Christopher J. Burke

09/01/2023: "A Sliver of Pi" is live at MetaStellar Reprints!

The story originally appeared in In A Flash 2020.

More stories are making the rounds, and I hope to have more good news soon.

08/24/2023: A Sliver of Pi to appear in September in MetaStellar

MetaStellar Magazine publishes new stories and reprints, and on September 1, 2023, they will be reprinting "A Sliver of Pi", a short (314-word) tale from In A Flash 2020

Be sure to check it out. I'll post the URL here when it goes live!

08/22/2023: In April, I mentioned the idea of self-publishing, and even listed a possible photo to use with Kindle Vella. I've held off a bit with it for a couple of reasons. At the time, I thought I could take a story I've already written, cut it in half, and expand it with 2 or 3 more installments. This was before I realized that some serials on Vella run several hundred episodes, with no end in sight. Granted, most of those are broken into "arcs" or "seasons", but it seemed like me "The Green Mile" approach of a story in 4 or 5 parts is not what readers are looking for. I wouldn't want to disappoint any potential fans by ending the story "so soon" when the story has been told. (Further exploits of the main characters could be possible, of course, but I'm not a "pantser" when it comes to writing.) Another reason is that I haven't totally given up on publishing that particular story as is. There's still a market or two to try. I could always come back to it.

The biggest reason is a shift to publishing 99 cent books of short stories with approximately 6,000 words and possibly a bonus story from either In A Flash 2020 or from the new collection that I hope goes to press in 2024. (Yeah for Sneak Peeks!) When could this happen? As soon as I have enough material for at least two books, with work picked out for books three and four. At that point, I will spend money to have someone make some covers for me, which will likely cost more than the books will earn. But you have to make it look good to get the readers' attention in the first place.

Exciting times ahead! I hope.

06/08/2023: New (x, why?) comic in Madrid.

I have a comic in Boletín Nº 93 of Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI) of Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The bulletin is in Spanish, but the comic is in English, as it appeared on my blog.

04/19/2023: My HeliosphereNY 2023 schedule has been posted.

HeliosphereNY 2023 will take place Friday-Sunday April 28-30, in Piscataway, NJ. Yes, HeliosphereNY is in NJ.

I hope to see you there. Come by and say "hi!"

04/06/2023: I'm inching forward to self-publishing a story or a serial, either on Kindle or Kindle Vela. These would be stories that have made the rounds and while I've gotten some positive feedback, they haven't sealed any deals. So I'm considering pursuing Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Vella.

With that in mind, I started playing with some public domain images that I could tack onto my work. It's still rough, but I might develop one of the two images into a cover for the serial.

What do you think? You can email me, or find me on Twitter.

02/03/2023: Not exactly writing related, but I ended up in an article in the online magazine Bored Panda. A week or two back, I posted on reddit in r/movies about what was the pickiest thing that ever killed your suspension of disbelief. Was it something dumb like the subway lines being wrong? The author, Jonas Grinevicius, got in contact with me yesterday through Reddit's message system and asked some questions. I saw the email about 6 hours later and quickly responded. I'm happy to say that they updated the article with my responses, even editing out some of Jonas's original work. (I didn't tell him, but I saw the article as it originally posted before they added my comments.)

Jonas was happy to plug my books, and he even mentioned my webcomic, even though I did not!. I suck at self-promoting. I didn't want to push it past a shameless plug for my book. Hopefully, this will turn into a couple of sales.

And if you found this page through my blog from that article, WELCOME! Come back often. Drop a note on the blog and say HI!

2/01/2023: A new year is upon us, and a month has already flown by. Lots of stories are "out there", but one just came back. My Daily Science Fiction story "Portrait of a Lady Vampire" made it to the final round, as a reprint, to be made into a podcast, but it didn't make the final cut. Oh, well. That would've been cool. I can always record it myself, but having it produced for a podcast would have been nice. And it would've started 2023 off with a bang!

10/08/2022: Another one of my (x, why?) webcomics appeared in Madrid.

Nº 61 of Boletín del IMI has a comic which was reprinted from my blog: https://www.ucm.es/imi/boletin00061.

I'll say it again: It's always a thrill to see my comics making their way out into the world. (I wish more of my stories would follow!).

8/30/2022: A box of paperback copies of In A Flash 2020 is in the mail and should be arriving in a couple of days. I'll be ready to sell some directly and throw in some limited edition (x, why?) bookmarks.

8/21/2022: I mentioned last year that I had two stories (both 42 words long) accepted into an anthology of "42 Stories". I can now say that my published word count will go up by 84 words in 2024, although 42 of those will be under a psuedonym.

Below is an image I was sent to acknowledge my inclusion in the Fantasy chapter.

7/20/2022: I have been a little lax with updates of late. There isn't much to report on the Author front, but on the (x, why?) side of things, two more of my webcomics appeared in Madrid.

Nº 50 of Boletín del IMI has an original comic, which was later reprinted on my blog: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00050. And Nº 54 of Boletín del IMI has a reprint which appeared on my blog first: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00054.

It's always a thrill to see my comics making their way out into the world. (I wish more of my stories would follow!). Now I just need to devote more time to making some more of them.

4/28/2022: First Portugal, then Sweden, and now Spain! I appear in the latest edition of Boletin. That is, Nº 46 del Boletín del IMI, Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI), Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

There's an (x, why?) comic and an introduction for little old me. Check it out: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00046.

4/26/2022: I signed a Permission Form granting the American Mathematical Society the right to use some of my math puzzles in their Mathematics 2023: Your Daily Epsilon of Math; 12-Month Calendar - January 2023 through December 2023". I've followed the daily postings on twitter for two years now, and I've given the "official" response several times. I've even used those responses as (x, why?) comics on my own blog.

I'm glad my work could be a part of this.

4/03/2022: I appeared last week at HeliosphereNY in Piscataway, NJ. Sorry about the lack of notice. I only feel comfortable updating this page from my home computer, and in the days before the convention, I was busy when I was home.

I did my first and second live and in person readings ever. (I didn't one via Zoom at last year's convention.) They went well. I got several laughs at the smaller, more intimate setting that I share with two more seasoned authors (who bought in the people). And I closed out the eSpec Books Launch Party readings. The audience loved the portion of "Bringer of Doom" that I read, and at least one person immediately bought the book to read the ending. (And I personalized the book, which I'd signed in advance.)

I also sold a copy of In A Flash 2020 -- to an editor! -- based on the two words, "Kindergarten Noir". I hoped she enjoyed it. I personalized her book as well with something that said that I knew something about her.

All in all, a fun convention. And now I'm hoping that I can do more of them. Or at least more readings.

2/01/2022: There is a new video posted of me reading The It Girl from In A Flash 2020 on YouTube. Check it out. Comments welcome.

12/12/2021: Writing Credits section (below) was updated to include Delivish & Divine

12/01/2021: Devilish & Divine is Out Now! It's available to order.!

Use any of these links for Devilish & Divine:

• Amazon (trade paperback, Kindle)
• Barnes & Noble (trade paperback, Nook)
• Kobo
• direct from the publisher

10/15/2021: I got mentioned in Publishers Weekly!

The anthology, Devilish & Divine, which goes on sale Real Soon Now, contains 15 stories by 13 authors, and my name was one of the ones mentioned.

I have to add this to a Bucket List so I can cross it off!

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-949691-47-4.

09/15/2021: I had a second story accepted into the 42 Anthology, which is going to be 42 forty-two words stories in each of 42 categories, each by different authors. Okay, then how do I have two? Well because one is a nom de plume. This isn't cheating as the guidelines allow any writer to attempt to place up to four stories as long as they each have a different name attached to them.

So far, I have stories in the Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy categories. Many of the rest have filled up as they need fewer than 400 stories to complete the volume.

08/10/2021: Here are more preorder links for Devilish & Divine:

• Amazon (trade paperback, Kindle)
• Barnes & Noble (trade paperback, Nook)
• Kobo
• direct from the publisher

08/08/2021: There's a new Author Interivew at Sean Taylor's Blog: Bad Girls, Good Guys and Two-Fisted Action.

07/26/2021: You can pre-order Devlish & Divine on Amazon.

Publication date is December 1, 2021.

07/23/2021: New listing at Binge Books

Okay, it isn't exactly new, but I haven't mentioned it here yet. In A Flash 2020 has been listed on their website.

07/14/2021: New author page at Binge Books

Stop by, leave a comment, ask a question, make a suggestion.

07/06/2021: Cover Reveal: Devlish & Divine

As you can see from the images above, the anthology Devlish & Divine now has a cover. It should be available within the next four months or so. I can't wait!

07/07/2021: Awesome Interview at Awesome Gang

07/06/2021: Cover Reveal: Devlish & Divine

As you can see from the images above, the anthology Devlish & Divine now has a cover. It should be available within the next four months or so. I can't wait!

06/24/2021: Portrait of a Lady Vampire

My latest story, "Portrait of a Lady Vampire" was published in Daily Science Fiction!! Give it a look and if you like it like, maybe give it a good rating.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

05/23/2021: I've seen the galley proofs for my stories in Devlish & Divine

And let me say that I hope I never get tired of such a thing! I hope reviewing galley proofs is a "chore" I have to take on many, many times in the future!

But for now, I'm just excited about the new book coming out.

More excited for the number of times my name will appear in print: once under each of three stories, three times in the Table of Contents and once more on the "Autograph Page", which I think is an excellent invention! I hope that means that someone might seek me out at a con to complete their set of authors.

04/12/2021: Is In A Flash 2020 family friendly, appropriate for pre-teens?

I was asked this during an online reading at HeliosphereNY this past weekend. And while I can say that most of my writing fits into the category of Family Entertainment, which is my own Comfort Zone, and that mature things are left "off camera", if you will, I have to say that there are a couple of stories in In A Flash that don't quite rise to that level.

First and foremost is the story "Warp Space and Chill" which is about a hustler and the hustled. While not explicit (because, frankly, I'd feel silly writing scenes like that), it contains mature situations. I refer to this as the "Out of My Comfort Zone" story in the book. The other warning goes with the horror story, "Block", which my older brother found a little disturbing, although I'm not sure if it was the contents that bothered him, or the fact that he didn't expect it from me. In any case, it is not a supernatural horror story. It is grounded in "realism", which might make it troubling for younger readers.

Beyond that, without spoilers, there's nothing that coulnd't be shown on broadcast television. Actually, I guess that doesn't say much because those other two would probably be fine on network TV as well. However, there's minimal amounts of violence. On the other hand, there are talking kittens. And "The It Girl" is likely the most chaste story in the book.

04/11/2021: After a long delay, the penultimate chapter in the "U.S. 1" serial has been posted to Archive of Our Own. "U.S. 1" is a story of the Driving Tigers/Road Wolves, set in the Autoduel America (aka Car Wars) universe of Steve Jackson Games.

Coming soon: I will have three short pieces in a new eSpec Books anthology this summer, Devilish and Divine, (formerly Horns and Halos) edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and John L. French. I'm delighted at the company of authors that I'm joining in this volume.