The story I put together with fellow writer Greg van Eekhout and then sold to Asimov's is getting some lovely reviews lately, many of which you can see at the "California King" excerpt page on my Web site, and a couple of them mention a similarity to Tim Powers, which completely makes my day.

Tim's a great writer and a great person -- he co-taught us with AJ Budrys at the Writers of the Future workshop in LA in 2000 -- and to be compared to him is a high, high compliment. The latest props came from the Internet Review of Science Fiction, a fine magazine with some interesting reviews and articles. Not only did the reviewer "get" what we were trying to do with the weird voice in that story, but he said this about the ending: "The interactions between the imperfect King and his imperfect family are delightful, but it really is the casual lines of humor that keep this tale on track. That and a touching conclusion that the authors handle just right."

I really, really love the ending of that story. Because it deals with fathers and sons, I probably won't be able to read that last section without getting a bit choked up, being a new dad and all.

Reading that review and the rest of the issue reminds me that I have been very remiss in my reading of short fiction lately. Got to fix that! Later!