I am very pleased to announce that I'm going to have a new ebook available for purchase starting March 7, 2012 (next Wednesday). The book is titled "All our Tomorrows", is a collection of flash fiction and is going to be sold through Smashwords and other retailers for $1.
To help raise interest in the collection, throughout March I'm going to be posting individual stories from the collection on the blog here, as part of #FridayFlash. I used to be really active with posting flash on Fridays, but that's fallen by the wayside in the past while, and I think this will help kickstart my taking part in that community some more, as well as serving a promotional service for the book.
So, keep watching this space - as well as the Friday Flashes, I've got some other fun promotional stuff planned throughout the month, including some crossover promos with other authors, and some ways for people to get free copies of the ebook.
Thursday, March 1
Friday, February 3
The Juggler
It's been a while since I've done a Friday Flash story, eh?
The Juggler
As he descended into the tunnels beneath the city, Peter began to understand why there were called “the Crypt.” It wasn't because any actual bodies were buried there - those who had money put their loved ones in the ground by their homes, to keep them safe, while the smallfolk left theirs for the crows beyond the city limits, hoping that at least a piece of them might be carried up to heaven by one of the carrion birds. Still, the place still smelt of death, and decay, which is why they'd been given that name. The smell was enough to make Peter hurry as he entered them. The stench was vile enough to drive away all but the most desperate of ill-hearted. He had no desire to meet anyone fitting either of those categories down there in the dark.
Peter reached into his pocket, and pulled out three small balls, tossing them into the air. He was unaccustomed to juggling one-handed, while the other hand held a torch, but he was still able to catch and re-toss each of the balls in quick succession.
After a few tosses Peter caught all three balls before setting them down on the ground and, one by one, kicking them into the darkness. Each kick felt like a blade stabbing into his side; he'd had those balls since childhood, when a circus performer who had visited the town had taught him the art.
The balls gone, Peter returned to the surface, unable to shake the feeling of unease over the loss of the juggling balls. He reassured himself that what his father had told him was true; that as he was to be a Lord now, he was to have no time for such trifles.
The next years were good to Peter. His holdings prospered, and he met a young woman who soon became his Lady. Soon after that she became mother to his children, as well.
On occasion he found himself making his way down to the kitchens, after all the servants were asleep, to toss fruit in the air and catch it. He only did this rarely, however, as it tended to make the fruit smell of the Crypt.
One afternoon, as Peter relaxed in his garden, his eldest boy, Andrew, approached him.
“Father,” the boy asked, “may I have a gold coin?”
“Whyever would you need that, child?” he asked his son.
“There's a juggler in the town square,” the boy explained. “He said he'd teach anyone to juggle if they could bring him a gold coin. Please, Father? May I?”
Peter bit down on his lip, considering his child for a moment that felt like an eternity, and considering the threads of the future that would be spun out of this moment. Finally he reached into his pocket, pulling out a coin and handing it to the boy.
If you liked this story, please consider coming back next Wednesday for the release of the flash fiction collection All Our Tomorrows. This story will be featured in it.
The Juggler
As he descended into the tunnels beneath the city, Peter began to understand why there were called “the Crypt.” It wasn't because any actual bodies were buried there - those who had money put their loved ones in the ground by their homes, to keep them safe, while the smallfolk left theirs for the crows beyond the city limits, hoping that at least a piece of them might be carried up to heaven by one of the carrion birds. Still, the place still smelt of death, and decay, which is why they'd been given that name. The smell was enough to make Peter hurry as he entered them. The stench was vile enough to drive away all but the most desperate of ill-hearted. He had no desire to meet anyone fitting either of those categories down there in the dark.
Peter reached into his pocket, and pulled out three small balls, tossing them into the air. He was unaccustomed to juggling one-handed, while the other hand held a torch, but he was still able to catch and re-toss each of the balls in quick succession.
After a few tosses Peter caught all three balls before setting them down on the ground and, one by one, kicking them into the darkness. Each kick felt like a blade stabbing into his side; he'd had those balls since childhood, when a circus performer who had visited the town had taught him the art.
The balls gone, Peter returned to the surface, unable to shake the feeling of unease over the loss of the juggling balls. He reassured himself that what his father had told him was true; that as he was to be a Lord now, he was to have no time for such trifles.
The next years were good to Peter. His holdings prospered, and he met a young woman who soon became his Lady. Soon after that she became mother to his children, as well.
On occasion he found himself making his way down to the kitchens, after all the servants were asleep, to toss fruit in the air and catch it. He only did this rarely, however, as it tended to make the fruit smell of the Crypt.
One afternoon, as Peter relaxed in his garden, his eldest boy, Andrew, approached him.
“Father,” the boy asked, “may I have a gold coin?”
“Whyever would you need that, child?” he asked his son.
“There's a juggler in the town square,” the boy explained. “He said he'd teach anyone to juggle if they could bring him a gold coin. Please, Father? May I?”
Peter bit down on his lip, considering his child for a moment that felt like an eternity, and considering the threads of the future that would be spun out of this moment. Finally he reached into his pocket, pulling out a coin and handing it to the boy.
If you liked this story, please consider coming back next Wednesday for the release of the flash fiction collection All Our Tomorrows. This story will be featured in it.
Friday, January 27
Update!
It's been awhile since I've posted any updates about my writing here (I even skipped over the obligatory “year in review” post!), so I thought I'd post a brief note here tonight on where things are at.
I'm continuing to plug ahead on a few different projects right now (two short stories and two novels, mostly). I'm working laterally, I suppose you could say, shifting back and forth between the four of them. This is, according to experts, the WORST way to write, but given my current schedule and time available for writing I think it's working out best for me. This means I haven't finished any of them yet, but each one's chugging along at a steady pace.
What I have been writing and finishing, though, is some book reviews. I've been writing simple reviews for years now on my goodreads account, but they usually half-hearted things that I dashed out when I had a few minutes. I wanted to start writing longer ones, and ones that take a more objective, analytical look at the books in question, so it seemed like a good idea to start publishinig them as blogs. So if you want to read along with what I've been reading, check the blog out at http://readbyryan.wordpress.com
I also sent out my first submission of 2012 this week. It was a piece of flash fiction, originally, but I saw a submission call that was right up its alley, so I expanded it out into a short story and sent it away.
In terms of upcoming stuff, I have two exciting things on the horizon: first is that I'm making February VSS MONTH. VSS, or Very Short Stories, are tweetable short stories that are less than 140 characters in length. I write these from time to time, and always have a lot of fun doing them. As February is such a short month, it seems especially appropriate for VSS, so every day in February I'll be posting one into my twitter feed. Follow along at @IamRyanHill if you're not already to read along. Secondly, in March I'm going to be doing an ebook release – one of those “short stories for $1” type deals. More details, including links and all that, to come in the near future.
Until next time, true believers!
Saturday, December 3
End of Nanowrimo
Just realized I let the end of November happen without any further Nanowrimo updates.
I didn't finish. And I'm okay with that - I knew from the start I wasn't going to get 50,000 words. I didn't even hit my personal target of 100 pages, clocking in at half that.
What I do have, though, is a good opening sixth or so of a novel, and I'm looking forward to getting the rest of it done once circumstances allow.
I didn't finish. And I'm okay with that - I knew from the start I wasn't going to get 50,000 words. I didn't even hit my personal target of 100 pages, clocking in at half that.
What I do have, though, is a good opening sixth or so of a novel, and I'm looking forward to getting the rest of it done once circumstances allow.
Sunday, November 6
Nanowrimo Update - Week 1
Now that we're a few days into the month, I figured I'd update readers with how my Nanowrimo progress was going so far.
Overall, it's going fairly well. I'm just a touch behind my modified pace (18 pages, when I should be at 20), but I'm fairly happy with what I've produced so far. For those of you keeping track of exact word counts vs a "page numbers multipled by average wpp", it's around 5000 words.
I've stuck fairly closely to my hastily-scratched-out outline I "prepared" on the back of a report for work the morning of November 1. My characters seem to be starting to develop, although they all seem to be slightly annoyed and in a rush; possibly this is an effect of where I've been writing, though.
Speaking of 'where', writing on the bus is going better than I'd thought it would. There's been a couple of mornings that I haven't been able to write, because the bus has been too busy, and I worry the end result isn't quite legible, but overall it's been better than I expected - the movement of the bus and the chatter of my fellow commuters are easily ignored.
On the off-chance it would be of interest to anyone, a writing sample!
Overall, it's going fairly well. I'm just a touch behind my modified pace (18 pages, when I should be at 20), but I'm fairly happy with what I've produced so far. For those of you keeping track of exact word counts vs a "page numbers multipled by average wpp", it's around 5000 words.
I've stuck fairly closely to my hastily-scratched-out outline I "prepared" on the back of a report for work the morning of November 1. My characters seem to be starting to develop, although they all seem to be slightly annoyed and in a rush; possibly this is an effect of where I've been writing, though.
Speaking of 'where', writing on the bus is going better than I'd thought it would. There's been a couple of mornings that I haven't been able to write, because the bus has been too busy, and I worry the end result isn't quite legible, but overall it's been better than I expected - the movement of the bus and the chatter of my fellow commuters are easily ignored.
On the off-chance it would be of interest to anyone, a writing sample!
Friday, November 4
Follow Friday: Why you should be following John Anealio
If you're on twitter, you're no doubt familiar with the hashtag/concept "Follow Friday"; as the name suggests, users recommend people they follow that they think others should too. It's something that I've always felt was a great concept, but often it just devolves into 140 character long lists of names, with no reason *why* that person should be followed.
So, what I'm going to start doing is focusing on one person per week, and explaining why I think following them would be worth your time. Up this week:
Three reasons why you should consider following John:
1) He's a talented singer-songwriter who has written on a wealth of geeky topics, such as sexy robots, Chupacabra, dressing up like a stormtrooper, and George RR Martin. He's by no means a novelty act, though; he treats the subject matter as a good way to get at deeper emotional content.
2) He's also active in the podcasting sphere - John's created theme songs for podcasts such as I Should Be Writing and GeekDad, and also is the co-host of the Functional Nerds podcast, where he and co-host Patrick Hester discuss technology, new media, science fiction and fantasy, and the occasional video game.
3) He's the person that I got this format from. John spent the entire summer doing FF in this style, and I found it a very useful format. So thanks, John!
Interested in following John? He's on twitter and Google+, and has several albums' worth of songs on the web (some of them for free, even) at http://johnanealio.com/
So, what I'm going to start doing is focusing on one person per week, and explaining why I think following them would be worth your time. Up this week:
John Anealio.
Three reasons why you should consider following John:
1) He's a talented singer-songwriter who has written on a wealth of geeky topics, such as sexy robots, Chupacabra, dressing up like a stormtrooper, and George RR Martin. He's by no means a novelty act, though; he treats the subject matter as a good way to get at deeper emotional content.
2) He's also active in the podcasting sphere - John's created theme songs for podcasts such as I Should Be Writing and GeekDad, and also is the co-host of the Functional Nerds podcast, where he and co-host Patrick Hester discuss technology, new media, science fiction and fantasy, and the occasional video game.
3) He's the person that I got this format from. John spent the entire summer doing FF in this style, and I found it a very useful format. So thanks, John!
Interested in following John? He's on twitter and Google+, and has several albums' worth of songs on the web (some of them for free, even) at http://johnanealio.com/
Thursday, November 3
Nanowrimo!
Happy Nanowrimo, writers! I realize I'm a few days late posting about it, but I wanted to tip my hat to everyone taking part in the challenge. (For those of you unaware of what Nanowrimo is, or what hyperlinks are, it's a friendly challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November)
Which includes me. I've been an enthusiast of Nanowrimo for a long time - it's what got me writing fiction again after I finished university, and I've learned a lot from it over the years about writing and about organization and self-discipline. I've also met a bunch of cool people through Nano.
This year, though, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it. I'm working and going to school part-time (which is why I haven't been posting much fiction here for y'all lately), and figured that that left no time for writing. I wasn't happy about it, but with observations, assignments, and exams happening in November it was a decision I had to make.
This of course meant that I sat down on November 1st and started writing. I'm not planning on hitting a full 50,000 words, but I figure that if I can get at least 100 pages written I'll consider it a victory.
Anyone who's also doing Nanowrimo, feel free to add me as a writing buddy: http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/mr-hill
Which includes me. I've been an enthusiast of Nanowrimo for a long time - it's what got me writing fiction again after I finished university, and I've learned a lot from it over the years about writing and about organization and self-discipline. I've also met a bunch of cool people through Nano.
This year, though, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it. I'm working and going to school part-time (which is why I haven't been posting much fiction here for y'all lately), and figured that that left no time for writing. I wasn't happy about it, but with observations, assignments, and exams happening in November it was a decision I had to make.
This of course meant that I sat down on November 1st and started writing. I'm not planning on hitting a full 50,000 words, but I figure that if I can get at least 100 pages written I'll consider it a victory.
Anyone who's also doing Nanowrimo, feel free to add me as a writing buddy: http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/mr-hill
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