Tag: free

“A Place to Grow” is Live at Beneath Ceaseless Skies!

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing Updates1 Comment

I’m happy to announce that my story “A Place to Grow” is now free to read at Beneath Ceaseless Skies!

I’m pretty excited about this one. It was a huge technical challenge for me and took many, many drafts to get right. I’m not exaggerating when I say it took years for me to learn how to pull this story off. (I think I wrote the opening paragraph back in December 2013?) I’m extremely grateful to my very patient friends and very patient editor who help me through the iterations.

The song I played on repeat as I was writing and revising this story was “Outro” by M83. Because, naturally, my characters needed an epic soundtrack as they were trying to rebuild the world around them.

Hope you enjoy!

2016 Year End Post

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings1 Comment

Even in the best of times, these types of posts are always awkward for me to write. And 2016 has been a rough year on many different fronts. It feels a bit selfish to be posting this today (especially today) in the wake of all that’s happening in the world.

But terrible global events shouldn’t negate our small triumphs. So we fight on.

In terms of writing, 2016…hasn’t been bad to me. I had three short stories I’m proud of published in markets I really loved. These stories are:

They Said the Desert – Beneath Ceaseless Skies, May 2016

A Non-Hero’s Guide to the Road of Monsters – Mothership Zeta, May 2016

Dido, Retold – Strange Horizons, September 2016

And as if that wasn’t awesome enough, “A Non-Hero’s Guide to the Road of Monsters” is going to be reprinted in Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017. How cool is that?!!!!

horton-yearsbest2017-cover

(Here’s the full Table of Contents.)

I’m hoping to post a “Fiction I Loved This Year” compilation here soon. Maybe in a few weeks, when I’ve caught up a bit on my “To Be Read” pile.

Special thanks to all my friends who offered encouragement, read rough drafts, and just listened when I was frustrated. I couldn’t have done it without you.

New Story Up at Strange Horizons

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing UpdatesLeave a comment

I’m excited to announce that a new story of mine called “Dido, Retold” is now live over at Strange Horizons! Please check it out here.

This is one of several stories I’ve written that attacks the traditional idea heroes and the way they warp their own narratives. Also, like my other stories, it took many, many drafts to get right.

As always, a shout out to the song I listened to as I wrote this one: “Storm Song” by Phildel.

Hope you enjoy!

New Story Live at Beneath Ceaseless Skies!

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing UpdatesLeave a comment

“They Said The Desert” is now up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies for your reading (and listening) pleasure! Still can’t express how excited I am that this story’s found a home in one of my favorite magazines.

And let me tell you, this story was an exercise in tenacity. I wrote the first draft back in early 2014 as part of a contest on Codex. It was 750 words and completely terrible. Over the next year and half, I drafted and redrafted this story at least a dozen times. But I always felt like I was a half step behind where the story wanted to go.

But I caught up. I found it. (It’s now about 5k words.)

I think I went through a half dozen songs too as I was writing this. Took me a while to find the right one, to find the “sound” of the story. Finally discovered “Laredo” by Kenneth Pattengale and after that, everything started falling into place.

Anyway, enough rambling. Hope you enjoy the story!

Story Link Love #5

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Story LoveLeave a comment

I was out with some friends last night and I was asked for some short story recommendations. So, I figured it was about time I put another one of these posts together. Here are a few stories in no particular order that I’ve really enjoyed in the last few months. Hope you do too!

“A Salvaging of Ghosts ” by Alliette de Bodard in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #195
“The Red Mask” by Jessica May Lin in Shimmer, Issue #30
“This is a Letter to My Son” by KJ Kabza in Strange Horizons, April 11th, 2016
“Seven Cups of Coffee” by A. C. Wise in Clarkesworld, Issue #114
“Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station. Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” by Caroline M. Yoachim in Lightspeed, Issue #70
“The Name of the Forest” by Margaret Killjoy in Strange Horizons, March 21st, 2016

P.S. Most of these stories also have podcast versions as well, if you preferred listening to your fiction.

Story Sale to Mothership Zeta!

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing UpdatesLeave a comment

Hey, so you know this post I made a while ago? Yeah, I figured out how the story ended. And made that “placeholder” title the “real” title. Also, sold it to Mothership Zeta!

So, I’m beyond thrilled. One of my biggest worries when writing this was how will I find a home for it? It’s way too light and silly for most short story magazines. But I loved my character’s voice, so I wrote it anyway. After sending it out a few times and getting rejections that said “Good story, but not a good fit for us” I was worried I was right.

But then this brand new magazine called Mothership Zeta came along looking for fun, trope-bending stories and well, you can figure out how it went from there.

So I guess my point is write what you want. There will always be new markets and anthology calls. The universe is expanding and it has a way of making room for our stories.

A Non-Hero’s Guide to the Road of Monsters will appear in Mothership Zeta’s Issue #3 in March, 2016.

Story Link Love #4 + New Story Up At DSF.

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing Updates, Story Love1 Comment

This should probably be two separate posts, but whatever. First, if you like short fiction and are looking for some recommendations, here are a few stories I’ve read recently that I’ve enjoyed.

The Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron Saves the World Again by A. C. Wise
(It’s the first one and I’m already cheating. But I’ve been a fan of the Glitter Squadron for some time now and I’ve just gotten my copy of the collection this weekend! You can read the first story here.)
The Closet Thing to Animals by Sofia Samatar
Bones at the Door by John Wiswell
Moogh and the Great Trench Kraken by Suzanne Palmer
Geometries of Belonging by Rose Lemberg
Summer in Realtime by Erica L. Satifka
Dear Monsanto CEO, This is the Sentient Strain of Corn You Developed and We Need to Talk by Tyler Young
Glaciers Made You By Gabby Reed

Second, one of my own stories is now live at Daily Science Fiction. It’s called “8 Steps to Winning Your Partner Back (From the Server)”. You can read it here. And if you’re wondering, the song I listened to while writing it was this.

Hope you enjoy these stories! Also, I’m always looking for recommendations. What are some of your favorite stories that you’ve read recently?

Story Link Love: The Magazine Edition

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Story LoveLeave a comment

This post is brought to you partly in response to this article (in which the author is completely and utterly incorrect) and partly because I’m often asked for some recommendations for free fiction on the internet.

So, here it goes…

For Your Listening and/or Reading Pleasure:
(These are some of my favorite magazines, which not only provides great stories, but also illustrations and podcasts for them as well.)

Strange Horizons – Publishes weekly stories and poems of fantasy and science fiction.
Lightspeed – More great science fiction and fantasy stories.
Clarkesworld – Even more great science fiction and fantasy stories.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies – Fantasy stories not set in this world.

Reading:

Shimmer -Beautiful and strange stories.
Uncanny – More strangely beautiful stories.
Urban Fantasy Magazine – Fantasy stories set in this world.
Flash Fiction Online – Bite size fiction of ALL genres.
Unlikely Stories – Science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories, but each issue has a theme.

Listening:
(If you need something to listen to in the car or the gym, while doing chores, etc.)

Escape Pod – Science fiction story podcast.
Podcastle – Fantasy story podcast.
Pseudopod – Horror story podcast.
Cast of Wonders – Young Adult podcast that reads science fiction and fantasy stories.

Stories in Your Inbox:

Daily Science Fiction – Short science fiction and fantasy stories emailed to you every weekday.
Every Day Fiction – Bite sized stories of ALL genres emailed to you daily.

Stories in Your Mailbox:
(These are only magazines on this list that are not free or accessible on the internet, but worth mentioning because they always have copies available at Barnes & Nobles.)

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – True to its name.
Asimov’s – Science fiction stories, with an occasional splash of fantasy.

This is not, by any means, a complete list. And all of these magazines can be subscribed to and usually offer eBook versions of their issues if you do.

Happy reading!

Beyond The Trenches We Lie is now up at Escape Pod!

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing Updates1 Comment

This creepy little science fiction story is now up for your reading and/or listening pleasure here.

Most of the time, when people ask me where I get my ideas from I can’t give them a good answer. Story seeds just sort of appear, usually when it’s most inconvenient. But in this case, “Trenches” was born from a Codex story competition in which you received a setting from another contestant and had to base your story around that scene.

Mine came from the talented James Beamon, who gave me this setting:

Your scene is a trench, the foremost of an interlaced network of trenches. Wooden beams line the sides of the rough hewn trench to keep the earthen walls from collapse. Unmarked crates are in this trench, their contents as yet unknown. On top of the crates are personal effects: a straight razor, a ragged picture, a tin cup, a mirror, batteries. Behind this trench are the other trenches in the network, also rough and crudely dug. In front of this trench, topside, is a lush field of emerald green grass. A small brook babbles its crystal water some few scant yards ahead in that grass field and in the distance a copse of trees stands unmolested and inviting. It is far from no man’s land; it is every man’s land.

Now I know nothing about trench warfare or the military and I didn’t have time to do research because, you know, hard deadlines. So I told my characters to start making things up – until I figured something out. Except, turns out that once a narrator starts lying, they don’t want to stop.

The song that I played on loop while I wrote and edited this story was Speed The Collapse by Metric.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

And It’s Live! Voices in Solitude at Daily Science Fiction

On By A. T. GreenblattIn Publishing UpdatesLeave a comment

Yay! Daily Science Fiction has emailed Voices in Solitude out to subscribers today! This is my second time appearing at DSF and being a long time reader of the magazine, I’m thrilled.

For those of you who aren’t subscribed to DSF you can find the story posted here.

If you want to know which song was my soundtrack as I wrote this story, you can find it here.

Apologizes for my lack of response on social media today. I’m currently traveling abroad and my email is being less than helpful. Also, I’m relying on WiFi. Also, I’m having too much fun wandering around the city to bother checking my devices regularly.

Regardless, hope you enjoyed the story!