What You Are About to See...And Read...Now

What seems like so many months ago -- April, actually -- I was plotting the best ways to introduce to readers the 26 stories included in Alien Contact, my then forthcoming anthology. I had contacted all the authors for their assistance in promoting the book, with hopes that their schedule would allow for such participation. I asked the authors if they would be open to being interviewed and/or write a guest blog post and/or allow for the online publication of the complete content of their story. More than half of the authors responded with a "yes" on one or more of the options.

Then I had to find homes for these interviews and guest blog posts and stories. I didn't want to limit all of this material to More Red Ink. I have my share of readers, but there are other, more popular sites with readers numbering in the many thousands -- and I wanted to bring Alien Contact to the masses. Hallelujah!

So that's why SF Signal hosted all of the interviews and all (but one) of the guest blog posts. And though the complete text of five of the anthology stories were posted here on More Red Ink, I had worked out plans to have two additional stories posted elsewhere.

On September 16, when I first introduced Story #20 -- "What You Are About to See" by Jack Skillingstead -- I wrote: "I've probably read the story at least four or five times now, and each time the story still leaves me in awe. This is one of those stories that slithers in behind your eyeballs as you read, and tweaks the hell out of your mind." Jack had given me permission to post the story online, but I refrained from doing so, painful as it was, because the publisher, Night Shade Books, had agreed to post the story in its entirety on their website -- but not until after the book itself was published. (This is me, waiting...waiting...waiting....)

Finally, that time is now: "What You Are About to See" is approximately 5,100 words in length; it's not an overly long story, and if you are prepared to have snakes slithering in behind your eyeballs, and your mind rearranged, well, you merely need to click here... and begin reading....

[Update April 7, 2014: Jack Skillingstead's story "What You Are About To See" is now hosted here on More Red Ink.]