Blog
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Preorder Bullet Points 3
Are you in the mood for some military SF on your bookshelf or e-reader? The third Bullet Points anthology, collecting stories published online in 2023, drops in December…but right now you can preorder direct from the publisher. (Well, unless you want a print copy shipped outside of the U.S. In that case, you’ll need to…
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#Bookmail from The Dread Machine
My contributor copies of Darkness Blooms arrived last week. They look pretty darn great. I love ebooks and have been reading more in that format than I used to, which I attribute in part to failures of my body. (I find myself cranking font size to compensate for myopia. And there are times when I…
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Nebula Conference
The Nebula Conference starts today. I’ll be attending virtually, probably intermittently, because (gestures vaguely at life). I’m not paneling because a) why would that make any sense and b) see aforementioned vague gestures. I am, however, part of the Short Fiction Committee, and will be one of the people at the (virtual) tabling session on…
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Drabble sale
My drabble “Pamplona” will be appearing in a future issue of The Cosmic Background. Which future issue? I don’t know, but they’re all in the future. It’s a very new flash market. Writers take note: They don’t accept a lot of stories, but they’ve been very responsive and, since it’s 2023 and…(gestures vaguely at dumpster…
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This anthology is now a toddler
Three years ago, Atthis Arts published Community of Magic Pens. It is a delightful anthology full of stories about, well, magic pens (for somewhat flexible definitions of “magic” and “pens”). This sale came only a few months after I’d started submitting stories, after I had managed to reset my brain to writing short and, not…
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“Stages of Pre-Bereavement”
It’s May Day and that means Darkness Blooms is available! (You can find it at The Dread Machine, plus the usual print and ebook retailers.) The anthology is edited by Alin Walker and Monica Louzon and includes a bunch of impressive stories. My own “Stages of Pre-Bereavement” kicks things off. I’m very pleased to see…
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Darkness Blooms
Darkness Blooms is now available for preorder! The anthology includes my story “Stages of Pre-Bereavement,” which I’m particularly excited about and will say more about later. But for now, check out the book trailer: The book’s available as an ebook, paperback or hardcover. If you order direct from The Dread Machine, they’ll also throw in…
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Nebula Conference scholarships
Writers of speculative fiction take note: SFWA is offering a load of scholarships to the online 2023 Nebula Conference. There are 125 scholarships available for writers who are Black and/or Indigenous, AAPI, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQIA+, or located outside of the United States. The scholarships don’t get you in the door for the in-person event in Anaheim,…
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“Lakeside”
Issue 9 of Underland Arcana is now available and I’m pleased that my short story “Lakeside” is included. I wrote the first draft of this story for an annual flash fiction writing contest; one of the prompts involved camping. For personal reasons, I was very happy about this. My family was in the process of…
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Fediverse RSS
If you want to follow this blog’s feed on Mastodon or elsewhere in the fediverse, there’s a bot for that. Search for @aphowell@feedsin.space or go to https://feedsin.space/feed/aphowell. Many thanks to Colin Mitchell for the bot work!
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SFWA members on AI
SFWA’s posted a roundup of links: “SFWA Members Weigh in on AI & Machine Learning Applications & Considerations.” My post from a few days ago is on the list, along with opinions from folks across the field, approaching the issue from a variety of perspectives.
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Adjacent to greatness
The British Science Fiction Association announced the shortlist this year’s awards. Two of the nominees come courtesy of ParSec Issue 4. Neil Williamson is nominated in the Short Fiction category for the surveillance society story “Moment of Zugzwang” and Vincent Sammy’s cover is nominated in the Artwork category.
A. P. Howell 