Story Sale!

I sold my story, 'The Devil's Due,' to what is rapidly becoming my favorite horror ezine, Black Treacle. This is one is especially sweet because this is the 24 hour story I wrote during my week at the Writers of the Future in San Diego. It should be out sometime in mid-August.

SWG Writing Retreat 2013 Recap, or Writing Retreat 2: The Quickening

This past weekend was the Stop-Watch Gang's second annual writing retreat, again hosted at the SWG secret southwestern Ontario lair (aka, Suzanne's house in Kitchener). And we are especially grateful to Suzanne and her boyfriend Michael for their hospitality considering that when we arrived there had been no power for 18 hours! They did herculean duty moving frozen and perishable food all over town to friends and relatives with power so that nothing spoiled and the SWG could eat well as we wrote.

Three cheers for Suzanne!

As with last year, Costi Gurgu was the undisputed winner of the 16 hour write-a-thon, with a grand total of 11,068 words of new fiction (and we hate him all the more because he's writing in his second language!)

Full tallies of people's new word counts are:

• Costi: 11,068 words
• Tony: 9548 words
• Ian: 8095 words
• Mike: 7257 words
• Suzanne: 6048 words (and mind you she lost most of Saturday afternoon once the power came back on trying to gather all that farmed-out food!)
• Stefan (oh yeah, somehow during the ride over the fellas decided that my 'real' name was Stefan and thus was I known for the whole weekend...): 3104 words
• Richard: 1950 words

And now, a graphic!

Also, fun fact discovered this weekend: did you know that the 80s SF classic The Last Starfighter was actually an American remake of a German movie whose title translates as The Last Spaceman? In that movie, aliens contact the winner of a pinball game to see when he wants to start intergalactic war. True story.

Or we made it up.

One of the two.

- Stephen

Writing Retreat Weekend 2013 Edition

This coming weekend, the Stop-Watch Gang will be partaking in their annual writing retreat. From roughly noon Saturday to noon on Sunday, various members will write like fiends.

As is tradition, we provide a few challenge prompts to inspire SWG members and those of you playing along with the home game.

For 2013, inspiration is drawn from the letter "S".

Using the five senses...
Taste – saffron, scallops, spinach
Touch – suede, syrup, steel
Smell – stew, sewage, scotch
Sight – snow, sign, syringe
Sound – sand, saxophone, siren

Using Words...

A quote by Socrates: "The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be."

A quote by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences."

A quote by William Shakespeare: "Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know"

Using visual prompts, follow the links below...

"Vice Admiral Sir George Anson's Victory off Cape Finisterre" by Samuel Scott

"The Girl" by Emily Shanks

"Pine Pavillion Near a Spring" by Shitao

Using auditory prompts, follow the links below...

The song "Shake Me Down" by Cage the Elephant

The song "Spaceship" by Puddle of Mudd

The song "Scumbag Blues" by Them Crooked Vultures

The song "Something to Remind You" by Staind

The song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Alt. Version)" by Marilyn Manson

The song "Sofi Needs a Ladder" by Deadmou5

Feel free to post your word counts in the comments section below.

Gang News

We had a lively meeting on Sunday, April 28th.

Too bad Stephen Kotowich couldn't attend, as he usually keep track of critquotes.

The Big News:

Two of our members made the final ballot for the Aurora Awards.

Costi Gurgu is nominated in the Best Artist category
for the cover art for Inner Diverse, (Starfire World Syndicate).

Suzanne Church is nominated in the Best Short Fiction – English category for
"Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop" in Clarkesworld, Issue #68, May 2012.

The voting opens May 6th and closes at 11:59:59 PM PST on September 13, 2013.
Cast your vote for the Aurora Awards.

The ballot is available online at: Prix Aurora Award Ballot

Ad Astra 2013

Ad Astra 2013 has come and gone. Read my con report at mikerimar.com

Night Shift at the Tim Hornets is Live!

You can read my zombie story, "Night Shift at the Tim Hornets," for free in Black Treacle Magazine.

Awards season is nearly done!

Here are some of the stories published by Stop-Watch Gang members in 2012 that are eligible for the World Fantasy and the Aurora Award.

Short story category:
Carson, Brad. "Mr. Go Away", Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, October 2012.
Click here to listen to Stop-Watch Gang member Richard Baldwin reading "Mr. Go Away"

Church, Suzanne. "Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop", Clarkesworld Magazine, May 2012.
Click here for information on reading a review copy of "Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop"

Church, Suzanne. "Death Over Easy", Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, October 2012.
Click here for information on reading a review copy of "Death Over Easy"

Pi, Tony. "Remains of the Witch", Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show #26, January 2012.
Learn more about Tony on his blog.

Pi, Tony. "The Miscible Imp," When the Villain Comes Home, Dragon Moon Press, July 2012.
Learn more about Tony on his blog.

Pi, Tony. "Susumu Must Fold," Daily Science Fiction, October 2012.
Learn more about Tony on his blog.


Illustration category:
Click here to see the cover of Inner Diverse
Gurgu, Costi. Cover art for Nina Munteanu‘s Inner Diverse, (Starfire World Syndicate) December 2012.
Check out Costi's 2012 illustrations at his website.