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I’m going to be in a year’s best!

/ Shane / 4 Comments

So, the table of contents for “The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2013” was released today…guess who’s going to be sharing a TOC with Neil Gaiman?

That’s right! My story “Random Play All and the League of Awesome” from OOMPH: A Little Super Goes a Long Way was selected as one of the best young adult stories printed in 2013. Obviously that feels pretty good (especially receiving the email out of nowhere), but now that I see the full table of contents, it’s a little overwhelming! People I know, people I admire, and people I didn’t think to have my name alongside.

Did I mention Neil Gaiman? I am *literally* listening to The Ocean at the End of the Lane RIGHT NOW.

Here’s the full table of contents:

Selkie Stories Are For Losers  –  Sofia Samatar
By Bone-Light  –  Juliet Marillier
The Myriad Dangers  –  Lavie Tidhar
Carpet  –  Nnedi Okorafor
I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon  –  Sarah Rees Brennan
57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides  –  Sam J. Miller
The Minotaur Girls  –  Tansy Rayner Roberts
Not With You, But With You  –  Miri Kim
Ghost Town  –  Malinda Lo
December  –  Neil Gaiman
An Echo in the Shell  –  Beth Cato
Dan’s Dreams  –  Eliza Victoria
As Large As Alone  –  Alena McNamara
Random Play All and the League of Awesome  –  Shane Halbach
Mah Song  –  Joanne Anderton
What We Ourselves Are Not  –  Leah Cypess
The City of Chrysanthemum  –  Ken Liu
Megumi’s Quest  –  Joyce Chng
Persimmon, Teeth, and Boys  –  Steve Berman
Flight  –  Angela Slatter
We Have Always Lived on Mars  –  Cecil Castellucci

I am so excited right now, you have no idea. I guess you’re supposed to act all gracious, like you’ve been there before and whatnot, but screw that! I’ve got over 300 rejections, I’m savoring the wins for all they’re worth.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be over here, shouting from the rooftops.

“Copy Machine”, now in Polish

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Following last month’s translation into Galician, my story “Copy Machine” is now available in the Polish magazine Szortal (pronounced “shortal” for us English speakers).

One more step on my way to world domination…

And That, My Children, Is Why We Can’t Go to Space Anymore

/ Shane / Leave a comment

I’m happy to announce that my story “And That, My Children, Is Why We Can’t Go to Space Anymore” is available today at Every Day Fiction!

I really love this story, and I think you will too. It’s very short (despite the title length), but it still manages to explain everything from the truth about the moon landing, to the reason NASA’s budget has been slashed in recent years, to whether or not God keeps kosher.

Give it a read and let me know what you think, either here, or join in the discussion on their site (I promise to obsessively check both comment sections).

We’re getting trilingual up in here

/ Shane / 2 Comments

I am extremely pleased to announce that my story, “My Heart is a Quadratic Equation” is now live at Nova Fantasia.

If you follow that link, you may notice that Nova Fantasia is not an English-language magazine. So unless you speak Galician, you may have trouble understanding.

You know what that means: I’m going big in Galicia baby!

Not only do I get to see myself in print in another language, I also get to learn the proper Galician phrasing for Nala: “un gato molestoso.” That sounds so much better than “annoying cat”, doesn’t it?

Fortunately, if you do not speak Galician, the story is available elsewhere in English.

FURTHERMORE, I shall also be appearing in Polish next month; I’ll post the link when I have it.

In conclusion: my plans for world domination proceed apace. You cannot hide from me, not even in Galicia.

“Copy Machine” live at Flash Fiction Online

/ Shane / 4 Comments

My story “Copy Machine” is now available in the June issue of Flash Fiction Online.

And there’s art! I think that’s the first time someone has done art for one of my stories. Author achievement unlocked!

I’m quite happy with this story. I had just finished reading the excellent “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” (which has since won a Nebula) and I thought, “Why don’t stories like this ever have a happy ending?” So I sat down and wrote this in a sitting, and I’m very happy with how it came out. It doesn’t bear much resemblance to the inspiration, other than the 2nd person.

I encourage you to go take a look, however, be aware: in Flash Fiction Online land, stories look back at you!