My short story, Coming Storm, has been accepted for publication in a future issue of Shroud. I am *so* stoked.

Lately I’ve been writing a lot of things with a ‘magi vs mundane’ theme, but this is the first one I’ve sold. I began Coming Storm with the intention of submitting it to a speculative anthology about the American Civil War, but I didn’t get it done in time. And I’m okay with that, because Shroud!

The very first time I ever submitting to Shroud it was my short story, Spoiled Picnic. Editor/Publisher/Boss Dude, Tim Deal, accepted the story, not for his magazine, but for the anthology he was putting together:

Abominations.

My inclusion in Abominations was one of those pivotal points in my…is it too cheesy to use the word path here? Too bad :-p. My inclusion in Abominations was a pivotal point in my path, my career, the road that took me to here. It was a sign I was doing something right, encouragement to keep going when I needed it most. All sales are awesome and vindicating, but this is one of those ones that really, really mattered.

I’m much more confident now than I was then, but even so, sometimes I need those jolts, those ego boosts, those signs that yes, this is what you’re meant to be doing. And the acceptance of Coming Storm came at just one of those moments. The sine wave that is my confidence was taking a dip and I was having a really bad day, but my to-do list said ‘Submit Coming Storm somewhere’ so I did some research and sent it off to Tim at Shroud.

And he accepted it (very quickly).

And my day was made a whole lot better.

Circles… ya know?

So, what I’m trying to say is, Coming Storm will be coming soon to a Shroud magazine near you. I’ll let you know the details as I learn them 🙂