A New Nomination for “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont”
And the swan song for Lost Cargo
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
I sent out a notice last month, but as I have quite a few new subscribers (more on that later), some of you may have missed it.
As you may know, my novella, Lost Cargo, was published a couple of years ago through Mocha Memoirs Press. My contract with MMP comes to an end on September 12, and I have chosen not to renew it. This means that Lost Cargo will very shortly be impossible to buy. I know some of you had it on your TBR list, so I wanted to give you a heads up so you can purchase a copy before it’s gone.
You can read my full announcement here and find links to various places from which you can buy my book. You’ll also find information about both the story and myself, if you’re new to my work. I hope you’ll check it out.
RECENT NEWS
The Aurora Awards took place on August 11. “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” was a finalist for Best Short Story, but the award ultimately went to Premee Mohamed for her story, “At Every Door a Ghost.”
But then immediately after the ceremony, I received an email notifying me that, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” is now also a finalist for the World Fantasy Award!
I share the ballot with some really talented authors, including my friend and fellow Nebula finalist, Rachael K. Jones (“The Sound of Children Screaming). You can find the complete ballot here.
OTHER NEWS
This newsletter reached (and has now passed) 100 subscribers as of August 20! So huge thanks to all of you who are subscribed. It means a lot to me that you’re interested in my writing. If you’re reading this newsletter and are not yet a subscriber, click the link to find out more and consider joining the more than 100 others who receive my updates monthly, right in their inboxes. It’s completely free, and I intend to keep it that way.
On August 21, editor Stephen Kotowych announced the full table of contents for Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 2. I’d previously mentioned I was invited to be an anchor author for this anthology with my story, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont.” The first volume of this anthology series, which includes my story, “Into the Frozen Wilds” and lists my novella as one of the best of 2022, recently won the Aurora Award and is a current finalist for the World Fantasy Award, so you won’t want to miss this next edition. You can find the official TOC announcement here.
My friend and long-time critique partner Derrick Boden has launched a new website to help highlight some great fiction recommendations. It’s called Cool Story, and you can check it out here. The site can be searched by title or author name. Among others, you’ll find my stories “A World Unto Myself” (Apex, May 2023) and “The Body Remembers” (Dark Matter Presents Monstrous Futures, April 2023 / PseudoPod, November 2023). This is only just getting started but you can subscribe to the Cool Story newsletter so you don’t miss any of the great stories Derrick recommends.
RECENT FICTION SALES
Thrilled to say I’ve sold another story to Lightspeed magazine. This is my third sale to them, this time for a story called, “Worlds Apart,” about a relationship between people from different worlds—literally.
This story got its start during last year’s iteration of the Codex writers group’s Flash Savior of the Universe contest, and is my third original story sale stemming from that particular contest. The other two being “Shiny Things” and “Tabula Rasa.”
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
INTERVIEWS
Just a couple of days ago I popped up on Jendia Gammon’s blog as part of her “Creative Rituals” series. In this little interview I discuss how I like to start my creative day. You can read that here.
Coming up, you’ll also see me as part of the Horror Writers’ Association’s “Latinx Month” interviews, in which I talk about one of my favorite genres (horror, if you haven’t been paying attention) and how my culture and background play a part in writing it.
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO
As you know if you’ve read previous newsletters, I’ve recently been participating in Codex’s Flash Savior of the Universe 2024 contest. That ended last month, and I managed to write three new stories (one for each round).
What’s even cooler is that for the first time doing a Codex contest I placed in the top three of my division. I actually came in second place, which is awesome. I hope these stories will soon make it to publication so I can share them with all of you.
WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME NEXT
I’ll be participating in the Flights of Foundry virtual convention (Sept. 28-29), hopefully as a panelist, though as of this writing that is still undetermined.
And of course, I’ll be at the World Fantasy Convention in person (Oct. 17-20). I’m not planning on participating in panels for this one, but I will be there as a finalist. If you spot me around, say hi. I also plan to bring a very limited number of signed copies of my novella Lost Cargo with me if anyone would like one. It will have gone out of print by then, so that’ll be the only way to get one if you haven’t already secured yours. To be on the safe side though, I recommend buying your own and having me sign it if you plan on being there so you don’t miss out.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: “The Bullet in My Pocket Has Your Name on It”
Spoiler Alert: Be sure to read the story before the following.
Back in May, the Nebula finalists for Best Short Story were the topic of discussion on Shining Moon podcast. During that conversation, guest Risa Wolf mentioned that while they enjoyed “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” it wasn’t their favorite story of mine. So I had to know—which one was their favorite? Fortunately for me, Risa is a fellow Codex member, so I was able to ask, and they said their “head-over-heels” fave was, “The Bullet in My Pocket Has Your Name on It.” I wouldn’t have guessed that. Not because I think the story’s bad, or anything, I just hadn’t had a lot of reader feedback on this one, but you never know what stories will resonate with people.
As it happens, I really like this story too, so I’ve chosen to talk about how it came to be for this edition of “The Story Behind the Story.”
People always ask writers where they get their ideas. The answer is complicated. Most of the time I can tell you we don’t really know. Ideas are strange animals that can’t be caught. You must let them come to you when they’re ready (or when you are). This one came to me in pieces, rather than all at once. It began in 2020 with a free-writing exercise I did while attempting to do nothing more than flex that creative muscle.
Sometimes I’ll free-write from a prompt, but on this occasion I began with a single line that for whatever reason just popped into my head: “I start my day by falling down the goddamn stairs.” It would eventually become the opening line to this story.
But not yet.
Fun Fact: Back in the early 2000s, when I still watched cable TV, I was fond of a show called Mantracker. The premise of the show was that people would attempt to outrun an expert wilderness tracker. Usually, they couldn’t do it before he caught up with them. The signs Gary sees while tracking Amanda are inspired by the kind of thing you’d see on Mantracker.
At the time, I didn’t really know where I was going with this piece. I wrote a few lines for fun and set it aside. I knew the story would be something post-apocalyptic, set in a world in which even a minor injury could turn deadly, but I knew nothing more. I set the little piece of writing I’d done aside, and moved on to other things.
It wasn’t until 2022 that I went back to it. That opening line had kept nagging me for two years. What happened to my protagonist after he fell down the goddamn stairs? Why was he there in the first place? Where was he going? I had to find out.
So one day I finally sat down to write, and much as I had begun, I didn’t plan ahead. This is what’s often known as “discovery writing” or “pantsing.” Sometimes I’ll write loose outlines or notes for stories, but at other times I’m discovering the story as I go, in the same way a reader will later on. I actually love this kind of writing. It’s exciting because you don’t know what to expect.
If you’re not a writer, you might think that’s an odd way of creating. How do you tell a story when you don’t know what’s going to happen? Honestly, I don’t know. I guess when you’ve spent a lifetime reading and writing, story structure becomes somewhat intuitive. You can let your subconscious take that technical stuff over and just let your imagination wander. And when it’s done, you can always go back and edit it into shape if some of it needs tweaking. I should mention here that I’ve also been an editor for many years, so I know a little something about that too, which certainly helps.
Fun Fact: Another inspiration for this piece is that you see stories about ships that take survivors of a cataclysmic event to new worlds, but the logistics of something like that have often made me think it would be impossible for everyone to get a seat on such a ship. So what happens to those left behind? This is one possible answer to that question.
Anyway, I picked up from where I’d left off two years earlier and let my protagonist lead me on a journey. What I did know ahead of time was the title of the story. That told me he held a grudge against someone. A grudge that demanded he take their life. And I knew this was important enough to him that he carried a special bullet on him at all times to use when the opportunity for revenge arose.
Who had wronged him so terribly that they deserved such a fate?
Fun Fact: There aren’t enough bicycles in post-apocalyptic stories. Let’s be real, the Mad Max scenario where they’re still using gas-powered vehicles is pretty damn unlikely considering the shelflife of gas. Bikes make much more sense, so I often throw them in there. That’s why Gary ends up in a bike repair shop that’s been picked clean.
When the answer finally came, it wasn’t what I would’ve expected. I hadn’t set out to write a story with any kind of moral or message. Often that sort of thing results without the writer intending it in a conscious way (though at times it can be deliberate too). This story ended up being about a misunderstanding—but misunderstandings can often have dire results in relationships.
I’ve always been interested in other people and what makes them tick. Human behavior is so varied and complex and, to my mind at least, fascinating. It’s probably one of the main reasons I write, and one of the reasons I write so much about personal relationships and interactions. Why we do what we do is often more interesting to me than what unfolds from it.
In the story, Gary’s feelings are complicated. He knows he feels anger and hatred for what he perceives to be Amanda’s betrayal, but he also still has feelings for her that he can’t deny, though he certainly tries.
Fun Fact: Or maybe not so fun? Coffee is a dwindling resource even in our current world. It’s not too far-fetched to think a future might come when we no longer have access to it like we do now—mostly because we drink too much of it. Poor Gary.
This story ends up being a situation in which the protagonist reacts emotionally before attempting to understand his partner’s reasons for doing what she did. This ends up costing him more than just a tumble down the stairs. But I do give them a chance to have the conversation they should’ve had years ago. What their future will bring, is left to the imagination of the reader—at least for now.
Chekhov’s Gun: A literary principle in which an object is introduced into a story, only to be used later. For instance, if a gun is mentioned in one scene, it should generally be fired in another one. This story starts with a bullet, and the gun it’s meant for eventually enters the story. Who is meant to be shot, is clear from the start, but by the time Gary finally uses it, it’s not necessarily pointed where we thought it would be.
“Bullet,” as I like to call it, ended up being the fourth story I sold to Cossmass Infinites, a magazine that has, sadly, ceased publication. To date, it’s the market I’ve sold to most, though Flame Tree Publishing and Lightspeed are giving it a run for its money with three sales to each.
“The Bullet in My Pocket Has Your Name on It” was originally published in 2023 in Cossmass Infinities.
I appreciate you reading. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and/or share this newsletter. See you in October!
P.A. Cornell
Congratulations on 100 subscribers!!! Also YES to post-apocalyptic bicycles. The novel I'm querying at the moment has a The Road-esque father and son cycling through a sparse England.