Tags
Black Static, dark fiction, Horror, Love as Deep as Bones, print magazines, Short Stories, Story Sales, TTA Press, Writing
Back in 2008 I bought my first issue of TTA press’ magazine Black Static. I was just setting out on the road to ‘writing stories with intent to publish’ (as opposed to my previous twenty years of messing around and playing at being a writer) and amongst my initial internet searches and discussions I heard about Black Static and how it published ‘slipstream’ fiction and weird horror stories and was one of the top print magazines of its type. I bought one issue as a sample and found the stories to be bizarre, bleak, horrifying and beautifully written in equal measure. Since then I’ve kept up a regular subscription and also fired several of my own dark fiction efforts at them in the hope of publication alongside some of the top names in horror/weird/dark fiction writing today.
Perseverance pays off it seems. They will be publishing my story of addiction and nostalgia, Love as Deep as Bones in an upcoming issue, hopefully early next year.
It’s been a pretty lean year writing-wise, but then I’ve not been as active as I could have been. Normal service is being resumed. I have my cool, super-secret writing group to thank for this story, though. It arose partly out of a writing prompt challenge we organise regularly and partly from one of those hastily scribbled one sentence story ideas that pop into your head – usually at the most inopportune moments.
Gosh it’s nice to be able to blog about some writing success again. I shall pass on more information as and when it comes.
DREAMWEAVING 
BIG congratulations, mate. Well done.
Thanks, Westy! Where have you been hiding recently? I hope you’re still writing away.
Well, the first half of the year saw me focused more on uni than writing, so the writing went on hold for a while. Then I moved out of student digs and got my own place, and then I was starting a new job. Thankfully, all of that’s done now, and for the last month or so I’ve been getting back into writing. I have a couple of pieces in slushpiles here and there, but I haven’t exactly got high hopes; it’d seem I’m a bit rusty.
Getting going again is the hardest part. It just takes some time to hone those muscles after a while out of action. If you stick at it there comes a point when it all seems to fall into place again. I had a few months of not writing earlier this year and it was a massive struggle getting back to it, but the first new story I wrote is the one I just had accepted by Black Static.
If you want a fresh eye on anything, Westy, you know my email address.
Cheers mate.