Well, I was just going to write a journal entry bragging about finally getting an even dozen stories out in the mail again, but I can't do that now. Seems I've sold one of 'em!

One of the two stories I was working on at the end of February, "This Divided Land" sold to the speculative fiction anthology Jigsaw Nation. I was actually solicited for a story, and I didn't think I'd ever get around to writing a story to fit their theme: "Deal with the question: What if the Blue states seceded?"

Then I had an idea, fueled by the "moral values" issues that impacted last year's presidential election, and I began writing my version of "Romeo and Juliet" -- in this case it was "Romeo and Romeo." I've never written from the point of view of a gay character before, and this was a fascinating challenge. One guy lived in the "red-state America," and the other lived in the Blue States. Add water, and you've got some good conflicts to work out by story's end.

Along with some other good news I can't share with you just yet, it's been quite a week, marred only by the fact that my Wannoshay novel got bounced yet again, in its entirety. But according to my sources, this may not be such a bad thing after all... It's still at one other publisher, in its entirety. Fingers crossed and all that.

And then there's the March 28th issue of Publisher's Weekly, coming soon, with my collection's review in it. Watch for it! Later...