A story's a different animal

Last week, I finished up a fantasy short story that I submitted to an anthology run by the army of authors behind the Indie Fantasy Addicts Facebook group. If you've not been to that group, it's a very supportive, active place for readers of fantasy by indie authors. They have all kinds of events all through the year, but they're in the middle of their Summer Reading Challenge, in which the group's many readers split up into teams and compete for pages read (and for prizes). I really enjoy the group, and just last week someone there posted a really nice review of Flames Over Frosthelm. It's always great fun to see people finding my work and enjoying it.

They've done some anthologies in the past, but I've never taken part - I kind of lurked in the group for the first couple of years. I thought I'd try a story this time, though. I wrote a mermaid horror story (Tide's End) last year, and I've submitted that to a contest/anthology thing (I find out around September 15th how I did), and this anthology called for stories about magical items and artifacts.

I went with a story set in a magic shop, with a young apprentice dealing with an unusual customer and a dour, unpleasant boss. Not to mention a dragon with an uneasy truce with her city. It's called Talon's Shadow, and I really think you'll enjoy it. I don't know if it will be chosen for the anthology - there are only twelve spots, and there a ton of authors submitting, and many of them are very highly respected - but whether it does or doesn't, I'll share it with you later this year along with the mermaid story.

I find short stories a little more challenging than novels in terms of construction (although they do take less time to write and edit). With novels, you can take a lot of time and space to develop characters and the world, and you can let a series of events and challenges build over time. With a short story, you only have a fraction as much space (about 1/10 in this case), so all of those juicy details have to fall into place very quickly, some of them by inference rather than explanation. It's also a challenge to get across the personality and desires of your characters in such a short time, much less to show them growing and developing. You also have to have a plot worth reading about, which for me means at least some kind of climax, and for my first two stories, a bit of a twist in there.

The contest finishes in September also, so I'll have some news on both stories (good or bad) in a couple months. I'm also entering Kenai in the third Self-Published Science Fiction Competition in a week or two. Daros made it to the semifinals there two years ago, so I'm hoping Kenai has a good showing as well.

Another Esker game

I've also been hard at work on my fourth game in my Dr. Esker's Notebook series. These are puzzle card games, kind of like an escape room in a box. I've been working hard on a whole new set of puzzles, and once they're polished and tested, I'll get them printed over in India again and have them ready to send out by the end of the year. The third and fourth games in the series were supported by a Kickstarter campaign I ran earlier this year that had over 350 backers.

Here are some sample cards to let you see what they're like. These don't have any spoilers, and they're from three different puzzles.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have Doomsday Hand by Edita Petrik. A thriller set in the modern day, this is the fifth book in her series of action detective stories, in this case about a mysterious group looking to invoke an ancient mystery to move the world towards doomsday. Sounds like great stuff. Only $1.99 now if it seems like your kind of thing!

Next, I have Heir, a space opera by Bonnie Milani, the first in her Home World series. Competing factions, space fleets and grizzled soldiers, genetically modified humans and political wrangling - sounds like great stuff! Only $0.99 to give this one a try.

Next, I have a deal on the complete series of Conquest of the Dracomancer by Luna Fox and F. Lowberry. This is a series of six novella-length stories about a dragon-riding woman facing evil sorceries and treacherous friends. The blurb says some of the Dracomancers have slain their own dragons and now ride voiddragons, which is about the most awesome concept I've read this month. All six books are $5.99 in this deal.

Next, I have The Spirit of Contradiction by Anton Eine, a techno-magical sci fi adventure about an AI spirit unleashed on the world. This one is completely free to try, so get out your cyclops mirror shades and give it a whirl.

Finally, I have The Helm of Darkness by A.P. Mobley, a story of two teens who survive a magical storm that engulfs the world only to awaken hundreds of years in the future in a world controlled by gods and creatures from mythology. You can get a free sample of this well-reviewed book here.

Thank you!

Thanks for being part of my literary community! I look forward to sharing my stories (and my games) with you later in the year. As a reward for reading to the end, here's a secret notification: I have a promo on Kenai coming up later this month, so if you haven't gotten a copy yet you can get one for free from Amazon from July 24th-28th.

I hope you're having a prosperous and healthy 2023!

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave