"The Arcanist" story collections (multiple)

The usual dislainer: Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.

The Arcanist is a magazine that prints flash-fiction (roughly 1,000 words, I believe). They publish one story a week, so you can imagine the competition for that one slot. The magazine also runs flash fiction contests, which the winner gets paid and gets published, along with the runners-up. Disclosure: I have submitted a few times, but I have not been published by them. My rejections have been generic and usually happen with 1-2 months. I have not submitted to any of their contests because they have an entry fee, a small one, but a fee nonetheless. I'd rather take my chances on the slush pile.

Recently, the magazine sent an email about the latest collection of stories it had for sale. It also had stories from previous years available for free.

Another disclosure: probably 5-10 or more years ago, I thought about the idea of self-publishing, since it was just catching on. The problem was that I had nothing in the way of novels to publish and no time to write and rewrite one. (I was "too good" for an editor, so I could save money. Ha!) I thought about the idea of putting out collections of flash fiction, until I thought, "No one is going to pay for a book with 7,000 words. That's a short story!" Turns out I was wrong, and it isn't just the Arcanist doing it.

End of digression.

Below are the books I've read, so far. I may amend this post if I read more this calendar year. Otherwise, I'll make a new post in 2023.

Welcome to Camp Arcanist (2021)

Stories about camping.

• "The Monster of Lake Gregg" by Kara Pogos was cute, with an unexpected ending. Part monster, part ghost story. First place winner.
• "Take Me Back to The Giants" by Connor Smith was the second place winner. I might've enjoyed it more if it hadn't reminded me of a better (longer, naturally) story from Analog in the late 80s/early 90s. The camping part is incidental, and it could've been replaced with a different theme alongside the other half (the twist) of the story.
• "Special Order" by Aeryn Rudel was third.

Yeah ... this didn't work out. At some point, I'll go back and list the stories. But let's face it, I probably won't. Here's a list of the rest of the books I read, each about seven stories long, some better than others. I hope I got the years right. I got this from the email which didn't list the years, but I think they went in order.

Hunger Flash (2020)

Tales From the Weird Weird West (2019)

Monster Flash (2018)

Magic, Monsters, and Mayhem (2017)

The Arcanist Presents: Ghost Stories (2016)

Miracle of Deck 34 and Other Yuletide Tales (Olsen/Ashby)

Miracle of Deck 34 and Other Yuletide Tales by Kaki Olsen and Scott Ashby (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Last year and this year, I participated in a Santa Book Exchange, where someone buys a copy of my book, and I buy a copy of someone else's book. It's all done mostly randomly. Last year, I included my "In A Flash 2020" in the fantasy category, so this year, I picked science fiction, since the book is roughly half of each.

The book I had to buy was Miracle of Deck 34 and Other Yuletide Tales, which worked out well for my December Christmas reading. It doesn't appear to be on Good Reads, so I may have to add it. However, I don't want to be the first one to rate it.

There are 24 stories (which, I admit, I didn't notice at first because I didn't read the blurb). This means that I could've read it like an advent calendar, except that I didn't get it until the second week of December.

(Side note: I did tweet out an Advent Calendar of my own because I have 24 published stories that I own the rights to, plus my first story, which was a work for hire.)

The book started well enough, but little things wore on me after a while. The writing isn't quite there. You could watch an episode of Star Trek or The Love Boat or any cop show to know how to talk to a captain. And some of the stories aren't really stories. Something is going to happen, and then it happens. And then the story just stops. In several instances, the ending is given away in the title and once we get to that reveal, it's done.

Speaking of titles, most are puns or take-offs on Christmas songs, lyrics or movies. Note the "Deck 34" of the title referencing Miracle of 34th Street. Santa appears in a few of the stories.

The pair started with the titles and wrote the stories, so some are most "prompt-ish" than others. I can recognize this because some of my prompt stories suffer from it. There have been times that by the time I'm done with the setup, the prompt that spurred the story is out of place and needs to be removed. One story spent a lot of time explaining how to make a fire in the rain and when it was done, oh, look, a shelter was built at the same time.

And, I'll confess here in fairness, I've been told by an editor that some of my stories were good but they just stopped. (I even noticed that when I read one in particular in front of an audience. My voice was high like I was about to read another sentence, but there was no more to read.

The book was enjoyable, but I wish it had had another round of editing to punch it up a little.

The Witch of the North Pole (Snow)

The Witch of the North Pole by Eden Snow (2017)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Looking for books to get me into a Christmas mood, I went looking for free Christmas-themed ebooks (that weren't "bodice-rippers"). There seem to be plenty of "cozy" mysteries with witches, elves or whichever. The funny thing is from the thumbnail, I thought she was sitting on a chimney, not a bag of toys. Also, I didn't realize right away that the author's name was "Eden Snow" -- I thought it was a subtitle for the book!

The book is also listed as Cinnamon Mercy Claus 1. The main character doesn't like to be called Cinnamon, because she used to be teased that it was a spice name. Mercy was somehow better.

Mercy, a strong, indepedent woman, who works in an office with lots of spreadsheets but little interaction with people, is ill-prepared for a visit to her grandparents, whom she doesn't know. Her parents are away for the holidays, leaving her no place else to go. She's farther North than she's ever been. In fact, she's at the North Pole. And her grandfather is Santa, the actual Santa Claus.

The problem is that her grandmother isn't happy with the whole "Santa" situation and is leaving him. She's also leaving running the entire operation in the hands of Mercy.

Oh, and Mrs. Claus is a witch.

And, by the way, so is Mercy, even if she doesn't know it.

The entire "Santa" business, how old he is, the family line, the replacement Santas, can all be accepted as part of the narrative. That's the setup for the story and it's internally consistent. It gets a little problematic with Mrs. Claus, angry as she is, bailing out and leaving her granddaughter in charge without any training whatsoever. Or telling her about her witchy background and not helping there either.

There is some help in the form of a single spell, which a helpful elf, Ginger, tells her should be cast away from everyone, but indoors, so no one else is affected by it. Unfortunately, the elves captured a human who saw them and was holding him in the same warehouse where Mercy read the spell. He is affected with the same Christmas cheer, and agrees to help Mercy break into the Christmas Command Center and access the computer with the Naughty List. (Those on the Naughty List get a special present that gives them a chance to turn their lives around. The list includes the man's daughter.)

Unlike a Hallmark movie, the two do NOT become a couple by the end. However, it's a book series, so it might be something to expect in the next few books.

It was a cute book. If there's one drawback, it ended abruptly. The story's told but there's not denouement, no day after, nothing. On the other hand, there was the first chapter of Book 2. I don't normally read those, but in this case, I made an exception and read far enough to see how the ending would have played out. And then stopped because I don't normally read these.

Update: In the time it took me to write this up, Amazon sent an email that included the second book for free, so I downloaded it. It probably won't be read until after Christmas. I'm reading something else right now and then I have a Book Club book to get to.

Beyond the Waterfall Door (Cooper)

Beyond the Waterfall Door: Stories from the High Hills by Brenda Cooper (2015)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I got this one in an eSpec Books Kickstarter campaign. It's been in the electronic TBR pile for a while.

Previously, according to a quick blog search, I've read Brenda Cooper's novel Post and two short stories, "The Street of All Designs" and "Trainer of Whales". (Both short stories were bonus stories from other kickstarters.)

This book is a collection of six short stories, most of which were previously published. There were (according to the intro) some modifications for the sake of the narrative. It still felt a little disjointed.

The first story opens with a boy named Jack who lives in the High Hills, which is a world similar to ours, but it has magic and is less advanced technologically. We are introduced to Jack as he is driving horses. He spots two oddly dressed girls and follows them. They crossed through a rock wall. He emerges behind a waterfall at an Arts festival in Laguna Beach, CA, which occupies the same place as the High Hills in a different dimension. Jack becomes "The Handyman's Apprentice", and will figure into all of the stories to come in some way.

The doorway operates only when the waterfall is operating, which is only during the summer when the festival is running. (There is an exception for the Halloween festival ("All Hallows in the High Hills") that happens one year.) Only a person of a certain mindset is able to get through although it seems that a person can be helped through if Jack or someone else is holding them.

The second story, "Singing Backup" starts a little weird. Not only is Jack not the narrator or focal character, but the woman who is is not one of the two from the previous story. This isn't a problem, but it was a little jarring to the narrative. Again, these are separate stories that were collected into one volume. Jack has gotten older, and is involved with one of the singers at the festival. Someone else from the High Hills is there often as well, checking out the other singer. Jack and the woman are a couple, but the festival is coming to an end, and Jack will be returning to the High Hills, and she will be off to college. Such is life as people have to grow up and move on.

The stories were all enjoyable, although the final story "The Back of the Drum", which is the longest of the bunch and the only new story, is more serious and a much heavier story. I almost wish that there were one more story, even a short one, to end on a lighter note. It could've even wrapped around to the first story in some way, or introduced a new "Jack" for some future volume that may or may not ever be written.

Short verson: I enjoyed this book.