They say that good things come to those who wait. But man, they never told you there was so much waiting in publishing. Criminy.

Waaaay back in 2003 (I think!), I had a great time doing story collaborations with friends. I considered all of them better writers than me, so it was a great learning experience, and the end result was always something amazing. Obviously, it was something I never could’ve created on my own.

I wrote a story with Tim Pratt called “Helljack,” that was promptly published in the first issue of H.P. Lovecraft’s Horror Magazine. Nasty fun, that story was, about a woman on a train headed for — you guessed it — h-e-double hockey sticks.

Wrote another story with Greg van Eekhout that was our offhand tribute to American kings and the music of Everclear called “California King,” which eventually got picked up by Gardner Dozois for Asimov’s SF Magazine. That was cool, calling Greg to tell him about that sale!

I even wrote a three-way story with Tim and Greg both called “Gillian Underground” that made it into the prestigious Polyphony anthology.

And a story I wrote with Jay Lake around the same time (it was a prolific summer, if I remember correctly) called “Devil on the Wind” was sold to Black Gate in early 2006, and the issue is now coming out this week!

I have a feeling this one will be worth the wait. Skip on over to the Black Gate website to get a sneak peek of the story and the saucy art that accompanies it.

And here’s the cover art, without all the text on it to clutter it up:

I’ve been following Black Gate since its first issue, and it never disappoints. Great stories in the heroic fantasy vein, accompanied with illustrations (why don’t magazines have illos anymore?), along with reviews and some comics, all wrapped in amazing cover art.

Issue 14 is gonna be a doozy, too — they say it’s their biggest issue yet. A doorstopper at 384 pages. You may want to subscribe and/or get some back issues. It’s a stunning magazine, and it looks great on your bookshelf.

And it now has a story by Jay and me. What can I say? You’ll be glad you didn’t waste time waiting for it — get it now. 🙂

EDITED TO ADD: Also, remind me to talk about the process we used for all the stories, above, which we came to call the “Flaming Rodent” style of storywriting. That would make a great anthology title…