"To Serve the Wheel"

The Fall 2007 issue of Allegory Magazine is now online, featuring a story of mine called “To Serve the Wheel”. It’s a story I’m actually rather proud of—one of the first I wrote after deciding to have a go at this writing thing for serious. “To Serve the Wheel”‘s long and checkered past began in the fall of 2003, when I submitted it to a local writing workshop I had newly joined in Columbus, Ohio (WriteShop), and Charlie Finlay, one of its many illustrious participants, was kind enough to give me my first-ever lecture on the difference between showing and telling. Heh. I can’t even remember the original title, but it was long and convoluted and terrible. I had this thing back then about nineteenth century style double titles, a la Moby Dick or The White Whale. Only worse.

Anyhow. Suffice it to say this story has gone through innumberable revisions since that day what with the replacement of telling with showing and suchlike, and I am very glad to finally get it into print, if only because I can finally stop looking at it! Woohoo! For which I owe many thanks to Ty Drago of Allegory, who has posted my silly bio and sillier photo without protest, and even gone to the length of selecting a piece of cover art for this season’s issue that seems to evoke my story nicely, complete with freaked-out hooded monk.

Please go read it if you have the chance.

7 comments

  1. Huzzah for small press online magazines! You have a knack for finding interesting ones. Congrats.

    Is that Darth Maul on the cover? I thought he was dead!

  2. Nice! I truly enjoyed reading the story, nearly as much as I enjoyed reading your bio and seeing your fantastic pic. 🙂

    Seriously, it is a great story. Congrats!

    1. Holly! Hey! Thank you!
      I am so glad you found your way here–and that you took the time to read my story. Your praise is much appreciated. And I hope your own writing is going well.

  3. I finally got around to reading this story. Very good stuff. Quite an interesting world and I think the story would reward repeated readings. The ideas were very rich, I can see how you might have written several versions from different sides to try and fully flesh it out. I liked the contrasting personalities you put in the characters. Congrats finding this nice story a home.

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