Jonathan C. Gillespie and his cramped fingers

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

You can check out my blog, http://jonathancg.net, for specifics, but in this thread I'll provide regular updates as well.  By the way, thanks for making this available.

Updated 2/7/12

Eleven publications including in the following Markets:

The Drabblecast
Apex Magazine (technically in their formerly online-only component called Apex Online)
Murky Depths
Spinetingler Magazine

Honors and awards include:
Honorable Mention in Year's Best Horror, Volume 1 (2008), ed: Ellen Datlow.
BSFA award nomination in 2009, Short Fiction, "Best in Class"
Parsec Award nomination in 2009, Short Fiction, "Best in Class"


Ten stories in current active submissions.


Currently Working On:

More short fiction.

Sitting on:

My novel, The Tyrant Strategy (news on this in the near future).

The usual trunk short stories, and two completed novel manuscripts, one sci-fi/fantasy, one near-future thriller:  about 130,000 words each.  Will probably never see the light of day.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

So I knocked out the draft for "Wrecked" today.  That's a code-name title for a very crude draft.  I always pick a word for a short story draft indicative of something in the content, so I don't lose any of my red-hot momentum at the beginning trying to title a story before it's fermented on paper.  I title after the second or third draft.

Time to prune and nurture this beast into something better.

[smartbombradio]

Titles are a bitch.  I normally do mine last too.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

So I've taken that tale and filed it in my drawer after going through it twice for editing, and reading it to my first reader.  I'll come back a month from now and hit it up with the final edit.  This is my method for creating a final draft, and I find it works well because, for a multitude of reasons, I notice more mistakes.

I hurried off another flash piece a few days back to Ye Olde Flash Contest, and now I'm writing a humor sci-fi piece about time travel and trophy wives.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

So, "Sex, Lies and Time Travel" is done, now it's onto "The Kingdom of Eee".  Then I'll go back and post-edit mercilessly, starting with "Derelict".

Don't ask me why, but batches of three work really, really well for me.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Done with them all, and they're all "in the wild".

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

"Eee" and "Upon a New Road" were both accepted this month, and will be out in Afterburn SF and Spinetingler Magazine, respectively, in the near future.  For more info, check out the Bibliography section on my official site, linked at the bottom of this post.

FYI, "Eee" literally came to me during a discussion on these message boards

In addition, new stories titled "The Encroacher", "One Night at Ollie's Stump", "Along the Edge", and a few others are in the wild.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Apex Online took "Tex's Last Run" for republication, and I've posted a free horror piece called "Old Clara's Favorites" to my official site (listed below).

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

I haven't posted here in eons, but I'm part of the crit group now and I'm considering reviving this progress reports thread.

[DKT]

Good to see you back around this neck of the woods, dude

[Scattercat]

There's definitely not enough activity on these boards.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

A lot's happened since the last time I posted here. I picked up two award nominations, an honorable mention for Year's Best Horror, and a few more publishing credits, though most of the past two years was spent outlining and writing an epic trilogy, working on a joint fiction piece with another writer, and critiquing same writer's novel. Oh, and there was the small matter of having our first baby. Yes indeed.

Currently I now have several tales back in active submissions. I have one I am waiting on a response for at the moment -- a revision sent by their request, and I'm looking to see if they go with the revised tale.

Other than that, I have one draft pending revision, one draft nearly through the first draft process, and my novel in the hands of one last First Reader.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Two more roughs done on two stories; one crime\horror\thriller and one science fiction. Editing now underway.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Also -- I am open to reselling "On Dasher", which ran in the Drabblecast to very positive feedback a few years back. It's a Christmas fantasy tale that involves Dasher the reindeer in a globe-spanning race with a Kirin, and of course there is the obligatory cheerful Christmas message. It was a lot of fun to write.

If you know of or hear of anyone looking for some good reindeer fodder for the upcoming Christmas season, let me know, and you will be on the cool list.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

"Across the Bridge", science fiction, now in the submissions hopper.

"Fuse" (working title), horror, -- in the crit group here.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Sold: "Todd Elrin and the Forever Reset" to The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine. Great team over there.

First draft done on a new science fiction short story, as well. No working title yet.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Interested folks can now follow me on my facebook fan page and twitter. I am uncomfortable with self-promotion, but it seems necessary these days.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Finished a last edit of "The Tyrant Strategy"; looking for a copy editor (think I found one, but still taking references). Novel is about 88k words long.

Also, if anyone can recommend a good, reasonable web designer to revamp my wordpress site, let me know.

Currently working on third draft of an untitled science fiction tale, about 3800 words.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Crit group now has my draft of my latest science fiction yarn, around 3800 words. "The Tyrant Strategy, Volume I" is in the hands of a copy-editor.

Hey, you know what's fun? When a thumb drive corrupts one of your manuscripts-in-progress. I'm not going to lose a huge amount of time -- just two or three days of work. But I'm still steamed.

[Scattercat]

Thinkgeek sells thumb drives that allegedly can withstand several varieties of natural disaster...