I’ve been stuck at number 49 for a while now.

Four dozen and one stories accepted and published, with the most recent one coming just a few weeks ago. But that story was accepted in 2006, and while I’ve been plugging away at novels, I haven’t written a whole heckuva lot of stories. Novels will do that to you (tie up your brain, that is).

But I’m proud to announce that I’ve finally reached a milestone. Today I get to see my 50th story published.

And, fittingly, it’s a pretty big deal. For starters, that’s fifty stories! Nothing to sneeze at.

And further, I’m publishing the story right here, myself. No publisher has bought it.

Why? It’s part of a very cool new project called The Chain Story. Every week, a writer from around the world will be adding a new link in the chain — in other words, a new story in a shared sort of setting.

All the stories start in a place called the Wanderers’ Club. My story is the sixth in line, and it picks up after the end of number 5: “Master Blaster and the Tiger of Chinatown.”

The name of my story is “The Inverted Bearded Boy of Chicago.”

As you can probably guess, these stories have a bit of a pulpy, old-school feel to them. Lots of adventure, magic, and two-fisted action.

And finally, as an extra added bonus, this story forms one of many histories to my Contagious Magic novels, which begin with A Sudden Outbreak of Magic. My story “Coal Ash and Sparrows” is also part of the Contagious Magic world.

So go, read, and enjoy. The story’s free, for now — I’ll be taking the story down in a month or so, and making it available for reading on the Kindle, iPad, and other devices via Amazon and Smashwords.