Matt Betts tries to explain himself

I'm getting ready to head for Chicago this Friday for Windycon! Very excited! The theme of the con is steampunk, so it aught to be a ton of fun. Long drive, but it should be great once I manage to get there!

I just got a note that "The Book of Tentacles" from Sams Dot Publishing is available for purchase. They accepted a short poem from me called "The Mantle of Power" a while back and it's finally seeing print.

You might guess from the title that all of the stories and poems had to have something to do with tentacles. I figured the natural inclinations for an anthology like this and ran in the opposite direction - I wrote a short western poem featuring gunfighters... and tentacles.

Logical, no?

Here's the table of contents and the blurb:

The Book of Tentacles edited by Scott Virtes and Edward Cox {Sam's Dot Publishing}
It's been over a year in the making, but finally The Book of Tentacles is reaching out for us from the depths of the minds of various writers. It's a perfect bound trade paperback, and if it has something to do with tentacles, it's in here: science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Yes, there are Cthulhu stories. Yes, there's interspecies romance [between writer and squid, for one]. Yes, there are suckers, graspers, vermicelli, carapaces, and strange adventures on land and in water. Come see what Scott Virtes and Edward Cox have assembled for your reading enjoyment.
INTRO by Scott Virtes
"A Lady’s Quick Reference Note on the Tentacle" – Miss Camille Alexa
"Call of the Bailiff" – Matthew Bey
"Professor Hilliard’s Electric Lantern" – Robert J. Santa
"Lab Assistant" – Marge Simon
"A Quiet Neighborhood" – Laura J. Underwood
"In the Octopus’s Garden" – James S. Dorr
"Drosera" – Joshua Gage
"The Temple of Squoad" – Steve Goble
"A Ferrylouper at Stenness" – Christopher M. Cevasco
"Cascade" – Cathy Buburuz
"Hideki and the Giant Squid" – Mark Lee Pearson
"Mishmash: From the Case File of DragonEye, PI" – Karina Fabian
INTERLUDE: Weird Art by Scott Virtes
"Long and black in the middle of the night" – Sharon Bray.
"Low Life" – Clinton Lawrence
"P6 is Burning" – Scott Virtes
"Slightly Pudgy Writer Seeks Foreign Entanglement" – Tyree Campbell
"What Did She Know of Love" – Terrie Leigh Relf
"Taking Root" – Rob Brooks
"Sucker Punch" – Mark Onspaugh
"The Little Sea Maid" – Kendall Evans & Stephen M. Wilson
"One Big Drinker" – Billy Wong
"To See" – Jim Ehmann
"Mr Octopus Hands" – Brian Rosenburger
"Dead Wait" – Carl Hose
"Jar of Peaches" – Terry Hickman
"The Mantle of Power" – Matt Betts
"Blood Amber" – Keyan Bowes
"Ink and Shadows" – Kali Black
"Azure Doom" – William Blake Vogel III
"The Anemone Garden" – David C. Kopaska-Merkel
"The Signal" – Aurelio Rico Lopez III
OUTRO by Edward Cox

What is the world coming to? Check out this Reuters report-

Yep. I'm on vacation. I'm currently sitting on the back deck of a rental property, digging the ocean breeze.

Our house isn't right on the beach but is just one street away. If I stand up and look over a house or two, I can see the ocean. If I lean a little to the left, I can see the waves crashing on the shore. Well, not right now, it's extremely dark out... but I can hear it!

My wife and I got to walk on the beach briefly with our son. He really dug it. He's been swimming in pools and ponds, but this is his first trip to the ocean. He giggled and ran and screamed every time the waves came in and it was hilarious. He handed me every shell he saw and I loved it. Can't wait to go back tomorrow and build a castle with him!

I did most of the driving today, which was good and bad. I always like to mull over story ideas or use the time to work on new things. Trouble is, when I get inspired on the drive I can't exactly jot down the idea while I'm doing 70 mph and looking for an off ramp. I lost a couple of possibles that way today.

Oh well. That'll teach me to not bring a recorder on long drives.

The picture above is actually of my man Cal in the hotel last night. I haven't had time to take pictures here yet.

Yes. I'm on time for a change. Not a big report today other than to say I haven't used what few writing opportunities that have come my way. The weekend was exhausting, and I still seem to be recovering from it.

Managed to up my wordcount to 28,759. While it isn't much progress from last week, I still feel good seeing that count edge closer to 30,000. Good stuff.

 

28760 / 85000 words. 34% done!

Don't get me wrong - it still looks like a pretty big task!