It’s out! The story I workshopped with Neil Gaiman and Samuel R. Delany hits the stands today in a sparkling new anthology called Qualia Nous edited by Written Backward‘s Michael Bailey. I’ve appeared in Michael’s anthos before (“Blood Women” that got an Honorable Mention by Ellen Datlow in Best Horror of the Year Six appeared in Michael’s anthology Chiral Mad 2), but “Vaporization” is closer to my heart for a variety of reasons, some of which I enumerate below.
Fun facts about this story:
- It was the first science fiction story I wrote.
- The idea for the story came to me when I was in an airplane en route to attend the six-week long Clarion West Writers Workshop, an experience that changed my life. Subsequently it became the first publishable story i wrote at the workshop.
- I discussed the idea with our week one instructor Elizabeth Hand who was intrigued and said she’d never read a story with this peculiar usage of enthalpy/thermodynamics. It boosted my confidence about the viability of the idea. Thanks, Liz!
- The story was written for Neil Gaiman’s week. Lemme tell you getting critiqued by eighteen people in front of Neil was quite something, but we all managed to stay sane, thoughtful, and constructive.
- First draft was written in 48 hours (compare that to my last story “Ishq”–due to appear in the fantastic horror magazine Black Static–that I wrote in a month).
- “Vaporization” was also workshopped with Chip Delany who praised it and said the ending made him weep. Chip’s kind words would later be my solace in moments of darkness and despair.
- This is the first time I’ve shared a Table of Contents with my childhood writing idol Stephen King who contributed “The Jaunt”.
- My story follows King’s! Secretly, I’m hoping that when he receives his contributor copy, Uncle Stevie will turn the page and settle down to read my story as well. With a cup of coffee in his hand.
- My fellow authors in Qualia Nous apparently love the title to death. 🙂
There! Now you have a bit of background about the story. It has quite a lineup including luminaries such as Gary Braunbeck, Lucy Snyder, William F. Nolan, Gene O’Neill, John R Little, Thomas Monteleone, and several others. Well worth your money.