Howard Hughes and the Man from Mars

[greygirlbeast]

Yesterday, I wrote 1,401 words and finished "Little Conversations" (née "Salammbô Redux") which came to 5,356 words. I emailed Neil Clarke to let him know the story was finished, but that I wouldn't be handing it in until Monday evening, because I want to have some distance between me and it before the "final" reading and edit. It came out to be something I'd not quite expected it to be, and I'm quite certain this is the most blatantly autobiographical story I have ever written. I knew it would be grim, but I'd not foreseen just how grim. Anyway, "Little Conversations" will appear in the September issue of Clarkesworld magazine, and will appear at probably twice its present length in the forthcoming subpress edition of Tales of Pain and Wonder (Spring 2008), where it will probably be titled "Salammbô Redux."

All that said, today is a day off.