It’s been awhile–KaneArts has, as of late, been a tomb of sorts, devoid of activity or substance. The reason for this is, of course, that I’ve been diligently working on several works of fiction and also attending Monmouth College to earn my Bachelor’s degree in English (concentration in Creative Writing, of course!).

To fully explain my works, I’ll first discuss my entry for Writers of the Future. This novelette has been in existence within my mind for quite some time–nearly five years, in fact. It is part of a larger universe that will first exist as several shorter works and eventually result in a somewhat larger-scale novel if my hopes come to fruition. The second draft of this 17,000-word novelette is now finished, and is being read over by several friends and professors of mine. Once I have their input and have made another–likely minor–polish of the story, I plan to enter it in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest, a quarterly competition that culminates in an annual anthology which I would love to see my work published in. If I receive no more than a rejection from this contest, I may choose to submit it elsewhere; however, I feel that WotF is certainly the place for such a story.

“Taken by Darkness” is a story the second draft of which I finished around the same time as I was about 4,000 words or so into the writing of my Writers of the Future contest entry. This story is a much darker one in my opinion, with a fairly clear set of themes which I hadn’t intended on writing into the work, but are nevertheless very much present. I hope the reader will pick up on them (there’s really ONE main theme–but anyhow), as they enrich the story. I won’t spoil the plot, but it’s a fairly horror-influenced science fiction story inspired by sidestepping science fiction for a few months to delve into the works of one of my all-time favorite fiction authors, Stephen King. It is, as far as I can presently say, finished. I hope to have it submitted to Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine very soon for consideration–then, there are always Asimov’s Science Fiction and Weird Tales.

I’ve written another story or two, and am preparing to write another novelette set in the universe of my Writers of the Future entry, but set before its timeline and on another planet (or several others).