The 7th anniversary issue of Aoife's Kiss is out! Everyone should go buy a copy. Not only because my short story, Dead Chessie, is in it. Not because the editor, Tyree Campbell, was awesome enough to be the very first person to take a chance on Anna Martin. (He was also nice to me when I turned into Idiot Girl at Hypericon last year as soon as I realized who I was standing next to in the dealer room.) Not even because the cover art is really spiffy. (Dan Skinner's "Pirate Scout" has earned him a new fangirl!) But because the Sam's Dot people are incredibly cool all the way around. In addition to Aoife's Kiss, Sam's Dot offers up all sorts of nifty things like SpecFic poetry, a special online zine for kids, a zine for fans of sensual sf/f, even an anthology of tentacle stories. They work really hard to bring their writers' voices to the world and that has made them one of the best independent publishers out there. I am very proud to be one of those writers. Go check 'em out!
And the story? If you followed ATIV, then you're already familiar with Dead Chessie's main character, Bard Anna Martin. She's stationed on Maryland's Eastern Shore, investigating the corpse of a big dead snake that, according to the overeager were-golden retriever on the police force, is more than it seems. The clues Anna uncovers reveals the consequences of a peer's bad decisions and the truth about a local legend.
I have to admit, I'm pretty geeked out. Chessie was my first sale, and finally seeing something I wrote in print realizes a big dream for me. Now all I have to worry about is the potential for angry Marylanders when they realize I killed off a Chesapeake myth.
