it's being read that matters

Awards are great, but for me, what really matters is if someone else reads my work. Preferably someone outside my family or readers that I know personally - not that their opinions mean less, but simply because I'd like to know how the story works divorced from any knowledge or awareness of who I am (yes, I'm rather formalist that way).

So I was happy to read that my latest US-published story, Terminós (from Rabid Transit: Menagerie) made a couple of recommended reading lists, made by fellow readers and writers that I do not know personally.

AndyHat's Recommended Reading for 2005 also has two other stories from the Ratbastards' chapbook (the Cheney and the Singh). Me, I'm slackjawed at being on a list with Murakami and Ford - and so want to have copies of all these publications.

"Terminós", Dean Francis Alfar (Rabid Transit: Menagerie)
"The Life of Birds", Jo Van Arkel (Things That Are True 3/05)
"The Little Tailor", Stephanie Burgis (Say...Have You Heard This One? #5)
"Fragments", Matthew Cheney (Rabid Transit: Menagerie)
"Mudder Tongue", Brian Evenson (McSweeney's #16)
"Boatman's Holiday", Jeffrey Ford (Book of Voices)
"You and I in the Year 2012", Eric Gregory (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet 7/05)
"Beyond Each Blue Event Horizon", Andrew Hook (Book of Voices)
"Degrees of Separation", Richard Kerslake (Borderlands #5)
"The Flame", Tanith Lee (Book of Voices)
"Chance Traveler", Haruki Murakami (Harper's Magazine 7/05)
"Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels", Audrey Niffenegger (Amazon.com)
"Three Urban Folk Talks", Eric Schaller (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet 7/05)
"Flash Bison", David J. Schwartz (Rhapsoidia Winter 2005)
"The Sign in the Window", Vandana Singh (Rabid Transit: Menagerie)
"Running Years", Jessica Stong (Things That Are True 5/05)
"Triceratops Summer", Michael Swanwick (Amazon.com)
"Strange Incidents in Foreign Parts", Anna Tambour (Electric Velocipede #9)
"The Psalm of the Second Body", Catherynne M. Valente (Book of Voices)
"The Euonymist", Neil Williamson (Electric Velocipede #9)


Pam McNew has also listed my story on her Reading Recommendations (there's Murakami again - how do I get a copy of Harper's?):

August's Asimov's Science Fiction, Paul Melko's story, The Summer of the Seven.

August's The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: Eugene Mirabell's The Woman in Schronginger's Wave Equation; Claudia O'Keef's Maze of Tree; M Ricket's A Very Little Magic Goes a Long Way.

Lady Churchill's Rose Wristlet # 16: Eric Schaller's Three Urban Folk Tales; Sean Melican's Gears Grind Down; Eric Gregory's You and I in the Year 2012.

Things That Are True--Volume 2, The Sun on Your Back; Jessica Strong's Running Years; Amy Bowers' Aggie Leaves.

Rabid Transit Menagerie, Dean Francis Alfar's story, Terminós.

The Atlantic Fiction Issue 2005, Joyce Carol Oates' *BD* 1 11 86

Harper's July 2005, Haruki Murakami's story, Chance Traveler

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, Stone Animals.

I commented on her post to say 'thank you' and what she wrote back really made my day.

I also found out that Anna Tambour has included my story "L'Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)" as one of the Monthly Specials on her site (for August).

Being read is the reward of being a writer. Money, awards, recognition and everything else - gravy.

Which reminds me (to brutally segue), a piece I wrote for Our Own Voice should come out in a couple of weeks. "Writing: A Blog Abecedary" is a long essay structured as blog entries, allowing me to go all over the place as I write about writing, the death of my cousin BJ, appetite and other things that bump around my head.