2021 Publication and Submissions
Here is a nice year in review post to start this off.
Publications for 2021
I published 10 short stories and novelettes in 2021! Two Flash, four Short Stories, and four Novelettes, for a total of ~50,000 published words, to be precise.
I am posting these with references to K Alexis Siemon's Lee Downer Scale, which is a scientific ranking of the intensity of bleakness, sadness, and other "downer" emotions in my stories. Note that the Lee Downer Scale is logarithmic: a 3 is 10x more of a downer than a 2, and a 5 is 100x more of a downer than a 3.
Flash:
Friendship and Other Anomalous Results, Nature. A light-hearted story about particle physics, archival work, and alien contact. Downer Scale: 1
Taking Control of Your Life in Five Easy Steps, Nightmare. A self-help guide that is published in a horror magazine for no reason. Downer Scale: 3
Short Stories:
Leaving Room for the Moon, Clarkesworld. Two orphans, sent as tribute to the Emperor of All Space and Every World, try to remember their culture in the decaying imperial palace. Downer Scale: 6.5
Your Own Undoing, Apex. After you are trapped in a fictional world by your wicked apprentice, your familiar struggles to free you, or at least get you to understand what he has done to you. Downer Scale: 4
The True Value of an Artist is His Patriotism, Cossmass Infinities. A professor and his student clash over ideology at the Jovian Academy of Ganymede, with catastrophic results. Downer Scale: 6
Larkspur, Cossmass Infinities Year One. A story of land, loss, and friendship in 2008 Northern California. Downer Scale: 7 (worth noting that this is the highest Downer Score that has ever been awarded.)
Novelette:
Just Enough Rain, Giganotosaurus. Anat's mother is best friends with God, but she convinces Him to help with her daughter's dating life, things go in a direction no one anticipated. Downer Scale: 1
Tales of the Great Sweet Sea:
Three of my stories this year were in the same series at Lightspeed, so I'm going to put them together. All novelettes.
Frost's Boy. A beautiful boy is adopted by the Frost, and the pretty girls who tried to save him. Downer Scale: 6.
The Bear Prince. A bear raised as a prince and a girl raised as a bear. Downer Scale: 2
The Ash-Girl and the Salmon Prince. A plain and simple girl, disdained by her family, falls in love with a magic fish. Rachel Swirsky did the poems for this one. It is the longest story I have ever published at 12,000 words and had to run in two parts. Downer Scale: 2
Submissions Stats for 2021
I submitted a total of 54 times in 2021, down from 68 submissions in 2020. These submissions represent 17 original stories, some of which were submitted many times and some of which sold on the first submission.
From those submissions, I sold 12 stories and 2 reprints, up from 10 sales (all originals) in 2020.