Lots of news today!

First off, I was delighted to learn that my story "Evasion" has been accepted by Abandoned Towers,  and will be available online soon.  This marks my third appearance online there, and I'm also present in the current print edition with yet another story.

There is also a poll going on at Golden Visions, where you can vote for your favorite recurring author as "Reader's Choice".  I'm among the nominees, as are plenty of other familiar names.  You can have a look and register your opinion here.

The next piece of news has to do with POW!erful Tales, an antho of superhero fiction to which I sold a story late last year.  They have announced the Antho here, complete with cover artwork (which I love) and this is what they have to say for themselves:

POW!erful Tales is an anthology of stories originally conceived to celebrate the POW! roleplaying game.  Explore Beta City, the hero capital of the world, and its surroundings in what used to be northern Ohio! Marvel at the exploits of good, evil and indifferent superhumans in a world threatened by everything from street crime to aliens, demons and malevolent gods! This definitive 21st-century super-powered hero anthology contains stories by an incredibly gifted group of writers, ranging from talented newcomers to acclaimed professionals, and including:
 

GEOFFREY THORNE * MARK ONSPAUGH * LAWRENCE BARKER * GUSTAVO BONDONI * TIM McDANIEL * CHRISTINA LEA * JOHN E. ROGERS, Jr.  * MICHAEL C. LEA

Another ToC which came along is the April ToC for Every day fiction.  Plenty of familiar names there, as well, and the editor's were nice enough to single out my Easter-themed story. Here's the ToC:

April’s Table of Contents

Apr 1	Leigha Butler	Riding in Circles for Love
Apr 2	Patsy Collins	The Scent of Lilac
Apr 3	Brian Dolton	Atacama
Apr 4	John Lander	Gallows
Apr 5	sn wright	The List
Apr 6	Nicholas Ozment	Pixelated Peasants
Apr 7	Stephanie Scarborough	Leopold’s Monocle
Apr 8	Frank Roger	The Glitch
Apr 9	Benjamin Jacobson	The Apple Tree
Apr 10	TW Williams	Glass Houses
Apr 11	Oscar Windsor-Smith	Pigs Could Fly
Apr 12	Gustavo Bondoni	Dangerous Skies
Apr 13	Joseph Freeman	Flash Fiction
Apr 14	Ty Johnston	The Way the Sunlight Lays Upon Her Hair
Apr 15	Dave Macpherson	The Angels of Merciless
Apr 16	Stu Andrews	Twenty Years
Apr 17	Mark Dalligan	Bag Lady Blues
Apr 18	Bret Bass	Tren del Fin del Mundo
Apr 19	Michael Tracy	Mr. Sterne
Apr 20	Joshua Scribner	Wish Limits
Apr 21	Emanuella Martin	Road Kill
Apr 22	Pam L. Wallace	Potion Woes
Apr 23	Jonathan Pinnock	Opening the Box
Apr 24	Rodello Santos	Conceived
Apr 25	Wayne Scheer	Starting Over
Apr 26	AJ Brown	Losing Grandma
Apr 27	Sarah Black	The Windows Shatter Boise
Apr 28	K.C. Shaw	God of Worms
Apr 29	Jerry Constantino	23 Down
Apr 30	Tim Love	The Economics of Despair

Last, but not least, I did a little novel writing.  The Malakiad, my silly fantasy novel received 1050 words, while Siege, my serious SF work a further 350.

Plus, I had some positive day job meetings looking forward to a huge visit in mid-April.

How's that for a busy day?

Wow!  For the first time ever, I have a short story nominated for the Peditors & Editors poll.  I'm not only extremely happy, but also very surprised by this development.

The story in question is "One Story Short", which appeared in Mindflights in early 2008, and was reprinted in the print edition on the magazine.  I'm not asking that you vote for it (there are quite a few numbers of LJ users nominated), but you might just enjoy reading it!

Congrats as well to all my other online friends who've been nominated!

Just yesterday, I found out that I'd been nominated for a 2008 Marooned award (an award that recognizes great fiction taking place on Mars) for flash fiction.  

Well, last night, I found out that "The Elcano Syndrome", my story that had been nominated, has won the 2008 Marooned Award for Flash Fiction!   I'm absolutely delighted, and feel that my year could not have ended on a better note. 

More great news was that the winner in the short story category was camillealexa</lj> , one of the best speculative writers out there, whose stories are always extemely human and make other writers writhe witth envy.  If you haven't already done so, I strongly recommend looking up her stories (quite a few are available to read online).  You will thank me!

Just icing on a 2008 that went well beyond my realistic writing expectations (and I still have some secret news to share a little further ahead).  So, being the last day of the year, here's the overview:

Prizes won: 2 - Return to Luna contest (a regular win, not the Grand Prize) and Marooned Flash Fiction Award
Acceptances: 38
Publications: 32
Income: Not enough to mention here.
Secret projects I'm still waiting for definition on: 1

Truly happy with those numbers, and I'll bore you with my 2009 objectives sometime after tomorrow!

BTW, did some writing - 300 words into the Hotel Guignol story, 300 into an alternate history piece and 1000 into the SF novel.