Editor: Stan Schmidt
Published in "Analog" -- October, 1999
| excerpt: LC. The title echoed in his mind like silence after an angry scream. Lieutenant Commander. That was the thing about rank in the military. Everyone understood what a rank meant. Rank labeled a man, and it stayed with him. It would not be long before the promotion list was made public, not long before everyone knew where Torrance stood.
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On Writing "Stealing the Sun"
"They're Stealing the Sun," Carla Montgomery said when I explained a little piece of my idea.
"That's the title," I replied. I rapidly scribbled those words down. Titles are the hardest thing about most of the stories I write. Maybe that says something about me.
I was up in my hotel room at the Writers of the Future workshop. Stafano Donati (my roomie) and Carla were talking over their stories. Carla noticed me gazing out the window, I guess, and asked me about the story. And that's how we got to the beginning of this essay.
One of the exercises you do at the WotF gig is a gesalt thing where you are given an object and asked to come up with ideas for stories. I had been given a pen and pencil set that belonged to Amy Casil. The leather case immediately reminded me of launch tubes, and I wanted to capture something about some of the people I had worked with in my days in the civil service, so I chose a Lieutenant Commander as the main character.
In the hotel room was one of the biggest oranges I had ever seen, with a rind pock-marked and with dimples. It became the sun, and next thing you know I had the premise of my story.
Enter Carla's comment.
A quick spin through the writers' group tightened a few places.
Stan bought it and published it in a matter of about five months.
Oh, if all of the publishing process worked so smoothly!