Fine, thanks! I have one novel finished, three active works in progress, and another four (no, make that six now) outlines impatiently waiting to get started. They're in competition with my WIP crime novels which are demanding airtime. Not to mention the half-finished novellas and short stories that tumble through my overheated brain when I'm trying to get to sleep. I'll get around to them all... someday. I'm being as productive as I can in the time available, which isn't nearly productive enough.
You are a very productive short story writer, even The Kaiserine's Champion is only a
novella. Although you said you are working on some novels, do you find it difficult or
easier to write longer works or short stories?
Writing short stories is easier for the simple reason that they take less time. That's not
to say they take less effort, relatively, in terms of devising the story, adding some
(hopefully) interesting twists, and a (hopefully) satisfactory ending. I started off writing
The Kaiserine's Champion as a short story, but it just didn't work; when I re-attacked
the piece much later and treated it as a short novel rather than a long short story,
everything began to come together. So I suspect there are two different writing
mindsets, the first capable of seeing story resolution in just a handful of scenes or less,
the second more prepared for long-range plotting and multiple story threads. I wish I
had more control over both.
Tell us something about your other works.
Published short stories: "Adjustments" tells what happens when a cyborg soldier
returns home after winning an interstellar war; "Higher Than Usual" details the
murderous effects of a spreading insanity; "Partings" features a trapped crew desperate
to escape from hyperspace at any cost; in the Celtic fantasy "Dragonskin" a tracker's
life depends upon his slaying a dragon so that the conquerors of his people can have
its invaluable skin; "The Draw" pits one man against a lunatic cyborg in a quick-draw
shoot-out; "Made In Heaven" (soon to be published by Oceans of the Mind) is a love
story set on Ganymede, a moon with its fair share of dangers, not to mention a
somewhat resentful decommisioned military AI. Most of these stories are available to
read online (don't you just love the Internet?) and linked from my web page.
Crime novels in progress: currently two thrillers set in Glasgow, where it's hard to tell the cops from the criminals; two thrillers set in NYC and NJ. In theory I ought to be
