Happy St. Patrick’s weekend, everyone!
Like probably a great many people out there at the moment, I’m taking this holiday stretch to kick back, recover and brace for the next week–although in my case, it’s more recovering from the latest writing, in advance of the next round starting Monday. The fact that it’s a round of work on another anthology–meaning a whole batch of different ideas potentially being worked on at the same time, or near enough to make no difference–makes the current break all the sweeter 😀 .
Overall, this most recent stretch of writing turned out to be both bruising and exhilarating, in nearly equal measure. Thanks to COVID, recovery, Outside World demands and the occasional upsurge of ennui that stalks every writer, I wasn’t able to reach four completed drafts for the Divided Worlds anthology, although I did manage three (“Chistka”, “Les Mariannes” and “One Giant Leap”), with some style-related gaps in the third given a late decision to try writing in a mix of diary and transcript entries. While I’m obviously not thrilled at falling short of the goal I’d hoped for, it was a goal that I set, and therefore I can change it as energy, time and inspiration demand, like always.
The same goes for the work now approaching: a restart on putting together my Civil War-themed Alternate History anthology. The work period is scheduled to stretch from the last weeks of March all the way to May 1st, and four drafts (two already started) are currently planned. “World Emancipator” depicts famed Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi offering his services to the Union Army (an offer nearly accepted in real history), thus placing him at a critical moment in the wake of the Battle of Gettysburg. “That Devil Forrest” and “Lost Causes” explore a world in which Nathan Bedford Forrest did not surrender at the end of the Civil War, leading to guerrilla warfare beyond even that of real history, and the consequences of this on one Southern family up to the Second World War. And in “Hill Country Commune”, Karl Marx, while traveling amongst German settlers in Texas as a New York Tribune correspondent, finds himself trapped in the state as the Civil War begins–and may become a leader amongst his fellow immigrants, in a very different kind of rebellion. Odds are long on finishing all four, but I still aim to try, and expect to have two done, minimum, by the time the project’s over.
In other writing news: The sports-themed collection containing my AH short story “Toe-to-Toe” should be going to Sea Lion Press before the month’s out. Release dates tend to vary, but my current hope is to see the collection released before the year’s out, and maybe well before that! Meantime, for anyone needing an AH or fiction fix, my complete (to date) Cross & Flag series is back on sale through Kindle, at the links below, so feel free to check ’em out and/or share if you or someone you know is feeling that itch, LOL.
That’s all for this month! Enjoy the (all-too-slow, IMO) start of spring, and see you in April!
Mark Anthony Ciccone 