Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase that means wonderful year, “year of wonders” or “year of miracles”. (This term originally referred to the year 1666, celebrating its non-awfulness even though it had the number of the beast, ‘666’ in it.) My Annus Mirabilis was my 50th. I’d returned to writing a year earlier and had rebuilt a long neglected community, reconnecting with people I’d written with in the 90s, and made a bunch of new friends as well. I’d decided to give short fiction one last shot.
Long story short. I had a great year, and, the world didn’t end. (Coincidence? I think not.)
To celebrate this I’m re-publishing the story that started my lucky streak. (The rights reverted to me a month after the original publication at Asimov’s.)
If you intended to read the story but missed the issue, here it is again. If you’re a friend of mine that doesn’t read SF, you still might want to give it a try. If you’re a young writer wondering what a breakthrough story might look like, check it out. This worked for me.
Oh, and big confession time, I wrote this story for myself, had fun writing it, and never thought it would sell.
Amazon Book Description
(Amazon) Publication Date: March 11, 2014
My first of six sales to Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine in 2013. It’s one of my favorites. What’s it about? Well.
When the Aliens make a visitation request, you get the day off work, which is nice. Most people go about their lives normally, after the interview. A few disappear. And a few try to make a few bucks, hawking new religions on the interwebs. Joel isn’t entirely sure which group he’ll fall into, but one thing’s for sure…
He could use the day off. He’s got a ton of laundry do to.
