Whoo! I just got the good word -- my story "Cup and Table" from Twenty Epics will be reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow, Gavin Grant, and Kelly Link. It's my favorite reprint anthology every year, and I'm thrilled to have one of my stories appear in its pages.

I wrote a short story today. "Artifice and Intelligence," about 2600 words. I've been feeling a little unfocused about short stories lately, so I asked Heather to give me some short assignments with requirements regarding both form and content, with the idea that I'd write one story a week based on her suggestions. The first assignment I picked was "Six scenes, three AIs." So I've got six scenes, three artificial intelligences (well, sort of) -- and three viewpoint characters! Because that's how I roll. I think it's a pretty good story, actually.

She gave me some good assignments. The one I find most intriguing is "Future tense, set in North Carolina, with at least one robot." I figured out a way to tell the story that makes using future tense not only reasonable but necessary, and am just thinking about the plot logistics, now. Maybe I'll write that one next week. Or maybe I'll do the one with a non-human viewpoint character set during a civil war, or the present tense story set underwater, or the short-short involving voodoo and a sasquatch... my wife's imagination is cruel and funny, but some good stories could come out of it.

I was done drafting the story by a bit after noon, so I took a long afternoon stroll, down to the post office, then around the lake. Read some Lansdale, watched the ducks, enjoyed the gorgeous springlike weather. Pretty lovely. Got home around 3:30, and started writing this. Guess I should do a little housework, wash some dishes, maybe think about dinner. We've got some nice lettuce and some grape tomatoes, so maybe I'll grill some chicken and toss it with the salad for tonight. Could be yummy. Life is very sweet. Hope you're all having a day as good as mine.