Over Three Years…

Finally, Smith’s Monthly is back!!

Yes, I haven’t really been gone for over three years. Just the magazine has.

The date on Issue #44 of Smith’s Monthly is May 2017. The date on this new issue is January 2021. So over three years.

For almost four years before that, I did an issue per month and didn’t miss. One new novel, four or five short stories, and part of a nonfiction book. Or earlier on, a serialized novel.

Every month.

And I enjoyed it.

All those issues are listed in posts below this, one at a time, with contents and cover. (Many of the covers are now older and will be replaced out over time.)

So what slowed me down at first were short stories. I needed to take some time and write a bunch of short stories. And I did that. In fact, right now, I have about fifty unpublished short stories just waiting for me to get back to this. That’s at least ten new issues.

And then some life events hit. Kris got really sick and we ended up moving for her health in 2018. And once that cleared after almost a full year, I found myself in a place I hadn’t been in for thirty years: A brand new writing environment. And to be honest, I floundered, working to set up new systems and new ways of writing that will hold me into the future.

That took another year. But I think I got it now and I am back writing at my old speeds again.

So this magazine was about to come back in April 2020. Oh, oh, we all know what happened then. Covid and this got delayed again.

So the question then became: What to do with Smith’s Monthly dates?

I finally, after a lot of back and forth, just decided to tell everyone what happened and start the issue with January 2021. And I did and it’s now out.

And February issue is already being copyedited and I am about to turn in the March issue for copyediting. So off I go again into the future.

And to be honest, can’t tell you how excited I am.

You can subscribe if you want or just buy any issue on any major online bookstore, all the way back to the first issue.

For those of you who have believed this will be back and have been very kind about waiting, I want to say thank you! It meant a lot to me.

So off into the future.

Short Stories in this volume…

Black Coffee… A Marble Grant Story

Blind Poet

The Portal of Wrong Love… A Poker Boy Story

Cat in Waiting… A Pahket Jones Story

Full Writing Book in this volume

Stages of a Fiction Writer… A WMG Publishing Writer’s Guide

Full Novel in this volume

Head’s Up: A Cold Poker Gang Novel