For anyone who's going to be at Mile Hi Con in Denver this coming Halloween weekend, here's my schedule as a panelist. Come say hi!
Friday, Oct 28
Horror on the Menu: Different Flavors for Different Tastes
9 PM
Saturday, Oct 29
SF/F Outside the West
12 PM
Reimagining History With the Living Dead
7 PM
Sunday, Oct 30
Supernatural Fan Forum (I'll be hosting/moderating)
3 PM
And come out to the mixer Friday night! It's hosted by Pikes Peak Writers. Rub elbows with your fellow writers. 9 PM in the area next to the bar, 2nd floor.
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Don't forget to visit over at Shelley Workinger's
But What Are They Eating? where I did a guest post about food in my short story The Blue Mist, found in the anthology The Deep Dark Woods.
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A week ago my husband and I went to Savannah, Georgia as a late celebration for twenty years of marriage (our anniversary was in August, but we had no desire to go to the Georgia coast in August). Savannah being the most haunted city in America, it was a great month to visit. We hopped on a last minute ghost tour and there were several places decorated for Halloween, despite the city just having been through a nasty hurricane (Matthew, you jerk!)
I thought I'd share a few pictures. For the most part, Savannah had made a good recovery from the hurricane, even though it had been just under a week since it hit. There were still some mildly flooded areas in the form of big puddles and there were trees down here and there. In fact, by the riverwalk there was a row of trees that had fallen over by the roots, taking the surrounding grass with them. Unfortunately, the famous Forsyth Park was heavily impacted. A lot of the historic oaks had been felled or broken, and part of the park was roped off. The well known fountain, however, was fine.
We stayed at the Savannah Riverfront Marriott, which was truly on the river front. In fact, our final morning there, we had breakfast at the hotel before taking off for the airport. They seated us at a window, and I got to watch a dolphin playing in the river! It was a lovely goodbye.
Here's a smattering of pictures of our trip. I've added notes of interest.
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| On our trek up the road from our hotel. |
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| One of our favorite places. The Pirate's House is the oldest building in Savannah, I believe they said. It actually enveloped the oldest building, as multiple original buildings were sealed up together to make this restaurant. They actually had a wall inside that had originally been the exterior wall of a tavern. |
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| Yellow Fever Tunnel. This was a tunnel where goods were brought up from the river. It was also where they took drunken men, including one famous Savannah policeman investigating the disappearances, who would wake up on a ship out at sea, where they would be forced to work. Tunnels like these are called Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, OR. This one was called Yellow Fever because they ended up storing bodies in it during an outbreak of the illness. |
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| An old fort. |
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| Our view from the Tybee Lighthouse of the beach. We had been told the beach was closed due to damage, so I was longingly gazing out the windows as we climbed, thinking I wouldn't get to go to the beach. |
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| The beach! We found a local who directed us to this beach, which was open, though the pier was closed. These sand dunes were between the residential areas and the beach, and there were neat swings along the front of them for beach goers to enjoy. |
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| The pier as we approached it. |
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| Underneath the pier. |
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| The Waving Girl. It's said she died of a broken heart after waving to the incoming ships in hopes of her true love returning. He never did. |
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| Moss covered steps climbing up from the cobbled street in the historic downtown area. |
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| A statue outside the Cotton Exchange. |
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| The old Cotton Exchange. |
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| I was so excited to see the gorgeous old oaks covered in spanish moss. If you're curious, the moss doesn't impact the trees and is, in fact, NOT moss. It feeds off the dust in the area, and merely uses the trees as a resting place. On the tops of the branches there was lush, green resurrection moss. It only shows up after a massive amount of moisture. In this case, it was from the hurricane. We were told it would be gone within another week. |
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| Capital building. |
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| This is the Candler Oak, over 300 years old. It withstood the storm, despite many nearby trees having been destroyed. |
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| The fountain at Forsyth Park. |
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| One of our tour guides (we took a trolley around) told us that military statues are made facing the enemy. There were two military-related statues in Forsyth. One was facing north, representing the Civil War. Another was for the Spanish American War, and it faced south. |
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| Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. |
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| Jingle Bell Chapel. This is where Jingle Bells was written. |
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| A view up the river from our hotel. |
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| Same view at night. |
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| The view toward the sea. |
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| A tiny portion of one of the massive container ships coming up the river. They apparently keep having to re-dredge the river to make it deeper as ships get larger. It was amazing to stand there and watch these ships towering over us. |
This is a tiny portion of the five kazillion photos we took. It was such an amazing trip, and we hope to return in the future. We ate so much fresh seafood, drank sweet tea, and visited Leopold's, a famous ice cream parlor. Despite it being a week after a hurricane, the people were welcoming and cheerful. They were always happy to give a recommendation for somewhere to visit or to eat, and we managed to only eat at a chain restaurant once, out of desperation when we needed lunch and didn't want to stray too far from the trolley stop.
We kept hearing Savannah Strong after the hurricane, and they certainly are.
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Now for some links! Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.
Accepting Submissions:
FunDead Publications has extended their deadline for short stories for the anthology Night in New Orleans. 1000-6000 words. Pays $10. Deadline November 25.
Splickety Love is open for stories for their February issue with the theme Change of Heart. They want classic love stories with a twist. 300-1000 words. Pays $.02/word. Deadline November 25.
The current submission window for
Vestal Review will be closing for a few months. Flash fiction up to 500 words. Pays between $.03 and $.10/word. Deadline November 30.
Baltimore Review is open for submissions of literary short works. Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, video. Up to 5000 words. They also have a contest with current theme "milestones." Pays $40. Deadline November 30.
World Weaver Press is open for short fiction for Equus. Speculative fiction involving horses, unicorns, and pegasus. Up to 7500 words. Pays $10. Deadline November 30.
Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine will open for submissions November 1. The theme for this issue will be "The New Year." 700-3000 words. Pays $10-$30, depending upon whether it's poetry or short fiction. This issue closes November 30.
Oscillate Wildly Press is open for submissions for the themed anthology Monsters Among Us. Monsters must be human. Poetry and short fiction up to 7000 words. Pays $15. Deadline November 30.
Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for stories with the topic "Military Families." Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadline November 30.
Have you ever been to Savannah? Have you tried shrimp and grits? Ever been in a shanghai tunnel? Will you be at Mile Hi Con? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share?
May you find your Muse.
