Well readers, the big news for the week is that story number five got accepted yesterday.  I was on a camping trip when my good friend (and fellow writer) Wes Southard texted me about the rejections/acceptances going out for the “New Dawn Fades” anthology from Post Mortem Press.  I checked my phone for my mail and I didn’t see anything.  Writing has taught me some patience, but it killed me having to wait an extra six hours to check my e-mail at home.  It was worth the wait when I saw the “Congratulations” in the subject line.

The story “Spot Shoot” was just a little story I wrote for the fun of it.  It was an early story I had saved on my computer and had to apply A TON of lessons I’ve learned since then to brush it up.  I tried to show an odd side to the zombie infestation that will kill us all one day.  Interestingly enough, this was not the book I submitted it to.  I sent off for their “Dead Souls” anthology.  Later I learned they received so many subs, they were opening up a second book for those of us that didn’t get in the first book.  I was bummed at first, but my story was still in the running for the second volume.  Then I read something else that made me want to trade my soul in.

The second book was going to have an introduction by Joe Schreiber.  NOW STOP, for those who don’t know me, I am a huge Star Wars geek.  Before I die, I would love to write something for the galaxy by Lucas.  Ok back to Joe.  He is the author of two of my favorite Star Wars books, Death Troopers and Red Harvest.  They mashed up the galaxy far, far away with a zombie virus and the Sith.  These are a few of my favorite things…  The idea that I would be in an antho with him doing the intro had me wishing upon a star and all kinds of crazy stuff hoping to get in.  So when I read the email from PMP how did I react?  I jumped and yelled more than I did when I sold my first story.  I am a very happy boy!

More on Geekdom… We bought the Star Wars Blu-Ray set and started to watch some of it.  So far, I think that someone needs to tell Lucas “NO!” when he wants to alter stuff.  The new kryat dragon call in “A New Hope” is ridiculous sounding and a very unneeded alteration.  I will say this, there is a “Return of the Jedi” deleted scene with a Mon Cal pilot that had me rolling on the floor and laughing myself to tears it was so funny.  As far as how it looks, if you haven’t seen it a thousand times it will look like the other versions, but if you know every shade, hue, and tint in every scene, the Blu-Ray looks amazing.  Even though we have fifty versions on VHS and DVD, this was worth the money to me.

Later and play nice.