To Raise an Author

I've been reaching out to journals I've published in to see if I can sniff up interest in my novel. Sometimes editors will let you share an excerpt or post a link back to your website or your page on Amazon.

I had a rather fortuitous email from University of Texas Pan American who publishes a print journal called RiverSedge. I was trying to track down a short story I'd thought was published by them, but wasn't sure since I never received a copy. My story "A Miner Frame" about a Fireman who burns with the passion of being an artist has a fabulist experience when he's visiting an art gallery. He escapes a room brimming with philistines and cozies up to a particularly odd painting. He is so engrossed by it that it sucks him into the canvas and all at once the fireman becomes part of the painting. The rest is a dialectic on the enterprise on aesthetics and craftsmanship.

Here's the good thing that happened to me. I was informed by the assistant of the English Department that indeed my story "A Miner Frame" appeared in issue 18:1 -- back in 2005. Some postal snafu must have botched things up. Nonetheless, I will finally be getting my two free author copies.

Alas, I am plugging away trying to get to word out there. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a miracle to raise an author.