Some awaiting the 42 Stories Anthology publication are unaware of a certain fact. In 2018, when I launched the project, I made a vow to not write any new stories until the anthology was published. This was to motivate me to get the book finished.
My goal for the anthology has been to help other writers, so I wasn't going to focus anytime on my own work. Aside from academic writing obligations, I have kept my promise. All of my publications since 2018 have been work that I wrote prior to the project. There was one story that I had to edit due to it needing to be updated at the publisher's request. Nothing else.
This means that I am as eager for the anthology to get published as anyone else. We're still looking toward a 2024 release, luckily.
The year ended with an engagement to my fiancée. We're planning on getting married March 2025. By then, I'll be 42. To celebrate our future plans, we had some fun adventures, which I'll share with you.
For starters, we went to Meoto Iwa (picture shown above), which means "Wedded Rock." It's near Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture of Japan. Ise Shrine is technically three shrines spread across Ise City, and the largest shrine in Japan.
For years, locals have gone to Meoto Iwa to confess their love for each other. People weren't very vocal when my fiancée, Eva, was taking pictures with her ring, but she said that a lot of eyes brightened, and women smiled her way.
Our next adventure was a Bruno Mars concert in Tokyo Dome.
First, I wanted to take Eva to a place called Ice Cream Paradise, where they let people order six scoops of different flavors as a meal. The menu online was quite interesting.
They were said to have been one of the best ice creameries in the world. It's my fiancée's favorite food, so of course, we were going to go. Eva was skeptical they were still around, as there was no recent news about them.
Although Eva was right, and the ice creamery was gone, a dumpling food court was there along with a normal ice cream stand.
However, Ice Cream Paradise is no more.
On the bright side, Bruno Mars puts on a great performance.
The next day, Eva reminded me that months ago I had mentioned wanting to hit up a famous Starbucks in Tokyo called Reserve Roastery. Amazing how she remembered me saying that once.
It was really packed in there, but worth the visit.
We continued our celebrations into my birthday on the 19th.
The restaurant that took the reservation was in Osaka, called Craft Beer Café Imazato.
The owner made five Chicago pizzas for my friends and me.
The restaurant had a good stout, too.
Eva topped off the night by making my favorite pie, pecan. A perfect dessert to end the evening.
(The Wish)
So far, 2024 has been great.
Regarding the Book of 42 Presents: 42 Stories Anthology. As stated, the book will come out this year, likely toward the end of it. We're in the publication stage.
Please don't request any sudden changes unless they are unavoidable.
Note: TinyLetter is shutting down.
TinyLetter asked if I wanted to convert subscribers to MailChimp, where they charge money.
Rather, I will send mass emails to people who subscribed in the past once the book is released.
If you have a story in the anthology, you should have received emails from me already.
The most recent email was about bios needing to be updated.
The anthology team is trying to reach authors of the anthology about some edits and other matters before the book's release in 2024.
If you have not received an email from 42anthologysubs@gmail.com and have a story in the anthology, please send an email there with the subject: Missing email.
In the message, please write something like
My name is Author Person, my stories are in the Parent, Thriller, and Sword chapters, and my current email is authorperson@gmailss.com.
A few notes regarding the anthology. 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 422 has
reached its goal.
The chapters have Story of Excellence Award winners. All authors of the anthology have been notified of its
completion. What’s next? If all goes according to plan, the book will be published by
2024. We are trying to obtain chapter introductions from chapter
award winners. The authors are voting for a book cover from now until
January 22, 2023, 11:59pm GMT either via email (42anthologysubs@gmail.com) or through the Facebook group.
If you have a story in the anthology and are interested in voting for the book cover through the group, you can join by requesting a
link via email. If you want to vote on the book cover without joining the group, you can ask me for a link to the
covers and email your vote in directly.
There will be a special blog spot for each chapter where the winners answer interview questions. If you have time, look up the winners, as they're very talented authors. Any winners mentioned above, contact the anthology team (here: 42anthologysubs@gmail.com) if you didn't receive an email announcement.
There's also Runner-Up Award Winners. Here is who's been contacted so far. If you see your name below and have not replied to an email, please contact the anthology team.
Runner Up Award Winners:
Alternate Reality: Roger Hammons
Apocalyptic: Dr. Thomas Reed Willemain
Clown: Sharon Kretschmer
Craft of Writing: No Award
Crime: Anthony Knott
Culture: William McCann
Dystopia/Utopia: Alexis Gkantiragas
Escape: Gania Barlow
Fairy Tale: Sandra Simmer
Fantasy: Art Lasky
Fight: Ava Jean Wetzel
HGH: Glenna Anne Turnbull
Horror: Andy Betz
Humor: Elizabeth Barton
Impairment: Stephen Ground
Indigenous: Matias F. Travieso-Diaz
Macabre & Morbid: Christy Lynch
Monster: Bunny Haschen
Mystery: Tejaswinee Roychowdhury
Mythopoeia: Becky Benishek
Noir: Amy Cotler
oDDbALL: Faustine Guerrero
Outer Space: Ethan Shaskan
Paranormal: John H. Dromey
Parents: Travis Garner
Poetic Prose: D. I. Jolly
Romance: Lindy Greaves
Satire: Louise Mae Moises
Science Fiction: Harley McEvoy
Siblings: Nikki J. Davison
Sports: Nicole Ortiz
Steampunk: Madison Marshall
Sword & Sorcery: Ej Sidle
Thriller/Suspense: Suzanne Baginskie
Tragedy: Hibah Shabkhez
Trapped: Sheryl Loeffler
Travel: Adelaide B. Shaw
Vampire: Voting in progress
War: Amber Winter
Werewolf: James Lang
Western: Donald Winzer
Zombie: Ben Mimmack
Note: Some judges select "Honorable Mention" stories. They are optional awards given at the judge's discretion, and not every chapter has one. Honorable mention award-winners will be named in future blogs.
The whole pen name schtick came from the theme of the book having 1,764 names in it, sure. However, that's only half of the story.
I've had many pen names.
My dad named me after his favorite uncle. Bertram was a lawyer by day and trumpet player by night. He had an accident, which led to him being bedridden.
Dad always looked to him for guidance when he was young. Then, one day, probably a rainy one, Bertram died tragically.
Mom got to name my sister and brother. Then, when I was born, Dad named me after the lawyer/trumpet player.
The only problem with the name was that he shortened it to Bert, and I was a child in the '80s being called "Bert."
So, naturally, the first question kids asked, "Where's Erine?"
Just imagine, being circled by 30+ kids laughing "Where's Erine?" Some of them threw things at me. Saying "bullied" would be a light way to put it. Teachers laughed with the kids. One day, I punched a few of them and the teacher and the laughter turned to screams of horror.
I was probably one of the first 5-year-olds kicked out of that kindergarten for punching a teacher. (Now, I'm a teacher 😅).
There were other problems with being called "Bert."
In short, I hated the name.
My parents were divorced, and I went to live with Mom at 8.
She asked if I wanted to change my name to "Allan."
"My middle name?"
It so happened that a story I liked called The Raven was by a writer who had the middle name, Allan, too. Plus, we shared the same birthday and eyebags problem. So, I was down for the shift.
Something changed when I was 23. I had started getting published and needed a writer's name. I went with "B. A. Mullin," thinking it was kind of funny sounding: "Be a Mullin."
At the same time, I blogged on MySpace.com. The blog, Ten Things That You Should Know, had 133 posts and over 50k readers. Sometimes the blog hit the #1 spot on the site. My username: "Devilsthrill."
The username actually goes back to when I was 19. There's a song that inspired me to write my series, Demon Blade Bearer, called Devil's Trill. I was listening to Vanessa Mae's version at the time and wrote and wrote and wrote.
Suddenly, I had ten books written within three to fives years. As an ode to the song, I used "Devilsthrill" as an online name. It was also a typo that stuck. I wanted the name to be DevilsTrill.
At 31 my dad got sick, and we were friends. I decided to use the name "Bertram" with the stipulation that no one called me "Bert" unless they wanted to get punched in the face.
That year, I moved to Japan with a dream: Find a manga artist and make Demon Blade Bearer a manga and maybe an anime in Japan and America. I'd introduce myself as "Bertram."
At my first job, without asking, the trainer introduced me as "Bert." He didn't get punched, but it was one example of the disrespect I went through until quitting.
Got a job as a foreign teacher at public schools and while searching for an artist, continued teaching.
Because students had issues saying "Bertram," I just went with my initials: "BAM."
For the past seven years, everyone has either called me Bertram, or BAM.
I don't dislike being called "Allan," but it feels like a childhood name that I no longer use.
Subsequently, I applied to a private school last month. The director kept calling me "Bert" even after I said my name was Bertram or BAM. You should never nickname someone unless they're okay with it. That's called respect. I didn't take that job and am still teaching at public schools instead.
If you thought this covered all of my pen names, you were wrong. I've got a Hebrew name, "Abraham." There's also Eval Jaeger, Scott Allan Terrier, and Shelly Macaroy. Those are characters from stories of mine, and I've used their names as pen names. Shelly has about 4 horror publications. The other two have one each.
One major difference between Project 42 Stories Anthology and other anthologies is that no other ones have so many stories in one book.
The goal started with a simple aim: 1,764 stories and an equal number of authors in one book of 42-word stories within 42 chapters. By simple, I meant ambitious.
("Clark on the hill," Made by Tando Saka, 1920-1998, built in 1976).
After realizing that it would take too long to get so many unique writers in one book, I let current authors send up to 4 stories each with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, stories being under unique nom de plumes, and kept posting a call in submissions from July 2018 to now.
Currently, we only need about 99 stories out of 1,764. It really hasn't been that long of a wait either.
Categories still opened:
Hitchhiker's Guide to History: Both historical nonfiction or fiction are fine.
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