My latest prose efforts have been for Edward Martin III's Carnival of Tiny Stories, a collection of more than a hundred short-short stories. The goal here was to cram a protagonist, a setting, a conflict, and a resolution in the space of 55 words. It started out being for a contest, but after a few stories, I realized that a short-attention-span kind of guy like me was having way too much fun at this. So, I kept going. Turns out a non-related action disqualified me from the contest (I quit that book club after receiving too many copies of the paperback edition of Cooking Your Enemy's Spine!), but I'm still kickin' these suckers out. Any genre I want! Wow!
Prose was my first genuine "sale". I sold two pieces to a hefty magazine called Dream International Quarterly. Imagine how happy I was (aside from the sales) to find a publication devoted to exploring dreams!
A later sale that made me particularly happy was to a (then local) literary magazine: Slightly West, which published a couple pieces of mine. The prose piece was so small that you can read it in a matter of seconds. Take a peek at Bullets Unnecessary if you like.
My most recent prose sales -- much to my amusement -- have been to an "adult contact" publication (which has long given up the ghost): NW Rendezvous. I wonder if the editor knew what he was getting into. I received from that adventure a fan letter from a man who wrote I loved that story, but man, you are one sick puppy! Allow me to explain. I simply couldn't end a porn story with the traditional ...and that was an adventure in Disneyland I'll never forget!. But perhaps the ending of "Occupied" was a bit much for most readers who were looking for that final "finishing" touch? What can I say in my defense except "Write what you know"? Since then, I've written better, but this was fun, regardless.
