Does the Dance of Acceptance...

One and a half acceptances to report... my flash story "Piggies" (based on my Tuesday's Ten Minute Tale "Dinner For One", which I've now locked off out of copyright respect!) has been accepted for Midnight Echo, and my other story "Bedbugs" has made it to the shortlist (mentioned here) of the Voices collection. Fingers crossed on that one!

Another 2012 review!

Thanks to benpayne for pointing me towards this one... 2012 gets a mixed, but overall positive review here:

http://thefix-online.com/reviews/2012/

I think the comments about the early stories are a little harsh, I've really enjoyed them so far (just finished David Conyers' "Soft Viscocity", and didn't mind the propoganda too much... well, it was a little heavy-handed at the end, yes, but the story was still strong!). But they do say, well, not un-nice things about "Skinsongs":

“Skinsongs” by Martin Livings is a sad story about the fleeting nature of stardom. Agatha is a rock star, creating music from the skin and bone patterns of her face. But once recorded, there are no other songs to be made. As her fame fades, she prepares to make the ultimate and extremest sacrifice to reinvent herself and regain her former status. How far will someone go for the sake of fame? Unlikely? Tune in on the early weeks of American Idol or any other reality show.

Neat. And, considering the concept was largely inspired by "Australian Idol" [1], very apt. :)

One and a half acceptances and a pleasant review... that makes for quite a nice Wednesday, really!

[1] and, to be more specific, Chanel Cole... though that side of things comes through more in the novel than the short story!

1.5 rounds up to 2...

...and markdeniz and amandapillar accept "Bedbugs" for the Voices anthology! I love it when a plan comes together! I'm so happy and proud to have cracked this one, especially as the brilliant idea I originally had for it fell into a million pieces at the last minute, necessitating a complete rethink!

A semi-announcement (without names yet!) is here:

http://morrigan-books.livejournal.com/4080.html

Y'know, this almost makes me forgive Mark for the scathing review he gave my story in Shadow Box on ASif. What, you thought I'd forgotten??? ;)