Readers, fans, and contributors,
It’s been a few months since I let everyone know what was going on around here. We’ve got a couple new books out, and lots of great stuff in the works.
First, if you haven’t seen yet, Manawaker Studio’s first anthology is out now. Dangerous to Go Alone is a book of poetry about gamers and gaming, written by a number of fantastic poets, and edited by me. Within are poems about games themselves and poems about the effects that those games have on our lives and those we love. There is still (just barely) time to grab a copy as a holiday gift for the gamer in your life!
Other good Holiday presents from Manawaker Studio this year include RapUnsEl and Other Stories and Dragon Line.
Second, speaking of Dragon Line, you will soon be able to play the game for free online at boardgamearena.com. If you don’t already play over there, you should, and keep an eye out for Dragon Line to appear in their selections soon. (also feel free to friend me on there, and invite me to some asynchronous board gaming sessions).
Third, the year-long Flash Fiction Fridays experiment is coming to a close. Each week from January thru November (except for one I missed while traveling) I brought you a new original short-short story for free on my blog. The experiment was successful in that it kept me producing new creative things all year long, and sparked lots of ideas for longer stories, but it was unsuccessful in increasing readership and sales. Aside from those outcomes, FFF will be coming to an end for a much more practical reason: I can’t do much of anything with those stories after giving them away on a blog. So, starting next year, Flash Fiction Friday will be moving to Patreon. If you’ve been enjoying the short-shorts, you will be able to see them over there if you are a patron of Manawaker Studio. This will allow me to continue writing the stories for an audience, while also allowing me to try to find homes for the stories with publishers who want “not previously published” works (the private Patron feed does not count as “published” while the blog does). HOWEVER! That doesn’t mean that there will not continue to be free Manawaker things available next year. Just look at the next couple items in this note:
Fourth, Flash Fiction Podcast will continue in the new year (as soon as my sound studio is done crossing the ocean to our new home in Munich). However, its form will change slightly. It will still contain original fiction from me, some of which will be sourced from the FFF stories over on Patreon, but it will also begin to feature short-shorts from other authors. I have opened a call for submissions of flash fiction to be featured on the podcast alongside my own work. I’m not sure exactly what the ratio will be, that will depend on how many submissions I get, but I hope to share with the podcast audience some of the best flash fiction out there (and, failing that, some that I think are fun to read). If you are interested in submitting some flash fiction to potentially be featured, check out the call for submissions over here.
Fifth, a new weekly project will be starting soon to replace Flash Fiction Friday on the blog. It’s not quite ready to be revealed, and it will not quite be ready to begin on the first week of the new year, but I’m very excited for everyone to see it. Keep an eye on the blog for a neat new weekly thing to begin soon.
Finally, Manawaker Studio has begun work on another new anthology. This time, it will be more than just poetry. The upcoming book will feature short fiction, poetry, and visual art, all on the very broad theme of sci-fi retellings of legends, myths, and fairytales. The anthology has not yet been named, but is working under the title, “Starward Tales”. If the project turns out well, it might become an annual(ish) anthology. The call for submissions for this one is over here. Share it with your writer and artist friends.
That’s all the Manawaker news for now.
Happy Holidays,
CB Droege
Manawaker Studio
