http://dailysciencefiction.com/story/ian-mchugh/the-wishwriters-wife

(and the story the day before is by my friend Caroline Yoachim – well worth a read)

THE LOSS: It turns out “Interloper” is not the story to win me a second Aurealis Award. Ah well, there’s always next time. Big congratulations to KJ Bishop for taking out the Best SF Short Story category, and to all the other category winners.

Which means… I’ve now had stories shortlisted in all four short story categories at the Aurealises. Neat. Winners announced at the ceremony on 21 May. Fingers crossed, and congratulations and good luck to all the other shortlistees.

This story was written in my head during the last vipassanna meditation retreat I did (10 days silent meditation), and decanted onto note paper while locked in the loo (since you’re not allowed to write at vippy). Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Have also learned that Ellen Datlow has given my stories “Red Dirt” and “Annicca” mentions in the long-list of HMs for The Best Horror of the Year #3.

And I received a lovely and unexpected bit of fandom in the mail a few weeks ago: John E Rogers Jr has started his own Silver Keyboard Award for best story in each issue of Asimov’s, and gave the inaugural award to me for “Interloper” in the January 2011 issue.

Mm, in fact, “Interloper” was also written in my head at the same vippy retreat as “The Wishwriter’s Wife”, and “Annicca” came out of the first vippy I went to. So I can definitely recommend silent meditation retreats as an aid to writing. Not actually the objective of said meditation retreats, but what the hey.

My story “Red Dirt” is free to read online at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=123). Sffportal called this story a “grand, unstoppable show of force”, and Lois Tilton at Locus gave it a ‘recommended’. Ha, and people say you shouldn’t read reviews of your own writing.

I’ve sold the audio rights to my story “Angel Dust”, from the Clockwork Phoenix 2 anthology, to Sniplits podcast zine. (http://www.sniplits.com/index.jsp)

(This is the story that got me the Escape Artists trifecta of publication by each of Escape Pod, Pseudopod and Podcastle.)

The anthology Baggage, edited by Gillian Polack was recently launched at worldcon, and has nothing whatsoever to do with me, except that I’ve read it, and it’s bloody good (see here http://www.eneitpress.com/books.php?isbn=9780980691122).

Belatedly:

In August, I sold my story “Red Dirt” to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and my story “Hammer of the Asherene” to Aberrant Dreams.

And I’ve posted my story “Angel Dust” from the Clockwork Phoenix 2 anthology to the Stories page of this website.