Anyway, I have a fantasy story up today,  ”American Changeling.” One thing before you read it. I’m using the word glamour in the story in the traditional Faerie sense but the world of magic has no relation to Shades of Milk and Honey at all.  I just looked at the teaser and realized it could be confusing if you were thinking of the novel and looking at the story. Completely different universes.

I also need to give a hearty thank you to Ellen Datlow and the Codex Writers Group. I wrote this for a writer’s retreat and Ellen was our guest editor.  The feedback I got there was instrumental in making the story what it is.

Here’s the teaser.

American Changeling

Half-consciously, Kim put a hand up to cover her new nose ring. It pissed her parents off no end that she could tolerate touching cold iron and they couldn’t.

Iron still made her break out sometimes, but didn’t burn her. It had taken forever to find someone to make an iron nose ring, but the effort would be totally worth it.

“Kimberly Anne Smith,” Mom’s voice caught her in the foyer as surely as if she’d been called by her true name. “I’ve been worried sick. Do you know what time it is?”

“11:49.” Kim dropped her hand and turned to face Mom, her Doc Martens making a satisfactory clomping on the hardwood floor. “I’m here. Home before midnight. No one with me.” Sometimes she thought about bringing friends home to show them what her parents really looked like after their glamour dropped.

You can read the rest of the story at Daily Science Fiction.

To raise money for the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series, we’re holding a raffle. The prizes are unbelievable. Original art from Thomas Canty, Neil Gaiman’s keyboard (autographed), short story critiques by Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois… The list goes on and on. Seriously, one of the items is your own wormhole.

Between July 14th and July 28th, you can buy raffle tickets for only a dollar each. 1 buck. That’s nothing. And you can buy as many as you want.

At midnight (EST) on July 28th, we’ll randomly select the raffle winners. Prizes will be mailed to the lucky winners. (See a more detailed explanation in Raffle Rules).

Just to whet your appetite, here’s a partial list of prizes (a full list is available at the website)

· Story in a bottle by Michael Swanwick
· Tuckerization (your name in a story) by Lucius Shepard
· Tuckerization by Elizabeth Hand
· Tuckerization by Jeffrey Ford
· Pen & Ink drawing of an animal-your choice- by Gahan Wilson
· Original art for a George R. R. Martin novel by Tom Canty
· John Picacio signed print of art for Michael Moorcock novel
· Naomi Novik signed TEMERAIRE first edition
· Your very own wormhole from physicist Michio Kaku
· Peter Straub excerpt of a short story, “Mallon the Guru,” deleted from novel-in-progress, THE SKYLARK
· Holly Black signed advance copy of GOOD NEIGHBORS
· Original art by Terri Windling
· Carol Emshwiller signed manuscript of THE ABOMINABLE CHILD’S TALE
· Complete set of back issues and lifetime subscription to PARADOX MAGAZINE
· Critique of a short story by Ellen Datlow
· Critique of a short story by Gardner Dozois
· Critique of a short story by Nancy Kress
· Two year subscription to SYBIL’S GARAGE MAGAZINE
· Ray Bradbury limited edition worth $900
· And dozens more prizes on the website…

About KGB Fantastic Fiction
KGB Fantastic Fiction is a monthly reading series held on the third Wednesday of every month at the famous KGB Bar in Manhattan, hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel. The reading series features luminaries and up-and-comers in speculative fiction. Admission is always free.

Some of our past readers
Joyce Carol Oates, Lucius Shepard, Jeffrey Ford, Scott Westerfeld, Kelly Link, China Miéville, Nancy Kress, Jack Ketchum, Jack McDevitt, Stewart O’Nan, James Patrick Kelly, Barry N. Malzberg, Samuel (Chip) Delany, Holly Black, Michael Swanwick, Kit Reed, Peter Straub, Andy Duncan, Richard Bowes, Catherynne Valente, Ellen Kushner, Jeff VanderMeer, Naomi Novik, Elizabeth Bear, and others.

A Brief History of the Series
Terry Bisson and Alice K. Turner started the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series in the late 1990s, attempting to bring together mainstream writers with writers of speculative fiction in order to show, in Alice Turner’s words, “that at a certain level they were plowing exactly the same field.” In the spring of 2000 Ellen Datlow took over for Alice K. Turner and in August 2002 Gavin J. Grant, publisher of Small Beer Press, stepped in for Bisson when he moved to California. Matthew Kressel stepped in for Gavin in April of 2008.

Raffle Rules
Tickets will go on sale from July 14th through July 28th, midnight, Eastern Daylight Time. The raffle will be held on July 28th at midnight. Each item will be raffled off individually. You may purchase as many tickets per item as you would like. For example, you may purchase ten tickets for the “Michael Swanwick message in a bottle” and fifty tickets for the “Peter Straub manuscript.”

Each ticket purchase increases your chances of winning. For example, if you purchase five tickets of the “Jeffrey Ford Tuckerization” and a total of ten tickets have been sold, your odds of winning are 5 out of 10.

For each item, one winner will be chosen at random using a computerized random number generator. The winning names and prizes will be announced on the KGB Fantastic Fiction website. The donating party is responsible for mailing the prize to the lucky winner.

All proceeds from the raffle go to support the reading series.

KGB Fantastic Fiction website: http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org

Raffle Information website:

http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/?page_id=3

List of All Raffle Items online:

http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/?cat=3

I tend to trust the reader and don’t like hitting people over the head with things, so I don’t put down every plot detail or world building element that I think of. And then the first time I hand it to readers, I get to see which things I need to clarify and which things I can leave alone. In this particular story, I needed to clarify that my character’s allergy is a contact allergy and then almost all everything else makes sense.

As much as I want to sit down and go through the notes on my story and rewrite it RIGHT NOW, I’m not going to. I’m finishing the revisions on my novel.

Last night, Mom made dinner. Oh, yes people. We are living the high life here.

That’s right. Join Codex and you get to attend workshops where, not only is your story critiqued by a multiple-award winning editor, you also get my mother’s cobbler. Need I say more?

We had three presentations today: One on brainstorming story ideas by Luc Reid ((I skipped this one because I still had some reading to do for critique sessions tomorrow,. Other people report favorably on it.)) one on reading aloud (by me), and one on Medieval Studies, by Michael Livingston. I learned that people in the Middle Ages did bathe, that the Bubonic Plague was the first germ warfare and went horribly wrong, and that knights in armor actually could stand up if they fell down.

For lunch we had sandwiches. I know. You’re thrilled.

Then two novel critiques, which was interesting. It’s the first time I’ve done a novel critique session and find it the same as and also quite different from a short story critique. Mostly we dealt with Big Issues and not so much on line notes.

For dinner, now, that’s a beautiful thing. We went to Couch’s barbeque. This place has been there since my Dad was a child. It is one of the things for which I will gleefully break my pose as vegetarian. We were having really lively conversations until the food hit the table and then everyone became silent. Mmmm… A couch’s bbq sandwich with hot slaw on it, sides of baked beans and cole slaw. It just doesn’t get any better.

Tomorrow we have the first of our sessions with Ellen Datlow. Should be fun.

This year we wanted to do a retreat and we’re doing it at my parents’ house. I have good folks, you know? My grandmother, her sister’s and cousins all inherited adjoining property. To condense the story, Mom and Dad live in the house that he grew up in, Woodthrush Woods, and they’ve moved Robin’s Roost, a log house, ((not a cabin)) from another part of the property to theirs.

See! Pictures.

Woodthrush Woods

I’ve been saying for years that it would make the perfect retreat center. Thirteen wooded acres, a creek, wi-fi and — at least this time — everyone gets their own bedroom.

We’re starting with a four day workshop with Ellen Datlow on short stories plus a novel track. Then there’s another six days of retreat.

It should be fun.

Here they are in order of tasting. If you click through to any of the links you can see that our tasting notes are wildly and sometimes comically different from the professionals.

1. Te Bheag — evidently pronounced “chey vek”, because its Gaellic — was our only departure from the Islay program. This one was amber in color, with a gentle peaty nose. It was slightly sweet but not cloying.
2. Caol Ila, signature 1991 – Very light straw color. This was intensely peaty and a little harsh.
3. Caol Ila, 18year — Very smooth. The peat character was distinctive and pleasant. The nose gave off hints of old book leather. This was one of our two favorites
4. Bowmore Enigma, 12 year — Beautiful dark amber in color. Raison and peat on the nose. Polished smooth and rounded. This was best in show.
5. Ardbeg, 10 year – Very pale straw color with a mild, peaty nose. It was fairly coarse but with good flavor. There was a resiny almost fir aspect to the finish.
6. Aberlour, 10 year – The nose had notes of dates and turpentine. It was very mellow and not at all like scotch.

A delightful evening and I managed to get home without falling onto the third rail.

I wanted to make certain that I had good photos of the dolls, so I went over to Ellen Datlow’s this evening and let her do her camera magic. Behold.

We also got shout-outs in the Summary section. Ellen Datlow says we’re “worthwhile” and Kelly Link and Gavin Grant say we’re a “good-looking new zine with strong ambitions.”