End of June Update

Posts have been few and far between lately.  I’m teaching a class during the first summer session that will end next Saturday.  Things should pick up somewhat after that.  We’ve got a family vacation planned later in the summer, but I think I can work around that.  The class I’m teaching isn’t divided into traditional lecture and lab sections.  Rather, it’s an inquiry-based format, meaning its hands-on and interactive.  Or to put it another way, I have to teach it all rather than letting a TA cover the traditional labs.  Rewarding, because I get to know the students better than I do with a large lecture hall; frustrating and tiring because it’s so time consuming.

What little time I’ve had to write has been devoted to trying to get back on a regular schedule for fiction writing.  I’m hoping to have some things ready to publish by the end of the summer.

I’ve got a few titles in the queue for review that I”m doing because I’ve been asked to.  After that, I’ll probably not do too many for a while, although there will be a few exceptions, mainly for friends.  For the most part, any reviews I post going forward will be because I would have read it anyway.

Which begs a question.  I’ve been reading a lot more short fiction these days, when I have time to read, that is.  I’ve got half a dozen active anthologies going, but I’m not reading any of them straight through.  By the time I’m done with one, months could have passed.  Details of the first stories have faded. So the question is:

Should I post about individual stories or not?  This is a serious question; any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

Most of my reading this past semester that’s been for fun (as opposed to by request) has been older stuff.  There’s very little new fantasy or science fiction that appeals to me, especially at novel length, that’s coming out of the big publishing houses.  Small publishers and indie press titles being excepted, of course.  So look for a lot more pulp related posts and reviews of older titles that  have been out for a while, “a while” being defined as a few years to decades.  I’ve been REH deficient lately.  It’s like a vitamin deficiency, only worse.

That’s what I’ve been up to.  What about ya’ll?

11 thoughts on “End of June Update

  1. Mr. West

    I’m all for reviews of shorts – new or old.

    I’m in the same boat, way behind on posting about reviews. Just lately I finished Red Harvest, a whole lot of research material, a bunch of short stories in the Blackguards antho, the Black Company, I’m almost done with The Burning Isle, and wow I bought a ton of kindle titles with Birthday money and ordered a bunch of old S&S pulp antho’s in print.

    So hang in there and tell us what’s good.

    Reply
      1. Keith West Post author

        That was one of the first Hammett books I read. I’ve been intending to reread Hammett, especially the Continental Op stories. They are IMO one of the high water marks of the PI genre.

        Reply
    1. Keith West Post author

      That’s true about Buck Rogers. I will probably do more posts on short fiction in the near future, especially older stuff.

      Reply
  2. Paul McNamee

    I’ve hit all my submission marks except StoryHack. I won’t have time to finish and polish before tomorrow. But I’ll have it read for an issue #2 call, which we all hope happens, of course.

    I’ve had two rejections and I am waiting to hear back on four others. Heading back into the horror novel now to make headway before NECON arrives in sixteen days (!)

    We were in Pennsylvania this weekend for my nephew’s wedding. We made a side trip to Valley Forge, so I might post about that – being July 4th and all.

    Reply
    1. Keith West Post author

      I’ve only submitted to two markets this month, and one has been rejected. I’ll resubmit elsewhere. The other I”m waiting to hear on. Good luck on the ones you’re waiting to hear back on. I’m going to try to get a few more out before we go on vacation later this month.

      Please do post about Valley Forge.

      Reply
  3. Mario

    I’ve done short story reviews before. Especially when I don’t have time to write about anything else. Short stories as a whole aren’t discussed much online and I would personally enjoy some here and anywhere else I can find them.

    Reply

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