I promised I’d reveal what Nascence, this project I’ve been putting together over the last couple months, was about today:

Here’s the full title: Nascence: 17 Stories That Failed and What They Taught Me.

As I explain in the introduction, “…this is either a really clever way to monetize a number of old stories that I have in my desk drawers that really shouldn’t see the light of day, or it is a nifty way to talk about how I learned how to write.”

I’m still not sure which. I already had someone read the early edition and go “yeah, you’re really hanging it all out there, aren’t you?” But then, I’ve always been fairly comfortable doing that.

Here’s the thing: I’ve written 145 or so short stories and sold 45 of them. It took me the better part of 100 stories to start selling them. I often get asked about those 100 ‘trunked’ stories (that’s what many of us call stories we’ve retired). The truth is, I’ve not found much value in them, or attempting to rewrite them.

But as a way of talking about how I learned to write stories that now sell, and in terms of explaining the evolution of what I was writing, they make for an interesting journey.

While I wouldn’t want to just plop those stories out onto an unsuspecting public, the idea of a curated look at the stories, what they taught me, and how I learned from them over 15 years of writing, I thought a very cool collection could be assembled.

The collection will go on sale via my website, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble this Monday morning for $4.99. It will be digital only for now. I’ll be uploading it and so forth this weekend.

Again, if you’re interested in reviewing it, please email me at tobias@tobiasbuckell.com (specify Mobi or ePub).

The Table of Contents:

Introduction

Spellcast (1996)

Airtown (1997)

The Arbiter (1997)

Abrupt Salvage (1998)

It Is Bitter (1998)

Sea Legs (1999)

Slowboat (1999)

Closed Cycles (1999)

Ambassador (1999)

Ranger Jim (2000)

Free Antarctica (2000)

Days Limin’ (2001)

Life! (2002)

Vacuum Cures Everything (2003)

A Slow Burn Passion (2004)

A Jar of Goodwill (1999-2000)

A Jar of Goodwill (2000)

A Jar of Goodwill (2010)

Epilogue

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