The August 2010 issue of InterGalactic Medicine Show is now out.

The cover story, “Trinity County, CA” by Peter Beagle, is an exciting look at the life of dragon control officers in California, although the word “dragon” never appears in the story.

“The Mystery of Miranda” by David Simons is a story I recommended out of the slush, about explorers going into the deepest crevasse in the solar system.

“Forcing Coin” is by my Odyssey classmate William T. Vandemark. I liked an earlier version of this story at Odyssey, and it’s even better now. A mysterious visitor to a diner has a few tricks up his sleeve. I haven’t listened to the audio version yet.

“The Quanta of Art” by Adam Colston is another I recommended out of the slush, about an art dealer forced by a mobster to evaluate a new artist.

“How About It, Roomie?” by Chase Guymon is a brief horror story about someone who’s gone off the deep end.

There’s also part 2 of 3 of Orson Scott Card’s “Eye for Eye.”

Five years ago, I wrote a short story entitled “Bird-Dropping and Sunday” for the Codex Fairy Tale Contest.   It took first place in the contest, so I then set about trying to find a publisher.

It took me seventeen submissions over four years.   Every other story I’ve sold, I’ve sold within the first five submissions.   But I believed in this story — especially since people loved it when I read it aloud at readings — so I kept submitting it.

And it’s taken more than a year since it was accepted, but it is finally in print, in The Immersion Book of Science Fiction. Here’s the table of contents:

• Al Robertson – “Golden”
• Tanith Lee – “Tan”
• Chris Butler – “Have Guitar, Will Travel”
• Jason Erik Lundberg   – “The Time Traveler’s Son”
• Colin P Davies – “Dolls”
• Anne Stringer – “Grave Robbers”
• Aliette de Bodard – “Father’s Last Ride”
• Gord Sellar – “The Broken Pathway”
• Eric James Stone – “Bird Dropping and Sunday”
• Gareth Owens – “Mango Dictionary and the Dragon Queen of Contract Evolution”
• Lavie Tidhar – “Lode Stars”

You can buy the book at the links below. As of this writing, Barnes & Noble is the cheapest ($8.64 – 28% off).

• Barnes & Noble
• BookDepository.com (Free shipping worldwide)
• Amazon
• Powell’s

To whet your appetite, here’s how the story begins: Read More »

Lois Tilton has reviewed my story “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” for Locusmag.com. Key quote:

But matters improved quickly, as the characters proved to be reasonable and well-rounded human beings, despite their conflicting viewpoints, who even managed to work together. And the sincere faith of Harry Malan managed to make me sympathize with his religious mission, which is a very hard sale indeed.

My story “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” has touched off a couple of internet discussions about religion in science fiction:

B. J. Keeton blogs about it here, and his blog post is the starting point for Charlie Jane Anders’s post on io9.com.