A Bard's Tale

Pick up your copy of Bards and Sages Quarterly's July edition today and you can read my latest story "Spiritual Reflection." It's neither a story about a bard nor a sage, but I think you'll enjoy it just the same. It's actually a story inspired by an odd call I once took while working as an editorial assistant at the Sun Sentinel.

If that's not enough to whet your appetite, here's a full table of contents:


Spiritual Reflection by Steve Coate
The Flower that Fades and Fa's by Malcolm Laughton
Eulogy for a Hero by Bryan Hulse
Bloom by Sean Turner McLeod
And a Sower Goes Forth by Stephen McQuiggan
A Foregone Conclusion by Connor and Sylvia Wrigley
Snatching the Lute by Gerry Huntman
Son of the Empire by Tyler Bourassa
The Corner of Forty-Sixth and Ninth by Julia Martins

                                                           Cover by Nathan Hyde

Coven cover reveal

Purple Sun Press has revealed the cover for their anthology Coven, which contains my short story "Wolf's Bane" and should be available in late August. It's a lovely cover with a nice earthy feel to it, that just shouts supernatural. But don't take my word for it. Have a look for yourself.

An updated cover image has just been posted, that includes the back cover, upon which you'll see all the authors listed. Here it is:

Writer's Block Wednesday

Even famous writers have struggled with writer's block, as evidenced by this short video.

Writer's Block Wednesday

Still facing writer's block?

Here are a few tips.

If you can, plan out what you're going to write.  You don't have to know the exact wording of the prose, but knowing that your main character needs to travel from point A to point C without going through point B, gives you a goal.  Now you know where your character has to get to, write that scene.

Write someplace without distractions.  Don't write with the TV on.  Don't go to a bar to write, where you may end up ordering more beers than writing paragraphs.  Sit your butt in the chair and write.

You don't want to end up like this guy:

Moving and anthologies

So I'm in the midst of moving the Coaterack from another blogging site, here to Blogger.

Please pardon the dust during construction.

In the meantime, here are a few anthologies I'm looking forward to in the near future that you may find interesting as well:

The Spirit of Poe is an anthology of Edgar Allan Poe inspired short stories and poems produced by Literary Landmark Press.  Every cent earned from the sale of the anthology will go to the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, which recently lost $80,000 worth of funding from the city.  The anthology is planned to be released on Halloween of this year.

Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations is what you might expect from the title.  As the editor's site says, the anthology will be filled with "dark tales of horror, speculative fiction, and to a lesser degree science fiction, relating to civilizations that are lost, or have been forgotten, or have been rediscovered, or perhaps merely spoken about in great and fearful whispers. Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations is currently set for Spring 2012 publication.

Mutation Nation from Rainstorm Press is the anthology for the lover of horror, science fiction and all things strange.  This looks to be interesting, with an infinite number of possibilities for stories.  From the publisher's website: "Who are these human oddities? How do these characters and/or the people in their lives deal with the curse-or the blessing-of their mutations? This anthology will contain stories that explain these human mutations-and their consequences." Mutation Nation is set for release Dec. 1.