Category: My Fiction

Electric Velocipede 17/18 Cover

By:  TempestNews

On the heels of the stunning Federations cover comes this from the next issue of Electric Velocipede:

Electric Velocipede 17-18

(click to embiggen)

Isn’t it lovely? Also, I must point out that I’m sharing a TOC with fellow Altered Fluidians Mercurio D. Rivera and Matthew Kressel.  Also of note: Richard Bowes, Yoon Ha Lee, and Caroline Yoachim.

Yes, I do see Will Shetterly, too. I am trying to pretend he is not there.

There are plenty of fabulous writers in this issue and you must buy it.  You know you want to.  If you don’t buy and read it, well…

Read Electric Velocipede

I Am Shameless. At Least I Admit It!

By:  TempestMy Fiction
I Am Shameless. At Least I Admit It!

The storySouth 2009 Million Writers Award for Fiction is now accepting nominations!

The purpose of the storySouth Million Writers Award is to honor and promote the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines during 2008. …this year there will be three cash prizes: $500 for the overall winner, $200 for the runner-up, and $100 for the honorable mention/third place.

I am going to nominate some stories (yes, I’ll tell you which when I know), but I am shameless and want people to nominate my 2008 story, Until Forgiveness Comes, as well.  Here’s the link to do so IF you desire.  Obviously, I shall not force you. ;)

The Internet Taketh Away

By:  TempestMy Fiction

The Fix finally reviewed November’s Strange Horizons, yay!  But the reviewer did not dig my story that much, boo.

K. Tempest Bradford offers an interesting look at the effects of continually reflecting on national tragedy in “Until Forgiveness Comes,” but the story is a little too ambitious for its length. Set in a fictional world with very direct real world analogies (setting it in the real world would have strengthened the gut level emotional response), Bradford questions the reasons people have for needing to remember and the methods in which they remember. Told within the unnecessary framing device of a radio report, the ghosts of the victims of an al-Qaida-esque terrorist attack reappear each year on the anniversary of the attacks when a memorial service, haitai, is held in their memory. The piece looks at the individuals who come to see their loved ones in their final moments. Unfortunately, given its brevity, and the mock radio reportage, Bradford can’t fully explore any of the issues she raises, leaving the piece an interesting one, but not one that fulfills its potential.

Ah well. But! I am glad they reviewed it.  I need to create a reviews section for this story, methinks.

Another “Until Forgiveness Comes” Ping

By:  TempestMy Fiction
Another "Until Forgiveness Comes" Ping

“Perhaps I’m a little weird in that the facts of the story—a terrorist attack and the discourse over how it should be remembered—pale in comparison to my interest in the form of the story. Bradford has an excellent grasp of the rhythm of an NPR segment (down to the reporter, with a name suspiciously and whimsically similar to the “musical” Sylvia Poggioli), to the point where I could easily hear the ever-present, but rarely informitive ambient sound that would accompany the piece. Made me tear up at work, which makes it memorable.”

—Tablesaw

Um… Wow

By:  TempestMy Fiction

Federations ToC:

  • Mazer in Prison | Orson Scott Card (reprint)
  • Carthago Delenda Est | Genevieve Valentine
  • Life-Suspension | L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
  • Terra-Exulta | S. L. Gilbow
  • Aftermaths | Lois McMaster Bujold (reprint)
  • Someone is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy | Harry Turtledove (reprint)
  • Prisons | Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason (reprint)
  • Different Day | K. Tempest Bradford
  • Twilight of the Gods | John C. Wright
  • Warship | George R. R. Martin and George Guthridge (reprint)
  • Swanwatch | Yoon Ha Lee
  • Spirey and the Queen | Alastair Reynolds
  • Pardon Our Conquest | Alan Dean Foster
  • Symbiont | Robert Silverberg (reprint)
  • The Ship Who Returned | Anne McCaffrey (reprint)
  • My She | Mary Rosenblum
  • The Shoulders of Giants | Robert J. Sawyer (reprint)
  • The Culture Archivist | Jeremiah Tolbert
  • The Other Side of Jordan | Allen Steele
  • Like They Always Been Free | Georgina Li
  • Eskhara | Trent Hergenrader
  • The One with the Interstellar Group Consciousnesses | James Alan Gardner
  • Golubash or, Wine-War-Blood-Elegy | Catherynne M. Valente

Not only do I get to share a book once more with the fabulous Cat Valente, but this is the first time my bud Genevieve and I get to be in an anthology together.  Also: BUJOLD and SILVERBERG omg.

I may faint.

Ever wonder which Hour the Wolf likes? 3am, I believe.

By:  TempestNews
Ever wonder which Hour the Wolf likes? 3am, I believe.

Because of several factors, I did not mention that I was going to be on Hour of the Wolf this morning.  For those of you who don’t know, HotW is a local radio talk show dealing with all things SF/F/H hosted by the fabulous Jim Freund.  Thing is, it airs at 5am on Saturdays.  So that means I had to be up at 3am.  This is my 3am face:

I look excited, right?  The show itself was a lot of fun, though.  We talked about Clarion West and writers I like and Carl Brandon Society and Star Trek and stories I have coming out. That’s this first part here:

      Click to Listen
(this will open an inline player)

Then I read Until Forgiveness Comes and then we talked a bit about 9/11 and then I took some calls.  I took calls!  That’s the second part:

      Click to Listen

You can also listen to the show online via WBAI’s streaming.  The MP3s I have don’t include the music he played for copyright reasons.

I should mention that I’ve been on Hour of the Wolf before, but always with my writing group, Altered Fluid.  If you want to listen to our appearances, check out these links:

May 5th 2007

May 12th, 2008

September 20th, 2008

Despite making my 3AM Face, I had a really great time and don’t regret a second of it.  Jim says he’d love to have me on again and I am all for that.  We also had some pre-thoughts about things we could do with Until Forgiveness Comes that are even more radio-y.  Excting!

Another Nice Review and Another Sale

By:  TempestMy Fiction

First, the sale: some time ago Matt Kressel of Sybil’s Garage informed me that he would like to buy my story Elan Vital, which I affectionately refer to as my Dead Mother story.  I wrote the beginning of that story when I was last in England (in Penzance to be exact).  England and Penzance are apparently inspirational — part of the well that Black Feather came from originated in my first visit many years ago.  Perhaps I should look in to living there.

Anyway, Sybil’s Garage rocks and I’m all excited to have a story in it.

Next, the review: Mercurio Rivera is the designated Locus subscriber in our writing group (this is probably not his official function…) and he passed along Rich Horton’s review of Until Forgiveness Comes:

“K. Tempest Bradford’s ‘Until Forgiveness Comes’ was intriguing.  Most simplistically, it’s a 9/11-derived story — well enough done, about a yearly ceremony remembering a terrorist attack.  But as an SF reader I found myself far more intrigued by the tantalizing hints of a cool alternate world in the background — with, perhaps, Ancient Egyptian culture having survived in some form, leading to a radically altered Jesus-figure, and a much more different Western Europe.  The story is only two thousand words long, and that sketched background isn’t at all the point — but I confess it’s what gripped me.”

Thanks, Rich!

Couple of Mentions for Until Forgiveness Comes

By:  TempestMy Fiction

IROSF had this to say about the story:

If you want to posit a distinction between a fiction and a story, this one is a fiction. The events of the story, or the several stories, that lie in the background of this scene must be inferred by the reader. Nor is it clear even to the participants just how the ghosts are invoked, or what sort of presence they have there. None of this really matters in this piece, where the point is the presence of the observers and the different reason that each of them have for coming to confront their ghosts, or not.

Also, Willow Fagan (whose artist spotlight is up today and you should def. check it out) mentioned it on his blog.

At the beginning of this story, I thought the use of the style and format of a public radio show was clever and interesting.  By the end, I was very moved.

That’s what I was going for :)