Not too long ago I got word that The New Quarterly is going to publish another story of mine in their summer issue (#131). The story is called Spread Low on the Fields. It involves a middle aged man coming back to his hometown to handle his father’s affairs after the old man is killed. Pretty quickly he gets tangled up in some ugly stuff while trying to make sense of the unusual circumstances that led to the killing.

This is my second story in The New Quarterly in 2014. After giving me a shot with a longer story that needed some real work (Hunted by Coyotes – TNQ #129), Pamela Mulloy turned this new one around quick, and I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with TNQ after going through two very different sets of revisions with them now.

Spread Low on the Fields will be out later in the summer, toward the end of July. That’s what I hear anyway. So keep an eye out.

Last week I also found out I’ll be getting a story done in Joyland. I’ve been sending them my work for a long time, and nothing ever stuck until recently. That story is called Shape of a Sitting Man, and it was a finalist for the The Malahat Review Open Season Award earlier in the year, and whiffed at another prize before going out for regular submissions. That one is about a beef between two rural families, leading to a little bit of mayhem and a manhunt for the main character through some marshland. It’s a quick and dirty one and I’m glad it’ll get to see the light of day.

I’ll know when that story is going to land a little later on, but it will likely be sometime this summer also.

Still working on some other stuff that I can’t really speak to yet. If I get that sorted out soon it’ll be on here as well. Otherwise, you’ll notice that I’ve got a tab for Manuscript Assessments up on the site. After getting clear of my nonsense day job I’m branching out into freelance work, including the assessment service. As of now I have a few spots open, and am actively taking on projects, so if you have a line on any writer looking for some assistance with their manuscript, or if you are actually that writer, go ahead and fire me an email at hardcastleassessments@gmail.com. I’ll happily read any queries sent to that address.

In the meantime, thanks for reading. More to come soon…

Cheers,

Hardcastle