 Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending the 31st Writers and Illustrators of the Future awards show in LA. I had no idea what to expect, but I can honestly say my expectations were promptly blown out of the water. From the moment we arrived, my wife and I were treated like royalty. Everything from the hovering paparazzi drone to the gorgeous red carpet guests combined to create a truly surreal experience. Once inside the Ebell theater, we were treated to a visually stunning introduction piece that summarized thousands of years of story telling while also explaining why the contest continues to thrive despite a declining market. In short, the contest survives as a vehicle for new writers to find their path. It helps new artists get a start. For this, I am endlessly appreciative. The show highlighted each of this year's winners, transformed some stories into interpretive dance routines, and allowed some iconic sci fi writers to offer their thoughts. I never thought I'd get a chance to meet Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle, but they were all in attendance and gave remarkable speeches. After the show, I purchased a book and spoke briefly with the winners while hounding them for an autograph. It was clear they were all hard workers caught up in a whirl of "I can't believe this is finally happening." Aside from the authors, there were a lot of Hollywood types lurking in the shadows. My wife did some smoozing with the show organizers and got me an interview with a documentary crew. The whole thing was a blast and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.   |
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I'm happy to report my first published story will appear in Issue #14 of Encounters Magazine from Black Matrix Publishing. Woo-Hoo!
I'm a bit nervous about it, but that's expected, right? "Remember the Sunflowers" will appear in Encounters' May issue and I can't wait. You can read a preview of this story under my stories tab, but besides that, I don't want to give anything away. If you want to know more about the story, you'll just have to read it yourself. The funny thing is that I originally wrote this story about 2 and a half years ago as kind of a response to the Occupy Wallstreet movement. It's gone through several rejections and subsequent revisions before it arrived in a state suitable for publication. It would have been easy to give up, but somehow I just knew that if I kept making improvements, it would evetually find a home. Anyways, probably one of the greatest things that comes with finally getting published is the affirmation that you might not be as crazy as you were beginning to suspect. Seriously, most writing takes place in the solitude of your own mind. I do a lot of my writing at Starbucks not because I can't write at home, but because I feel the crowds often act as a counterweight to all the spelunking inside my own skull. Besides that, sometimes it takes weeks, months, or even years before you have a story strong enough to stand on its own beneath the harsh eye of others. Even when people compliment your work, you think that maybe they're just being nice or worse, they truly like it but have poor taste. In any case, publication is sometimes the only form of validation that proves genuine. This little victory has only fueled my writing even more. I'm a few more chapters away--about a month--from finishing my next novel. Then, I'll revise revise revise before I ship it out for the world to see. All I know for sure is this is just the beginning. Thank for Reading, K.C. Aegis |
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