Akashic Books now has three online flash fiction series going. They don’t pay, but
1) you get the rights back as soon as your piece is published,
2) the pieces are short,
and
3) Akashic’s a great credit and it cannot hurt to bring yourself to their attention.
Three of my Crime Fiction Academy students from last year made it in. I did one myself. Yes, for free. So go ahead, try it!
Two seven-year-old girls on the way to school, conversing intently. As they pass me I hear:
Shocked voice: “He called her a doody-head?”
“Yes!” (Eyeroll.) “It was SO inappropriate!”
I love New York.
Yes, by golly, it’s true. I had a basketball game this morning and a busy day ahead, so when I woke at 5:45 I thought, why not get up? I wanted to do a number of things, chief among which was to post about the free BLOOD OF THE LAMB bonus material, which won’t be free much longer and I don’t want you guys to miss it.
Bella got up when I did; being the saintly cat she is, she never gets up before me. She just stays peacefully sleeping, quiet as a mouse.
Apparently, 1) I have actual mice and 2) they know that. The mouse that Bella saw scurry across the kitchen was as shocked to see her at 5:45 as she was to see it. But she was faster. Pounce! Yup. Mouse in mouth. Now what? Unfortunately, or perhaps for the mouse, fortunately, Bella doesn’t know the next step. She put it down. It ran. She smacked it, grabbed it up. Put it down. It ran. Smack, grab. The next time she put it down I was ready with my Disney World shopping bag (true dat; cracked myself up) and the mouse ran inside. 5:45 in the am, in my pj’s, I’m taking the damn mouse down the block and letting it go in the park. If it comes back, I’ll tell you now, it’s on its own.
So download that free content. A mouse nearly gave its life for it.
If you’re interested in what I have to say about haiku besides writing it, I was invited to guest blog on Jungle Red today. Go ahead, check it out.
Fall’s here. Sun’s moved far.
Bench where summer sunshine lay
Now sits in shadow.
Red helicopter
Cuts through empty pale blue sky
Under ghost half-moon.
White gull on piling.
Black cormorant splashes down.
Brown sparrows take off.
Hey, the BLOOD OF THE LAMB Bonus Kindle promo piece is #1 in free vampire downloads! No, you don’t get to download a vampire. But you do get a manuscript from the secret Noantri archives.
…who wrote today’s Kindle Post! It’s about controversy. Check it out!
An account, recently unearthed by Sam Cabot from the Noantri archives, of the wreck of the Elizabeth off the coast of New York in 1850. On the ship, and lost in that disaster, was Margaret Fuller, journalist, essayist, critic, and America’s first woman war correspondent. Because none of the passengers and very few crew members survived, to story of that wreck has never been told. Until now. Sam Cabot has it here for you, free for your Kindle.*
One of the people in this account, by the way, is a vampire. You’ll have to read BLOOD OF THE LAMB to find out which.
*If you don’t have a Kindle, Amazon has a free app you can download to your computer which makes it a virtual Kindle. very useful for situations like this.
Bella fans have been calling for a new photo. Not wanting to disappoint, I offer this, wherein Bella, upon my leaving the room, decided to check out the new gym bag for me.
Flags flap on State House.
Pigeons flap also, circling
Red and blue slate roofs.
Turreted steeples,
Bell towers, chimneys, flagpoles,
Stripe view out window.
Fleet of clouds sails east.
Long gray vessels surrounded
By scudding escort.
