Daniel Aegan

Okay… So I’m between books. When it’s all said and done, I finished three first drafts of novels this year.

“Finished” may be too strong a word. It’s more like two and two-thirds. Still, who’d complain about that? Anyway, it’s time to work on some shorts.

My next book, Lost Women of the Admiral Inn, is due to drop next month on the seventeenth, just in time for Halloween. I finished drafts of Unholy Mother of the Demonic Child and Blood Drive 2 over the summer too. I’ve been reviewing an unfinished book of mine called Operation: Maximum Chaos, and I’m fairly confident I’ll write the last part and get that draft done. For those of you keeping track at home, that’ll make a total of six books that are in various stages of pre-publishing.

But what about these shorts???I love short stories. It’s how I started on this literary journey of mine. As of late, I’ve written quite a few in the sci-fi/comedy milieu. That’s where I’m still heading with my most recent shorts. I have three in the hopper now: an alien abduction romance, a spoopy cartoon crossover, and a time travel clusterfuck.

What is it about short stories that I love so much? Maybe it’s the collaboration that has to take place between the writer and the reader. With a short, the reader’s imagination has to take over to fill in the details. It’s a subtle art. As a writer who values subtlety, this is key to the process.

It’s a challenge, too. There are those who think it’s easier since the stories are smaller in stature. Even newer writers may think so. But that’s not the case. You’re still telling a story, but you have to so it in a more compact way. Getting a full story to fit in ten thousand words or less can be as challenging as a hundred-thousand word novel.

I digress, though. I’m supposed to be talking about my WIP status.

Dirt Nap is my spoopy (I had to Google this word) story I’m writing for Halloween. It’s about Alana, a woman who’s lost the love of her life to death. She’s befriended by a cartoon character as she’s trying to summon her lover from the dead. He’s Hel Psychopomp, son of the Grim Reaper. He promises to take Alana through the Underworld to find the soul she seeks. As a bonus, there’s an episode of Hel’s show for your enjoyment.

I’ve finished my alien abduction love story. I’ll start looking for a home for it soon. It’s about a couple of guys who meet aboard an alien spacecraft following their respective abductions. One remembers their trip into orbitx and the other was sent home with an unexpected surprise.

The third is a time travel piece I haven’t fully figured out yet. Time travel is a tricky bitch, as any manipulator will tell you. I have the bones of a fun story. I just need to put them together.

I should cap this off here. I’m assuming people care for some reason. If you’re looking forward to these stories, they’ll be with you soon. If you want some links to my last couple of shorts, I’ll post them at the end of this post. I might even slap together an anthology at some point in the near future. Look forward to it.

-Daniel Aegan
9/11/19

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As promised, here are my last couple of short stories:

Help! My Sex Robot is Trying to Kill Me!

Prismatic Issue 3 – featuring my story Happily Ever Raptor