So I’ve been trying to get something in a Dreamspinner Anthology for a while. Last year, nothing made it, but this year I saw that they were doing a sports anthology. I thought, “I’m gonna write about video games,” because… I’m a geek.
And holy shit it worked.
So I’m reposting this because it comes out in a month and my video game short story will be in it! It’s a tale of gay romance, video game stereotypes and the people who happily turn them upside down. It’s got all sorts of fun video game references, because video gaming is a sport, right? You can either get the entire anthology, or buy the stories individually in June. Mine is called “Press START to Play.”
Below is a story description and a small snippet where I make mention of my obsession a game series I like ^^
Description: Lukis Singleton’s once-popular sports column is fading fast, thanks to the terrible track record of the local football team. In an attempt to save the column, Lukis’s editor, John, decides that he needs to go in a different direction. Video games are all the rage these days, so John insists that sending Lukis to a huge video-game tournament in Los Angeles will shake up his current readers and bring in new ones. Lukis isn’t thrilled about reporting of games with impossible powers or gamers who still live in Mon’s basement, but then he meets a tempting flaw in the game stereotypes of unwashed man-children. Aaron Sanders is a gorgeous breath of fresh air at the tournament who takes Lukis’s less-than-stellar view of gamers and turns it on its head, leaving Lukis to wonder if if might be worth being Aaron’s player two.
Snippet:
Lukis wonders, as he watches the intro video, why high school students are even allowed to fight with swords and strange monsters that they can summon. Don’t they have parents? And since when can bears talk, fight, and smoke cigars? Was that a robot just now? With an axe?
“Told ya it was completely different,” Aaron says, picking some kid who uses a gun and has some sort of fly as a monster friend.
It’s still exciting to watch, he thinks. Aaron’s character is fighting against some tall, buff guy who uses a folding chair as a weapon, it makes no sense at all; who brings a chair to a gunfight?
***
Yes I made a kannao reference in something I’m getting published. I realize I have a problem. No I do not wish to seek help thanks though.
In which my OTP makes an appearance in my original writing. Yeah.
