Saturday, April 17, 2010

Out of the Blue

I found out yesterday that my short story, "Out of the Blue", has been accepted for publication in the spring issue of moonShine Review!

"Out of the Blue" is a short story about a man whose brother comes home after years of being out of touch. The missing brother wants to say goodbye to their father, who is in the hospital, dying of cancer. This is the only "literary" piece I've ever had published. Most of my stuff tends towards horror (as you know), but this piece is pretty mainstream. It was the result of an experiment I tried a couple of years ago, where I decided to write a story based on a song. I picked "Brother" by Murder By Death. The title actually came from a contest put on by the ACW club. I entered a truncated version of the story (they limit their entries to 2,500 words) and it won!

After editing and editing and editing until the story became its own particular entity, I started sending it out to markets I found via Duotrope. (Have you found Duotrope yet? It's amazing!) It was in rotation for about a year and a half before moonShine decided to pick it up. moonShine is a beautiful perfect-bound bi-yearly journal that showcases (from their website) original, previously unpublished works of short fiction, flash fiction, and creative non-fiction. They publish work from anywhere, but preference is given to artists from Charlotte, NC, and the Southeast. I found them through Duotrope, but was further encouraged to submit to them by my fellow guerilla writer/Reedy River Rat Gail Gray, who had a short published in their anniversary issue last year.

I'm so excited to have another publication credit to add to my writing resume! I wonder if this giddy feeling ever stops happening when you find out your work is getting published. I hope not.

30 comments:

Survivormama said...

So awesome, sounds like a wonderful read!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! :)

Unknown said...

Congrats! I've never heard of that site, Duotrope. I'm going to check it out now.

ggray said...

That's awesome. I knew "Brother" was a perfect fit for moonShine Review. And it's so cool it was inspired by a song by Murder by Death. Do you know when the issue with your story will be released? Moonshine Review is one of those respected ltierary review which doesn't play it safe. They look for the cutting edge in ltierary works and the present it in a bueaituflk perfect bound package complete with art or photography to go with each story. This is such good news!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Congratulations, well deserved I'm sure, I wish you all the best.

Yvonne,

Steel Magnolia said...

Luxuriate in this remarkable feeling. You have earned it. May it last forever. I look forward to reading your first published short story. Cheers!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Miller, that's great!

Sophia said...

That's great, congratulations!
- Sophia.

Jemi Fraser said...

Congratulations - that's awesome!! :)

Mason Canyon said...

Congratulations, sounds like an interesting read.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Anonymous said...

That's great! Inspiring! My WIP is a short story aimed for a literary magazine. It's wonderful to read your success story.

Anne Gallagher said...

Congratulations, that is totally awesome, kudo's to you!!!

And thanks for the Duotrop link, I will so look that up.

Unknown said...

Congratulations to you...that is very exciting! Will have to check out Duotrop!

Laura S. said...

Congratulations, B! I do know of Duotrope! It's a great site. I use New Pages, too. Have you tried that one?

Lisa K. said...

Excellent news! Congratulations!

And yes, I use and love Duotrope although Ralan's is my old favorite standby for browsing speculative fiction markets.

Al said...

Congratulations!
You must be over the moon!

Hart Johnson said...

You KNOW, I think you rock, but publishing something 'literary' always helps be taken seriously as a writer. i think it is a heads up that what you DO, you do intentionally, which washes away whatever genre stigma might be thrown out there. I wish you HUGE congratulations! I think this is a great stepping stone.

Raquel Byrnes said...

How wonderful for you! Congratulations on your story. Sounds like a compelling read...family dramas...whew!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Congratulations!!!!! That is amazing news for you. It's just so affirming to have something accepted.

Shelley Sly said...

Congratulations!! That's wonderful!

Kierah Jane Reilly said...

that's so awesome!!!!!! congrats!! can't wait to read it!

Christine Danek said...

Congratulations!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Congratulations! I should check them out as well.

Patricia Stoltey said...

Congratulations on publishing. That great feeling hangs around for quite a while, at least until you have the next manuscript making the rounds.

Ella said...

Very exciting; Congrats!!!
Great link, as well~

Elliot Grace said...

...Well done, B:)

Natasha said...

Congratulations!
And it sounds like a lovely story.

~ Rayna

Megan Bostic said...

Congrats to you B. That's awesome.

B. Miller said...

Thank you so much, everybody! I had a great party Saturday night and I wish you all could've been there to celebrate with me. I'll be sure to let you know when the moonShine issue is out!

Jen Knox said...

I'm late, but wow! Congrats!!! I'm not a bit surprised. :)