~Photo Maureen McFarlane, 2005.
Short Story Archives
Read full text versions
of previously published work here.
News
July 15, 2008
With the onset of summer, things have slowed down around here, but the workload regarding the number of projects I'm involved in has picked up. So I took the plunge and put a small pool in my backyard. Here's what's happening right now:
1. BEACONS OF TOMORROW: SECOND COLLECTION—featuring "Deconstructing
Fireflies"—is here! Nathan and I are proud to announce that Tyrannosaurus Press' second science fiction
anthology, featuring our story "Deconstructing Fireflies", is now available
for purchase! Support Bret Funk and his amazing small press. Purchase a copy at
the special price of $8 here: http://www.tyrannosauruspress.
2. I wasn't expecting this one—on May 25, I was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Goddard College's literary journal, PITKIN REVIEW! It's been a hectic couple of months working with the staff and putting measures in place to get the Fall 2008 issue up and running. If I've not responded to your e-mails and phone calls…well, this is probably why! Needless to say, I'm thrilled about this amazing opportunity. And I'm proud to brag that I've got the most talented, enthusiastic staff I could have ever asked for—we're gonna make this issue sing! Stay tuned for updates…I will be taking pre-orders for anyone outside the school who'd like to purchase a copy.
3. ADMIT ONE LITERARY THEME PARK. I was a Disney fiction fan who wanted more. I met other Disney fiction fans who wanted more. So I started writing short stories set in Disney Parks and e-mailing them in PDF form to Disney fiction fans who wanted more. And now I'm pleased to announce that Admit One Literary Theme Park is on the cusp of its opening day!
The website, which will feature PDFs of the stories that have gone out so far, and many new ones in the coming months, will be up and running sometime between August 15 and September 1. All of the site's content will be FREE and distributed under the Creative Commons License. At the moment, I'm considering two options: guests can visit the site once a month or elect to have the stories e-mailed. Being that Admit One is an extension of my graduate thesis, What the Dormouse Knows, some of the stories may be works-in-progress and subject to additional polish. Print and web ads will hit Orlando Attractions Magazine beginning with the September issue.
I couldn't have made it this far without the team of people who have provided feedback and given their time to work on this project. Jonathan Sullivan of LOKI Graphics designed our logo; Rob Mayette is working on our website; Jerry Rivard, Heather Sullivan, Rob Mayette and YoungJames Kenny, all fine writers, provided initial feedback on the story drafts; Richard Merskin at Orlando Attractions has been patient and encouraging. And, of course, there are the countless readers from the Inside the Magic forums—the Disney fiction fans who wanted more—who read the stories and gave me their input.
I'll keep you posted, but get ready to vacation in the park soon!
4. PENCILS! WRITING WORKSHOP, based in Norwalk, Connecticut,
will celebrate its 5th Anniversary this month. I raise a toast to a
very talented, diverse, and dedicated community of writers who have hung in
there as a family for five years. Wow. Here's to another five years of
rejection slip burnings, savvy critique, growing membership, field trips,
parties, and innovative educational opportunities. Want to know more about
Pencils!? Visit www.pencilswritingworkshop.com
5. DEAD LETTERS—my monthly segment on Nathan's The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show—hit the airwaves with
"Creative Crypto" on May 11! Although June and July haven't made it up yet
(June was a bit crazy), those episodes have been recorded and a third is in the
works. I'll announce them when they're released! You can check out the full
text of "Creative Crypto" here: http://ghostanddemon.informe.
That's all for now. I have many stories floating around out there, and I hope to report more acceptances soon.
April 2, 2008
1. A photo of my brother Chuck and I, as well as a
blurb about the extinct Bob-A-Long boats at Disney’s Polynesian (then-Village)
Resort, appears in the April/May 2008 edition of Orlando Attractions Magazine. The photo was taken in 1977, and
thanks to the fact that it was good old-fashioned Kodak slide film, looks as
though it was taken yesterday. Don’t miss this trip down memory lane! If you’re
interested in ordering the issue, just visit http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/vol1issue3.php.
You can flip through the magazine for a free preview or order directly from
that page.
2. “Deconstructing Fireflies”, which was written by
Nathan and I back in 2005 and was previously published in The Illuminata, is due out in the Beacons of Tomorrow II anthology, published by Tyrannosaurus Press,
on July 1 of this year.
3. All Things
Girl has picked up my short story “Confetti”—all about paper dresses, a
pissed off girl and a couple of matches—for its November and December issues;
it will serialize the piece. ATG is
an e-zine that launched in 2001, and their mission is to, as noted on their
website (I don’t want to plagiarize here, but they really put it best, so these
are their words, not mine): “give women a place to showcase their stuff - their
artwork, photography, poetry, prose, articles on health, reviews, thoughts on
business, creative endeavours and so much more.” Curious? Explore ATG at http://www.allthingsgirl.net/ …and
stop back there in November and December to take in “Confetti”.
March 20, 2008
I’m pleased to announce that Pandora Ink Books will publish a limited edition, perfect-bound
pressing of my short story, “Candle Garden”—a haunting story about a woman
struggling with the loss of her children whose tryst with a wax artist leads to
some…well, interesting outcomes.
2. It was nice to see that my story, “King of Bull”, was
mentioned on at least one other website, Technorati.com. Although it’s just
that my name appears in an entry, if this person has lots of readers, then
those readers may go and check me out! Want to read the post? It’s here:
http://technorati.com/posts/583BcbXnqs2OxMpw%2B8XreOM1QfCxJMlRX2VatR6W70w%3D
March 10, 2008
A boatload of stuff, here! Here we go:
1. "King of Bull", which took 1st Place in Toasted Cheese's 2007 "Dead of Winter" contest, is now available to read in their March Issue. This year's topic was "Urban Legends". I encourage you to not only read "King of Bull," but other stories in all over their archived issues. It's a great magazine. Here's the link:
http://www.toasted-cheese.com
2. "How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the
Bunny", which was first published in Citizen Culture Magazine back in 2005, has
been picked up and is available for purchase at AnthologyBuilder.com. Anthology
Builder is a great new concept that's doing very well: they have tons of
previously sold short stories on a wide variety of subjects. You can register,
browse in a number of ways, select up to 300 pages of fiction, a customized
cover and title, and purchase. It costs around $15, and the authors make small
royalties on every story of theirs that's sold. This is really a lot of fun,
there's quality material, and it makes a great gift—or, for people like me who
are picky, makes it easy to put together an anthology of nothing but stories I
like. Consider putting together your own anthology (and include my story!) Head
on over to http://www.anthologybuilder
January 30, 2008
I'm PLEASED to
report that Kaye's story (here I go again, referring to myself in the
third person), "King of Bull", took first place in the Toasted Cheese 2007 Dead of Winter Contest! The last time she won first place in a short story contest, she was 12. Perseverance pays off!
This
was the second story she wrote for the contest -- the first one was
"Crossing Guards", which she didn't submit because it made a
disappointing show at the Pencils! meeting on November 27. So she came
up with this second idea.
The story will be published in Toasted Cheese's March issue. Toasted Cheese is a great mag; check it out at www.toasted-cheese.com.
January 17, 2008
Interesting! Found a review of the I Am This Meat Anthology on The Fix, an online journal which has commented on such publications as Apex Digest, The Town Drunk and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. Here's what he had to say about Kristi's story "Bad Enough": http://thefix-online.com/reviews/i-am-this-meat/
January 15, 2008
Archive update: full texts of "Bad Enough" and "Matchbox" are now on the 2007 archive page.
Full text of "Glass Kill" is first up on the 2008 archive page.
January 14, 2008
"Wailing Station" has been honored once again--this time, it's been accepted to the podcast-based magazine Parade of Phantoms! Great stuff, scary stories all worth a listen. "Wailing Station" will be broadcast in a future episode, but for now, you can check out this fantastic 'zine here: http://paradeofphantoms.com/
Do yourself a favor and listen to "The Withering." It's really great.
January 8, 2008
"Glass Kill" appeared in Goddard College's journal The Pitkin Review, Spring 2008 issue. Now, here's something interesting: the editor sent Kristi a note assuming that the word she'd used in the story, "chourico", was misspelled, and shouldn't it be "chorizo"? Kristi replied, "no, the story is set in Fall River, Mass, where "chourico", because of the area's Portuguese influence, is spelled this way. "Chorizo" is the Spanish spelling." In fact...the meats are, indeed, prepared using different spices, so they don't even taste the same: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Chorizo. Despite all of this, the magazine prints -- you guessed it -- "chorizo"!
January 5, 2008
My father, Charles W. Petersen, passed away on January 2. He didn't exactly love the things I wrote, but he was a writer himself who had a great love of literature. His favorite poet was Robert Frost.
Dad is the man who inspired me to be what I am today. If you'd like to read the eulogy I gave today, it's posted here: Nothing Gold Can Stay: In Memory of Charles W. Petersen
I'll miss you, Dad.
Where to find Kristi's recent work (updated every 3 months)
April 2008
1. "King of Bull" in Toasted Cheese's March, 2008 Issue:
http://www.toasted-cheese.com/ezine/2008/8-1/schoonover.htm
2. "How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the Bunny" as part of AnthologyBuilder.com:
http://www.anthologybuilder.com/welcome.php
3. Me and Chuck in the Bob-A-Round boats at Disney's Polynesian (then-Village) Resort, ca. 1977. Issue 3, Orlando Attractions Magazine:
http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/vol1issue3.php
4. "Glass Kill" at the Pitkin Review. Remember, they screwed up on "chourico"!
http://web.goddard.edu/pitkin/2007_fall/GlassKill.htm
January 2008
The Fix's review of "Bad Enough": http://thefix-online.com/reviews/i-am-this-meat/
"Glass Kill" in The Pitkin Review. Link coming soon -- but to read the full text with the correct spelling of the meat mentioned, visit my 2008 page, above.
December 2007
Photo/Tip in Orlando Attractions Magazine Issue #1. (Shameless plug: this guy's a friend of mine. The info's not online, but you really should check out this magazine!) http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/
"Matchbox" in The Taj Mahal Review, December 2007 issue (not published online; you can read the text of the story in the 2007 archive): http://www.tajmahalreview.com/subs.htm
October 2007
"Deconstructing Fireflies" in Tyrannosaurus Press' upcoming anthology. Link coming soon!
"Bad Enough" in Susurrus Press' I Am This Meat anthology. http://www.susurruspress.com/iamthismeat.htm
March 2007
Kristi's story "Wisdom" (entitled "Teeth Wisdom" by the editors) is online at Bewildering Stories in Issue #238. "Wisdom" in Bewildering Stories.
"Wailing Station" in the Toasted Cheese's March 2007 Issue
Please be sure to check out the entire issue! It's fantastic writing!
Kristi's
"Ghost Light" was discussed on author William Michaelian's website. To
read the conversation between the author and Barbaric Yawp editor John
Berbrich, click here: "Ghost Light" Discussion
Algonquin Table
~ If you live in the Wilton/Norwalk area, consider joining Pencils! Writing Workshop, an open group which welcomes everyone. Find others like you! Check it out at http://www.pencilswritingworkshop.com
~ Work and links from Kristi's friends -- among them Stacy Horn (The Restless Sleep, Cyberville, Waiting for my Cats to Die), Marcelle Clements (Rock Me, Midsummer), Dan Pearlman (Black Flames, The Final Dream and Other Fictions) Howard Mittelmark (How NOT to Write a Novel, Age of Consent) and Lauren Baratz-Logsted (The Thin Pink Line, Vertigo) -- coming soon! Work Worth Reading...
~ Personal Pix: The Writing Life