Short story writer. Redeeming qualities are hinted but not yet demonstrated.
| Since "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge" made the Locus Recommended list, it's also listed on the Locus Poll for Best Story in the novelette category. Those of you who are Locus subscribers can vote at Locus and get a free issue added to your subscription. Of course, I'd RATHER you voted for my story, but there are a lot of worthy stories there that need love, so just go vote. You'll be glad you did. |
| Thanks!
Top 3? I'm honored. Glad you liked it, Christopher. |
| Congrats, Richard! |
| congrats, Richard!!
|
| Well deserved, Richard! That was one of my three favorite stories of 2006. |
| And a rather nice way to start the day: "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge," my novelette from the April 2006 Realms of Fantasy, made the Locus Recommended Reading List. |
| My contributor's copies came today. The production editor at Sovereign had been bragging on the Tiffany Prothero illustration, and I must say it's a fine one. Delightfully grisly.
The title is listed as "Touch of Hell" on the ToC, but the full title is "A Touch of Hell." It appears correctly on the story itself. |
| It's official. HEREAFTER, AND AFTER from PS Publishing (UK) has been delayed until late January/early February. I'm not surprised. I didn't see how they were going to get it into print before the end of the year with two other titles ahead of it in the queue. No big deal; it's a short delay and probably better for the book than being shoehorned into the end of the year. |
| Back from WFC, where advance copies of WORSHIPPING SMALL GODS were much in evidence. It is a lovely thing. |
| Another bit of coolness: Rich Horton's taking "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge" for FANTASY: THE BEST OF THE YEAR 2007 ed. |
| Thank you. I think they did a pretty good job. Can't wait to see the finished product. |
| Most elegant, Richard. Congrats! |
| Oh frabjous tray. Prime Books has shown the cover design for the new collection, WORSHIPPING SMALL GODS. One can see it here, if one is inclined: http://oldcharliebrown.livejournal.com/82542.html |
| The French magazine Fairies has bought reprint rights to "The Ogre's Wife." Coolness. This will be the first time my work's been translated into French. |
| We pause for a brief commercial message: The second issue of MYTHIC is now available for pre-order from Shocklines . It contains stories and/or poems by Leah Bobet, Cherie Priest, Catherynne M. Valente, Lawrence Schimel, Sonya Taaffe, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jo Walton and others in addition to your present correspondent. My piece is "A Pinch of Salt," and is (I hope) an entertaining musing on the relationship between mermaids and fishermen. You should buy the book. It's pretty and will have a cover and everything. Commercial ends. Place bets now. |
| Thank you, Mystery Guest.
In that vein, I just sold the latest novelette in the Goji Yamada series to Realms. The title is "A Touch of Hell." Should be out sometime next year. |
| I'm a big fan of your stories in Realms of Fantasy magazine, particularly those of the "kwaidan" mold.
Wondered if you've ever heard of a game called The Mountain Witch? Seems like your kind of thing. And vice versa, your stories would make great inspiration for players. http://timfire.com/MountainWitch.html I happen to know Tim, who wrote this game, and I will definitely point out your work to him, I think he'd enjoy it. Keep up the great work! |
| In case anyone's interested who isn't a subscriber, my story from Weird Tales #341 has been posted online at the new web site: www.weirdtalesmagazine.com
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| Doubtless trying to make up for a really sucky year. ;-) |
| Good week you're having there!
:-) |
| One new sale, to MYTHIC, vol 2. |
| Today's mail brought my contributor's copies of FANTASY: THE BEST OF THE YEAR. Nice looking book. |
| I try not to put too much stock in them, though I'd probably be offended if I didn't get any. Writers can be so difficult. :) |
| Very cool about the honorable mentions. I do think Gardner relaxes his requirements for the honorable mentions and just tries to acknowledge good writing. I remember (ah, back in the day) when one of my stories got honorable mentions in both the Science Fiction and the Fantasy and Horror Year's Bests.
Neither bought it, though. Grrrrrr...... law |
| Sold reprint rights to "Fox Tails" to THE DRAGON DONE IT, an anthology of supernatural detective stories due out from Baen Books next year. Should be a fun book. |
| Four honorable mentions this year in Gardner's YBSF. I consider this not bad for someone who almost never writes pure quill sf. |
| First Reader pronounced the latest story not especially sucky, which is good to know. We had our usual battle over commas. She's an English Major and wants them to go where they belong. I'm an artiste and argue that they belong where I want them. She points out that this makes me look like an ignorant twit. "Does not!" is my usual dignified and mature response. We always reach a compromise at some point and I'll make most but not all the changes she wants. Pesky things, commas.
|
| Wow. Word Perfect was my very first editor. You're right--"Reveal Codes" was wonderful. But somehow--I no longer even remember how--I got switched over to Word many, many moons ago and have been swearing at the software ever since.
I'd say that Microsoft is a prime example of the cockroach model--ubiquity triumphs--but cockroaches are at least well-designed..... law |
| Word processors I have known and loved(?): Wordstar. Vi. Emacs. Paperclip. WordPerfect. Word.
Ah, WordPerfect. I knew about word processors back in those antideluvian days, but I'd never actually seen one in action until I saw WordPerfect demonstrated on a Kaypro II (how's that for a blast from before you were born?). The paragraph was created. The bad line was identified, the bad line was deleted. The rest of the paragraph quick like a bunny rearranged itself back into perfect order. Now, bear in mind: at the time I was trying to learn how to write on a manual Tower portable typewriter. My yokel jaw dropped, and all I could think was "WANT THAT!!!!" Finances being what they were, it was several more years before I had a word processor of any kind, and more still till I had my very own copy of WordPerfect. It's been the workhorse, though. The bulk of everything I've written has been on one version or another, from 5.1 of blessed memory through 10. I'm switching to Word. It's not a decision I made lightly. I don't like Word. Never have, probably never will. No "Reveal Codes" function (and don't tell me about the "reveal formatting" function. It only shows where the paragraphs start and end. Big woop). Makes bloated files and delights in stuffing them full of extra data that's no one's business but your own. Its formatting and layout commands are positively demented by comparison to WP. It's by Microsoft. I'll deal, because it's still better than a typewriter, but I'm not in my Happy Place. |
| Yep. From the late 15th century through the 16th. The Muromachi Shogunate basically lost control of the country and it was pretty much every daimyo for himself for about 100 years. |
| Hey, Richard! I know the Chinese have a Warring States period. Do the Japanese have their own?
law |
| Was reading a book on the art of Japan from the Nara through the Warring States period, doing some post-rough-pre-rewrite fact checking, when I stumbled across a reference to the Genji Monogatari being completed around 1100.
Complete and total panic ensued. My timeline was off by fifty years, if that was correct. Only I really knew it wasn't. I checked my Whaley and a few other places. Yes, dangit, Lady Murasaki's opus was complete in its more or less present form by the beginning of the 11th CENTURY, not 1100. They were wrong. Now I'm starting to question everything I've read in that book. Oh, well. Like the Zen Masters say: "Large Doubt, Large Awakening. Small Doubt, Small Awakening. No Doubt, No Awakening." Our alleged Prez should take a lesson. |
| Thanks. I think it turned out ok. I'll know more when I can bear to look at it again. |
| But productive ogre. Congrats!
law |
| Nice work, Richard! Congrats! |
| Rough draft of the novel finished today. Tired ogre. |
| Don't think I've seen that. *pouts* |
| No argument there. Even the portrait of her sister done at age 16 is astonishing. |
| Wasn't she SOMETHING though? Boggling. |
| At the Mississippi Museum of Modern Art in Jackson. It's not a huge exhibition (we don't have the space), but there were about 35-40 paintings dating from very early (age 16!) to late in her career. |
| Richard, out of curiosity, where is that exhibit? We saw the big O'Keefe exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute in 1986 or so, it was a jaw-dropper (even though you shuffled through the entire exhibit in a mass of about 20,000 people. It was worth it.) We've got two big posters from it hanging on our walls now. Love it! |
| Finally made it over to the museum yesterday for the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit. I'll confess to being pretty philistine where a lot of modern art is concerned, but O'Keefe works for me. And the Japanese prints they had chosen to display in conjunction with the exhibit were marvelous. Three Toshi Yoshida prints, three Hasuis, and even a few Saitos. While I love Hasui, my favorite of this exhibition had to be the Yoshidas. The colors were just incredible. |
| The first review of MYTHIC #1 is up at www.tangentonline.com
Not too shabby. |
| For anyone planning on being at MidSouthCon this year, my tentative schedule is below:
FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2006 8:00PM-9:00PM Shapeshifters in SF & Fantasy (Conference Room 5) - shapeshifting is not considered medically possible, but it is a common theme in myth, legend, and speculative fiction. This panel looks at the possible origins of the myth, its most recent incarnations (e.g. Animagi in the J.K. Rowling novels), and the reasons for its endurance. SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2006 11:00AM-12:00PM Richard Parks Reading (Conference Room 9) - reads selections from his upcoming collection WORSHIPING SMALL GODS. I had to bail out on the traditional round-robin story on Sunday as I'd be leaving that afternoon. Pretty much free on Saturday. Maybe I'll go to the zoo. Memphis has a really good zoo. |
| Hi, Doug.
Yes, so I thought, unless you were claiming to be two years old. That's a little young, even for a new asst. editor. :) |
| And by that I mean the story being accepted before I came aboard.
--Doug |
| Nice one, even if the story is from before my time :)
--Doug |
| Hey, congrats! Indeed better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, which is how my mom said that one-- |
| Thanks. Better than a sharp poke in the eye, God wot. |
| Yes, phosphers are too unstable. Etherland tends toward unreliability when usage outstrips capacity.
Congrats on the Prime:YB selection. |
| Awesome news, Richard! |
| Just got word a little while ago that Rich Horton is taking "Empty Places" from the December Realms of Fantasy for the new YB series he's doing with Sean Wallace at Prime Books: FANTASY: THE BEST OF THE YEAR. They'll also be doing another in sf and another in horror, though Rich won't be editing that last one.
Yes, I'm pleased about it. |
| I just write 'em. I don't 'splain 'em. ;) |
| What exactly did that sentence mean, Richard?
:-) |
| As, apparently, is my spelling. |
| We're back. Phosphors are do unstable... |
| Another one to Weird Tales, "The Man Who Carved Skulls." |
| Ain't gonna happen unless you two stop writing novels long enough to put a few more short stories out there. :)
Better yet, stick with the novels. It's a better career path. |
| You are quite welcome, sir. Hopefully, I'll get to grace the inside with you, which would be neat. We've gotta get one mag with the three Mississippi SFWAns as contributors, including Mark.
Terry Bramlett |
| Looks like I made the cover of Weird Tales #341, unless they change their minds between now and when the issue is actually printed. Thanks for the heads-up, Terry.
http://www.wildsidepress.com/images/wt341.jpg |
| My contributor's copies of the April _Realms of Fantasy_ arrived today. My story this time is a novelette, "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge." Second in the series that began with "Fox Tails" last year. The illustration is by Paul Lee. So far he's done all the Yamada stories, which is fine by me. |
| Thanks. I think Mike's going to do a nice package for this antho. |
| Congratulations, Richard! |
| Congrats, Richard! |
| Whoops. That was me.
law |
| Woohoo! |
| First sale of the new year, "The Last Romantic" to MYTHIC. I think the book's set to debut at ReaderCon. |
| I've discovered the one reasonably sure way to get your name on the cover is to write the whole thing. Can't always do that, though. :) |
| Ooo. Your name is on the cover. I was Ann Dothers (and others).
:-) Maybe I should write under the name Ann Dothers. |
| The lovely editors at _Aeon_ have created an ad for _Hereafter and After_ to run in _Aeon_#6. It's just a
mockup, since the real cover art for the novella is not set, but I rather like it. http://www.dm.net/~richard-parks/rparks_ad.jpg |
| Maybe. Or maybe it'll be another three years. Even money which. |
| Richard, neither of us is in WT 339. Maybe 340?
Terry |
| There's a preview up for Aeon 6 here, for those who want to take a look at what's coming. The issue is all about sweet looove. |
| Received and sent back the proofs for "Another Kind of Glamour" for Aeon #6, Bridget and Marti McKenna's pdf magazine. Due out sometime in February, which will probably make it my first new publication of the year. I'd like to list out what all's coming up this year but, publishing schedules being what they are, your guess is almost as good as mine. I'll probably have something in Fantasy Magazine #3, and maybe in the April or June Realms of Fantasy, and possibly Weird Tales #339, and maybe Jabberwocky #2 or #3... In some ways I prefer the uncertainty; every publication is almost like a delightful surprise.
I do have a tentative release date on WORSHIPING SMALL GODS; the collection should be out sometime in June. "Hereafter and After," the novella from PS Publishing, in the latter half of the year. Should be a fairly busy year for me, regardless of when and what. |
| Thanks, Lori. Better late than never, and there's one more cliche I don't need to use anywhere else for a while. :)
I would say, come on down, the weather's fine! Only right now it isn't. It's cold. |
| Yes, yes, yes, very-very-late, but I was cleaning out a nightstand that I *thought* only had old Analogs. Turned out there were three old Asimovs. Among them, one with a story by the star of this topic..."A Hint of Jasmine."
Very nice story, Richard. Someday I'm actually going to visit the South, and southwest doesn't count. |
| Thanks, Lori.
I now have it on good authority that a copy of Hereafter and After has been pre-ordered from PS Publishing. So I know the book's going to sell at lease *one* copy. :) |
| Hey, Richard, Terry, that would be cool! |
| Thanks, Josh. |
| Looking forward to both stories! |
| It could happen. |
| I got my page proofs for "Family Blood" for WT. Might we share a TOC?
Terry Bramlett |
| Got the page proofs yesterday for "Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King" so it should be showing up in Weird Tales before much longer. Maybe issue 339.
Issue 338 has a really cool new story by Parke Godwin, who's writing short fiction once again, yay! |
| Gonna do my best, Lori. :) |
| Hey, Richard! You'd *better* be at WFC next year! |
| Two late in the season sales, both to the anthology series that Sean at Prime Books is doing, JABBERWOCKY. Short stories "A Garden in Hell" and "Brillig." Me in a more, shall we say, unusual mode. |
| Latest sale is a short story, "The Finer Points of Destruction," to Sean Wallace's new Fantasy Magazine.
And in case you're reading this, TerryB: Yes, it's that one. But I still want a critique on Thursday. |
| Slaving away on the short story collection, among other things. The working title is WORSHIPING SMALL GODS, and I'm pretty sure that it will remain so unless the editor objects. Have to have the title before the final lineup even makes sense. I hope to be able to post that in a week or two, though it's going to be pretty close to the rough list I already put out elsewhere. Some additions, some deletions. I've got one piece I want to include whose publication date may fall too close to the collection's (tentative) release period, so I'll need to check with the magazine editor to make sure that's not a problem and, if it is, decide what to include instead. |
| Thanks!
Well, it's nice of Shawna to go over her stated length, but it wasn't a lock. Especially when she's overbought, so I have to believe she liked the story a lot. I guess the readers will decide if it was worth it. ;) |
| Cool! And congrats on the long RoF sale. I would *hope* she'd go over word limit for you. Good grief.
law |
| That's great, Richard -- Congrats! |
| This isn't really a formal announcement since I don't even have a title yet, but Prime Books will be doing my second collection, probably mid-2006. Now I get to pick the stories and figure out what to call it. |
| Grant does get around, don't he? :)
I had hopes at one time of going to ArmadilloCon this year, but it just wasn't in the cards. |
| Nor I. That story was the perfect length. I'm glad Shawna went over her stated word limits. I thought she might for a regular contributor.
BTW, I was still in Eupora MS on Thursday night and we left early Friday for Houston the next day. Met Josh, one of your RoF TOC mates, and a few other RMers at ArmadilloCon. And I ran into one of our Writer's Group in Austin. Grant is the ArmadilloCon Fan Guest next year. |
| To answer Terry's question from elsewhere, I didn't have to cut it at all. Which is fortunate, since I haven't a clue where it could have been cut without major damage. |
| Thanks, Josh. I knew that Shawna would go over her stated limit on occasion, but it was a long shot. |
| Fantastic news, Richard! |
| Thanks, Terry. I'm much relieved my own self. |
| Posted in the wrong area. I'm glad that one found a home, Richard and that Shawna bought it. |