Notes on my Short Fiction (and an outlier)
Some time back, the editor of Outposts of Beyond accepted “The First Battle of the Puffer War” which I submitted as poetry, but noted he will probably reformat it because “it reads better as a story.”
This may sound strange, but it’s often difficult to identify a short story. Particularly in an environment of fusionist forms such as prose poems and fictional essays. In trying to separate my short fiction from my poetry I have sometimes looked at intent, and sometimes at other scholarship.
In the introduction to his influential The New Book of Forms, Lewis Turco says that fiction is for telling a narrative story in prose. Drama is for telling a story for performance. “[A]n essay is a written discussion or exposition of a particular subject.” But he argues that poetry can do any of these things and therefore must focus on the mode of writing: the language itself. Poetry is about powerful language. That is not a clear dividing line.
Mostly I start with a much more practical dividing line: when I submitted the work for publication, did I call it a short story, or did I call it a poem? And what did the person buying it pay for? But that doesn’t always work either. I submitted the flash (super short) fiction “X’s & O’s” as fiction, and the editor of Vision purchased it as poetry. I suspect this is because he wanted to pay me more. The story is 45 words long so at a couple of cents per word as fiction it paid minimally while as poetry it qualified for a higher minimum payment. And so it was listed as poetry in the Table of Contents. I choose to list it with my fiction although ISFDb chooses to list it as poetry in their bibliography of my speculative work. The editor of Midnight Zoo referred to the humor piece “All About Tachyons” as a ‘non-fact article’, but it was listed in the contents in the vicinity of the poetry. This time ISFDb lists it as short fiction.
At 422 words, “The Puffer War” is substantial enough to be a short story. I will see how it looks reformatted, and how it is listed in the Table of Contents before I decide how to file the work. “Meetings” has been published once as poetry and once as fiction, but it has always been a flash fiction to me, and is listed as such below. Recently ISFDb chose to label my new book Flying Solo: The Lana Invasion as fiction because it is subtitled a novella in verse. At the same time it lists the thirty individual poems as poems. It really does get complicated. I have not listed Flying Solo with my fiction, but I don’t promise not to change my mind someday.
I have snuck in the collaborative one-act play that’s been published because it is an outlier that doesn’t really fit anywhere else in cataloging my writing.
Looking at this list it is clear I really liked the magazine Vision. I appeared in each of the last twelve issues with a total of nine short stories, twenty poems, and several letters. The editors repeatedly expressed their appreciation of my work, and gave me a shout-out in the final issue. When they stopped publishing, it contributed to my losing steam as a fiction writer. Given my recent acceptances, perhaps that steam will build again. Or not. Either way, I had fun.
SHORT FICTION/Drama PUBLICATIONS:
2023 August 31 "Snowballs & Tickle Fights" in The Hazelnut: A Community Literary Journal. Iqaluit series #5 2022 Fall/Winter "Russian Spirits Other Than Vodka" Cold & Crisp. Wallaby Walker series #4 2022 November "Making a Place Home" Scifaikuest. Traynor series #5 2022 January "He Didn't Need the Devil to Sing" Erie Tales XIV: Secrets. Wallaby Walker series #3 2021 September "The Shaman and the Cannibal" in Beneath the Misty Surface. Iqaluit series #4. 2021 July/August "The First Martian World War" in Analog Science Fiction - Science Fact 2021 February 12 "Evidence of the Mirror" in Startling Stories #1 2020 December 9, "The Incident of 1813" Erie Tales XIII: Unlucky Thirteen. Wallaby Walker series #1 2020 September 26 "Burying the Well on the Wings of a Crow" in Trickster's Treats #4: Coming, Buried or Not! Wallaby Walker series #2 2020 September 15 "The Mahahaa & the Quarreling Lovers" in NewMyths Magazine. Iqaluit series #3 2020 September 7 "Indian lake Project Redux" in Drunk Gekko 2019 September 13 "Alikammiq's Theft & Drowning" in Influence of the Moon Iqaluit series #2 2019 August 29 "A Polydactyl Life" in Trickster's Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins Edition 2018 May 6 - "Regular PTA Meetings" in Speculative 66 #19 2018 April 6 - "Twilight Living" in Speculative 66 #18 2018 March 6 - "Lost Weekend" in Speculative 66 #17 2018 February 6 - "Infernal Bargains" in Speculative 66 #16 2018 January 6 - "Vacation Accommodations" in Speculative 66 #15 2017 November 6 - "The Last Thing Left..." in Speculative 66 #14 2017 October 12 - "Misdirection in Oz" in The Detective's Ghost. Reprinted in Altered Reality Magazine 2 January 2018 2017 October 12 - "Polly Finally Wins" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "Typographical Archvillain" in The Detective's Ghost. Reprinted in Altered Reality Magazine 2 January 2018 2017 October 12 - "Bounty Hunter" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "The Place of Things" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "Palimpsest Test" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "Village Living" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "Extremist" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in Disturbed Digest December 2016) 2017 October 12 - "The Science of Irish Bars" in The Detective's Ghost 2017 October 12 - "Stonehenge" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in Altered Reality Magazine 9 September 2017) 2017 October 12 - "Criminal Evolutions" in The Detective's Ghost. Reprinted in Altered Reality Magazine 2 January 2018 2017 October 12 - "Pilot's Ghost" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in The Cosmic Unicorn July 1994) 2017 October 12 - "Campaign Platform" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in Parlour Papers May/June 1994). Reprinted in Altered Reality Magazine 2 January 2018 2017 October 12 - "Stone Ground" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in Mobius: The Journal of Social Change Fall 2015) 2017 October 12 - "Bagman's Ghost" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in The Oak 1995) 2017 October 12 - "The Ways of Murphy" in The Detective's Ghost, (Flash adapted from a poem in Grievous Angel 23 January 2017) 2017 October 6 - "Retro Travel Styles" in Speculative 66 #13 (Flash) 2017 Fall – “A Dwarf for Each” in Stinkwaves 5:1. Iqaluit Series #1 2017 September 6 - "Men in Green Uniforms" in Speculative 66 #12 (Flash) 2017 August 6 - "Home at Last" in Speculative 66 #11 (Flash) 2017 July 6 - "Blown Cover" in Speculative 66 #10 (Flash) 2017 June 6 – “A Long Cold Wait” in Speculative 66 #9 (Flash) 2005 Fall – “King of the Forest” in Pitkin in Progress, (One Act Play) co-written with Alan Katerinsky 2004 May – “le dame Canadienne” in Images 2001 February – “Standard Repair” in Ad Astra 2001 20th Anniversary Book (much expanded) 1995 October – “Meetings” in Olives, (flash) reprinted in Images May 2000 1994 Winter – “Grounded” in Expanse #2 1994 August – “The Value of Words” in Gaslight 3:1 1993 April – “One Side” in Vision #17 1993 January – “Death Notice” in Vision #16 (flash) Reprinted October 12, 2017 in The Detective's Ghost 1993 January – “Standard Repair” in Vision #16 1992 Winter – “The Cold Times” in Figment #12 1992 September – “C.O.s” in Sozoryoku #7 1992 Summer – “Newly Dreamed” in Vandeloecht’s Fiction Magazine #6 1992 Spring – “Yellow Flowers” in Figment #9 1992 March - “The King of Cats” in Sozoryoku #5 1992 January – “Domesetter” in Vision #12. Traynor series #4 1991-2 Winter – “Tomorrow’s Child” in Figment #8. Traynor series #3 1991 September – “From Within” in Vision #11 1991 September – “Just Begun” in Vision #11. Traynor series #2 1991 September – “Pacing Near the Speed of Light” in Sozoryoku #3 1991 July/August – “All About Tachyons:” in Midnight Zoo 1:4. Reprinted in EerieCon One Program Book April 16, 1999 1991 June – “The Path of Dreams” in Sozoryoku #2 1991 March - “Those Who Forget” in Sozoryoku #1 1991 March – “Extended Family” in Vision #8. Traynor series #1 1991 January - “X’s & O’s” in Vision #7 (flash) 1991 January – “A Little Beast” in Vision #7 1977 May – “The Grinning Pearls” in The Albatross |
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