The Next Great Idea

I just finished writing an "About the Story" blurb for an anthology piece that will be coming out late this year - more on that another time. In the blurb I talk about that perfect storm of inspiration and idea. That confluence of elements that ignites and explodes. I already had the image in my head, a simple snapshot of  a character and a setting, when along came an old, old song that pushed the idea into a story that flat-out wanted to be told. It's a beautiful thing when that happens, my friends.

When I first read the submission call for No Shit, There I Was, that same sort of catalyzed reaction occurred. Idea, I'd like you to meet First Line. First Line, this is Idea. It was a brief story. Military science fiction with all the fixings. The only one of its kind offered in the anthology and one I hope folks will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed telling. 

Here's the description from the Kickstarter campaign: 

     Is there a better phrase to start a story than 
     "No Shit, There I Was..."? If you hear someone 
     start with that phrase, you know it's going to 
     be worth listening carefully. That's how all the 
     craziest - and most interesting - stories start.
 

     And then we turned a bunch of speculative 
     fiction authors loose on that phrase.

     I mean, these stories - whew.  Science fiction. 
     Fantasy. Humor. Even horror. What they came 
     up with is kind of hard to believe.

     But no shit, there we were.

Rachel Acks and Steven Saus put together a table on contents including stories from Stewart Baker, Andrew Barton, James Beamon, Lou J. Berger, Devyani Borade, Matt Dovey, R. K. Duncan, David Jón Fuller, Anne M. Gibson, Tyler Hayes, Rachael K. Jones, William Ledbetter, Darcie Little Badger, Alanna McFall, Premee Mohamed, Heather Morris, Sunil Patel, Jo Robson, Frances Rowat, Adrian Simmons, Sarah Tchernev, E. Catherine Tobler, Linda Tyler, Wren Wallis and yours, truly, William R. D. Wood

With interior art by Amy Baker, Jane Baker, Jenna Fowler, Shannon Legler, Hannah Spiegleman and Emma St. John.

Cover art by Brandon Chng. And about the cover the uncensored version was available only to Kickstarter backers. Everyone else is stuck with the stealth title cover featuring a cryptic character substitution only the brightest among us will ever decipher.