Free Sample!

Head over to Dark Valentine Magazine where Derek Muk's story Asylum has just been posted. This is a story from his collection, The Occult Files of Albert Taylor, the adventures of an anthropology professor who investigates supernatural cases in his spare time. Very X-Files. If you like what you see, the book is available on amazon.com and the author's own website.

No one ever has enough cookie cutters!

My mother, who knew a thing or two about making cookies (she had a McCoy Pineapple Cookie jar that's now a collectible and it was always filled with cookies) made do with just a handful of cutters--and they were mostly holiday-themed. Not me. If a cookie is worth cutting, I think it should be cut into something more interesting than a crescent moon or a bat. I have dinosaur cookie cutters. I have an entire aquarium full of fish shapes. (Three different kinds of sharks, y'all.) So imagine my delight when I heard about SWEET, a fantastic baking supplies company that has cookie cutters even I never heard of. There's a fleur de lis (because I'm all about the French) and mini-giraffes and so forth. There's a rocket ship and a castle.

Even better than their cookie cutters, though, is is their selection of baking cups. They're just so jolly. I love browsing in cookware stores anyway, so finding this place online (it's physically in Topeka, KS) is a treat. The website features recipes of divine deliciousness and they also offer freebies. Check it out.

Dear Lucky Agent--8th contest for writers of lit fic

Usually these contests are all about genre, but the Guide to Literary Agents is offering a contest just for the "literary fiction" niche. It's free and the only thing the sponsors ask is that you mention the contest on your social media sites. (Note, I don't write anything remotely resembling lit fic, so this is a freebie for them.) Here's where to get all the details.

I tremble for my country

when I read news stories like the one here. In a nutshell, sales of guns jumped in the days after the mass shooting in Arizona. The most popular model? The same Glock the alleged shooter used. Here's a quote from the story, which ran on the Bloomberg site:

One-day sales of handguns in Arizona jumped 60 percent to 263 on Jan. 10 compared with 164 the corresponding Monday a year ago, the second-biggest increase of any state in the country, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data.

Handgun sales rose 65 percent to 395 in Ohio; 16 percent to 672 in California; 38 percent to 348 in Illinois; and 33 percent to 206 in New York, the FBI data show. Sales increased nationally about 5 percent, to 7,906 guns.

Think about it. Those are just the LEGAL gun sales.

I am an Army brat. I grew up in a house with a gun in it. My uncles hunted for the table. (In fact, one uncle was such a dead shot that he was asked to excuse himself from a community turkey shoot.) I know that there are legitimate reasons for owning a gun, which is a tool as well as a weapon. I've shot guns at a local range because I write fiction in which people shoot guns and I don't want to make it up. I'm a pretty good shot, as it happens.

But I am also the daughter and niece of people who went to Virginia Tech, so when the mass shooting happened there, it hit home. And in that case, as with the Arizona shooter, there were warning signs that the individuals involved were dangerously unbalanced. And yet, they got guns.

I've heard all of the slogans--"If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" and "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." I am not impressed. It's a lot easier for people to kill people when they have guns. In California if you want to buy pepper spray there's a whole process that includes watching a video. Maybe it's time to make it a little tougher to get a gun.

This is Wrong on So Many Levels

So, like the rest of you, I get weekly letters from a nice solicitor in Nigeria who would like me to assist him in his financial endeavors here in the states. Does this ever actually work? I think, and then delete it. (And there's also a part of me that thinks, Wouldn't it be nice if this was legit? I could make a couple of million dollars!) But alas...

Now I'm getting spam emails from some penpal site. Today's was particularly amusing:

Hello My Dear,
Am Juliet,i saw your mail today in a site and www.penpals.p i became interested in you.I want to know if this your email is correct so that i will send my photos to you.From there we will know eachother very well for a sincere relationship.Hope to hearing from you soonest.

Yours
Juliet

I almost want to write "her" back to see what would happen. But then I think, Why am I not getting these emails from James Purefoy? Are they stuck in my spam filter? I'd be happy to send him my pictures for a "sincere relationship." And I could even answer in proper English. (Seriously, what's up with the bad grammar? We outsource to Indian-based techies all the time. You'd think this pen pal site would hire someone away from a call center.)

Parties interested in contacting Juliet, please email me. She provided her address.

NPR Three-Minute Fiction Contest is Back!

NPR asks, "How long does it take to tell a good story?" The sixth round of their "3-Minute Fiction" contest will open this weekend. The premise is simple--send them a story of 1000 words or fewer. Winners get read on the air, plus other goodies. Details here.

Artists listen up--Zero2illo has a deal for you!

I'm not an artist but my mother and sister were and some of my best friends are and I know how tough it is in the freelance art world. Zero2Illo is a site/blog that was started by a graphic artist to chart his own work/success and has grown into a supportive social network. Their current mission statement is: to enable and empower more creative entrepreneurs and illustrators to earn a living from their creative skills.

Right now (and through Wednesday, Zero2Illo is offering an amazing sale on tools for artists who want to expand their freelance careers. They're offering a bunch of books bundled for only $47. Check out the sale. And consider joining the community. We're all in this together, right?