Ketchup

So I'm excited to share the news that I have a nice long new story in Asimov's and, surprise, I made the cover! Wow! Nobody tells me anything! I mean, the artwork must be for Nick Wolven's story, but look at that splashy little bit of love just above the bar code. Who is that guy?!?!

Uh, I'm also told there's a full page ad for Plague Zone in this issue, which is pretty rockin'. It's always awesome to get some love from Ace/Penguin USA.

More to the point, the story itself is a jolly biotech-and-special-weapons adventure set in Missoula, Montana, where our heroine Julie Beauchain returns with her sidekick Thomas Highsong for another unique, sexy, mayhem-filled caper. "Christmas Fire" is one of my favorites, like "Gunfight" before it, because these stories are light-hearted action comedies unlike most of the very dark thrillers I'm known for.

Also fun: "Christmas Fire" has been published simultaneously in Germany in Piper Verlag's Das Fest Der Elfen anthology (Elves' Christmas). This story has also sold already in the Czech Republic, where it's slated to appear in Pevnost Magazine in December 2010.

So run! Run to your nearest book store or news stand! The bugs are coming!!! What bugs? The hyper-active gene-altered Heterotermes aureus machovsky termite swarms! Gaaaah!!!

Labels: A Lovely Little Christmas Fire, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, er, Short fiction, The cover of the Rolling Stone