Fireships

 One item on my list of things to do while on vacation from Eve Online is to finish and submit a science fiction short story that's been sitting at the bottom of my desk drawer for some time.

The story has its genesis in a flash fiction (3,000 words or less) piece I wrote back in 2006.  It was quick write, ninety minutes total from blank page to finished story. Flash fiction is nice that way; a good exercise for getting out the way of a story and letting it roll onto the page. At the time I thought that was that. Mission accomplished.

Funny how some characters won't leave you alone. While I was finished with the story, the story's narrator (who had no name at the time) wasn't finished with me. He has sat quietly in the intervening years, just beyond my field of vision, insisting I tell the rest of the tale.

And I think it's a story worth telling.

The structure of the story is well in hand. The original piece, called Fireships, (which you can read here if you're inclined) remains the opening scene for the larger story with only a few tweaks. The draft for the rest has been written and is in revision.

I'll let you know when it starts making the submission rounds and if it gets picked up by a publication.

Nuff said. Back to work.