It was June, and the world smelled of roses.

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” — Maud Hart Lovelace

Yes, I know it's July, but I wanted to write this post about last month. And what an exceptional month June turned out to be.

You might ask, “Why was it a good month?”

Go ahead, ask…I’ll wait.

“Why was it a good month?”

Thank you for asking.

June was a great month because I published my first two professional writing pieces!

First came “Burping the Worm,” a story I started about 2 years ago. Looking for feedback on my writing, I answered a call for submissions from Henchmen Press. Imagine my excitement when they accepted my story for inclusion in their anthology Tales of the E4 Mafia.

The anthology has stories by 11 very talented authors, all involving the military’s shadow society 😊 known throughout as the E4 Mafia. I’ll let the book’s back cover copy tell you more: “They are masters of avoiding work, getting up to shenanigans, and, when a mission needs to be completed or job done, it’s an E-4 that others turn to. They are the near-mythical E-4 Mafia, and their ability to avoid work, solve problems, and create trouble is the stuff of legend.”

Next came word that another short story of mine, “Vive le Mouselution,” a quasi-steampunk/light sci-fi story, was being published in the anthology Minstrels in the Galaxy: Stories in the Key of Tull. 

Here, “a dozen science fiction authors have spun their own Tull-inspired yarns. So belly up to the bar somewhere out among the stars. Grab yourself a drink and settle in for some colorful tales from our minstrels in the galaxy. Stories of things that could have been, things that might have been...and of things that should have been, but never were.”

In about two weeks, I went from unpublished to published! Sure, I have a self-published children’s book and a short story in an online magazine, but these two publishers thought enough of my writing to stake money on it. As I said, it was a great month!

The stories have decidedly different tones to them. “Worm” is military sci-fi, full of the in-your-face excitement and raunch one expects from that genre. “Mouselution” is a quieter, more pensive piece, but still loaded with action.

I hope you’ll check out both books. They’re available on Amazon in eBook and paperback formats.

Thanks for reading!

Andy