Monday, August 19, 2013

Poetry In Motion®



Yes, I had to include the little "®" in the blog title. If you read all the way to the bottom, you'll understand... and you'll understand why I chose that title!

This is an update to my previous update because I have some news to report!

Note: Before I could get this post finished I received two bits of news about items listed below, so this is an update to my update (of my previous update). Those items affected are now, uh, updated.
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Image "Feathered Quill And Ink Pot" courtesy of Simon Howden at www.freedigitalphotos.net


The Fisherman and His Wife: (Short story - humor/fairy tale) This short story was submitted (and accepted for edits!) to Fringeworks for their multi-volume Grimm & Grimmer anthology a long time ago. They've got the first two volumes out, and they are waiting for their cover artist to return for the rest. My story is supposed to published in Grim & Grimmer IV which was originally to come out in August. Then it was pushed back to October, and now, according to their latest newsletter, doesn't have a fixed publication date. It's listed as "editing in progress." The folks at Fringeworks seem to be trying to do a lot, and I hope they're not taking too much on. They have done their best to keep me informed, and do put out some nice work, so I'm still involved and hoping for a good outcome here.

Skarett's Treasure: (Short story - humor/horror/pirates) This was also submitted to Fringeworks for publication through their Knightwatch Press imprint to be included in their Dead Men's Tales anthology. It has not yet been accepted (or rejected! I have to be the optimist here...), but they've let me know they will soon be reading them to sort out which stories they want to include. They say they want to have this out in the September/October time frame, so I hope to hear one way or another soon. So nothing's changed from last time.

Note! As mentioned near the top of this page, I received an update on this from Adrian Middleton about the events leading to the delay:
  • The first event was the temporary loss of our cover artist between June and the end of August, which facilitated putting the publication back (but not the submissions deadline). This led the imprint publishing the story to change from Fringeworks to KnightWatch Press, and also saw our publication date get put back to September/October;
  • The second event was the discovery the anthology had been promoted in June's issue of Writing Magazine. We knew nothing about this, but it led to an unprecedented number of submissions which required a preliminary sift. That sift was completed recently, whittling down the number of submissions into double figures!
  • The third event was the need to change editor. I am currently simultaneously editing several novellas, three other anthologies, and four novels, as well as writing for some of those projects. There was no way, beyond the initial sift, that I would have been able to get Dead Men's Tales ready for publication by this September/October.
So there is now a new editor, Mellisa Black, and it looks like my story made it through the "first sift."

Neersville: (Short story - horror/ghost) This was submitted to Burial Day Books via Submittable.

Image of a frown
Unfortunately, they have decided not to publish the story. I had a few concerns about this when I sent it in - the point of view I chose, the subject matter, a few other issues, including the length - any of which may have contributed to their decision. Submittable shows it to be "Declined," so I'll withdrawn it from there at some point.

However.... (see next item)


The Ballad of Drunken Jack: (Poetry - horror) This was also submitted to Burial Day Books via Submittable, again for their Gothic Blue Book III anthology.

Image of a smiley face
Submittable still shows it to be "In Process" but I have a contract in hand for this as they've accepted my poem! And the fools, uh, I mean the kind, generous, highly intelligent, and physically attractive folks at Burial Day Books are even going to pay me for it! Now, selling poetry of any kind is difficult enough, but old-style narrative poetry like this has become nearly impossible to even give away, so I'm rather tickled. I'm thinking of heading up to Alaska next winter to see if I can sell some snow during a blizzard...


Among The Stones: (Poetry - horror) This was submitted to Scarlett River Press quite a while back. Their web site is still just a shell, so this is the last mention about this. If you folks are listening out there, consider my poem withdrawn.

A Tinker's Damn (horror - flash fiction/steampunk, sort of...), has been submitted to The Were-traveler's The Little Magazine of Magnificent Monsters issue. They have had some technical difficulties with their blog/website, but have assured me they are making progress. They've told me they are going to push back their publication schedule due to this. They've been good to work with, so I hope they get things worked out!


Maria Kelley has posted an update on The Were-traveler site.

I'm also working on a poem (horror), as yet untitled (but may be called "The Other Side of the Door"), for submission to James Ward Kirk Fiction for their anthology, The Cellar Door.

I had to give up on my short story, Final Judgement (horror - short story), for the Horrified Press anthology, Tales of the Undead – Suffer Eternal Volume III. I just don't have the time to work on it right now.

I have perhaps a dozen other short stories and a number of poems in various stages of completion, so I have plenty to keep me busy!



Image "Feathered Quill And Ink Pot" by Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Poetry in Motion® is a joint registered trademark of the Poetry Society of America and MTA/New York City Transit Authority. I'm not sure how Johnny Tillotson feels about this, and I'm not affiliated with any of these folks, so I'm not getting anything from this other than a title for my blog post.


© 2012-2013 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations on Drunken Jack!! Very exciting news indeed. That must feel pretty good, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, yes... The Iliad, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - and now, The Ballad of Drunken Jack. What greater literary masterpieces could there be?

      But it is fun! I haven't seen final edited version yet, but I hope it bears some semblance to my original. I do look forward to seeing it in print and to hear what a wider audience thinks.

      Now, if I could just get some of these other projects in print, I’d have something to show people.

      And thanks for the comment! (You really are Canadian, eh?)

      Delete
  2. Just lending some local colour to the proceedings!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you think Dead Men's Tales will ever be published?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every now and then I get little hints from Fringeworks that things are moving forward, but has been a slow process. I sent a message to Mellissa Black (editor) to see if there was an update on the project. I still have hope!

      Delete
    2. Got sent an e-mail with edits to be approved several weeks ago. Approved the edits and have not heard a trying since. Finally lost all hope of this one being published.

      Delete
    3. Well, you're ahead of me on that one. I haven't even been sent any edits to approve. The last time I contacted Mellissa, she just said the stories were being edited. Haven't seen any movement on this, either.

      Delete

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