I had two nonfiction science articles published in PERIHELION SCIENCE FICTION during the 2013 year.  One of them, MARS: A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD HUMP, took first place in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll in the category Best Nonfiction Article.

The second, GET UP AND GO SOMEWHEN, took second place.  I am delighted with this result and look forward to more in this year.

My anthology TWISTED TAILS VII: IRREVERENCE finished in the top ten best anthologies in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll for 2013 issues.  I and all my authors are pleased with this performance and it continues a long string of awards and accolades for this series of anthologies.

TWISTED TAILS VIII: ParaAbnormal will be on its way to the publisher in the next two or three weeks.  I will be opening submissions for TWISTED TAILS IX: WUNDERKIND about the end of February.  If you would be interested in trying your hand at getting a story in this new anthology, contact me for details.  Advice:  This is NOT an easy nut to crack.  I accept only the very best and our performance to date illustrates that point.

I have begun a "sequel" to my novel SEEDS OF MEMORY.  The reason for the quotes is to indicate that, although it takes place in the same time frame as the ending of the first book, it is from an entirely different perspective and deals with true alien contact.  Our intrepid explorers from the planet of Paz have arrived at a new world.  They have no choice but to land.  If they do not, they will surely die and the work of the Fathers will not be completed.

They know in advance from probes that there is a sentient, intelligent life form occupying the planet and that they are going to have to make contact.  This will be a story of all the issues arising from such a scenario.  At this point it appears this will become another major project.  Stay tuned.

In my position I frequently receive weird stuff.  This time it was fascinatingly weird stuff.  One of my favorite authors, Margret Treiber, who has contributed some great stories in my Twisted Tails anthologies, has outdone herself this time.  She has carried marketing to an entirely new level and I love it.  She has sent one of the stories she wrote for Twisted Tails VI: The Alien Connection to a new market altogether.  She sent it by laser to KOI 961.  Don't know what that is?  Okay, it's Kepler Object of Interest No. 961.  Oh, wait a minute.  They changed the name to Kepler 42.  I forgot.  That's right -- an extrasolar solar system out there somewhere.  Well, actually, we know where it is.

Kepler-42 is a red dwarf located in the constellation Cygnus. The star is approximately 126 light years away, and has three known planets that are all smaller than Earth.  Anyway, she thought that Kepler 42d, that's one of the planets, might be a place we could get more readership.  I hope they respect our copyright laws.  I mean, it would be a sorry mess if, after all this effort, they order one book, then bang out a few billion copies on their own.  There would be no advantage to us that way.

So, she got this nifty certificate of authenticity to prove to me she had actually sent it.  I don't know why she would think I wouldn't believe her.