The Journal of Michael Merriam

On Thursday the 2nd of May, my short piece "The Sixth Son" will air sometime around 7:00am on The Morning Blend on KFAI FM 90.3 Minneapolis and 106.7 St. Paul. This little tale is a riff on and gentle poke at fantasy tropes.

I have two short stories—"Darkly Through the Light Waters" and "Rainfall"— appearing in a just released anthology, Magical Creatures from Celtic Mists, from Artema Press. You can check it out and buy a copy here.

Offered without comment, except to say that the writers organization I am help organize, MinnSpec, plans to sign up: Coffee and Books.

I listened to METAtropolis: Cascadia, and while I enjoyed every novella in the audio book, Jay Lake's The Bull Dancers and Ken Scholes's A Symmetry of Serpents and Doves stood out. Both of these stories really struck me as a reader and have stuck with me days later. I'll review the entire anthology later, but for now, I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Mr. Belyn remains Very Fuzzy Indeed, as befits a Maine Coon.

We now return to preparing for CoreCon.

Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday, we received fresh snow in Minnesota. It came down in a thick beautiful white cloud, covering the snow that had become dirty with car exhaust and road crud. It was pleasant to look at, though less so when we had to gout and drive in it. Not that there was anything wrong with the snow, just the other drivers. Winter is Minnesota is gorgeous, if a bit treacherous. That said, autumn is still my favorite season in Minnesota.

I have finished the first round of edits on Last Car to Annwn Station, topping them off on Wednesday. I could have charged right into the second round, but I have two more weeks to finish the edits, and this first round is always the hardest and most draining. I have several things planned this weekend, a birthday party, a convention meeting, a Minnspec meeting, and gaming with the regular group My plan is to go to these events and recharge myself for the next rounds of edits, which I will jump into first thing on Monday. I will be reviewing my notes over the weekend and letting my brain stew on what to do. I know I will be writing a couple of new scenes, doing heavy rewrites on a couple more, and cutting one or two, which will involve continuity clean-up. There are several places where I've made notes to myself in the document to fix this or add this scene or explain this better. It looks daunting from here, but I am ever hopeful it will go smoothly in the execution.

We are still having some health issues with the various residents of Merriam Manor, but hopefully things are on the upswing. Right now I think we all need a couple of solid night's worth of sleep. Lack of sleep has been one of our biggest problems lately.

I received a lovely letter from a reader and reviewer, pointing me to her review of Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep: (http://tammys1.blogspot.com/2011/01/should-we-drown-in-feathered-sleep-by.html) Also, I received my postcards for Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep this week. They are gorgeous and act as a coupon should you want to order the book. I will have them to giveaway and sign during this years appearances.

And now I need to go find us all some lunch, finish my laundry, do my homework for the Minnspec meeting, and prepare to run errands this afternoon.

A really nice review of Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep by Kenneth Mark Hoover

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep can be purchased at Carina Press, Amazon, and B&N

Don't worry: eventually this space will stop being all Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep, all the time. Eventually.

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.

Book Goggles comes out with the first review of Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep.

The first review is positive, which is reassuring.

I've posted a review of the fiction in the latest issue of Abyss & Apex over at Long & Short of Fic – Reviews here: lasfreviews

Rija's Tale is still chugging along. I'm out of the middle and moving toward the end. Mostly I need to figure out who lives, who dies, and how wide a swath of destruction I end up with.

Right now I'm juggling action versus romance while trying to keep the (somewhat thin) plot moving along. That said, I have notes to go back and sprinkle more plot (and sub-plot) into the story.

This isn't the most sophisticated novel I've ever put together, but it is a solid action novel with an interesting protagonist. This novel is stronger on character than anything else, but character is my strength. The next novel is going to be plot-driven instead of character driven.

Rija's Tale

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This is my absolute final schedule for Minicon. I forgot about the MinnSpec reading, so I'm overbooked. We're not staying at the hotel this year, and were not going to be at the con until later on Friday, probably around 7:00 pm or so. We'll be there all day on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday. I'll try to blog about the convention in the evenings. I'd take the laptop with me and blog at the con, but Shiba is a big old moose of a machine, really more of a desktop replacement than something easily portable.

Humor With An Edge: Mixing The Silly With the Profound
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. -- Krushenko's
Michael Merriam(m), Karl Schroeder, Rob Callahan, Greg L. Johnson

What is it about the writings of humorists (like Terry Pratchett) that allows them to work on controversial issues that other writers won't touch? Does humor give more license for subversion? What about depth? How does humor allow writers to strike deep emotional chords with their readers?
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Reading:
Saturday 4:00 pm -- Veranda 1

I'll be reading something in support of Shimmers & Shadows, and maybe something new.
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Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers Meetup
Saturday 5:30 -- Krushenko's
Michael Merriam (host)

Welcome to Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers (aka MinnSpec)! Come learn about this valuable resource for local aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers.
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MinnSpec Rapid-Fire Reading
Saturday 7:00 pm – Veranda 1

Members of the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers give short (5 - 10 minutes) readings of their works.
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Breaking into publishing in the 21st Century
Sunday 10:00 am -- Veranda 3/4
Michael Merriam(m), Karl Schroeder, Scott McCoy, Rob Callahan, Rick Brignall

An update of the perennially popular "Publishing 101" topic. What do you as a new writer need to know to get your big break? How is the process changing with the advent of printing on demand, audio books, and the paperback publishing industry in a state of freefall? Last year's advice on how to break into the business may already be obsolete.
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Social Contract: What Negative Emotions is it OK to Evoke in Your Readers?
Sunday 11:30 -- Veranda 3/4
Phyllis Eisenstein(m), Michael Merriam, Rob Callahan, Scott McCoy, Pamela Dean

How much of a social contract do writers have with their readers? What about making past memories come back painfully?
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Neil Clarke has a movement to save the Semiprozine Hugo.

I'm in support if this, not just because all my sales have been to semiprozines, but because I think semipro fiction magazines are actually publishing some of the best stuff around. Sure, they can also publish total crap, but so can the big boys, and I think the smaller magazine provide a better platform for experiential work, work that is a little out on the fringe, work that pushes the envelope, and works by writers who are cutting their teeth and learning their chops.

If the fact the Locus has dominated this category over the years is the problem, maybe it should be divided into fiction and non-fiction sub-categories. I think that should be the case for all the magazine-based Hugos.
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I've been trying to read more short fiction, getting some reading done in the nooks and crannies of my day. I've got two pieces I want to recommend.

Haxan by Kenneth Mark Hoover moves at a slow, lanquid pace, building tension and suspense. The story is throw-back to short fiction of the American West, and reads a bit like Elmore Leonard back when he was writing this sort of thing, with a light, mysterious fantastical element. Having grown up on the westerns of Leonard, L'Amour, Brand, and Grey, and the fantasy stories of Moore, Leiber, and Vance, this is my kind of story, and Hoover gets the details right.

Gone Daddy Gone, Josh Rountree's tale of surfers, guitars, and nature spirits, struck a chord in me because it the kind of story I would write if I had that much skill, and it ends as any good fairy tale should. Recommended.

The Fix has a review of my story, "All the Leaves Your Bed," which recently appeared in Shiny #4.  They seemed to like it.

Here: http://lecturas.blogsome.com/2007/11/20/melpomene-run-michael-merriam/

I have no idea what it says. The blogger could have loved it, maybe hated it. More likely something in between. I'm just a little boggled is all.

Tangent Online reviews Andromeda Spacways Inflight Magazine #26 - including my story "And a Song in Her Hair" - here: http://www.tangentonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=982&Itemid=260

tiny_wings: this is the story I wrote based on your artwork.