5/31/2023 - Sliding into Summer with Murderbugs, We Dare, and Tuckerizations

Good morning!

The month of May included

• The end of my spring semester’s classes and grading—which means I can take off my high school teaching hat and put on my workshop leading hat
• The transition away from Murderbirds and into Murderbugs—if you’d like to have your name appear in a story, here’s the Tuckerization survey
• Another anthology release—We Dare: Old Age and Treachery
• And deliberate downtime.

Why mention "downtime"? Because after the maelstrom that was April, the first weekend in May involved a few days' vacation at an ocean cabin during which I was not allowed to work. Full disclosure, I didn’t last the whole four days, because I felt excited (not obligated) to write again.

Even a brief break recharged some of the batteries and reinvigorated the fun side of writing and reading once again. I continued that course through the month of May: I gave myself license to work on whatever fun or weird stories came to mind and put a pin in the novel-deadline mindset. Once I'd finished teaching my classes and filing grades for the semester, I also took a couple days here and there to dive into new cooking experiments, music experiments, and logic puzzle experiments that I'd wanted to do but had been putting off.

That and long walks. Here’s a heron going fishing, spied on a recent outing, a bit of an echo to Murderbirds.

With the start of June, I'll be getting back to the daily word count grind, but more on that later.

Onward to Murderbugs!

Murderbirds, book 1 of the Unhelpful Encyclopedia Collection, had an encouraging start through Kickstarter, a wonderful team throughout, and a successful launch at RavenCon. If you read and enjoyed the collection, please post a rating and review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready for the second installment in the collection, Murderbugs. In April and May, WonderBird Press’s selection team received wonderful story submissions about bugs—loosely defined as arthropods and other creepy crawlies. We have read every submission and made our selections. I’m excited to share the table of contents after contracts have been signed.

I am also pleased to announce that Ruth Nickle will be returning as our cover designer, and that we will be reprising our annual presale Kickstarter.

You can sign up for notifications here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikejackstoumbos/wonderbird-press-2024-anthologies-murder-bugs-and-monsters

During the Kickstarter run, we will have opportunities for Murderbugs Tuckerizations. So, if you want your name to appear in a story—in brief, happy tribute or possibly in a grisly end—you’ll be able to claim a Tuckerization this fall.

You can also enter an early-bird drawing for a free Tuckerization in the upcoming technology here: https://forms.gle/kXsUyhocCzMFPR3W6

We Dare 5, #1 New Release in Science Fiction Anthologies

“Never underestimate an old man in a business where men die young.” If you’re craving military scifi adventures told by the grizzled and wizened survivors, look no further than We Dare: Old Age and Treachery.

https://www.amazon.com/We-Dare-Old-Age-Treachery-ebook/dp/B0C5H9HHXT

Edited by Jamie Ibson and featuring stories from William Frisbee, Jason Cordova, and Melissa Olthoff—as well as yours truly—this anthology quickly grabbed the #1 slot in Science Fiction Anthologies and hasn’t let go.

I’ll pause there for today, but I’ll have some more announcements in the near future. I’ll be getting back into consistent word count on THIS FINE CREW in the month of June as well as posting some summer workshop and seminar series, as well as progress markers on Murderbugs.

As always, happy reading!

Mike Jack Stoumbos

PS - Why, yes, the heron did catch a fish.