Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

I got two acceptances this week, one I already told you about at Crossed Genres (and I hope you went to vote). The other one was my short story "Trouble Arrived" for the Hellbore and Rue  anthology. This is a collection of stories about magic-practicing women. Mine is set in the bayou and has voodoo and an exotic beauty, booze and a mean big, city gambler. What more could you want? I will of course keep everybody updated as to the publication process, but I do know the editors are hoping to get it out by the end of the year.

My short story, "Europa," is a finalist in the Crossed Genres' Flash Fiction Contest. Please register at the site and vote for my story by clicking this link. Every vote counts, and I would really love to win!

I've gotten a tentative offer on my collection, All Along the Pacific , though I don't yet have a contract in hand. It may hinge on adding a final, more recent piece to the collection of historic short stories, and here is where I am stymied. I'm not married to the idea of ending the collection on the story that currently happens to be at the back, but it is very difficult, over a year after I initially compiled the stories, to go back and create something that fits the tone and content and adequately sums it up for me. I want it to end with a punch, and maybe that's what's holding me back the most. I'm afraid of letting the rest of the collection down, and I don't want to disappoint my other characters.

This is another of those restaurants that I've put off going to for too long. Last night, though, we had tickets for Avenue Q at the Mahalia Jackson Theater, so I figured why not give this place a try. Normally, you can walk across Armstrong Park to the theater from the St. Anne Street Gate, making any dining on North Rampart a great option, pre-theater. Right now, though, they are doing a lot of renovation on the park, so that gate is closed. I didn't realize it at the time. Still, we decided to eat at Meauxbar . It did not disappoint. First off, you must first pass through some curtains to get inside. There is no hostess station, but soon enough someone will walk up to seat you, so no worries. The restaurant is rather small and therefore pretty intimate. A large bar, decked in ebony-stained beadboard, takes up most of the back wall, and some interesting prints of leaves hang on the rest. The menu is big. The regular menu has many dishes -- things as plain as fried catfi...