The Journal of Michael Merriam

Culinary Carnivale reviews "Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep."

Karalynn Lee likes my title.

Here are the pages at Carina Press and Amazon where you will be able to purchase it next Tuesday.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic near-future fantasy, my short story, "All the Leaves Your Bed," which appeared in Shiny #4 and got a positive review from The Fix, is set in the same world, as is "Out Among the Singing Void," which appeared in the sadly defunct Fictitious Force. However, you can read it for free here.

Crossed Genres magazine is currently asking authors to post a Story for Haiti. I truly don't have money to spare right now, so instead I offer you this. Once you've read this story, I hope you will go to the website at Crossed Genres and (if you are able) make a donation to help in the relief efforts currently underway to assist the people of Haiti in this dark hour.

( Secret )

In honor of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, I'm offering up another piece of fiction for free.

"Over the Bridge," an urban fantasy set in Minneapolis and St. Paul, is the happy tale of a snarky goth-girl, a snarly unseelie, a dead body, and the Mississippi River. It appeared online at The Harrow in July 2007.

This is still one of my very favorites of my own work. I had a tremendous amount of fun writing it, though I broke it after trying to rewrite it to suit a couple of different editors. I went back and fixed it, returning to the true roots of the story, and this is the finished product. It was a lesson in learning when to listen to editorial feedback and when not to listen to editorial feedback.

This story also appears in my short story collection, Shimmers & Shadows. I hope you enjoy it.

( Over the Bridge )

This story originally appeared in Harûah: Breath of Heaven both online and in print in December of 2006.

( Silent Night )

My offering for International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant's Day is a particular favorite of my own work.

"Rainfall" appeared in the February 2006 issue of the now defunct webzine Deep Magic. While it isn't considered "professional" for SFWA values of professional, I was paid money for it.

When I wrote "Rainfall" I thought I was writing urban fantasy. In retrospect, I realize this is the moment when I slipped over the urban fantasy fence and into the paranormal romance playground. I've never regretted it.

Tangent Online reviewed this story way back when. They seemed to like it. I hope you like it too.

If you would like a copy, email me at mmerriamATgmailDOTcom. I'll send it to you in .rtf format or I can send a copy of the .pdf of the magazine the story appears in.

( Rainfall )