Tag: Stupefying Stories

Award Eligibility Post

written by David Steffen

I know some people don’t like award eligibility posts, thinking that they’re desperate pleas for attention.  As a reader, I like them because if I am behind on my reading they are a good place to catch up on the year’s published stories of another author, and as a writer to look back  at my own.  I don’t have any illusions that anyone is going to nominate me, and that’s fine–there are so many amazing people doing incredible work every year.  But I still think an award eligibility post is worthwhile, and if you don’t think so, then you should stop reading now.

This year, since I started selecting and editing fiction for Diabolical Plots, I’ll list the Diabolical Plots work first and then my fiction writing as a separate section.  For the purposes of this list I am thinking of the Hugo and Nebula Award categories because those are the awards I’m most familiar with.  Other awards have other categories that might be suitable.

People ask once in a while whether the Submission Grinder is eligible for a Hugo or Nebula.  It is not, because there are no categories that suit it for those awards.

2015 was the year the Long List Anthology was published, but it is not itself eligible.  Neither award has a category for standalone anthology (though I believe the Locus Award does), and all of the stories were first published in 2014 so are ineligible.  As the editor I would be eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form for which I edited that anthology as well as the first ten stories of Diabolical Plots.

Diabolical Plots

Semiprozine

  1.  Diabolical Plots (prior to this year I believe it was a fanzine, now it’s a semiprozine)

Editor, Short Form

  1.  David Steffen (for Diabolical Plots itself, and the Long List Anthology)

Short Stories

  1.  “Taste the Whip” by Andy Dudak
  2. “Virtual Blues” by Lee Budar-Danoff
  3. “In Memoriam” by Rachel Reddick
  4. “The Princess in the Basement” by Hope Erica Schultz
  5. “Not a Bird” by H.E. Roulo
  6. “The Superhero Registry” by Adam Gaylord
  7. “A Room for Lost Things” by Chloe N. Clark
  8. “The Grave Can Wait” by Thomas Berubeg
  9. “Giraffe Cyborg Cleans House!” by Matthew Sanborn Smith
  10. “St. Roomba’s Gospel” by Rachael K. Jones

Fan Writers

  1.  David Steffen (also did fan writing work for SF Signal, and for Science Fiction Book Club)
  2. Laurie Tom
  3. Maria Isabelle
  4. Carl Slaughter

My Fiction Writing

Short Stories

  1. “Thus Spake Robby” in the Overcast
  2. “Tamers of the Green” in Sockdolager
  3. “Condemned” in the Coven Anthology, edited by Andi O’Connor
  4. “So You’ve Decided to Adopt a Zeptonian Baby!” at Podcastle
  5. “My Wife is a Bear in the Morning” at Podcastle
  6. “Echoes of Her Memory” in Stupefying Stories
  7. “Closing Statement” in T. Gene Davis’s Speculative Blog
  8. “Focus” in Space and Time
  9. “We Do Not Speak of the Not Speaking” in Stupefying Stories
  10. “Red Shoes of Oz” in Evil Girlfriend Media Shorts
  11. “To Be Carved Upon the Author’s Tombstone in the Event of His Untimely Demise” in Perihelion

“Reckoning” at Stupefying Stories

written by David Steffen

My flash fiction story “Reckoning” is now posted on Stupefying Stories for you to read for free. It’s the tale of southern fire-and-brimstone Preacher Paul and his encounter with Death. This one’s been around for a little while, though I think a recent complete rewrite of the ending is what helped push it over into purchase territory.

The story began from the opening joke:

“The Day of Reckoning is upon us,” Preacher Paul said.
“You reckon?” Jake answered.
“I reckon.”

 

I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment here.

“Door in the Darkness” published in Stupefying Stories

written by David Steffen

My story “Door in the Darkness” just went live in Stupefying Stories issue 1.9, edited by Bruce Bethke. I’ve been very excited to find this magazine, as Bruce’s style is right up my alley of what I like to read and what I like to write. Sharing the table of contents with me is my good friend Gary Cuba, who Bruce describes as a fan favorite, so that was a nice surprise.

I wrote “Door in the Darkness” after reading “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer. My entire aim was to write a supernatural romance story where I didn’t hate the characters. I like the way that it turned out. If you get a chance to read it, do let me know!

Also, (adding this a week after the original post), just noticed that the Amazon “Look Inside” feature for the magazine lets you see the first section of my story, though it’s cut off by the digital preview.