The Halloween party on Saturday was a huge success, and people have been chomping at the bit for some pics, so I made it a priority today to get them formatted and uploaded.

We are definitely looking forward to making this an annual tradition. Kat and I already have our costumes picked for next year.

Thanks to everyone who came!

• Currently reading: Nightfall, by David Goodis

I just received word that my long story, “Temporary Monsters,” is being held for further consideration in Tesseracts Twelve.

The editor said there was “quite a lot to like” in the story, which is great to hear, even if he ends up rejecting it.

He invited me to submit another story, so I fired off “Deadstock,” another one of those too-long-to-send-anywhere-else stories. Here’s hoping he takes one of them.

• Currently reading: Wine of the Dreamers, by John D. MacDonald

They’re heavy buggers, but they’re here!

Thor was the first one to try them out. I was in the kitchen getting ice for my back.

So I’m stuck at home today waiting for the supposed arrival of the couches. Yes, it’s true, we are still waiting on furniture to arrive, now over one month after we moved in.

No big deal. I get to miss a day of work, catch up on some reading and writing, and watch a movie or two.

I also decided to post a few pics that have been piling up over here. Nothing groundbreaking, I’m afraid. Anniversary pics, house pics, the stuff that goes on when I’m not sitting in front of the computer.

So that’s my exciting web update so far. Now I’m going to put on a pot of coffee and finish reading my book.

Today marks the five year anniversary of the website. Not a huge milestone, but still something of an achievement for me. I created this site with the idea that it would be akin to an exhibit at the zoo where the animal on display is the struggling writer. The plan was to track my progress, monitor the flow of stories in and stories out, and maintain an online journal where I could post my thoughts on writing, books, and the wonderful world of publishing.

I think I’ve been fairly success at that so far – the tracking, that is; I still have a long way to go in terms of writerly success – and I’ve met a lot of great people along the way. And what better way to celebrate than by finishing a new story.

"Secrets of Toronto"

1,817 / 1,817
(100.0%)

This one, a complete rewrite of an older story, has been submitted for consideration in this year’s CBC Literary Awards Competition. The winner gets a $6000 cash prize, publication in enRoute magazine, and of course, mucho bragging rights.

I decided to celebrate my 200th rejection — from the Trent U. Short Fiction Contest, if you’re curious — by removing the story tracker from the website. I’m still keeping track of stories in and stories out on a spreadsheet, but I thought it was time to start introducing new elements to the site.

For the time being, the Stories section will be replaced by a small photo gallery featuring yours truly. I hope you dig it.

Also, I heard through the web vine that Horror Library, Volume 2 has been officially recommended for a Stoker Award. Congrats to Boyd and R.J. and the rest of the Cutting Block Press peeps. I gotta say it would be pretty damn cool to be part of an award-winning anthology.

The editor of Not One of Us e-mailed to let me know that the new issue, featuring my story “Relaxed Best,” is coming out soon. I’ll have ordering info for y’all in the next day or two.

And finally, I happened to come upon the guidelines for the latest edition of Tesseracts, the Canadian horrror/sf/f anthology series, and it turns out this year they’re doing things a bit differently. Tesseracts Twelve will be devoted exclusively to longer stories, within the 10,000-20,000 word range.

If F&SF ends up rejecting “Temporary Monsters,” maybe it will find a home at Tesseracts.

I sort of squeaked past my 30th birthday last year, seeing as how I was on my honeymoon at the time. Not so lucky this year, heh-heh. I didn’t mind turning 30, not the way some people feel down when they hit those milestone ages, so turning 31 was a cinch.

I don’t feel old, but I do feel the passage of time. I can feel it moving by, and while I can’t say that I’ve been sitting on my ass doing nothing (I can hear Kathryn in my mind: “Sitting on your ass? You have 27 stories out! Don’t be such a drama queen!”), I do feel like I should be doing more. I guess that’s the curse of any writer. You don’t tend to think of everything you’ve done, but rather the things that are left to be finished. Like my novel, for instance.

I recently created a file to monitor my submission stats — a swankier version of the story tracker on this website. It’s an exhaustive report that tracks not just the total amount of my submissions/acceptances/rejections, but the amount of each individual year. The numbers were a bit startling, and I suppose further support the idea that I haven’t been as fallow as I feel. (I’ll be posting those stats with my 2007 year-end review.) I’m coming up on another milestone that I’ll report on in a couple of days, and I’ll save the rest of my thoughts of that matter until that time.

Until then, have a drink on me, your humble, 31-year-old narrator.

• Currently reading: In and Down, by Brett Alexander Savory

I have long said that there needs to be a serious forum for the reviews of short horror fiction. Yes, there’s Tangents Online, but they review mostly sf and fantasy. I can’t think of any place that consistently reviews mags like Cemetery Dance, All Hallows, and Dark Wisdom. I think if there was, it would help lead readers to these fine magazines, so that there were more people reading them than just the struggling writers like me who are trying to crack them.

So, thank god for The Fix. In the one day it’s been online, I’ve already read all of the reviews, including one of New Genre #5! One of my favourite markets, one that I’ve never seen reviewed anywhere, and damn! the new issue isn’t even being advertised on the New Genre website yet! That’s how great this new online review zine is. It couldn’t have come at a better time for me, because I have all kinds of stories out right now or coming out very soon, including my big Cemetery Dance appearance. So check it out.

I also added links to two writers I discovered via the two excellent Horror Library anthologies (which will hopefully be reviewed in The Fix some day soon…). They are Sunil Sadanand and John Mantooth. Check out their websites, but more importantly, check out their stories. You will not be disappointed.

Also, Skullring.org posted a review of Horror Library, Volume 2. “Charlotte’s Frequency” isn’t mentioned, but the reviewer like the book very much, and that’s the important thing. Even better, he made an official recommendation to have the book nominated for a Stoker Award. Sweeet.

• Currently reading: "Toga Party," by John Barth