Out of the revision dungeon! Draft clocked in at 101,652. We'll see how that stands after the next round.

Dreamed I wrote a brilliant satire that resulted in an angry mob with pitchfvorks, torches and uzis surrounding my home. Don't know how brilliant it is, but wrote down as much of it as I could remember. I may not complete it. This may be a bit too angry even for me. Think this is worth continuing or something best discarded?

Empires

Once upon a time a new continent suddenly rose off the east coast of a great empire After due consideration, the empire responded as it always did to anything new and strange it could not be absolutely sure was not a threat. It invaded.

The invaders found an unpopulated jungle, teeming with wildlife., Without a labor force to exploit, without valuable minerals, without even large trees or any other natural resources worth exploiting the empire did not really know what to do next. So its soldiers wandered aimlessly through the vast jungle, occasionally capturing and torturing spider monkeys, and sending drones in to destroy herds of wildebeests. There were no insurgents to provoke by these actions, so the invaders found themselves in the unfamiliar situation of not being locked into an escalating cycle of violence. Occasionally, though, a soldier or contractor would die or be injured through some accident. Then the empire's Air Force could firebomb a few acres of jungle around the accident site into desert. Oil companies would then, more or less in a reflexive reaction to sand, move into the newly created patch of desert and drill exploratory wells, though there was no particular reason to think any part of this conquest held fossil fuel reserves.

The animals were not quite like those of other lands; they observed and learned. In the face of the very real streak of timidity that lay behind the invaders' belligerence they tried silence. The lions no longer roared. The elephants no longer trumpeted. They even began to pass wind quietly. less the sudden explosion of a fart startle a news anchor or government official into launching a new war.

Finally, I can announce that I sold my flash piece "Sally the Psychic Alligator" to Fireside (which pays 12.5 cents a word!!!). This is my first magazine sale!

Congrats Polter!

Congratulations P-C!

YaY P-C!

congratulations PC! This is wonderful news!

Congratulations, P-C!

Thank you! It's funny, I was getting so frustrated in the "Oh God I'll never sell another story that first one was just a fluke" way and then this story sold after being rejected 7 times (with a few surprising personal rejections).

And then I got three rejections for the same story, one from Fireside. It never ends!

Congratulations, P-C! And Sox!