I woke up this morning to a wonderful piece of news: my alternate-Cromwellian-history fantasy story, "The Five Days of Justice Merriwell", has sold to Beneath Ceaseless Skies! BCS is a new online pro magazine which specializes in Literary Adventure Fantasy. The first issue hasn't come out yet, but based on the other acceptances I've seen listed, which include stories by David Levine and Aliette de Bodard, I'm very excited about the company I'll be keeping!

And I'm just so happy about selling this particular story to them. I was inspired to write it after watching Simon Schama's two English Civil War episodes in A History of Britain (my favorite documentary ever) - episodes that had such a powerful impact on me, they actually filtered into my dreams. (In fact, this was the one and only successful incident I've ever had of coming up with a real short story through a dream - I woke up with the atmosphere, setting, voice and main plot of the story still clamped around my head from that intense, freaky dream, and was only left to figure out how exactly it would end - unfortunately, I'd woken up before it could all be resolved!)

Of course we all did the Happy Dance, and I am still wearing my tiara in celebration. :) And I'm eating fresh blueberries, too - yum! Good for the baby - lots of Vitamin C - and good for me, because they're delicious!

Thanks for all the reassurances on the birth ball! I will go to the Active Birth session tonight with my head held high despite the lack of birth ball in my hands. And having just made our bank account cringe by ordering a birthing pool - sadly, a real necessity for a home birth, since we don't own a bathtub and I can't use the laughing gas that's normally given as a painkiller - I am sooooo relieved to at least be saving money somewhere! On the other hand, I did get one nice financial letter in the mail yesterday - Oberlin College sent me back my old, old promissory note for the student loan I'd taken out from them way back in 1996, as I have now FINALLY paid it off! (The letter said, "This is a happy day for you and for us", and I thought, Ohhh, it certainly is!)

Now, all empowered by the sale, I'm going to head back to Kat by Starlight and start shifting some choreography in those scenes set in the Baths. Wish me luck!