The Cosmic Balance (i.e. my ego) is Tilted!!

Another review for the The Clockwork Jungle Book, Shimmer magazine's 11th issue, which contains my story, "And How His Audit Stands."

This time, the Mad Hatter Bookshelf and Book Review says:

"Anders surprised me with one of the most well thought-out and adventurous stories in the bunch yet the animal theme is a bit lost. He somehow gives a new life to trains with great Western style flair. I recently learned that Mike Resnick upcoming Steampunk themed series Weird West was initially Lou's idea. I now understand where Lou gestated the thought."

So, two up, one down. And now, the cosmic balance is in jeopardy.

Also, I should point out that I merely suggested to Mike Resnick that he would do well at Weird West/ Steampunk. The story that resulted is entirely his.

The Cosmic Balance (i.e. my ego) is Maintained!!

Reviews are starting to come in for the The Clockwork Jungle Book, Shimmer magazine's 11th issue, an issue of steampunk-toned, anthropomorphic fables. The issue has 172 pages of stories, included among them my own "And How His Audit Stands."

Of which Sam Tomaino, of SFRevu, says:

...makes for a fine story and a truly imaginative one.

But contrast this with Lois Tilton over at The Internet Review of Science Fiction, who writes:

Here, the animal aspect is downplayed to insignificance, despite aphorisms from a fable scattered through the text; the punchline of this, annoyingly, doesn't come at the conclusion as a punchline should, and the actual concluding moral is moralistic.

So, one up, one down. Thus, the cosmic balance is maintained. The universe is safe--for the time being!

(Although I could see a case for Rich Horton's listing of my name under "other good work came from" sufficient praise to start tipping the scales towards megalomania... mwa ha ha...)

In all seriousness, the 18 other contributors are the real reason to check out this issue. Last Short Story writes, "This entire anthology is full of beautiful, fascinating stories. ....the tone was consistent and the stories engaging and well written. Definitely grab a copy! "

The Clockwork Jungle Book (Shimmer Issue #11)

For someone who averages one story every four years, I've produced a LOT of fiction this year. I wrote a piece for a Solaris anthology that, unfortunately, was scraped in the change of ownership, and a piece I wrote years ago with Chris Roberson just surfaced in Dave Hutchinson's Under the Rose.I knocked out a sword & sorcery story after being inspired by my forthcoming anthology(just for myself, you understand, though I "have plans" for both it and sequels). I even managed to complete 50,000 words of NaNoWriMo, and then, there's this:

Welcome to the Clockwork Jungle Book: our collection of twenty fabulous steampunk animal tales. We’ve got an origin story from Jay Lake, and a tale of the end of the world from Sara Genge. Stories set in London, China, Alabama, Castle Frankenstein, and the moon. We’ve got snakes and dinosaurs, elephants and wolves, bees and fish, birds and goats, and yes, even a monkey or two.

"And How His Audit Stands" is my steampunk western contribution to Shimmer magazine's 11th issue, The Clockwork Jungle Book. Featuring tales by Jay Lake, Blake Hutchins, Jess Nevins, Shweta Narayan, Marissa Lingen, Vince Pendergast, Susannah Mandel, James Maxey, Gwynne Garfinkle, James L Cambias, Genevieve Valentine, Sara Genge, Barbara A Barnett, Amal El-Mohtar, Chris Roberson, Rajan Khanna, Peter M Ball, Alethea Kontis, Caleb Wilson and Yours Truly. Very proud to be in their number. And they even ran an interview with me on my author page.