2025 Year in Review

 Accidental Pirates is actually the only novel that I had published this year. However, I did get a number of short stories selected for publication.

"A Stardust Memory" was published in Sultry Murder Jazz. I found its placement as the final story in the anthology entirely appropriate.

 "Seventh Hussar and Aide to the Mage" came out in Wyrd Warfare, receiving special attention for containing the best line of dialog in an anthology filled with great dialog - but the anthology is loaded with action. I got to dip into my love of Napoleonic history and warfare for this story, and the characters, especially Beaujeu were a hit with some youtube reviewers.

The anthology Dames, Derringers, and Detectives includes my story, "Calypso's Count." Cats, or "moggies," are featured in every tale in this noir collection. My submission continues the adventures of Noah Vail/Duncan Kane from my Smoke novel.

 

Editor Nick Nethery again delighted me by selecting my wyrd western "Moonlight Fandango" for the Rawhide Revenants anthology. This is my third published story about Whip and Truth, or Glen Sharp and Rufus Pizzini as they are also known, and their adventures in the wyrd west as cowboys with a knack for supernatural encounters. The characters are fan favorites.

In the Goblin Souk anthology, I again went to the Napoleonic well to explore the supernatural adventures of three infantry soldiers during Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign with "A Soldier's Bargain." Incidentally, a story involving my three Napoleonic cavalrymen who appear in the above-mentioned "Seventh Hussar..." submission also takes place during the Egyptian Campaign, but that story hasn't been published yet.

 

My first story to feature pirates, although they're a different group than those in Accidental Pirates, was published in Cirsova Magazine, issue 24. "Drown Melancholy" reveals the predicament of a boy who has thrown in his lot with a cursed crew on the Spanish Main.

 

Finally, "The Blacksmith's Work" appeared in the Christmas edition of Irreantum Journal. You'll want to check out the paintings and poetry in the collection as well.

 

Of course, I have been working on novels. The sequel to Accidental Pirates is down to the final 5K words, and will be concluded before the year ends--at least one of my proofing team likes the sequel even better than the first entry in the series. I did a bunch of editing and preparing on a novel I submitted for a contest, and in contrast to last year, I had a few stories that didn't fit the needs of the editors making the publication decisions. Those stories may go into a collection of my own.