Author: Michael Merriam

This is my runner-up performance at the 2011 Tellebration! Story Slam. The audio can be dicey at times because I moved around the stage quite a bit, which meant I moved away from the microphone. On stage that wasn’t a problem, I know how to project my voice out to the audience. In a recording,… Continue reading For Your Listening Pleasure

Sometimes the story you are writing does not turn out the way you planned. If you’re smart, you learn to roll with it, to turn down the unplanned detours, to take a chance and go down the rabbit hole, because sometimes that were the true story is to be found. Okay, maybe letting the story… Continue reading In Which the Author Remembers the Lessons of the Phantom Streetcars.

It is a bear sometimes. My “Mage Duel on a Bus” novella has ground to halt. Not only am I unsure of the ending, but I need to work out the continuity of not only the novella, but where it fits and how it affects and is affected by all the other pieces in this… Continue reading Continuity

In the face of my recent return to the realms of the unemployed, I’m trying to generate a little income. So here is my “I’m unemployed and could use a little love” marketing sales pitch for all my available books, both print and electronic. Coffee For Your Body, Flames For Your Soul: Urban Fantasy Short… Continue reading Help a Starving Author Out

What I’m about to say here is going to damage my geek credibility, possible even destroy it—like, throw it to the flow and stomp it to little pieces destroyed—but I have to say it. I’ve been watching all the movies leading up to The Avengers (which I haven’t seen yet) and I have to say,… Continue reading In Which The Author Rambles About Movies

Local author Rob Callahan says nice things about me, Dana M Baird, Joseph Scrimshaw, Tales of the Unanticipated Magazine, and Maggie Koerth-Baker (who I’ve never met or read, but who sounds awesome!) over at l’étoile Magazine. Go read about some great local Twin Cities talent!

First of all, let’s be clear: I would not give up my laptop. Not ever. Nor my air conditioner. And indoor plumbing rocks. That said, I’m here to sing the praise of older technology. While the modern PC is a wonderful tool, it has its problems (mostly user error, in my case), distractions (again with… Continue reading In Praise of Older Technology

Thursday: The move in was stupid hot, as the whole day was stupid hot. Luckily we were able to score a bellman’s cart to help with the move in, so it only took two trips instead three. The bad news was, the room (the brand-new just remolded room) had a broken shower, which forced us… Continue reading Post-Convergence Report

This is my schedule for Convergence, subject to last minute change. Thursday, July 5 11:30pm – Escaping the Slush Pile – Bloomington Room – A panel of experienced slush readers will take the first five pages of manuscripts submitted by audience members, and identify the point at which they would stop reading, if any, and… Continue reading Convergence Schedule

And not just marketing the Sky-Tinted Waters anthology and my new novella, The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn. I took a trip to Atlanta recently for a conference of the professional organization that Beloved Spouse is an officer of. I tend to go along with her on these trips, just like she comes to… Continue reading A Post to Prove I’m Still Writing New Fiction