Check it out – my first set of book reviews for someone other than myself.  Awhile back, Jason Sizemore, the editor-in-chief of Apex Digest put out a call for a part-time book reviewer.  I responded, gave him some past samples of a couple of books reviews I’ve done here, and then he shipped a book to me.  It scored a bonus because it was actually one of those two-books-in-one deals.  The results of that can now be seen at the link above.  Hopefully, this will work out well on a monthly basis.  I enjoyed reading the books and writing the reviews, so I’m looking forward to doing more of them in the near future.

After a six-month hiatus, Flashes of Speculation is once more open for business.  With the site’s re-launch comes an upgrade to WordPress 2.3 and a new, magazine-style theme, courtesy of The Design Canopy.  I am looking for contributions to the site, stories that are no longer than 1000 words and fall into any or all of the sub-genres of speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, etc.

Additionally, contributors are now able to register at Flashes of Speculation and use the WordPress Dashboard to submit their stories.  These contributions will then be reviewed before being published in order to ensure proper formatting and quality as well as to prevent spammers.  Hopefully, this will take a bit more of the load off me in getting new contributions published, as well as make Flashes of Speculation a little more of the community project I’ve always intended it to be.

I encourage you to go check out the site again and contribute stories if you’d like.  I would also be very appreciative of any and all publicity you are willing to give to Flashes of Speculation through your blogs and websites.

A entry on another blog yesterday led me on a merry trail to this Newspaper Clipping Generator.  That, in turn, served as the inspiration for a 387-word piece of flash fiction that I intend to use for the 100 Voices in the Night project.  It’s kind of funny how it worked out because when the story was all written, I realized that it’s actually part of another story that’s been in my head for a couple of years now, just from a different perspective.

I still haven’t decided if the longer story is even going to get written.  It’s a science fiction/horror piece, and some of the events that transpire make me a little nervous.  It’s a nightmare descended on Earth, or at least one part of it, and as such is from the perspective of at least one person trapped inside it.  The one I wrote yesterday is written in newspaper-style format, and details some of the events of those who were lucky enough to be outside the phenomenon. 

I didn’t plan the relationship between these two stories – it just sort of happened.  But it’s pretty cool that it worked out that way because it actually provides a little more focus and a few more details to the longer story that may never get written.  Maybe I’ll write this little universe into existence – I don’t think there’s actually going to be that much to tell, but once I step into it, I may find it’s bigger than I first thought.  We’ll just have to wait and see.