New release: Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: 101 Tales of Holiday Love and Wonder
The holiday season draws near, and as always, the good folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul have a new book that celebrates it. I’m happy to share a true story about how my family adapted Christmas for the sake of my autistic son–in particular, about his deep love of chocolate-filled advent calendars. You’ll find “The Advent of New Holiday Traditions” on page 206 of Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: 101 Tales of Holiday Love and Wonder.
Needless to say, it makes a great holiday gift! Get it most anywhere, including the major places:
Read MoreChicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Yes! out today & includes my story!
A new Chicken Soup for the Soul book is out today. The Power of Yes! includes my story “Wrestling with Imposter Syndrome,” and though it doesn’t name names, is about the wonderful but challenging time I had attending Cascade Writers Workshop in 2012 right as my agent was about to send The Clockwork Dagger on submission to editors. If you’re struggling right now (gosh, who isn’t?), maybe my story and the others in this anthology will provide a positive boost to help you along.
The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most everywhere else.
Read MoreNew Stories and Poems for November
My focus has been on books this past while, but I still have shorter works coming out as well. Here’s the latest!
Novelocity
– 5 Big Reasons Literary Agents are Important Beyond the Book Deal
Stories
– “Moon Skin,” Swords & Steam Short Stories
– “A Recipe for Rain and Rainbows” (reprint), Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith
Poetry
– “Witch and Stick,” New Myths issue 36
– “The Death of the Horse,” Remixt Magazine Volume 1 Issue 8
– “Morning During Migration Season” and “Horse and Girl,” Star*line 39.4
#SFWAPro
Read MoreDouble release day: Chicken Soup and Galactic Games
This is quite a day, as I have two radically different stories out in radically different anthologies!
Galactic Games is my first time in a Baen anthology! Yay! These stories follow different sports around a central theme of the titular Galactic Games. My story is “Minor Hockey Gods of Barstow Station,” with a team of disillusioned human roller hockey players stranded on a very cold alien space station. The table of contents for this book just blows me away: George R. R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, Seanan McGuire, Mercedes Lackey… wow. I’m thrilled that editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt is letting me mingle with the big kids.
Meanwhile, my other book out today is Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of America. My story is one among 101 others, and is about my autistic son Nicholas and how we have learned how to celebrate the 4th of July in new, wonderful ways. This is one of those stories that makes me emotional because it hits me with a profound sense of homesickness. I guess the folks at Chicken Soup felt some of that vibe, too.
#SFWAPro
Read MoreShort Stuff Published in 2014
I figured I should do a post on what I had published in 2014. I know I didn’t write as many new stories, though a number of my older ones found homes. What I didn’t realize was how many poems I had published. Wow. Dude.
So here’s the full list of my short works published in 2014. If you’re bored, maybe you’ll take a gander. (And I don’t mean you should thieve a goose.)
Short stories:
- “A Mother’s Touch,” Perihelion Science Fiction
- “Hatchlings,” Daily Science Fiction
- “Post-Apocalyptic Conversations with a Sidewalk,” Nature Magazine
- “The Cartography of Shattered Trees,” FAE; on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
- “Degrees of Starvation,” Every Day Fiction
- “Bad Snake Day,” Every Day Fiction
- “Sanctified Ground,” Trust and Treachery: Tales of Power and Intrigue
- “Measures and Countermeasures,” Daily Science Fiction
- “Cold Beyond White,” Stupefying Stories Showcase #13
Podcast stories:
- “Red Dust and Dancing Horses,” Escape Pod; read by Marguerite Kenner
- “Reading Time,” Cast of Wonders; read by Dave Thompson
- “213 Myrtle Street,” Toasted Cake; read by Tina Connolly
- “La Rosa Still in Bloom,” Comets and Criminals; read by Catherine Smith
- “Frail Men of Metal and Bone,” Every Day Fiction; read by Folly Blaine
Poetry:
- “How a Modern Green Man Grows,” NewMyths.com
- “Sorry,” Mobius: The Journal of Social Change
- “Time Traveler’s Seance,” “Thank Hecate for Insurance,” and “From Grandma, With Love,” Star*Line 37.4
- “Grandfather and Granddaughter (Age 5),” Devilfish Review
- “Nisei” and “Seeds” (reprinted), Mythic Delirium Anthology; available in all formats
- “Mama Bogey’s Advice,” “The Time Traveler’s Buttonhook,” “The Time Traveler’s Pants,” “The Time Traveler’s Gratitude,” and “Advice on Befriending a Siren,” Star*Line 37.3
- “To Walk Upon Clouds,” NewMyths.com
- “Suddenly, a Unicorn,” Grievous Angel
- “Mad Scientist’s Lament,” Lakeside Circus
- “Quercus Californica,” Tales of the Talisman Volume IX Issue 4
- “Unanimous,” Star*Line 37.2
- “Authentic Mother Version 2.6,” Star*Line 37.2
- “Barstow,” Spark Volume V
- “Cogs,” Apex Magazine Issue 59
- “Nisei,” Mythic Delirium Issue 0.4
- “Bird Girl,” Niteblade Magazine
- “Cloud Catcher,” Tales of the Talisman Volume IX Issue 2
- “Seeds,” Mythic Delirium Issue 0.3
Nonfiction:
- “Believing in Unicorns,” Blood on the Floor: How Writers Survive Rejection
- “Welcome to the Navy” and “All About the Balloon,” Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cat Did What?
Tidings of Steampunk and Joy
Print magazines have shown me some love this month, and I swear my mom didn’t even bribe anyone.
There’s a review of The Clockwork Dagger in the December issue of Locus. It’s… an awesome review, too. To quote:
“Beth Cato handles this heady mix with a fine sense of language, emotion and event, making the whole thing flow more like a force of nature than the work of a first novelist.”
I’m also included in an article in the December issue of RT Book Reviews, where Tessa Dare describes the panel we shared at MPIBA in Denver. The focus was on attracting millennial readers. My approach… well, you guys know by now.
I have a poem in the latest issue of NewMyths.com! Here’s where you can read “How a Modern Green Man Grows.”
If you’re a writer in need of motivation/inspiration, you might want to ask Santa for a copy of Blood on the Floors: How Writers Survive Rejection. It includes a nonfiction story of mine called “Believing in Unicorns.”
I’m interviewed over at Authorlink.
The final news–and by no means the least important–is that the ebook sale for The Clockwork Dagger is still ongoing. It’s now $1.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and iTunes!
