Steampunk story to finally be published!

This has to be the longest time period I've ever experienced to see one of my short stories published. May 10,2010 submitted a 6,700 short story called , The Foxglove Broadsides to a steampunk anthology title Clockwork Chaos which I found on Duotrope.  Granted it was a long short story, but that's what the guidelines asked for from the Library Of The Living Dead Press. a small press which publishes novels and anthologies and the cover art was above the level and highly creative and professional in comparison to many other horror publishers.
 Now maybe I should have noticed that this press published mostly horror, even though they have a Library of Science Fiction imprint under their overall banner. But they seemed to be branching out. I took the chance. It was a long short story even for some anthologies.

On October 25, 2010, (148 days) I heard from Neal Levin, the editor, that my story had been accepted for publication if I was okay with his edits and that a contract would be forthcoming from the publisher.  I was very excited, since this would be my first published steampunk story to add to my collection of steampunk items, which included a number of items I had made (and sold or given as gifts or prizes or auction fund-raisers) which included steampunk journals, beeswax collages, mini albums and that's not counting my steampunk costumes and gear which I wear to cons and local steampunk events.
This was maybe a little longer than the average of acceptance times I experienced from magazines, but pretty much within the range of time period for acceptances from anthologies. (For example, Ocean Stories Anthology took over a year to reject one of my stories, although it had been selected after the first cut to go further through a committee of editors.)
But then I didn't hear anything for months from the Library Of The Living Dead Press .
All the posts and notices on the Library Of The Living Dead Press site's forum, in a section devoted  to the Clockwork Chaos anthology, had stopped. There were no responses to those who submitted stories and were accepted for inclusion in the steampunk anthology.  Needless to say, this was disheartening to me, but I  imagine how crushed a new author would be, who might have had their first short story accepted.

I finally contacted Neal in March of 2011 to see if he'd heard anything from the publisher.  But unfortunately he hadn't,  but he'd been trying to contact them. As an editor for Fissure Magazine, (which featured a special steampunk issue,) I knew how much time Neal, (who is a game designer and author in NJ)  had already spent in reading the many submissions an anthology receives, in editing the acceptances, and then the time spent in emailing all authors as well as the publisher.  I felt for him at this point, because he was stuck in the middle, most likely not to get paid for his efforts and time, and may have had a number of authors ticked off at him.  I wasn't because I knew the precarious situation he had been placed in, having to act as liaison when the publisher was AWOL. 
Neil wrote me back immediately to inform me that he had not heard anything from the publisher either but since he was attending the Steampunk World's Fair, he was going to see if he could find another indie publisher, or perhaps even publish the work under his own press, Dark Quest Books.
On April  24, 2012, nearly two years after submission, I received a very nice email form Neal asking if I wanted my story to still be included in the Clockwork Chaos anthology.  I was delighted.  He had gone to all the trouble to find another indie press to publish the anthology.  Now that's a dedicated editor to work on a project for nearly two years.
Since I've been quite slack in submitting short stories as I work a highly demanding full time job as a rehab support specialist for individuals who have suffered severe brain and spinal chord injuries, I have little spare time, So I  focus on my uncompleted novels, or those which need an edit, I haven't submitted much in the past 12 months.  So, my short story,  Foxglove Broadsides, still hung around in the unpublished pile. I had given up on the anthology and gone on to other projects.Neil didn't mention the name of the press or a publication date.  I imagine he is now having to contact all the authors who received acceptances to see if their stories are still unpublished and available.
If I had the ability to give an award to Neal for Most Dedicated Editor, I would.  This is service beyond the normal duties of an editor who also has a demanding full time job.

The Titling Dilemma

The current novel is progressing faster than I expected, with a number of chapters and a lose framework for the ending in my head.  The social calendar since Christmas has been heavy, in a time period I usually acquaint with hibernation and I've been eating out way way too much for both my waistline and pocketbook.  So I'm looking forward to some time for hibernation prior to the full rush of spring, if only to come up with a suitable title, and if lucky finish the novel which now weights in at a good 37,000 pages, past the hump. and heading to the ending,.
The book, first titled The Foxglove Broadsides has now flown through three different titles and is now settling somewhat on Orchideliruim. Perhaps this last one will stay despite the fact it's a Victorian, not steampunk term. But it fits the subject matter. There are a number of steampunk aspects to the book but the plot revolves around the fever which took hold of many previously calm British citizens who turned into thieves, brigands and criminals because of their fascination with this botanical prize. The orchid in the book is a rather special orchid over and above any found during the Victorian era or since, but the title still fits. 

Foxglove Broadsides inspires journal making

More writing on Foxglove Broadsides, more making of journals.  And what's fun is that as I explore the plot line and my protagonist, Cecile gets embroiled in more and more rather off the wall experiences, they all serve as fodder for creating art. 
At first when she's more involved in her duties with the bookstore and steam press (with odd moments of participating in rebellions) I was only doing research on presses, printing, inks, etc.  But as the botany came into it - lots of research there, and as I realized I could use my personal background as a student balloon pilot,
and staff writer for a ballooning magazine), well that came naturally.

The research leads to many photos and stories and they're all so interesting I want to capture them to - so I do with art - and go off on tangents like the research on absinthe, which I started years ago for my novella or series of shorts stories, Two Ruffians and a Rat before it was sold in America. Since I sold more on ETSY over the weekend, I had to replenish the supplies.  That's four journals shipped in the past week, so I have to restock - especially any in the botany/garden variety in time for Upstate Steampunk Con in November.  I'm thrilled to be working with the Steampunk Debutante papers from Graphic 45, as well as others, such as Tranatlantique and Communique.  But I waited along with many others for the Steampunk line to be available.

Graphic 45 Steampunk

Writing and art go hand in hand at my house and I often work on art as I write my novels and short stories.  For Shaman Circus and Shaman in Exile, I painted a series of paintings, for Foxglove Broadsides, I'm creating art journals for my Etsy, but also a massive one for myself.  It's Steampunk and Victorian themed and it's almost full.  I'll have to start another.  Yesterday I created a collage, which may end up being on the cover or may end up framed.  I've fallen in love with Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutane and Botanica papers and tags.  They're the most beautiful altered art papers on the market in my opinion and I hope they come out with more on a steampunk theme. They have a real feel for the Victorian and Art Noveau eras.  
On the large collages I also get to use the found objects find  every time I walk somewhere. My friends know how I stop and pick up every piece of scrap metal I see - sometimes for 3D  assemblages and sometimes for art journals and altered books.
This collage is called "Into the Aether" and relates to my character, Cecile Bainbridge, the Botanist of Deadly plants in Foxglove, who becomes a reluctant hot air balloon pilot of The Midnight Sun, a hot air balloon which only flies a night. It incorporates vintage photographs, key, clockwork parts and stamps with found metal objects.  And I always have fun embossing real copper (from a roll of copper chimney flashing found at Home Depot).

Nick Valentino in Dreams of Steam

Good news in the publishing and Steampunk worlds!  A new steampunk anthology has just been released,  Dreams of Steam and is available at Barnes & Noble.  What makes it even better is it features a story by my friend Nick Valentino.  Engine 316 is  a story where he takes a weird west steampunk angle.  I can't wait.  I've been looking for a new steampunk anthology which features contemporary writers with new works as opposed to reprints. Although I love what the Van Der Meers did for the genre in their anthology simply titled,  Steampunk,  I wish there had been more from new writers. Although, on the other hand, someone did need to set the historical precedents all in one place and they were the perfect pair to perform such a feat.

I met Nick at The South Carolina Literary Conference and discovered he was a great guy as well as a steampunk author of note.  His book, Thomas Riley, is a rollicking steampunk ride - inventive, quirky, full of  technological marvels, alchemy, airships and action!  It's available both in print and on kindle at Amazon and you can get a signed copy at a variety of Cons. He travels all the time and I'm looking forward to his panel at Dragon Con in Atlanta. I don't know if I mentioned this before. but I'm even more pleased because a few weeks ago Nick notified me that I'd won a pair of goggles from him in a Twitter contest.
And as a fan of steampunk, who is currently writing steampunk short stories and novels, including: Foxglove Broadsides, The Orchid Collector and Marquete de Fleur, and also building a character or characters (steam printer, botanist obsessed with poisonous plants and hot air balloonist) I was in dire need of goggles, not knowing how to make them and not having procured them yet.  I focused a bit too much on the "pretties" of the genre and neglected the necessities, as I am wont to do often, I'm afraid.

Losses and Failures - character building, right?

I have the distinct feeling I'm not supposed to leave my hermitage at the moment.  The fact that I have had interrupted internet service for at least 6 to 8 weeks now, first with a really nasty virus then with problems with my internet provider who needed four days and four different technicians to fix (it was a burned out card in a box up the street from my house).  And not five minutes after my internet was fixed I went outside to drive to a dementia class for work only to find a dead Saturn Vue.  The ignition switch is gone again.  I replaced it two years ago.  Not cool.
On the high side, it's a good thing I'm in a writers group because the virus wiped out all my new writing on my second novel, Shaman in Exile, which is one chapter away from being finished and a good bit of my new writing on Foxglove Broadsides (a short story becoming a novel).  I also lost half the Shadow Archer Press catalog of books by authors from all over the world. but thankfully have them all on hard copies) and lost the entire Steampunk issue of Fissure magazine - everything: all emails, all contacts, all submissions, all pieces accepted, all artwork. I am not a happy publisher.  Luckily, thanks to bringing hard copies to writers club, I can retype everything I lost on Shaman in Exile and some I lost on Foxglove - although about three chapters are gone - just gone.
This hit me so hard (at a time when I am selling a number of Shadow Archer Press books and back issues of Fissure) that I'm veer between scrambling to recover, retype, relocate hard copies of everything I lost to abject despair which I funnel into escapism by making steampunk journals (on Tesla, absinthe, aeronauts, chrononauts, etc.) to sell at Upstate Steampunk Con and on my Etsy (Gail Gray Studios).  Not wise as far as my writing goes, but otherwise I'd be out of control. Other mechanical things broke (and even non-mechanical such as a toe) at the same time, which is the way it is with mechanical things for me.  How about all of you? Am I the only one who gets it in 3's or 6's?
So I do advise you all, especially writers and artists - make a backup copy frequently of your work!  Don't trust that you are protected.  The virus sent to me, disabled ALL of my security systems before attacking various parts of my computer and corrupting the files. 
Remember:  Back up or face heavy losses - some of which may be irreplaceable. 
But I'm trying to look at all this calamity as if I were one of the characters I write about.  These losses and failures are what we put our characters through to build their character, in the old fashioned sense of the word - to expose their vulnerabilities in order to showcase them transforming faults into strengths, right?  So I should look at this as a great opportunity for transformation, right?
Maybe the best thing to do at times like these is to step back and take a philosophical look at our role on the world stage, as if we were characters. No one likes characters who get everything they want, no one cares about characters have it made.  No, we love the characters who face insurmountable obstacles and endure a constant gauntlet of setbacks.
I'm trying...

Coming Back after the Crash

After being a month or more without my main computer, after it's crash, I'm getting back on track.  I lost the entire issue of the Steampunk Fissure issue due to be released later this year as well as all of my new writing on Shaman in Exile (I think I have most of it in hard copy, so will have to retype it.)  But so far I think that's all.  I may have lost some later bits of Foxglove Broadsides. 
So this week I plan to get back into digging around in those folders and finish Shaman in Exile so I can get into editing the second in the Shaman series.
I'm gaining more and more hours at work so that's taking up a lot of time.  There's a good bit of work I do at home even.  Setting up a new art program for a head injury and spinal cord center is a lot more work than I imagined, but it's fun and valuable and I have the bulk of the planning stages and supply gathering finished so now it's down to implementation.  So far everyone seems to be enjoying it and I go home feeling very satisfied at the end of the day knowing that amazing things can happen in the alembic of a group art studio.
I'm also taking some personal time to work on my own art journals again, as well as make some for the steampunk world.  Those are a ton of fun.  And thanks to Nick Valentino, author of Thomas Riley, for awarding me a set of goggles in his twitter contest!  Wow!  That's so incredible, especially with the timing, since I don't own a pair and was going to scout out a mechanic at the Upstate Steampunk Meetup and commission a pair.  I'm already honored to wear the crew credentials and flight patch (now on my poison bag) of the airship, Blood Countess. 

Trudging and Travails

Two steampunk submissions are now in circulation and as it turns out, I may turn The Foxglove Broadsides into a novella or perhaps a series of steampunk short stories set in the same part of Kensington, UK involving the same characters.  I'm enjoying the opportunity to play with science, botany, and the printing industry of the 1800's, incorporating a clamshell press I saw in an antique store in Columbia, SC, during a,memorable visit to a friend who provided a tour of arcane bookstores and antique shops.  We even discussed, in a somewhat offhand manner,how to transport the two ton piece of glorious machinery to my house.  The press was a work of art in and of itself with its art noveau styling.  It also appeared quite serviceable.  But alas, it's weight deterred me. So now it lives in my reality through it's place in two of  my stories. This way, I am able to own and operate it with ease through my characters, Cecile Bainbridge and Nathanial Cooper. Talk about ways to shift dimensions, time and space.  Writers get to do it at all time.
On a less Victorian note,  I've been offline for a while for a series of reasons which include, lack of time due to setting up and initiating  the new Arts Activity program at the head injury program, some health issues and a vicious virus which has rendered my regular computer out of service.  Due to the latter, and other forms of thuggery and protection rackets perpetrated by the banks, cable companies, cell phone companies, utilities and Internet is it any wonder I prefer to wander about in an alternate time?