There comes a time when every author needs to admit that they need help. I have reached that moment.
Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been working on a mini-site for PUMP SIX, putting up links to reviews, the cover info, and most importantly, I’m also putting up some sample stories for readers to test-drive what I write. But now I have a dilemma. What stories to post?
I’ve already got “The Tamarisk Hunter” up on the site. That’s a no-brainer. It’s already on High Country News’ site, so why not here, too? But that doesn’t seem sufficient to give people a good feel for my writing. So I’m wondering if anyone else has suggestions for some best-tastic story I could also post.
I was thinking about “The Calorie Man” because it’s got so many different extrapolations, and seems representative of the collection’s sensibilities, but then I was thinking that “The People of Sand and Slag” might be good, because I liked the philosophical questions it plays with, and then there’s “The Fluted Girl” with its creepy imagery and media stars. Or maybe something else?
The only one that’s off limits is the new original “Pump Six”, because I want to give the cool folks who pony up cash for the collection to have something special of their own (and to make the guys at Night Shade happy), but everything else is up for grabs. So I’m wondering if other people have any opinions? Let me know in the comments section. Help some poor story fly free!
Here’s the list of candidates, with “The Tamarisk Hunter” and “Pump Six” set aside:
Pocketful of Dharma
The Fluted Girl
The People of Sand and Slag
The Pasho
The Calorie Man
Pop Squad
Yellow Card Man
Softer
Small Offerings (only available in the signed limited edition, but maybe here online, also?)