October 31 / Haralambi Markov / Book Reviews

Falling Into Old Habits: Guess Who is Reviewing Again?

In a strange, short-lived return to reviewing, I’ve recently tackled several short fiction venues of great repute and long traditions in the genre publishing scene – Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet and Asimov’s Science Fiction. It took me a significant time to sit down and put my thoughts into a discourse that didn’t exhaust itself with ‘I (don’t) like this’.

Why I remember now why I stepped as a regular reviewer, I can’t help but get excited when I am presented the opportunity to analyze short fiction. Both reviews are up at SF Signal.

October 21 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

THE LANGUAGE OF KNIVES Will Disturb Italian Speakers Soon!

I’ve been sitting on this news for a little while, but I’ve signed the contract and I can make the big reveal – “The Language of Knives” will disturb readers in Italian.

Samuel Marolla of Acheron Books has acquired the Italian rights for this little story and in the near future you’ll see new cover art. “The Language of Knives” is to be sold as a standalone in a digital format as part of a short story line Acheron Books is putting out.

June 15 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

44 Hours to Fund the World SF Travel Fund

As I write this post, 44 hours remain on the Kickstarter campaign to fund my trip to World Fantasy convention as this year’s recipient of the World SF Travel Fund. The initial goal has been reached and I will, as a result of your generosity and kindness, be going to WFC. However, this isn’t the end. All leftover funds raised this year will be put to use next year to send another writer. Maybe if we raise enough, we can send even two writers! So it goes!

June 8 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

9 Days to Send Me to World Fantasy Convention

This is a friendly reminder that the World SF Travel Fund’s campaign to send me to World Fantasy Convention is going and entering its final week (and a bit). There are 9 days left and we have raised a little over $2000 and are in need of a little over $900.

May 28 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

The World SF Travel Fund is Sending Me To WFC!

This has been happening for two weeks now, but the pressure of external deadlines has held me back from talking about it on the blog. Here it goes!

The wonderful organizers behind the World SF Travel Fund, who are responsible in funding convention going for writers and editors without the means to travel on their own, have picked me as the recipient for this year. If the campaign is successful, I will be attending World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs.

March 17 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

March Flash Madness: The Flash Fic Death Matches Begin

Yesterday marked the beginning of March Flash Madness, a yearly event run by author J.M. McDermott. Each March, authors get pitted against each other. Two flash pieces the arena, one leaves alive and qualifies its writer for the next round.

I wrote a story about a Latina superhero with the power to cut dematerialize parts of her body and replicate them as energy constructs as many times as she wishes anywhere in space. Meet Shard: Read More March Flash Madness: The Flash Fic Death Matches Begin

March 13 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

Exalted 3 Fiction Anthology: Tales From the Age of Sorrows

I’m finally allowed to talk about this project. Last year, I talked about a short story of my “Secrets in My Waters Still”. It was a commission for a game project and now that the book is well under way to publication, I’m allowed to talk about it. BEHOLD, Exalted 3 Fiction Anthology: Tales From the Age of Sorrows Read More Exalted 3 Fiction Anthology: Tales From the Age of Sorrows

March 12 / Haralambi Markov / Writing

In Memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, The Man Who Inspired Me to Write

Today, we lost one of our own. One of the Greats in the field. I don’t need to explain who Sir Terry Pratchett is – that’s how loved and cherished he is. I can’t bear talking about him in the past tense, because although he’s no longer among the living, the love and laughter he’s given to generations exert a power far stronger than the one any physical death can wield.

The first book I ever read by Pratchett was “Wyrd Sisters”. I was thirteen and it was the year I was studying for high school admission exams. We didn’t have money at the time and I chose to go hungry at school to save the little money I did get for lunch. It took weeks to save enough to buy the slim book, which beckoned from bookstore displays with its magical green cover. Read More In Memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, The Man Who Inspired Me to Write

March 10 / Haralambi Markov / Promotional Work

The Writer Dispatch: Rounding up the Rogue Links

February swept me away before I could announce these bits of news separately, but now the dust has settled and I can round up the past month. Read More The Writer Dispatch: Rounding up the Rogue Links

March 6 / Haralambi Markov / Fiction Pieces

Halo

How much does a soul weigh?

I can’t answer this question, but I can tell you how much sickness weighs. Nothing or at the least very close to nothing. My hands have touched a thousand bodies already and every time I pry illness free from the corpses that litter the cracked and abandoned roads of Bulgaria, which were cracked and looked abandoned long before the Earth ended, it came off with ease.

Yes, corruption, consumption and contagion weighed nothing. Read More Halo