Nature / Writing

  It's been a long time since I've used my Wattpad account , but I recently rediscovered this social site dedicated to the sharing of original writing. It felt sort of strange to just be skulking around reading though, so I uploaded my odd little short story  Model Citizen  to the site. Model Citizen  was published in the first issue of the YA speculative fiction lit mag Inaccurate Realities back in 2013, but if you missed out on reading it then you can now check it out in its entirety online: Read Model Citizen on Wattpad Of course most of what's posted to Wattpad are unpublished works-in-progress, as the site has a heavy emphasis on getting feedback and developing as a writer. I have been thinking about uploading one of my Nanowrimo novels that's just sitting around collecting digital dust, but I'd definitely want to spend a little longer re-familiarizing myself with the site before I decide whether or not to do that. Are you on Wattpad? What sort of wo...

Sunday November 10, 2013 Yesterday was the launch party for Inaccurate Realities #1: Fear , a YA speculative fiction collection which includes my short story " Model Citizen ." This was particularly neat for me, because it was a soft-landing entry into the world of book events - I didn't have to do any of the work, but I still got to show up and sign things. :) It was a really great event, and kudos to editor Christa Seeley and assistant editors Andrea Modolo and Sara Eagleson for putting it all together. I learned a few to-do things from them, and a few not-to-dos from myself. Here are some of the notes-to-self I've made for next time. First, from the things I could have done better: Practice signing your name beforehand. (Seriously. That chicken scratch was just ridiculous.) Bring a pen. (How did I not think of this? Luckily Steve had some at the ready.) Be on time. (Although I was mostly delayed by the arrival of a stray cat I'd been waiting to fe...

By Marilyn Anne Campbell Short Story: Young Adult, Speculative Fiction "The Invasion changed many things: the way people thought about themselves and each other, the landscape of the Earth, the very dynamics of the universe. But there were some things it did not change—things like the upper level food court of the Maddison Bay Mall." Scotty goes looking for his first retail job, and ends up leading the fight against alien invaders. Publication History Model Citizen  was first published in the YA speculative fiction magazine Inaccurate Realities . It appears in Volume One: Fear, which was published on October 22nd, 2013. As of March 2016, you can read  Model Citizen  on Wattpad . Story Notes The first draft of this story was written way back in the summer of 2002. I submitted it to one magazine, got a rejection, and pretty much forgot about it for a decade.  The main character was named after one of my roommates from 2002, although they are abso...

Tuesday October 29, 2013 Forget haunted houses, or cemeteries, or spooky old castles on hilltops. Real terror, true terror, lives at the mall... My short story "Model Citizen" is about a first retail job gone wrong (like, earth-hangs-in-the-balance wrong), and it's now available in the first issue of a new speculative fiction magazine for YA readers, Inaccurate Realities . Volume One also includes author interviews, book reviews and four other fear-themed stories: “For Halloween” by J. W. Zulauf “And I Thought They Smelled Bad on the Outside” by Mackenzi Lee “The Usual” by S.H. Aeschliman “Dead Man’s Pond” by Rie Sheridan Rose Read and Share You can find   Inaccurate Realities Vol. One: Fear on Goodreads , for list-adding, review-sharing goodness. And there are plenty of places to order a print or e-copy of "Fear" online. You can go directly through the good people at InaccurateRealities.com , or check out this blog post where they've...

The thick smell slid deep inside me, stirring up trouble. I never woulda guessed a bowl of soup could make me hate my best friend, but the longer Jim took with that damned speech, the hollower and sicker I felt. Every gurgle of my stomach made me more sure this so-called toast was just Jim’s way of keeping me from what he knew would be my first meal of the day. He's never been long-winded, but he loves to be in control, right down to last night's bachelor party I said I didn't want. Now he was holding me for a little bit longer, every new joke and old story telling me that no new wife could keep me from following his lead. I looked up at him standing beside me and coulda swore I saw him wink just before he started into some new bit about what happens when a man looses his independence to a woman. Always the agreeable one, I turned my back on my bride and, with a raise of my glass, retched a symbol of my freedom onto my best man’s best pants. An earlier version of W...