Rhonda Parrish

My short story, Cuppa?, is in the most recent issue of Blood Moon Rising. You can check it out by clicking here. If you do read it, don’t mind the last four lines…they belong to a different story. I’ve sent a note to the editors to let them know and hopefully it will be changed sooner rather than later

I hope you enjoy the story, I had fun writing it. When I first wrote it it was in 2nd person. I revised it to 3rd because I think it worked better for the story, but I really enjoyed writing from the second person point of view and will likely try it again sometime

I don’t know if there is any interest in this, but I do want to start sharing more than ‘I got published’ entries. What follows below the cut is the result of my combining two writing exercises from NaNoLJers (’Character Creation‘ and the ‘It’s Hot!‘).

Meet Gunter, he’s going to be the main character of a novel I’m working on in my brain at the moment (tentatively planned to follow ‘Deadmonton’ in my “writing schedule” lol). I hope you’re intrigued by him, because I plan to do quite a few exercises with him as I get to know him before I begin writing the novel with him in it

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Carrie Jones had an entry on her blog recently which encouraged people to post the first page of their current work in progress. I thought that was a very good idea — so I’m going to share the first page of my Edmonton-based zombie novel, Deadmonton. I hope you enjoy it…or at least are intrigued.

This contains a fair bit of foul language, so read at your own risk.

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I know this post is going to show my nerdiness in beautiful technicolor, but I don’t seem to be able to stop myself.

Arcane Whispers is available on Amazon. This excites me greatly, far more than it should perhaps, but it feels like a significant step forward.

Someday soon a book with my name on the cover will be on Amazon, but for now, I’ll count this as progress and revel in it

I admit it. I like Pamela Tyree Griffin which makes me biased, but I also like The Shine Journal. My work has appeared in it numerous times and I was honored to be one of the judges for their ‘Show Us Your Shorts’ contest earlier this year.

I’ve got two pieces in this month’s issue. If you were to judge them based solely on their titles it might seem as though they were similar, when in fact, they aren’t. Not even close.

The first, Sheltered, is a reprint of an amusing little flash which was originally published by the Mennonite Publishing Network last year.

What?

It really was.

The other is a sad poem I wrote entitled “A House Not a Home“. My great-grandmother was a poet and she wrote a poem after her beloved husband died which compared herself to an empty house; lonely and alone. Not so long ago my own husband was out of town on business and I saw a writing prompt that included a picture of a decrepit house. My loneliness, my great-grandmother’s poem and that picture all combined to inspire this short poem.

I hope you have time to check them out and let me know what you think

My poem, Inspiration, is in this month’s issue of NewMyths.com . I’m a fan of NewMyths.com, and not just because I’ve had my work in two issues…though that definitely helps :). Really, though, if you’re a writer it’s a paying market with a wonderful and personable editor, and if you’re a reader it’s a great venue for reading fantasy works — free.

Anyway, Inspiration is online there now. I’d like to tell you what inspired it, but ironically, I can’t remember LOL However, I do remember that when Scott accepted it he said ‘How could I say no to a poem that starts with the line, Her thighs are spread and trembling?’

How indeed

The newest issue of Niteblade is out. Issue #4: The Gnome’s Spectacles is going live right now…early. How’s that for a bit of awesomeness? And when it comes to awesomeness, let me tell you, this issue is chock-full of it.

I think the poetry is especially strong in this issue. In addition to the killer poem that was granted the cover this period there are pieces about the Wicked Witch of the West, death, space, aliens and an amazing prose poem. I know, I’ve really had issues with prose poetry in this past, so the fact I found one so good I agreed to publish it has to say something good about the piece, doesn’t it? The poems run the spectrum from funny to depressing and touch in on a load of other adjectives too.

Don’t think poetry is all this issue has going for it though. No way. There are some pretty amazing stories too. Sentient zombies, an incredibly evocative Asian fantasy story, psychological horror, an undead pig and the end of the world are just a few of the things we’ve got in this issue’s 13 stories. There is even one about a hockey player…let the Canadian editor jokes begin!

Really, this issue is definitely one worth checking out — and perhaps best of all, it’s free.

http://www.niteblade.com

I figured it was time for a change on this blog because, after all, when you have deadlines looming and scads of work that needs to be done, the thing all responsible writers and editors do is decide to change the look of their blogs…right? Right?

Well anyway, that’s what I did

The image is one I licensed from i-stockphoto. It’s a vector image by -M-I-S-H-A-, an artist whose work I often drool over. In this case I only had to make a few minor changes to make it work, which is good, because as I’ve said before, I am not a graphic designer LOL The layout is courtesy of Area  381.

I like the new layout, but it’s going to take some getting used to, I think. I’d be interested in hearing what you think, too In the meantime, I’m going to iron out the bumps and then get back to work on Niteblade — the new issue comes out very soon.

My flash fiction piece, Wrong Turn, is included in this anthology You can pick it up from LuLu, or just admire the cover. I must say, however, I think the stories are well worth reading…not that I’m biased or anything

Sister Margaret joined the ranks of awesome short stories at Anthology Builder today. If you’re not familiar with it, Anthology Builder is a website that will allow you to create custom anthologies filled with only the stories you want to read. I think it’s a brilliant idea and I’m excited to be a part of it.

Swing by and create your own anthology of up to 350 pages for less than fifteen bucks — and be sure to include Sister Margaret…or at least review it Reviewing is free