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I got my first set of Copy Edits back from Jim Baen's Universe today. Whoever's doing the editing over there is doing a heck of a job. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that they apparently have commissioned/purchased art to go with the story.

Of course, I still don't know what issue it will be in, but hopefully, soon.

James Patrick Baen died on Wednesday, 28th at roughly 5:00 PM EDT after spending just over two weeks in a coma following a massive stroke.

I heard the news around 12:30 PM yesterday.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jim Baen has had a stroke. It apparently happened sometime Monday night, and he's been in ICU ever since. Baen books is set up to continue in the event that he does pass, but I feel like I've been kicked in the gut.

First, let me say that I have never met Jim. I've exchanged a couple of emails with him, but it's because of Jim and the opportunities that he affords writers that I'm published. I've been waiting, eagerly, for the last six months to get word on whether or not Jim would be getting a copy of my manuscript.

Jim Baen of Baen books and Baen's Universe suffered a stroke sometime on Monday. He is currently in the hospital in ICU. No one is sure how this will turn out, but those close to Jim are asking for prayers.

I just sold the short story "The Girl With The Killer Eyes" to Jim Baen's Universe. It is, very tentatively, scheduled to come out in their December issue. Since it's my first professional fiction sale, it will appear in one of their 'introducing' slots, which means I get the princely sum six cents a word (hence it being a pro sale, because SFWA considers anything over five cents a word pro rates).

Mike, my best friend, was in town last week. He was passing through on his way to his new place in Orlando. Saturday night, he, Gary and I got together and I was introduced to a card game called Munchkin.

When I arrived in chemistry lab this morning, I was a week behind. When I left this afternoon, I was three weeks behind. Yes, you read that right. I managed to not only not finish last week's work. I managed to destroy a previous week's work. Behold my clumsiness and dispair.

Okay, not really. I mean, we're still about seven or eight weeks from April fifteenth, and she said she mailed the rejection way back in October, but "Sharing Quarters" has finally been rejected.

Of course, now I've got no idea what to do with it.

Eh. My brother is always after me to write a stand alone novel. I suppose I could turn it into a book.

For some reason, however, I am just profoundly not bothered by this.

A few days before Christmas in 1997 I arrived in Dallas to visit Katherine for the first time. We had dinner at the Olive Garden, then drove back to her appartment in Denton. When we got there, six little pairs of eyes stared out at me from various spots in the room before vanishing with a speed to this day I still believe must have involved relativistic effects.

I just submitted Homefront to Baen.

I'm really, really excited. Absolutely terrified because I've been living with that novel in one form or another for over five years and now, it's all grown up and off to a publisher, but excited because I think I've got a really, really good chance of placing it with Baen.

Now, the months and months of nail biting can begin.