My short story “Tower of Bones,” is now appearing on the online version of December’s Aoife’s Kiss. You can read it here if you like.

You can also vote for your favorite online stories. The winning story will be offered a spot in a future anthology from Sam’s Dot Publishing. The place to vote is here.

If you do read the story, I hope you enjoy it. And if you do feel inclined to vote for me, thank you. 

UPDATE: Well, I didn’t win this one. Since all of the December stories as well as the place to vote for them have been removed from the AK website, I’ve removed the links.

A bit of good news: My short story “Hot Air” is now appearing in the online humor magazine Defenestration. Go thou and read.

I haven’t been blogging this week because I’ve been busy writing the final scenes of the novel and uh, well, ummm, no, ah, it’s not done…  But stay tuned for an announcement regarding this.

I’m happy to report that my short story “The Shaman’s Brother” is now appearing in MindFlights, an excellent online and print magazine that publishes short stories, poetry and essays which seek to illuminate spiritual truths.

(MindFlights has also contracted another story of mine, due to appear later this year.)

I’ve done a complete 180-turn on this.

A few years ago, when I first started submitting my fiction for publication, most magazines wanted snail-mail submissions, and only a handful allowed e-mail submissions. The thinking was (I guess) that editors were not to be expected to sit in front of a computer reading unsolicited submissions on the screen, and they certainly weren’t going to use paper and ink to print them.

But now, a few years later, that situation seems to have reversed itself. Fewer and farther between are the magazines that still insist on receiving paper in the mail. More and more magazines are asking exclusively for electronic submissions. There is as of yet no uniformity to the process. Every publication is different: some will specify that they want an .rtf attachment, or the story pasted into the body of an e-mail, or else they have a special form on their website. But electronic submission seems to be the rule, and snail-mail the exception.

There’s a parallel situation with reading.

I used to feel that it would be better to be published on paper. But I have to admit that as a reader, I’ve read many more stories online than I’ve ever read in actual paper publications. I’m guessing (just guessing) that this is the same for other readers, too. Then, too, paper magazines are so fleeting – in print, out of print, poof, gone – whereas online publications will frequently keep works stored in easy-to-access archives for years.

So my personal unscientific conclusion: authors publishing online get more exposure.

It’s June, and I’m thrilled to report that two excellent on-line magazines are currently publishing stories of mine, along with other wonderful stories, in their summer issues.

Third Order publishes short speculative fiction with a moral or theological core.

Mirror Dance is a beautiful new on-line fantasy magazine.

You should definitely check them out. They may just become some of your favorite sites for fiction.