Some stories get snapped up like dangling pinky toes in piranha-infested waters. Others skulk around like little lost puppies, dreaming of adoption.
“Seanna O’Gab and Brer Rabbit” is of the latter variety.
Years ago, back in my final semester of college, I wrote an odd little tale about a contest between two tricksters: a dead Irishwoman and an unconventional god of death. Not everything about it worked, and I’ve been fiddling with it ever since, seeking feedback from dozens of beta readers, swapping character motivations, fine-tuning the emotional resonance . . .
For nine years, nothing seemed to work. NINE FREAKING YEARS. This was my first-ever submission to the Writers of the Future contest, but it didn’t earn so much as an honorable mention back then. Years later, about a month after my son was born, I finally became a good enough writer to fix its flaws. I revised it during the sleepless watches of the night between diaper changes and vomity disasters, and I’m still not sure whether the editing or the fluid cleanup was the more onerous task; both really stank.
Dear Seanna had an extremely close brush with PodCastle (I think she made it to the final ten), but no adoption emerged, alas.
Until today.
Today, I learned that “Seanna O’Gab and Brer Rabbit” has been accepted for inclusion in the Major Arcana anthology from Mirari Press. Mirari’s good folks. They published me once before in The Seven Wonders anthology, with a gorgeous cover and design. I’m thrilled to see what they do with Major Arcana.
Rest assured, I’ll be screaming from the proverbial rooftops once this is available for purchase, no doubt loud enough for my metaphorical neighbors to call the metaphorical HOA on me.
I’m grateful Seanna O’Gab has finally found a place to rest her lost-puppy head. And now to see what I can do about all these other mangy little pups skulking around on my hard drive, yapping for freedom and a loving home . . .
Luke Wildman 