He rose at dawn and, fired with hope,

Shot o'er the seething harbour-bar,

And reach'd the ship and caught the rope,

And whistled to the morning star.

And while he whistled long and loud

He heard a fierce mermaiden cry,

"O boy, tho' thou are young and proud,

I see the place where thou wilt lie.

--From "The Sailor Boy" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

I got a rejection notice today for my 80s Vice Noir story. No problem; that makes only 3 rejections out of 13 stories submitted. That's a pretty high acceptance rate of my work. Who knows, it may fit a future anthology or I'll put it in my own book of stories. I was surprised at the rejection as my skirmish team, who review my stories before I do a final edit and submit for publication, all ranked it quite highly.

I just finished writing a sword and sorcery short story and sent it to my skirmish team for review. It's set in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire universe.

Speaking of highly rated stories, "Seventh Hussar and Aide to the Mage" was published in the Wyrd Warfare Anthology. A screenshot of the first page is below. Here are two guys reviewing all the stories in the anthology, doing 2 stories per show, and talk about my story - beginning about 43 minutes in.

This week I listened to some rejuvenation music following a hung jury verdict: Boston - by the band of the same name. It's not new or exotic, but it is refreshing.

On the reading front, I'm still spending my time between three different books I've already mentioned. See the Fun Fact for my latest progress on - Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun by Charles Hudson.

Fun Fact:

May 15, 1539, DeSoto left Havana harbor with 9 ships. It took 5 days, from May 26 to May 30, to pilot the ships into Tampa Bay. A few men, after their horses were hoisted from the hold and taken ashore, reconnoitered and encountered some Indians with whom they skirmished. One horse and two Indians were killed before the natives fled. After traveling to a village where they made base camp, DeSoto claimed the country on June 3 for Emperor Charles V. -- I believe that would be Carlos El Quinto, after whom a candy bar was named that I had in Mexico many years ago -- DeSoto had a troop of animals consisting of horses, pigs, and dogs. One of the dogs was a killer greyhound named Bruto. The dogs knew the difference between the Spanish and the Indians and could be used in battle and at other times to attack the Indians or to chase down a particular Indian.

DeSoto was in a country he did not know and could not communicate with the the natives. He therefore depended on native guides and interpreters. At one point, captured Indians told of something called Orotiz. Oro meant gold in Spanish, so DeSoto was very interested in following up on this potential treasure. On June 4, he ordered 40 horsemen and 80 foot soldiers to go find a village. He also sent another 50 footmen to go in a different direction. This latter group captured 4 women, but were soon pursued by twenty warriors and suffered several wounded and one dead. However, the group with the horsemen found a party of Indians and charged them. Most of the Indians fled into the trees, but one remained on the field. He knocked away the lance of the rider who attacked him and began shouting "Xivilla, Xivilla" - or "Sevilla, Sevilla!" He told them not to kill him because he was a Christian and a native of Seville. His name was Juan Ortiz. He had lived with the Indians for 12 years and looked just like them in all appearances. He had come from Havana years before to search for a previous expedition. The rest of his company had been slain, and he had been enslaved (after being saved from being burned to death by the pleadings of the chief's wife and daughter). Later, the chief decided to sacrifice him again, but the chief's daughter warned Ortiz. He escaped that night and went to an enemy chief who took him in and promised him that if any Christians came, he would be released to them. DeSoto finally had a trustworthy guide and interpreter.

--From Chapter 3 of Charles Hudson's Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun.

Chapter4 is even better.

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