In the interest of trying to get some stuff going, I’m hoping to get feedback from folks.

First, assuming I get the funds to apply for Clarion/Clarion West, I need to determine which short stories to use as samples of the best of my writing. Currently, most of these pieces are online. If you would like to read them and vote for the two you think are best, I would greatly appreciate it. Not necessarily your favorite, but the ones you think are best written.

• “A Crazy Kind of Love,” my human/Lovecraftian-horror romance story
• “A Tale of Two Bureaucracies,” my parody of government work

I also have two stories that are not online at this very moment.

• “A Necessity of the Present,” hard boiled fantasy crime story that should be up on Wily Writers this weekend.
• “With Fans Like These, Who Needs Enemys?”, in which I poke fun at Twilight, was submitted to Crossed Genres earlier this week. If it gets accepted, it would be for their February issue. I could share a copy with friends who may be interested in helping, though.

I also have a few other pieces to assemble for other stuff. If people would be willing to help with providing feedback, I would be grateful. My girlfriend is an awesome editor, but she’s also biased. ;)

For the literary contest I’m looking to submit my Coulton-inspired gaslamp fantasy that I was working on this last November for NaNoWriMo. It is tentatively titled, “A Sunless Garden.” I’m aiming to get a first draft of my synopsis and excerpt together in the next couple weeks.

I also have a couple short stories I’m trying to get together for the “Eastern” issue of Crossed Genres. One is a cyberpunk story with a bunch of Buddhist mythology crammed into it. The other one, if I’m able to figure out what the larger plot is going to be, will involve Vikings and the Buddha. My general thought is that I’m hardly an expert on Asian cultures, but I know a bunch of random Buddhist stuff that I could try and spin into a story.