Another One Down

Posted on Posted in Short Stories, Writing Progress Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Just felt the need to crow.

I finished another story today: another mystery/crime tale, called Bag Man.  I started it back in March, but only got about 1,000 words down before I left for the Workshop.  I originally called it The Watery Tart, because I started it by playing off of Monty Python And The Holy Grail, with one of the characters complaining, “I can’t believe that watery tart threw a scimitar at me!”  But after that start, what I thought was going to be a farcical fantasy story turned into a gritty modern-day crime story.  So I had to edit the beginning a little bit.  Changed that first dialogue line completely, because I really want to use the watery tart bit in a story that suits it some day.

Bag Man came in at just over 5,600 words.

I was pretty happy to finish another crime/mystery story, because I want to get The Billionaire’s Daughter up for public consumption and I’d rather do it as a $2.99 double than as a $1.99 single.  So Bag Man allows me to do this.

Except…

I think it’s a darn good, and fun, story.  So I decided to try it at Ellery Queen first.  Pushed submit just a few minutes ago.  Which means I have a choice.  Either:

  1. Publish The Billionaire’s Daughter now as a $1.99 single and change it to a double after Ellery Queen’s done with Bag Man (assuming it’s rejected).   -or-
  2. Wait to publish them both once EQ has made their determination.

There’s no real rush, so I’m inclined to go with #2.  Except that I already have a cover concept (a good one too, I think) done for The Billionaire’s Daughter.  And I like the story a lot.  And, well, I’m impatient.

On the flip side, since mystery/crime is a departure from the SF/F Michael Kingswood theme, I’m using a new pen name for these stories: Alex Mariner.  More titles = better for a pen name, so waiting to start him off with two might not be a bad plan.

Ah hell, I dunno.

EQ only took 10 days or so to process The Billionaire’s Daughter, even though they advertise up to three months.  If they can be that quick with Bag Man, it’s a no brainer to wait.  So I guess I’ll wait and see.

UPDATE – I looked at the Dreamstine terms of use again, and putting up that test cover with their watermarked images was a no-no.  So I’ve taken it down.

 

Well that’s about it for now.  Cheers!