Ketchup

It's been another crazy week, and, man, the writing life continues to be a rollercoaster ride of excitement, anxiety, gratification and despair. Of course it helps that I'm melodramatic as hell. ;)

Eight days ago I received contributor copies of Ennea #484, a Greek magazine which pays nicely in euros and recently published "Meme," my third story for them.

Five days ago I sold "Long Eyes" to Galaktika Magazine in Hungary, a new language for me, which is great fun. Heck, they also pay real money, which isn't always the case with overseas short fiction markets. (Often if there's a few bucks involved, it goes to the translator of the story, not the writer, who presumably has already sold it in his native country and is compensated for this new "sale" in contributor's copies and the additional exposure for novel sales.) Galaktika has been in circulation since 1972 and has twice been voted Europe's best SF magazine. Awesome!

In the meantime, though, I've been a sick puppy -- severe congestion, fatigue, headache. Two days ago I was coughing up blood. Not awesome! In fact, the word we're looking for is 'unnerving.' I've never done hacked up red stuff before. It's like something from the machine plague. :(

Fortunately, it was just a few specks of red and it's coming from back of my ragged throat, not my lungs, but holey moley. I like my blood inside me.

So I haven't been writing. I've been sleeping. Bleh. Anxiety!

But this same week the rollercoaster gave us another, larger upward twist with the sale of Plague Year in France. The publisher is Bibliotheque Interdite, described to me as "a young but dynamic publishing house that works with Games Workshop, but they are growing and becoming more and more important on the fiction market." If you jump on their web site, what you'll see is Warhammer Warhammer Warhammer. These guys run game tie-ins, which are insanely popular and also provide them with a nice, built-in audience for their new Eclipse line, which will soon debut with the likes of the Deathstalker books by Frank Frazetta, Steve Savile's Silver, R.E. Howard's Conan and some book by some guy about the nanopocalypse.

Am I enthused to be included with this media-friendly line-up? Hell, yes. I do sex and violence very well, and I have high hopes for that built-in audience. Ideally Plague Year will perform with solid numbers and they'll run the rest of the trilogy.

Savile and I go back a ways. He's on the back jacket of Plague Zone, remember, saying sweet things like "A high-octane thriller," and he tells me the publisher is a king. Fantastic.

Labels: Ennea, French rights for Plague Year, Galaktika, Long Eyes, Meme, novel sales, short fiction sales

Sold a short story to Asimov's this morning, my second for them. It's slated for their December issue. Exciting stuff.

Labels: Asimov's, short fiction sales

A great email today. A new webzine called Terra Incognita will be translating my story "Long Eyes" into Portugese. It's a pay-free transaction, but still exciting, since that's a new language for me. Even better, the editor enjoyed Plague Year and War and has asked to run an interview about the books with my story.

Life has been totally nuts lately (isn't it always nuts?) but I'll try to post something fun, shocking, and insightful tomorrow before the holiday.

Labels: "Long Eyes", Brazil, Portugese, short fiction sales, Terra Incognita

My one regret is that the only people I know who speak (much less read) Romanian are the two editors whose names run across the top of this book, which is the debut edition of a showcase anthology series by Millennium Press. It features short fiction written by their novelists.

Check out this line-up! And I'm the anchor, dude! They're running me first. Which is a first. Ha ha.

My story for the Millennium showcase is "The Frozen Sky," which is beginning to give "Pressure" a run for its money as my most-successful piece of short fiction. For those of you with Romanians on your Christmas shopping list, the anthology will be out in three weeks. ;)

Labels: Millennium Press, Romania, short fiction sales, The Frozen Sky

I’m sure by now that everybody’s sick and tired of Good News From Jeff (and we’re not done yet), so I’ll keep this one brief and limited to the few choice brains roaming across this blog!

My creepy suspense short story “Pattern Masters,” originally published a few years ago in Tales of the Unanticipated #25, has just been released as an audio story by the insanely talented masters at Pseudopod. Narrated by David Moore, who unerringly nails the twitchy, sarcastic narrative of the main character, this rendition ranks right there at the top of my absolute favorites, possibly even edging out the tempting British woman who narrated “The Frozen Sky” over at Starship Sofa.

You can give it a listen at:
http://pseudopod.org/2008/08/29/pseudopod-105-pattern-masters/

But don't neglect Amy H. Stugis at:
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/starshipsofa-aural-delights-no-35-jeff-carlson/10815560/

Labels: Pattern Masters, podcasting, Pseudopod.org, short fiction sales

Here's another fun new twist! My near-future action story "Enter Sandman," originally published in Artemis Magazine #6, has just been released as a podcast by the good folks at Dunesteef. They did an excellent job with the narration and sound effects, and I suggest giving it a listen.

Labels: Dunesteef, Enter Sandman, podcasting, short fiction sales

Also while in Denver, I received another email from the editor of the Israeli sci fi magazine Mercury, who has now purchased my short story "Meme" for translation in Hebrew. I love those guys!!!!

Labels: Israeli science fiction, Meme, Mercury, short fiction sales