of my favorite pieces that I've written.   
Always fun to hold a copy of a magazine with something that you've written inside.  It's a feeling that never gets old.


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Since we're on the topic of the July issue: 

Mister Brass and the Dragons of Mars, by Joshua Reynolds
Hunted, by Andrew Salmon
Burn Boy, by Natasha J. Stillman
Crank Case, by Jeff Parrish
Matchstick, by Michael Obilade
School Days, by James Mascia
Chaos and Hope, by Gary J. Beharry
Enter Hubert, by Elizabeth Bennett Porco
Hero in the Big City, by EK Rivera


Some good stuff there - I think folks will really like Mister Brass.  
There's another story featuring him coming up in the next issue, as well.  

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Working on a couple of fun interviews for next month's issue of A Thousand Faces. 

I am talking to David Schwartz, the author of new superhero novel Superpowers.  I'm about halfway through the book right now -- pretty good so far.  It deals with a group of five college friends who wake up one morning with assorted (you guessed it) superpowers, and deals with the "Now, what?" question. 

I am also talking with Owen King and John McNally, co-editors of a new superhero fiction anthology, Who Can Save Us Now?, due in stores in mid-July.  I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet, but they namedrop Fortress of Solitude and Kavalier and Clay (two of my favorite books, by the way) in the introduction, which may give you an idea of the feel of these stories. 

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Been a crazy month of April around here - partly because of the work I've been putting in on the Spring 2008 issue of A Thousand Faces, the Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction.

I think it's our best issue yet; check it out HERE and let me know if you agree.

 
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The winter 2008 issue of A Thousand Faces is LIVE.

Biggest issue yet -- interviews with Van Allen Plexico and Christopher Knowles, and the usual assortment of great fiction. 

I would particularly recommend Steve Goble's "The Bigger They Are" and Robichaud & Glencer's "Making Time." 

Check it out!

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The new issue of A Thousand Faces is both online and available for sale!

Check it out and let us know what you think.




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The inaugural issue of A Thousand Faces, the Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction, is now available.  You can find it online at A Thousand Faces, and after you've read and fallen in love with the stories there, you can purchase a copy of your very own HERE. 

And THEN, once you've read to your heart's content, head on over to the Thousand Faces forum, and discuss the magazine with new like-minded friends. 

Happy reading.


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The first issue is almost here! 

Check out a preview HERE. 

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Pretty good week here at Super!!Stories!! HQ: 

I finished up a new Sunvolt story this weekend, "The Shape of Things to Come."  At the moment, it's being polished up by a few trusted first readers, then it's off on the submission rounds.  First stop:  Strange Horizons.

Chapter Eight of Temple is set to go online this week over at Metahuman Press.

And finally, I heard today that "Hollow" was accepted at old favorite Aphelion, where it will be published in the February issue (incidentally, the 10th anniversary issue of this fine magazine.  If you've never checked it out, you should do so this month.)   Here's an early link to the draft copy of Hollow. 


Now, as for A Thousand Faces, it was a good week, as well.  The brand new Quarterly Journal of Superhero Fiction received a handful of submissions.  We now have three finished pieces ready to go, as well as another that needs a bit of a polish, but will soon be ready.  It's a pretty good cross-sampling of genres, indicative of the wide variety of stories that can be told with superheroes.  I also had some conceptual discussions about the website, which I think everyone will find very cool. 


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Check out this story by Dan Rafter -- a future contributor to A Thousand Faces??


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Also been toying around the Storefront option that Lulu has.  Still need to add some pictures, etc, but it links to the book for sale, and back to this blog:

http://www.lulu.com/frankbyrns


Hopefully, the address will be pretty easy for people to remember.

The online bookstores are starting to add Requiem to their inventories --

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=1847282156&itm=2


Amazon is still to come.  If you get a chance, stop by and give me a review, eh?  I won't bother with the Books-A-Million site, since they insist on charging one dollar over the book's cover price.  

I have to say, though, it's pretty cool to click on my name and have TWO books come up. 

Well, I went with Lulu -- pretty interesting setup they have there, as far as self-publishing goes.  My proof copy is en route, due to arrive early this week.  Provided that everything looks pretty good, I'll go ahead and get the ISBN set up and get the book listed on Amazon. 

But in the meantime, take a look: 

www.lulu.com/content/351837

Well, here's a Livejournal exclusive: A conversation from Chapter 6 of Temple that will ultimately end up on the cutting room floor. Not sure where exactly it would fit in the story (hence the cut), but I thought I'd share it anyway. Maybe if I ever turn this story into a novel(la), I can find a place for it.....

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"Do you believe in God, Mr. Temple?"

"Jesus, kid, call me Roy. Mr. Temple was my father, and he died a hundred years ago."

Juarez laughed. "C'mon, Mr. Temp -- Roy. You're not that old."

Roy shrugged.  "Sure, kid.  Whatever you say."  

"Ok, Roy," Juarez said, trying on the sudden familiarity like a new glove.  "You didn't answer my question, though.  After everything you've seen, do you believe in God?"  

Roy paused, sifting carefully through the words in his mind for just the right ones.  "Yeah," he said finally.  "I have to."  

"Have to?"

"Yeah.  Have to.  I have to know that of this isn't all that there is.  I have to know that I will see my wife again.  Even if God's the selfish bastard that took her away in the first place.  I can hate him, and most days I do, but I still believe.  Because otherwise, if I don't have that hope -- and it's more than hope, really, I know for sure that I'll see her again -- If I don't have that, then I'm wasting my time here."    


   

Chapter 5 of my ongoing serial, "Temple", is up for reading at Metahuman Press:

http://www.metahumanpress.com/metahumanpress/Temple/issue005.html

Another little snippet. It's been tough sledding lately...


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Jericho took a deep, cleansing breath, exhaling just as slowly, listening, tuning his body. He felt every blink of his eyes, heavy and measured as they grew further and further apart. Every beat of his heart, just as heavy as the blinks, just as measured, growing further and further apart. As the space between beats grew larger, he focused his attention there, on the In-Between.

His mentor in the service had taught him that. How to find that place in between heartbeats, when the body is at its most still, even on the inside.

Another deep breath and he found it. The In-Between familiar, comfortable, like placing his hand into Ryan's.

His heart beat.

Jericho moved the scope a fraction of an inch, dead centering the red wavecap. He watched The Answer smile as he threw another bone-rattling punch, dropping another corner boy. The kid had no idea that his game was almost over.

Jericho's heart beat again.

He gently squeezed the trigger.

The bright red of the wavecap was immediately subdued by a darker-hued cousin. The Answer was dead before he hit the ground, his smile forever etched across his face.

The rifle's report echoed through the rowhouse canyons. The corner boys knew trouble when they heard it; the ones still upright scattered.

Jericho's heart beat again. He lowered the rifle, taking another deep cleansing breath.

A siren rang out a few blocks away. Jericho put it at least five minutes out. There was no hurry, no urgency in the sound, and he knew he had some time. Nobody cared as much about this side of town.

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Just a snippet. Let me know what you think...

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The kid called himself The Answer.

From what Jericho could gather, the name was some sort of reference to some sort of hip-hop generation basketball superstar. Jericho wouldn’t know. He wasn’t much of a sports fan, and even less of a basketball fan. The idea of grown men getting paid millions of dollars to play a game seemed somehow wrong, and he often wondered how the world had come to that.

Of course, the idea of a grown man getting paid millions of dollars to kill another man seemed wrong, too. Yet here he was on the roof of a run-down Baltimore rowhouse, a ranged laser scope trained on The Answer’s bright red wavecap. He often wondered how his world had come to this.


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