Author Archives: Jeff Xilon

Some Weird Flash Fiction

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I’ve got a new flash fiction story here for you. This is another response to a Chuck Wendig Friday Flash Fiction Challenge. He provided a list of 10 words and we had to choose 5. They weren’t just to appear as words in the story but to become five elements of the story. I chose the words library, undertaker, cube, envelope and storm.

The result makes me want to run out and watch a David Lynch movie. If that’s the sort of vibe you like then perhaps you’ll enjoy a story of

The Day The Undertaker Came

The Undertaker came to The Library at the beginning of the end. He came to prepare us, though we didn’t know it at the time. He wore sable robes that swallowed light and dimmed the corridors as he walked through them. If he had a face we never saw it; he kept his hood pulled high and forward like an opaque veil.

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A Terribleminds Flash Fiction Challenge: More random elements

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Regular drill here. I wrote this story in response to a Chuck Wendig flash fiction challenge. It’s a little longer than usual because this time our word limit was raised to 1500. And I’m glad it was because the first draft, which I just wrote over the last couple hours all in one go, came in at 2000! I took my editors scalpel to it though and pared it down to just under the limit. As usual I’ll give you the details on the random elements I got after the story.

The Box

Our family’d had the box forever. As a kid I’d felt unreasonably proud about it. No other family in Bunker Complex 10 had one like it.

Looking back I realize it was a stupid thing to be proud of. It wasn’t even useful. It didn’t open, so you couldn’t put anything inside it. It was practically sacred to us, so you couldn’t use it for a table or desk. No, it just sat there taking up space. I was proud all the same. Who wouldn’t be proud to own something that could save the world.

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A Small Site Tweak

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I thought I’d try tweaking the blog a little. I’ve switched to a light color scheme with the more traditional black text on white background approach. If you’ve been here before let me know which you like better, this or the previous “dark” look with white text and black background.

Reading and Writing: A Couple Challenges for 2013

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A few weeks ago I took on two new challenges that will run the span of 2013. The first was a writing challenge and the second was a reading one.

The writing challenge came from the fantastic musician John Anealio. Well, to be specific this isn’t a writing challenge, its a challenge to be creative. He’s calling it “23 in ’13” and, as you might guess, it’s all about doing 23 creative things over the course of the year. His goal is to create 23 new songs this year. My goal is to create 23 new short stories that I consider good enough in quality to submit to editors. I’m a little behind myself but I’ve got one new story out in the slush piles (it’s already gained it’s first rejection) and one new installment of Empire and Animal.

You can join in the fun over at John’s blog. I recommend getting on his mailing list. You can also download the three instrumental pieces he’s made for the challenge so far or pick up his album “Laser Zombie Robot Love” which is really good.

The reading challenge comes from Worlds Without End. They are having a Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge. The goal is to read 12 books this year each by a different woman author that you have never read before. If you sign up they’ve got a great tracking page set up for the challenge and a huge list of authors to explore. Full participationi also includes writing at least a small review for each book you read but it gives you a chance to be featured on their blog. If that happens you also get put into a poll for a chance to win Amazon gift cards! I highly recommend joining in this.

I’ve read my first book for the challenge, Lauren Beukes amazing “Zoo City”, and I’ll be posting my review in the next day or two. I’ve started my second book, Kelly Link’s “Stranger Things Happen”. After that it’ll be Octavia E. Butler’s “Wild Seed”. After that? Who knows. Something awesome I’d bet.

Any of you participating in these challenges? Know of another great one? Got your own? Shout it out in the comments!

I’m On a Podcast!

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I talked about how cool The Roundtable Podcast is before. If you don’t know, they are are great show with a unique concept. Every week they put out two episodes. One is an interview with a professional writer or editor. In the second episode the pro returns to join the hosts in work-shopping a story with a guest writer.

The most recent pro (at the time of this post) was the fantastic Tobias Buckell (@tobiasbuckell), and the most recent guest bringing in a story to kick around was me!

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4 Kickstarter Projects Worth Backing

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Over the last year I’ve become a huge fan of Kickstarter. Probably too much of a fan really, but that’s for me and my budget to have a long talk about. What I want to talk to you about are four projects I’m backing that you might be interested in.: Raygun Chronicles, Glitter & Madness, Roberts versus Slime Monsters and Fireside Magazine. All four of these projects revolve around short stories, though each is a slightly different way.

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