Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_05_11a/ - The Architect of Heaven by Jason K. Chapman
This is a lovely meditation on the lengths love will go to. It does not end where you expect, or where you fear.

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/the-devil-in-gaylords-creek/ - The Devil in Gaylord's Creek by Sarah Monette
This one's just plain fun, an enjoyable twist on the Buffy/"black leather-clad urban fantasy demon-slayer chick" template.

Well, I believe I've identified the next writing skill that I need to master: writing to a wordcount. I seem to go either really long (>7,000 words) or really short (<1000 words). I didn't do so badly with this short story. I need to cut about two hundred words to get it under 5,000, which will be my editing goal. That said, I'm pretty happy with this little thing, my first new project since I finished Vicesteed. It's called "A Haunted Kiss," and it's based off of this freewriting exercise at penthius.

Here's a quickie excerpt:

They hadn't screamed after that, when the other dead kids showed up. They usually didn't stay long: Rupert with his purple face, Emily with the bruises all up and down her body where it showed through holes in her nightgown, and Richard with the bite marks deep in the arms. Sometimes the ghosts appeared other places, too. Mrs. Spencer, who died in bed, wandered the aisles of the supermarket in her nightgown. A crying baby ghost sat in the swing at the playground. There was even a ghost cat who sharpened her phantom claws against the big maple tree outside the library.

In other news, no critiques from Critters of "Warmth in the Cold Time" yet. *gnashing of teeth*