K. A. PATTERSON ~ Writer/Editor/Publisher

Issue #11 of Twisted Tongue Magazine is now available!  In it, my micro fiction tale, Maude Hatter's Wicked Garden Party, won the Editor's Choice Award!  Over that, and at having 5 pieces published in that issue, I'm literally estatic.  Claire Nixon creates a really amazing print magazine, packed full of dark fiction and morbid poetry.  A downloadable version of the issue is also.  I found the graphic they chose for my story a perfect compliment to the tale's macabre theme.

I am truly honored to have my story be Editor's Choice.  Thanks Claire!

Another of my tales is currently online.  On the Hunt in the Urban Jungle can be found and read in the August Issue of Apollo's Lyre.  Apollo's Lyre is published quarterly, so you have plenty of time to read my story and stories from the other featured writers. 

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 03:21 PM | Permalink

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Patience is not only a virtue it is a must-have characteristic for fiction writers.

It keeps us from climbing the walls and from biting our fingernails down to the quick as we wait and wait for that all important editor reply. And we must wait, for just as it took us time to think up that neat story idea, to write it, rewrite it, edit it and submit it, we also must wait for that story to find the right home.

Sometimes that takes more time than we expect.

For me, patience proved handy. Three of my poems based on the Fibonacci Sequence (more commonly called fibs) were sent out to an editor back in early March. The months came and went. My observant eye noted the absence of an reply entry on submission log beside each poem, but still I waited.

Did I query the editor? Nah.

There were twisted, weird poems; and there are few marks taking dark poems of a such short length. So I waited.

And waiting paid off.

I just got word that all three poems were accepted for inclusion in Twisted Tongue magazine.  Suicide Sally, Witch Jelly, and The Other Woman will be appearing in issue #11, this August!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 06:03 PM | Permalink

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Taking an editor up on the offer to submit more work is an offer no writer can refuse!  It's encouraging to hear an editor is interested enough in your work to request to see more.  Now if I can only be that lucky once I start shopping my novels around!  LOL!

In March I took two editors up on their offer to submit more stories to them.  I submitted four micro tales and three poems to Claire Nixon, of Twisted Tongue Magazine.  I sent three additional tales of various length flash fiction to Molly Feese and CD Allen, the editors of Scotopia Press, for their Dark Distortions II anthology.

In May received offers of publication on all four of my micro fiction pieces from Twisted Tongue.  My horror tales, On the Grounds of the Evil Eye, and Mid-Summer Catch, will be published in Issue #10, which is due out in print form in Juy.  Two more tales, Season of the Snow Beast, and Maude Hatter's Wicked Garden Party, will appear in Issue #11, this Septembr. The first three tales will be reprints since they had originally appeared online at MicroHorror.com.  PDF copies will be available online through the publisher mid-July and in September also!  So drop by Twisted Tongue and take a peek and my Micro Fiction!

One of the three tales I sent to Scotopia Press, caught the interest of the editors.  The story I sent, The Q-Tip Dip, has entered the editing phase of their selection process.  I can't complain about that.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 10:23 AM | Permalink

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Several of the stories I submitted in December 2007 received acceptance notices.  All were Micro-Flash pieces ~ Need I remind you of how HOT Micro & Regular Flash Fiction are right now?  Well they are!

My first tale, Miss Mogley Speaks, is a creepy story inspired by those who take pilgrimages to reportedly religious sites or to locations where statues of the Virgin Mary have been know to cry; or places where Mrs. Horowitz saw the face of Jesus appear in a dirt smudge on her front picture window.  The story now appears online at EveryDayFiction.com, hostd by editor, Jordan Lapp.

Three of five stories that I sent to Twisted Tongue Magazine received offers of publication.  All three are horror tales of exactly 150 words.  Weed Killer, The Tattoo of the Viking Queen, and The Music Lover, will appear in Issue #9 of Twisted Tongue, which is due out in print in the United Kingdom this February!  PDF copies will be available online through the publisher in February also!  So drop by then and take a peek and my Micro Fiction!  Wahoo!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 01:32 PM | Permalink

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The 2nd issue of Murky Depths is now available in the United Kingdom and Online!

My fiendish horror tale, The Litter, appears in this issue. And the black and white artwork by James Fletcher is an awesome accompaniment. The issue is packed full of dark, haunting tales and creepy art.

Under the high-gloss, color cover with artwork by Geoff Taylor, Murky Depths #2 features stories by Jason Sizemore, Luke Cooper, Richard Calder, Alex Wilson and others ~ so get your copy today!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 08:14 AM | Permalink

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After a five month wait, I just received the delightful news that my sci-fi flash piece, Aberrant Parent, snagged a spot in the upcoming anthology, Futuristic Motherhood: Alternative Visons of Mothering.  The anthology is set for release February 2008 and is the brainchild of writer-publisher, Trula Breckenridge, of MSP Media.  This marks another pro sale for me so WAHOO!  I'm looking forward to reading the diverse stories the collection will surely contain.

In October, I had two micro-fiction stories accepted for publication.  My mini sci-fi tale, Four Crows will be appearing online in Apollo's Lyre this month.  Through  friend I learned about a neat little online site called, 365 Tales, so I took a look around, read a few stories.  I submitted a mico ghost story, The Haunting of Franklin Pristley, and they liked it enough to publish it.

I slipped up in my October submissions goal of 4 stories out.  I only sent out 2 subs ~ which is still in line with my New Year's Resolutions.  But the good news is, I was busy working on my fantasy novel ~ so I cut myself some slack on the story deadlines and considered it time well spent doing what I love most . . . writing . . . creating.

Hope you receive equally good news this month!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 01:11 PM | Permalink

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Since August was such a busy month for me travel-wise for AlienSkin Magazine, there was meager submissions to markets this month.  Four in total, of varying lengths and to a mix of pro, semi-pro and for-the-luv markets.

My story, Listening to Charlie, went live this month on From the Asylum.  The Mud Room also was a hit on Everyday Fiction.com.

I queried and resubbed two 66 word tales to Route 66, and editor Kimberly Raiser took a liking to one.  Within the Palace of Pain, will be featured in their publication which is due out in print January 2008. 

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 01:50 PM | Permalink

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Scant few submissions this month ~ 4 so far.  Of those, I snagged 3 sales in record-breaking time.  All four pieces (3 stories and a fib poem) went out on Sunday, 7/21/07, and 2 stories got immediately gobbled up.  I got 2 accepts in my Incoming email folder by Monday, 7/23/07; and the third story got accepted today!  Wahoo!  Flash certainly sells!

Yep, you've read the above correctly ~ those are turn around times of 2 and 3 days respectively.  You can't be that.

Two new markets will feature my fiction:  Every Day Fiction will publish two of my stories: The Mud Room, and Vanity.  Vanity is a humorous 55 word micro-short tale I wrote years ago as a writing exercise. I chose the market of Every Day Fiction from my Duotrope.com newsletter.  I liked the concept of their upcoming online venture.  Editors Jordan Lapp and Camille Gooderham-Campbell will email a piece of flash fiction to subscribers every morning.  Their website is clutter free and professional looking thanks to the expertise of web-designer, Steven Smethurst.  I'm looking forward to see their first offering.  So far, subscription to their daily dose of prose is FREE!  So check them out and subscribe!  With their need of 365 stories a year, they certainly have many slots to fill!  Maybe one will filled by your story. I'll think they'll be a hit.

My third piece, a fib poem, entitled Radiation Burn, already appears online and in print with another new market, Silent Actor.  Cool huh?  I got an acceptance letter and publish in the same day. Silent Actor publishes slipstream, cross-genre, and experimental pieces, so my dabbling in Fibonacci Sequence poetry really caught their eye.  I'm trilled too, since I've written dozens and dozens of the little buggers.

The last tale I have out will take longer to get a reply.  Response times are posted at 2 months, so my fingers are crossed and will end up cramping as I sit and wait.  I'll keep you posted as always.

Two micro-horror pieces I sent out in June, went live on Micro-Horror.com.  I can't help but support Nathan Rosen in his endeavor to showcase horror tales in flash format.  Both, Weed Killer, and Through a Spyglass as the End of Man Dawns, appear online along with several of my other micro tales of dread and woe.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 10:22 AM | Permalink

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Of the 8 submissions I sent out in May, I’ve received five responses.

Two replies contained great news:

Sam’s Dot Publishing loved my, Cafe Luna Noire, a 100 word micro-fiction story involving Elvis. They’re publishing my story in their Drabbler #9 publishing this July.  The story aslo won Honorable Mention in their Drabbler Contest.

My persistence paid off with FlashSpec. Of the three submissions I sent them this month, I finally snagged a slot in their upcoming print anthology. My flash story, Mother’s Day, will be among the 32 stories featured in FlashSpec Volume Two, which will be published this July.

Of the 3 rejections I received, two were standard form letters, but the third was cool. It was the type of personalized rejection letter from a pro market none of us writers mind getting.

It was from Jeff Crook, the editor of Postcards From Hell, which required horror tales of 500 words. Payment would’ve been $50.00.

Here it is:

Katherine

An interesting concept this, but I'm afraid it seems unfinished to me. Finishing it would put it well over my word count, but I encourage you to continue the story to its proper ending and try it somewhere that will pay you a professional rate.

Minion
Editor from Hell

Cool, huh?  And you know what, as I was writing the story ~ trying to cram it all into 500 words, I knew the story should be longer. I could see it developing, with my mind’s eye.

I’ll keep you posted as to how the story does develop.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 08:32 PM | Permalink

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Lucky for me it wasn't an April's Fools joke when the editor, Terry Martin, emailed me today.  He was baring good news though and it was indeed no joke!  The expanded version of my short story, The Litter, was accepted for publication in Murky Depths.  Way cool since it was an acceptance on the 1st try with them.

Murky Depths is a new print horror magazine published in the the United Kingdom; and if their premiere issue #0 is any gauge, this will be one kicking horror digest!

My story will be appearing in Issue #2 which is scheduled to print this December.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 10:03 AM | Permalink

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There's certainly truth to the old adage 'perseverance pays off'.  While sharking the virtual waters of Ralan.com last week, I happened upon the call for microflash submissions being made by Brimstone Press. They're seeking eerie horror stories of 120 words for a charity anthology to benefit the Australian Horror Writers Association.

The new e-anthology, Black Box, is the sequel to their acclaimed, Shadow Box, e-anthology. It will feature a slew of Australian and international horror writers, and it will be released January 2008.

I purchased a copy of, Shadow Box, (cost me a whole 5 bucks), and it was really cool ~ eerie as they intended and artfully put together as an interactive pdf.

Naturally, I wondered if I could make the cut ~ especially since I’ve been spitting out micro-horror pieces at rate of about a half dozen or more a week for a month now.

I submitted 3 stories first, which didn’t fit the type of horror they were seeking; but the editor invited me to submit more, so I did. I submitted 5 more stories (they allow a 5 story maximum per submission). These had more of a speculative/surreal bent.  Of that batch, one tale, The Watcher in the Park, caught their eye.

Wahoo!

It’ll be included in the anthology along side other yanks like Jason Sizemore, Paul Abbamandi, Eric Christ, Amanda M Hayes, and Mark Zirbel.

A fine example of finding a market, doing one's research, and being persistent.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 03:59 PM | Permalink

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Well the results are in for the James B. Baker Award sponsored by Sam's Dot Publishing, and my story didn't win.

But the award did go to an AlienSkin Magazine contributor, Lawrence Barker.

Oh well.  But, for me, the thrill was worth it!

 Way to go Lawrence!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 09:10 AM | Permalink

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While working on my collection of MircoFlash I sent out a few, and during my search for markets that accept fiction of 100 words (which is also known as a Drabbler), I came across this nifty blog site featuring short-short horror fiction.  It's called MicroHorror, and the site is run by writer Nathan Rosen.

He accepted my microFlash tales, Music Lover, and Tattoo of the Viking Queen.  Both are post online. Check them out to view this condensed form of writing.

Writing MicroFiction is a great way for writers to learn word choice and concise writing.  With such a limited word count, every word you choose must help paint a picture for readers.  Verb choice and the use of vivid descriptive words are critical for weaving these tiny tales.  It's also a great exercise in polishing your skills at recognizing and forumlating dramatic moments.  Try it!

Another cool excercise, is to write a story using only 100 words.  Save the story.  Then expand the same tale to 200 words; then 300 words; then jump to 500 words.  It's a neat way to visually see how a story fleshes out with more depth, description, and dialogue.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 02:18 PM | Permalink

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Fetching Pepe

Just got word my short story, Fetching Pepe, will become a Podcast.  The editors at Pseudopod approved of the rewrite of the tale.  I first submitted the story to them back in August.  They liked the story then, but felt it needed tightened in a couple of places.  And I have to admit, it did.

I resubmitted the tweaked tale last October, and after a long wait, I received Pseudopod's acceptance today.  Wahoo!

Fetching Pepe, was 1st published in 2003, in the paperback anthology, The Labor Pool: Tales of Temporary Workplace Horror, by Cyberpulp.

The podcast of the story, complete with a cool music intro, is scheduled to be produced in 2 to 4 weeks.

I'll keep you posted! 

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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The best news any writer can get ~ aside from hearing that their story has been accepted for publication ~ is that their story is up for an award.  And that's just the news I received at the dawn of this new year.

My short story Limited Warranty, has been nominated for the James B. Baker Award for Genre Fiction of 2006 at Sam's Dot Publishing. The story appeared in the August edition of Between Kisses. The tale is a sci-fi spoof on future HMO woes. There are 8 other contenders for the award.

I'll keep my fingers crossed! 

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 10:48 AM | Permalink

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My science fiction/horror short story, Listening to Charlie, just got a thumbs up by From the Asylum Press for publication in 2007.

The story is a creepy little tale, blending a few moments of gore with weirdness-from-beyond, in tribute to one of my favorite TV shows, the Outer Limits.  I hope readers will enjoy it as much as editor, Katherine Sanger, did at Asylum.

I’ll keep you posted as to when the story will appear online.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 05:20 PM | Permalink

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As of Nov. 11th, the main High Street chain of bookshops in the UK, Waterstones, will be selling  Volume 1 of Read by Dawn in 60 stores nationwide.

Adele Hartley, curator of Bloody Books and the Dead By Dawn Film Festival, and all of us contributing writers in the premiering anthology couldn't be more delighted with the news.  Having a genre anthology available mainstream like this is fantastic!

My horror tale, Lessons, appears in the anthology, so naturally I'm ecstatic!

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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When Ashes Burn

My 500 word Flash Fiction piece, When Ashes Burn, just went live online at Anotherealm.  This marks my 1st fiction sale for September.  It was a short and sweet, ghost story about a woman who experiences a brush with the supernatural when she returns to her grandmother's house after hearing it had burned down.  A tiny tale, I know, and it sold without pay; but it found a good home and I'm happy with that.

Posted by K. A. Patterson at 05:23 PM | Permalink

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