Monthly Archives: April 2013

Fiction Bragging Reminder: Last Week to get “Bother” for Free!

In February, I let you all know about the opportunity to get your hands on one of my short stories for free for a limited time. And now that time is almost at an end! “Bother,” along with many other fantastic stories collected by M. David Blake for the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology, will only be available until 4/30. So what are you waiting for? Click your browsers on over to Stupefying Stories and get your copy! And be sure to give Durham author Mur Lafferty your congratulations on being nominated for the Campbell Award for the second straight year. Some of her work is also available in the anthology. You can find her at the Murverse.

Campbellian Anthology 2013 cover

Here’s what I posted to explain the anthology in February:

Published by Stupefying Stories, the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology is now available for free — that’s right, free! — for anyone interested in perusing the works of authors eligible for Campbell award nominations this year. What’s that? As M. David Blake, editor of Stupefying Stories explained,

Named for John W. Campbell, Jr., whose 34 years at the helm of Astounding Science Fiction (later renamed Analog) defined the “Golden Age” of the genre and launched the careers of dozens of famous writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is presented annually at WorldCon to an outstanding author whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the previous two years.

What does this have to do with me? Well, with my sale of “Bother” to Bull Spec nearing on two years ago now, I became eligible for the Campbell Award. I have absolutely no expectations of being nominated, especially because I haven’t had other speculative fiction published since then — I’ve been working on my first fantasy novel instead of sending out my short stories. But “Bother” has been reprinted in the anthology, and now’s your chance to read it for free along with other worthy works by a large list of fantastic speculative fiction authors. All for free until the Hugo nominees, including for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are announced at the end of April.

To take advantage of this amazing access to these stories, just click here and chose the e-format you prefer at the end of the publication announcement post. And if you do read “Bother,” please let me know what you thought! Us writers do thrive on feedback.

Review Bragging – New WRAL Post

I’m a little (a lot) behind on the times in that I’m just now posting this teaser here, and it was published about a month ago at WRAL‘s Out and About blog. Oops! My time from reviewing a spot/drink to posting about it is on a month lag right now, so that’s par for the course! Oh well. Someday, I’ll get back to more of a 1–2 week lag.

But enough of my behind-the-scenes issues. Here’s a teaser of my review of Sarah’s Empanadas:

Durham, N.C. — Sarah’s Empanadas is one of those lunch locations the RTP crowd keeps close to their vests. I’ve spied it many times when heading to dinner at Papa Mojo’s or Thai Lanna, but it’s only open at midday, so getting there during operating hours was a challenge—a challenge now conquered!

The Company: A pair of women whom I meet up with every month to try a new-to-us lunch location, which was quite convenient for this purpose.

The Location: A nondescript strip mall exterior hides a cozy restaurant. Inside, Sarah’s Empanadas is adorned with tropical bird decorations, creamy mint walls, and a giant, colorful mural. It’s also likely to be packed with diners and a long line of patrons paying at the register. Never fear, the cashier is speedy and has amazing credit-card-sliding reflexes….

Want to know more about the Bolivian empanada wonderland? Read on here or head to Carpe Durham for a slightly different version.  And I wouldn’t leave you without some food porn. Here’s the chicken and cheese empanada.

Sarahs Empanadas 06