ST: Online Division: 31 October 2014 update

3 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 :

The October 31, 2014 update of Silverthought Online includes short fiction from John Brown Spiers, Javier Cabrera, Jill Corddry, Robert Earle, Iain Ishbel, J. M. Strasser, and David Wright, and an excerpt from Counselor, the forthcoming novel by Victor Giannini that Silverthought will be publishing in limited hardcover, paperback, and digital editions in early 2015. These are some remarkable pieces of writing and it is my pleasure and honor to present them to you.

It is in many ways difficult to write this summary of the update because so much has changed since our last. The Silverthought community recently lost a cherished friend in Lawrence Santoro, who came to us as a participant in the moonshot A Dark and Deadly Valley anthology and stuck around to publish the stunning collection of short horror Drink for the Thirst to Come. His warmth, kindness, and raw talent, his willingness to take a chance with a nobody like me with a project of that magnitude, his polite decline of the shitty cover I mocked up for Drink, his Christmas cards and being "chuffed", his Just North of Nowhere--one of the best books I've ever read, and I've read a few--and that voice, that voice. I wanted to include a tribute, a short story of his, a link to a podcast, an anecdote, a something, but nothing can summarize. What I can do is give you Drink for the Thirst to Come for free this weekend, available in a Kindle edition on Amazon right now, all yours if you want it. People like us don't just leave books, we leave the stories of how those books came to be, and it is my honor to have had the opportunity to work with Larry Santoro and count him among my friends.

In putting together this update there was a sense of finality in it, in that I know Mark has academic obligations that severely reduce the amount of time he can devote to Silverthought, and with my family adding a third child next spring in addition to the exhausting flux of academia, I know that I won't be able to devote my full attention to this endeavor. We will be closing submissions to our online division for the time being, just as we stopped accepting print submissions earlier this year. But digging through the slush pile, reading the work entrusted to us, reaching out to writers, that is one of the hearts of me, and I know I'll return to it. So think of the coming changes not as an end but as a pause--Silverthought still has several books ready to publish next year, and 2015 is the twentieth anniversary of the completion of my first novel. Although for a time we're not going to accept unsolicited writing, we'll be working behind the scenes to make this site better and follow the mission we laid out in 2001: to provide readers the finest intellectual, experimental, and speculative fiction we can.

Thanks for reading.

—Paul

Every villain thinks he’s the hero, and Timothy Dune, cursed by an ancient island-god to kill everyone he loves, is about to have a memorable night. Counselor by Victor Giannini will be released by Silverthought in limited hardcover, paperback, and digital editions in early 2015.

A man spends his hospital stay lying about what put him there and hounded by a bouquet of flowers. When he is discharged, he tries to do a good deed, and finds it more complicated than he’d realized.

The everlasting friendship between a young writer and his mentor turns into a fantastic adventure when Mr. Graham Smith, a small-time journalist, decides to become the protagonist of his own stories.

When a sugar pig is born on their farm, Jenny's father orders it destroyed. But the young child is smitten with the pure white piglet and escapes with it, hiding it and caring for it as long as she can, even though it may bring shame to her family.

The Green family grows by a series of adoptions that make no sense. Pity and love drive things along.

A high school girl stuck on a lonely Mars colony puts her utmost into an admissions essay to Ceres State University. Her casual assumptions about the worlds in which she lives reveal more than we'd like to know about our future. Go Dragonflies!

An aide is called to work with an elderly gentleman whose children have lost patience with him. All goes as is normal for care of an Alzheimer's patient until one day when his delusions about other worlds, using his own spaceship, and demanding to go to his favorite bar turns into an enchanting day out.

For thousands of years, pilgrims have journeyed to the Sacred Rock in search of answers to the deepest secrets of the universe. From this perilous journey, some return enlightened, some saddened, and some not at all.


	online.silverthought.com S U B M I S S I O N S \| C U R R E N T U P D A T E \| C O N T E S T S \| A R C H I V E 3 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 : The October 31, 2014 update of Silverthought Online includes short fiction from John Brown Spiers, Javier Cabrera, Jill Corddry, Robert Earle, Iain Ishbel, J. M. Strasser, and David Wright, and an excerpt from Counselor, the forthcoming novel by Victor Giannini that Silverthought will be publishing in limited hardcover, paperback, and digital editions in early 2015. These are some remarkable pieces of writing and it is my pleasure and honor to present them to you. It is in many ways difficult to write this summary of the update because so much has changed since our last. The Silverthought community recently lost a cherished friend in Lawrence Santoro, who came to us as a participant in the moonshot A Dark and Deadly Valley anthology and stuck around to publish the stunning collection of short horror Drink for the Thirst to Come. His warmth, kindness, and raw talent, his willingness to take a chance with a nobody like me with a project of that magnitude, his polite decline of the shitty cover I mocked up for Drink, his Christmas cards and being "chuffed", his Just North of Nowhere--one of the best books I've ever read, and I've read a few--and that voice, that voice. I wanted to include a tribute, a short story of his, a link to a podcast, an anecdote, a something, but nothing can summarize. What I can do is give you Drink for the Thirst to Come for free this weekend, available in a Kindle edition on Amazon right now, all yours if you want it. People like us don't just leave books, we leave the stories of how those books came to be, and it is my honor to have had the opportunity to work with Larry Santoro and count him among my friends. In putting together this update there was a sense of finality in it, in that I know Mark has academic obligations that severely reduce the amount of time he can devote to Silverthought, and with my family adding a third child next spring in addition to the exhausting flux of academia, I know that I won't be able to devote my full attention to this endeavor. We will be closing submissions to our online division for the time being, just as we stopped accepting print submissions earlier this year. But digging through the slush pile, reading the work entrusted to us, reaching out to writers, that is one of the hearts of me, and I know I'll return to it. So think of the coming changes not as an end but as a pause--Silverthought still has several books ready to publish next year, and 2015 is the twentieth anniversary of the completion of my first novel. Although for a time we're not going to accept unsolicited writing, we'll be working behind the scenes to make this site better and follow the mission we laid out in 2001: to provide readers the finest intellectual, experimental, and speculative fiction we can. Thanks for reading. —Paul E X C E R P T : An Excerpt from Counselor by Victor Giannini Every villain thinks he’s the hero, and Timothy Dune, cursed by an ancient island-god to kill everyone he loves, is about to have a memorable night. Counselor by Victor Giannini will be released by Silverthought in limited hardcover, paperback, and digital editions in early 2015. S H O R T F I C T I O N : It Is Getting Very Crowded by John Brown Spiers A man spends his hospital stay lying about what put him there and hounded by a bouquet of flowers. When he is discharged, he tries to do a good deed, and finds it more complicated than he’d realized. Mr. Graham Smith; the most remarkable man who ever was. by Javier Cabrera The everlasting friendship between a young writer and his mentor turns into a fantastic adventure when Mr. Graham Smith, a small-time journalist, decides to become the protagonist of his own stories. The Sugar Pig by Jill Corddry When a sugar pig is born on their farm, Jenny's father orders it destroyed. But the young child is smitten with the pure white piglet and escapes with it, hiding it and caring for it as long as she can, even though it may bring shame to her family. A Treatise on the Illogical Family Green by Robert Earle *The Green family grows by a series of adoptions that make no sense. Pity and love drive things along.* Dear Ceres State: by Iain Ishbel A high school girl stuck on a lonely Mars colony puts her utmost into an admissions essay to Ceres State University. Her casual assumptions about the worlds in which she lives reveal more than we'd like to know about our future. Go Dragonflies! Travels with Walter by J. M. Strasser An aide is called to work with an elderly gentleman whose children have lost patience with him. All goes as is normal for care of an Alzheimer's patient until one day when his delusions about other worlds, using his own spaceship, and demanding to go to his favorite bar turns into an enchanting day out. The Oracle by David Wright For thousands of years, pilgrims have journeyed to the Sacred Rock in search of answers to the deepest secrets of the universe. From this perilous journey, some return enlightened, some saddened, and some not at all. P R E V I O U S U P D A T E S : 31 August 2013 31 July 2013 24 November 2012 30 June 2012 11 November 2011 30 May 2011 31 January 2011 23 November 2010 01 October 2010 24 October 2009 01 June 2009 02 February 2009 15 November 2008 20 September 2008 25 July 2008 25 June 2008 01 May 2008 29 February 2008 ST Archive For Silverthought updates and announcements emailed directly to your inbox, subscribe to the ST Newsletter today: S U B S C R I B E T O S T N E W S L E T T E R :
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