Apparently I never got around to blogging about the Codex Halloween Contest last year.  The Halloween Contest is the longest-running contest run by the Codex Writers, with last year’s being the fourth annual contest.  While I have been rather successful in the annual Codexian Idol contest, and even won the Fairy Tale contest and the Chinese Menu contest, I had never even placed in the Halloween contest.

But last year I managed to take second place, with "Diamond Tears From Emerald Eyes," a sword-and-sorcery tale about two brothers helping a woman in a wedding dress steal a box from a dead wizard’s castle.

Well, today I got the news that the perspicacious Edmund Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, wants to buy the story.  (The title is now "Like Diamond Tears From Emerald Eyes" because, like, I like the word like in the title.)  I think this title is probably my most Ken-Scholesish in nature.  The story will probably end up in the December issue.

Here’s the first page, just to give you a taste:

Larindo and I were standing guard at the entrance to Krankel’s Fine Jewelry and Loan Emporium when the bride arrived in town. She stepped down from her horseless carriage and into the volcanic ash that covered the road. Her dress must have been enchanted somehow–it managed to stay spotless white as she swept across the street and into Blat’s Tavern next door.

"Pretty lady," said Larindo.

I wrinkled my nose. "Couldn’t tell, what with the veil." But I knew what he meant. Larindo wasn’t overly smart, but he knew pretty things when he saw them. As long as he didn’t try to touch them, I could usually keep him out of trouble.