More news soon!
31 August 2013
Urban Mythic Launch
More news soon!
15 August 2013
Urban Mythic: Jonathan Oliver
Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write.
By
day I’m the editor-in-chief of three imprints, by night I tinker with
my own words. Well, that isn’t technically true. I’m not vastly prolific
so I sort of fit writing in, in bits and pieces when I can. Mainly in
lunch-breaks. I like to write whatever takes me, to be honest. I tend
towards the darker end of the spectrum, but of late my stories have
often been slightly more hopeful.
What was it that inspired “White Horse”?
The White Horse at Uffington is quite close to us, so it seemed like the perfect setting to talk about myth and magic. As nobody really knows who created it or for what reason, I decided to come up with a legend of my own. At its heart, the story is about parenthood (especially fatherhood) and how we overcome mistakes made and the parts of ourselves we’re often not that comfortable with. Man, that sounds way too deep! The literary inspirations certainly came from writers such as Alan Garner and Robert Holdstock, who explore our relationship to myth and landscape.
How urban do you like your fantasy and who are your must-read authors?
Hmmm, I like my fantasy pretty varied. It doesn’t necessarily have to be urban, but my favourites in that field are probably China Mieville (especially Perdido Street Station), Christopher Fowler, Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast is really one vast city), Gaie Sebold to pick just a few.
As an editor at Rebellion you’ve been involved with publishing tie-in fiction and co-creating shared worlds – what’s the appeal in those for you?
Yeah, that’s for the Abaddon side of things. It’s great fun creating a whole new world in collaboration with someone. We never published tie-in fiction as such; instead we decided on the types of fiction we wanted to publish and then set up worlds for the authors to play in. The joy really came with seeing writers go mad with what you had set up and put their own spin on things.
What are you up to next?
I’ve just finished a pretty dark story called “Turn”, so that’s gone out for consideration. Currently working on something set in the world of silent movies (which features my sweariest character yet!) and am sort of prodding the novel in my mind. It will happen at some point. Having written two already, I’m just massively aware of what hard work they are. But yes, the novel will happen. Even if it breaks me. Which it probably will.
[Jonathan Oliver is Editor-in-Chief of Solaris, Abaddon Books and YA imprint, Ravenstone. Sometimes he finds the time to write and has had two novels published and several short stories in such anthologies as A Town Called Pandemonium, Terror Tales of London and Horror Express. He lives in Abingdon with his wife, Ali, their daughter, Maia, and their cat, Fudge. Catch him at: jonoliverwriter.blogspot.com ]
01 August 2013
Urban Mythic
There is magic out there on the street and the Mythic are alive and well and creating chaos in a city near you.
Fourteen fabulous authors bring you tales of wonder and horror, with ancient curses and modern charms, strange things in the Underground, murder and redemption, corporate cults and stalwart guardians, lost travellers and wandering gods, fortune tellers and urban wizards, dragons, fae and unspeakable beasts.
Table of Contents:
Introduction – Jan Edwards & Jenny Barber
Ian Whates – Default Reactions
Gaie Sebold – Underground
James Brogden - The Smith of Hockley
Graham Edwards - A Night to Forget
Joyce Chng - Dragon-Form Witch
Mike Resnick – The Wizard of West 34th Street
Anne Nicholls -The Seeds of a Pomegranate
Adrian Tchaikovsky – Family Business
Jaine Fenn - Not the Territory
Christopher Golden - Under Cover of Night
Zen Cho - Fish Bowl
Kate Griffin - An Inspector Calls
Jonathan Oliver - White Horse
Alison Littlewood - The Song of the City
16 July 2013
Talking About Harassment
So here's the thing - there's been a lot of chatter lately about genre sexism and convention harassment and such like. Good well reasoned points have been made, useful information has been given, emotions have gotten extremely high on all sides, anti-harassment procedures are becoming more obvious and appearing at more conventions, all of this is a good thing.
But there have been a few comments here and there that keep sticking in my brain and won't stop bugging.
"But it happens in other areas of life..."
Well, yes. That's not the point. Conventions are our turf. They're supposed to be a safe place where we can hang out with other like minded people, talk about geeky stuff and not worry about extra garbage like getting flack for choosing to wear something fun. (Corsets are not an excuse to get handsy. Mini skirts are not an excuse to get handsy. Funky punk gear and tattoos is not an excuse to be rude about a person. Cleavage, no matter the size or coverage, is not an excuse to turn into Benny Hill.)
Other areas of life are not the issue here. It's our people, those people who should be better than all those other not-our-people, being assholes in our favoured places of socialisation that is hitting the buttons. And unlike many other areas of life, conventions are spaces where we can actually exert some control over our environment and the framework of interactions within it, and expect a reasonable response when the problems crop up.
And, personally, I expect my genre peeps to be evolved civilised respectful human beings as standard. And most of them are. Even when they've been drinking for six hours straight. Actually, especially when they've been drinking for six hours straight - it's seems to be one of those convention attendee superpowers. (Convention bar staff used to always tell us how surprised they were at how nice and quiet most SF convention drunks were. Apparently the corporate conference drunks get really lary... but, I digress...)
"It seems to be more prevalent in US conventions/you don't get that kind of thing in the UK..."
Bollocks. I know women who have experienced problems with gropers and creepers and the like at conventions going back twenty or thirty years when they first got into the fandom thing, and endured it throughout their many years of conventioning afterwards. I know women and men, straight and quiltbag, who experienced dodgy things in the last couple of years. For some of them it was their first convention, for some of them, it was old news. Some people stop going to certain UK conventions because of it. UK fandom is not a precious paragon of virtue in this stuff.
"I've been going to conventions for XX years and I've never had it happen to me/seen it happen..."
I'm happy for you. Really. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened or that people haven't been affected by these total assholes who keep thinking civilised behaviour doesn't apply to them. And honestly, in saying this kind of thing, while it may be accurate for the person who got lucky with their con experiences, it still carries an implication that it couldn't possibly be happening to anyone else and kinda dismisses the experiences of those that have had something creepy happen to them and they get enough doubts about that as it is. (You misinterpreted it. You're overreacting. It's just their/your sense of humour. They're lovely really. You're being oversensitive. They only do it when they're really drunk. You smiled too much. They were just flirting. You should have told them to go away. You should have smacked them one. You should have told someone else and they'd have done something.)
These things are difficult to talk about at the best of times. Hell, they're difficult to think about at the best of times and a standard coping mechanism is to block it out and move on, and make a note of who to avoid and where and when. And even the slightest hint of dismissive language from someone else can be crushing and stir things up all over again and make you never want to mention it as a thing that actually happened.
"But we shouldn't forget the good men..."
Well yes. But also no. See, the thing of it is, the decent men and women at conventions and in other genre related things aren't the problem here. They're the majority. They're the ones who'll help out when some creep's trying it on and rescue you. (And, by the way, why do people need rescuing in the first place? People shouldn't need rescuing from anyone at a convention! How is that a thing we still accept as normal?) The problem is, the other ones. The people no-one talks about in public but, if you're lucky to know someone who knows someone, will be the people you're warned about. (If you don't know anyone to get the warnings from, then you're left thinking it's just you when they try it on. And wouldn't it be easier to not go to another convention or volunteer in an organisation if this is the thing you're going to get from the people you meet...)
And, look, I get why people are wanting to big up the nice folks, I could share plenty of stories about the men and women in the genre who stepped in to be awesome, that's not the point. We shouldn't need to give cookies to people for not being creeps. Not being a creep should be the standard expectation for a person. And people aren't talking about the creeps to publicise how generally awful genre people are and bewaaaaare the terrible cesspit environment of the SF convention and that's all you can expect from everyone ever if you dare go to one.
Talking about the bad ones is more a case of saying, look, there's these serial assholes who plenty of people quietly know about but for a variety of reasons, no-one has done anything about them or their dodgy behaviour and that's not right. It has never been right. And now there's enough people talking about what the moronic assholes are doing for people to realise they weren't the only ones being targeted and that, actually, some of the perps behaviour was just a bit shitty so lets make it stop.
And the not being alone in this thing is a strong component in all the talking about it over bloggage and social media. Because that guy that you thought was a bit pervy but didn't make a thing of it, because, obviously, it was a minor thing, or your fault, or whatever... that guy? Turns out he did it to other people too. And they weren't alright with it either. And they had their doubts, same as you. And it doesn't matter that other people don't see that side of him, or dismiss it for one of the many reasons these things get dismissed for, because there are people who have seen that side of creepy guy and aren't willing to let it slide anymore.
"But men get creeped on too."
Yes, they do. That sucks. No one should have to deal with being harassed by anyone. Transgender people also get harassed at conventions. So do people of colour. And it's not just men who do the shitty things. Women do it too. And it's not only the women who are targeted. Men are targeted too. (Yes, I know, binary gender descriptives. Forgive me that one. All-folks get targeted. All-folks do the targeting.)
That being said, there is a higher level of men creeping on women. And there's underlying societal currents related to the concept of men being afraid of women laughing at them and women being afraid of men killing them, and someone did a really good post on this recently which explains it properly, but I can't actually find it now. Argh! ::headdesk:: But man following woman around has a whole bunch of different connotations to woman following man around.
"But geeks score high on the Autistic/Aspergers spectrum/are naturally socially inept...so you can't really blame them.."
Stop it right now. The Autism/Aspergers thing was debunked somewhere, but I can't find the link at the mo... (Argh! Total linkfail today!) Read this thing here about the socially inept excuse though.
Also that socially inept thing? Works the other way too. The people that the creeps are targeting are also often socially inept, and thus unable to actually react to the creeps in a way that would stop the harassment, or have them say anything useful about it later to anyone else. In these cases, the victim's own perception of their shyness/generally being socially rubbish creates a feeling of self-blame as, obviously, their own personality 'defects' were a factor in not stopping things they didn't like when anyone with a bit of nous would have laughed/said something witty and/or rude and generally cut creeper-dude off at the pass.
"It's just good natured flirting."
Subjective. If you know the person you're doing sexy banter with then you'll know how far you can go, and when to stop. Otherwise what's good natured flirting to one person, is awkward and embarassing and oh-god-please-shut-up-and-go-away to another. And even for those of us with a low tolerance for it, flirty conversation can still be fun, just don't be an asshole about it. And please don't be dismissive of the people that don't have the kind of personality/sense of humour to put up with/say anything about a constant unwanted barrage of the X-rated stuff.
So, yeah, talking about con harassment is good, but please just be aware that some of the well meaning comments can be a bit triggery to the people who've experienced these things.
But there have been a few comments here and there that keep sticking in my brain and won't stop bugging.
"But it happens in other areas of life..."
Well, yes. That's not the point. Conventions are our turf. They're supposed to be a safe place where we can hang out with other like minded people, talk about geeky stuff and not worry about extra garbage like getting flack for choosing to wear something fun. (Corsets are not an excuse to get handsy. Mini skirts are not an excuse to get handsy. Funky punk gear and tattoos is not an excuse to be rude about a person. Cleavage, no matter the size or coverage, is not an excuse to turn into Benny Hill.)
Other areas of life are not the issue here. It's our people, those people who should be better than all those other not-our-people, being assholes in our favoured places of socialisation that is hitting the buttons. And unlike many other areas of life, conventions are spaces where we can actually exert some control over our environment and the framework of interactions within it, and expect a reasonable response when the problems crop up.
And, personally, I expect my genre peeps to be evolved civilised respectful human beings as standard. And most of them are. Even when they've been drinking for six hours straight. Actually, especially when they've been drinking for six hours straight - it's seems to be one of those convention attendee superpowers. (Convention bar staff used to always tell us how surprised they were at how nice and quiet most SF convention drunks were. Apparently the corporate conference drunks get really lary... but, I digress...)
"It seems to be more prevalent in US conventions/you don't get that kind of thing in the UK..."
Bollocks. I know women who have experienced problems with gropers and creepers and the like at conventions going back twenty or thirty years when they first got into the fandom thing, and endured it throughout their many years of conventioning afterwards. I know women and men, straight and quiltbag, who experienced dodgy things in the last couple of years. For some of them it was their first convention, for some of them, it was old news. Some people stop going to certain UK conventions because of it. UK fandom is not a precious paragon of virtue in this stuff.
"I've been going to conventions for XX years and I've never had it happen to me/seen it happen..."
I'm happy for you. Really. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened or that people haven't been affected by these total assholes who keep thinking civilised behaviour doesn't apply to them. And honestly, in saying this kind of thing, while it may be accurate for the person who got lucky with their con experiences, it still carries an implication that it couldn't possibly be happening to anyone else and kinda dismisses the experiences of those that have had something creepy happen to them and they get enough doubts about that as it is. (You misinterpreted it. You're overreacting. It's just their/your sense of humour. They're lovely really. You're being oversensitive. They only do it when they're really drunk. You smiled too much. They were just flirting. You should have told them to go away. You should have smacked them one. You should have told someone else and they'd have done something.)
These things are difficult to talk about at the best of times. Hell, they're difficult to think about at the best of times and a standard coping mechanism is to block it out and move on, and make a note of who to avoid and where and when. And even the slightest hint of dismissive language from someone else can be crushing and stir things up all over again and make you never want to mention it as a thing that actually happened.
"But we shouldn't forget the good men..."
Well yes. But also no. See, the thing of it is, the decent men and women at conventions and in other genre related things aren't the problem here. They're the majority. They're the ones who'll help out when some creep's trying it on and rescue you. (And, by the way, why do people need rescuing in the first place? People shouldn't need rescuing from anyone at a convention! How is that a thing we still accept as normal?) The problem is, the other ones. The people no-one talks about in public but, if you're lucky to know someone who knows someone, will be the people you're warned about. (If you don't know anyone to get the warnings from, then you're left thinking it's just you when they try it on. And wouldn't it be easier to not go to another convention or volunteer in an organisation if this is the thing you're going to get from the people you meet...)
And, look, I get why people are wanting to big up the nice folks, I could share plenty of stories about the men and women in the genre who stepped in to be awesome, that's not the point. We shouldn't need to give cookies to people for not being creeps. Not being a creep should be the standard expectation for a person. And people aren't talking about the creeps to publicise how generally awful genre people are and bewaaaaare the terrible cesspit environment of the SF convention and that's all you can expect from everyone ever if you dare go to one.
Talking about the bad ones is more a case of saying, look, there's these serial assholes who plenty of people quietly know about but for a variety of reasons, no-one has done anything about them or their dodgy behaviour and that's not right. It has never been right. And now there's enough people talking about what the moronic assholes are doing for people to realise they weren't the only ones being targeted and that, actually, some of the perps behaviour was just a bit shitty so lets make it stop.
And the not being alone in this thing is a strong component in all the talking about it over bloggage and social media. Because that guy that you thought was a bit pervy but didn't make a thing of it, because, obviously, it was a minor thing, or your fault, or whatever... that guy? Turns out he did it to other people too. And they weren't alright with it either. And they had their doubts, same as you. And it doesn't matter that other people don't see that side of him, or dismiss it for one of the many reasons these things get dismissed for, because there are people who have seen that side of creepy guy and aren't willing to let it slide anymore.
"But men get creeped on too."
Yes, they do. That sucks. No one should have to deal with being harassed by anyone. Transgender people also get harassed at conventions. So do people of colour. And it's not just men who do the shitty things. Women do it too. And it's not only the women who are targeted. Men are targeted too. (Yes, I know, binary gender descriptives. Forgive me that one. All-folks get targeted. All-folks do the targeting.)
That being said, there is a higher level of men creeping on women. And there's underlying societal currents related to the concept of men being afraid of women laughing at them and women being afraid of men killing them, and someone did a really good post on this recently which explains it properly, but I can't actually find it now. Argh! ::headdesk:: But man following woman around has a whole bunch of different connotations to woman following man around.
"But geeks score high on the Autistic/Aspergers spectrum/are naturally socially inept...so you can't really blame them.."
Stop it right now. The Autism/Aspergers thing was debunked somewhere, but I can't find the link at the mo... (Argh! Total linkfail today!) Read this thing here about the socially inept excuse though.
Also that socially inept thing? Works the other way too. The people that the creeps are targeting are also often socially inept, and thus unable to actually react to the creeps in a way that would stop the harassment, or have them say anything useful about it later to anyone else. In these cases, the victim's own perception of their shyness/generally being socially rubbish creates a feeling of self-blame as, obviously, their own personality 'defects' were a factor in not stopping things they didn't like when anyone with a bit of nous would have laughed/said something witty and/or rude and generally cut creeper-dude off at the pass.
"It's just good natured flirting."
Subjective. If you know the person you're doing sexy banter with then you'll know how far you can go, and when to stop. Otherwise what's good natured flirting to one person, is awkward and embarassing and oh-god-please-shut-up-and-go-away to another. And even for those of us with a low tolerance for it, flirty conversation can still be fun, just don't be an asshole about it. And please don't be dismissive of the people that don't have the kind of personality/sense of humour to put up with/say anything about a constant unwanted barrage of the X-rated stuff.
So, yeah, talking about con harassment is good, but please just be aware that some of the well meaning comments can be a bit triggery to the people who've experienced these things.
02 July 2013
A Pirate's Life for Me!
There are a whole bunch of excellent stories in it, by a whole bunch of excellent people, but today I want to talk about mine! Or more specifically, why mermaid-pirates.
See, according to the stories, there are two types of career options for mermaids. The quiet mermaids are the ladies of leisure, lounging around random rocks combing their hair and gossiping with their bestest gal-pals. Occasionally one may be inspired by stories of humans to get involved with the strange land creatures, and by assorted means pursue their target until they’re dutifully wed or consigned to death due to an enchantment gone bad. The bolshier ones are having none of that foolishness, and prefer to seduce their human prey into the water where they can drag them down into the depths for fun and drowning. Every sailor knows this.
 |
| Mermaids call shenanigans on boring career options |
What every mermaid knows, however, is a different matter. Their stories tell of all those times their selkie cousins lost their skin to human treachery; all those times their sisters got captured for amusement and profit and were ill paid for what assistance they gave drowning humans in storm churned waters; all those times they were hunted by humans who thought they could get an advantage in fishing or just grab themselves a mermaid wife. No sensible mermaid is going to let that carry on unremarked. Not for long.
And while there are plenty of activities where mermaids excel – smuggling, treasure hunting and salvage, music, art, marine sciences (of course), underwater archaeology, combat (especially of the shock troop variety), legitimate trade, hunting, exploration and storytelling; by far the most popular choice is piracy.
And so my story "Past Lives" - where human-pirates hunt mermaids and mermaid-pirates hunt humans and the spectre of an ex-mermaid pirate captain hangs over it all.
Picture Credits:
1 – Mermaids of the Caribbean http://pirates.wikia.com
2 –When Mermaids Attack by David Hahn http://davidhahnart.com/2010/02/28/when-mermaids-attack/
3 – A Pirate’s Life for Me by Selina Fenech http://selinafenech.com/archives/?nggpage=2
19 June 2013
Guest Blogging: Foxy Temples
It's subtly entitled - When Temples Attack! and lets me gloriously indulge in my love of pseudo-archaeology and archaeology-adventure tropes in films and other media. (Though this has nothing whatsoever to do with m'story in Piracy, but our Feral Leader did say we could do any subject we wanted!)
18 June 2013
More funky kickstarters!
If you're in the kickstarter mood, look no further than the following two cool projects -
What Fates Impose: Tales of Divination - an anthology of original fiction about the complications of predicting the future.
The Pitch:
"Edited by Nayad A. Monroe, this anthology brings together stories from a diverse group of speculative fiction writers who show the possibilities of what can go right or very wrong when people get predictions of their future. The book also includes cover artwork by Steven C. Gilberts, and an introduction by Alasdair Stuart."
At present, the contributors are:Introduction by Alasdair Stuart: "Singing from the Book of Holy Jagger"
David Boop: "Dipping into the Pocket of Destiny"
Maurice Broaddus: "Read Me Up"
Jennifer Brozek: "A Card Given"
Amanda C. Davis: "The Scry Mirror"
Damien Walters Grintalis: "When the Lady Speaks"
Sarah Hans: "Charms"
Erika Holt: "Murder of Crows"
Keffy R.M. Kehrli: "Gazing into the Carnauba Wax Eyes of the Future"
Jamie Lackey: "Another Will Open"
Rochita Loenen-Ruiz: "Body of Truth"
Remy Nakamura: "Pick a Card"
Cat Rambo: "To Read the Sea"
Andrew Penn Romine: "Ain't Much Different'n Rabbits"
Ken Scholes: "All Our Tangled Dreams in Disarray"
Lucy A. Snyder: "Abandonment Option"
Ferrett Steinmetz: "Black Swan Oracle"
Eric James Stone: "A Crash Course in Fate" (new) and "A Great Destiny" (reprint)
Tim Waggoner: "The Goggen"
Wendy N. Wagner: "Power Steering"
LaShawn M. Wanak: "There Are No Wrong Answers"
Beth Wodzinski: "One Tiny Misstep (In Bed)"
Why It's Cool:
Dude, look at the contributors! That's why it's cool.
The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/what-fates-impose-tales-of-divination
Also check out...
"As I began looking into the possibility of a cyborg anthology, I quickly noticed that the cyborgs most people think of are villains (Cybermen, Darth Vader, the Borg, etc.). My people make excellent villains, but that only represents the tip of the iceberg. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that this was the anthology project I had been looking for... a cyborg-edited cyborg anthology. I don't think that's been done before. Besides, cyborgs are cool.
"It seems only appropriate that this campaign will end on the first anniversary of my heart attack."
The following authors have already agreed to have a story in Upgraded:
Plus there will be an open submissions period for some of the content.
Why It's Cool:
Again I say, dude! Look at them authors! Also Julie Dillon is a fantastic artist.
The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clarkesworld/upgraded-a-cyborg-anthology-edited-by-neil-clarke
What Fates Impose: Tales of Divination - an anthology of original fiction about the complications of predicting the future.
The Pitch:
"Edited by Nayad A. Monroe, this anthology brings together stories from a diverse group of speculative fiction writers who show the possibilities of what can go right or very wrong when people get predictions of their future. The book also includes cover artwork by Steven C. Gilberts, and an introduction by Alasdair Stuart."
At present, the contributors are:Introduction by Alasdair Stuart: "Singing from the Book of Holy Jagger"
David Boop: "Dipping into the Pocket of Destiny"
Maurice Broaddus: "Read Me Up"
Jennifer Brozek: "A Card Given"
Amanda C. Davis: "The Scry Mirror"
Damien Walters Grintalis: "When the Lady Speaks"
Sarah Hans: "Charms"
Erika Holt: "Murder of Crows"
Keffy R.M. Kehrli: "Gazing into the Carnauba Wax Eyes of the Future"
Jamie Lackey: "Another Will Open"
Rochita Loenen-Ruiz: "Body of Truth"
Remy Nakamura: "Pick a Card"
Cat Rambo: "To Read the Sea"
Andrew Penn Romine: "Ain't Much Different'n Rabbits"
Ken Scholes: "All Our Tangled Dreams in Disarray"
Lucy A. Snyder: "Abandonment Option"
Ferrett Steinmetz: "Black Swan Oracle"
Eric James Stone: "A Crash Course in Fate" (new) and "A Great Destiny" (reprint)
Tim Waggoner: "The Goggen"
Wendy N. Wagner: "Power Steering"
LaShawn M. Wanak: "There Are No Wrong Answers"
Beth Wodzinski: "One Tiny Misstep (In Bed)"
Why It's Cool:
Dude, look at the contributors! That's why it's cool.
The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/what-fates-impose-tales-of-divination
Also check out...
Upgraded: A Cyborg Anthology - an original science fiction anthology for the cyborg age. Stronger... better... faster... We will rebuild you.
The Pitch:
"Hi. My name is Neil Clarke and I'm the editor of Clarkesworld Magazine and a current Hugo Nominee for Best Editor Short Form.
Last July, I suffered a "widow-maker" heart attack that nearly killed
me. The damage to my heart was very significant and that led to my
doctors installing a defibrillator in my chest. That day, I became a
cyborg.I've been working on Clarkesworld for almost seven years, but I've never edited an anthology that wasn't Clarkesworld-related. I just didn't come across anything that inspired me. Trust almost dying to provide you with inspiration."As I began looking into the possibility of a cyborg anthology, I quickly noticed that the cyborgs most people think of are villains (Cybermen, Darth Vader, the Borg, etc.). My people make excellent villains, but that only represents the tip of the iceberg. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that this was the anthology project I had been looking for... a cyborg-edited cyborg anthology. I don't think that's been done before. Besides, cyborgs are cool.
"It seems only appropriate that this campaign will end on the first anniversary of my heart attack."
The following authors have already agreed to have a story in Upgraded:
- Elizabeth Bear
- Tobias S. Buckell
- Yoon Ha Lee
- Ken Liu
- Genevieve Valentine
- E. Lily Yu
Plus there will be an open submissions period for some of the content.
Why It's Cool:
Again I say, dude! Look at them authors! Also Julie Dillon is a fantastic artist.
The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clarkesworld/upgraded-a-cyborg-anthology-edited-by-neil-clarke
Getting Your Fix #1 – Online Magazines
From time to time it is said that short fiction is a dying form and that publishers just aren’t publishing it any more. To that I say: bollocks! Short fiction has never been healthier and more available than it is now. There are more anthologies than you can shake a stick at, e-book shorts are sold for the device of your choice via assorted retailers, authors post free online fiction on their websites and then there’s the crown jewel of the short fiction world – online magazines.
To the surprise of no-one who knows me, I love online magazines. (Check out the Shiny Stuff section for links to my favourite stories!) And really, what’s not to love. So long as you have an internet connection and some kind of tech to read on, you have easy access to a vast quantity of free fiction. If you don’t like reading on a computer screen, then you can throw a few quid the magazine’s way and subscribe to get the e-book versions delivered to your preferred reading device, and many magazines do podcast versions of their stories and dead-tree versions as either individual issues or end of year anthologies.
But me, I read on screens. (Laptops, unlimited broadband and wifi – the three best inventions in the universe, I tell you true. Kindles and iPads come a close second.) I slush for Lightspeed, so would, of course, highly recommend anyone taking a shuftie at it. They publish some awesome fantasy and science fiction, along with author interviews (and they’re reopening for subs on 20th June, if you’re that way inclined!) Lightspeed also has a sister magazine – Nightmare - for the horror aficionados, though I’ll confess to not having read much of that as yet. (Bad Jen, no cookie.)
Strange Horizons is another firm favourite and has my highest stories-I-like hit rate of all the magazines I read, and always gives fascinating non-fiction. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is another top one, and is great for thoughtful secondary world fiction, as well as some gorgeous cover artwork. Clarkesworld completes the top tier online magazine roster, and another one with gorgeous cover artwork, however I find them a little bit highbrow at times so can be something of an acquired taste. Always worth a read though.
Crossed Genres can always be counted on for fiction that pushes at the traditional boundaries and has a specific interest for stories about under-represented people. (They also do some cracking anthologies, but anthologies are for another post!) Expanded Horizons is another great magazine pushing for more diversity in the field and publishes some truly breathtaking stuff.
In the department of ‘does what it says on the tin’, there’s Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Alt Hist, which, no surprise, do heroic fantasy and historical/alternate historical stories, so if that’s your thing, that’s where you want to go. If you like longer short fiction, then may I point you at GigaNotoSaurus for all your novella pleasures. If you prefer much shorter short fiction, than Daily Science Fiction does flash fiction five days a week (and free subscription if you want the stories delivered via email.)
Other fab free online mags include Abyss & Apex, Indian SF, Subterranean Magazine, Apex Magazine, Philippine Genre Stories and Ideomancer, and if you get a taste for any of them, don’t forget to donate a couple of quid to show your appreciation and generally keep them going.
Lastly we have the hybrid online magazines – those that exist in both dead-tree and electronic formats and include, but are not limited to, things like: Albedo One, who sell PDF versions of their magazines, Something Wicked has moved to an annual anthology but back issues are still free on their site, Shimmer has some of their content free online while selling the full issues in print and multiple digital formats, and fans of the TTA Press range of mags can easily buy DRM-free digital copies of Crimewave, Interzone and Black Static from Smashwords.
So, yeah, no-one’s publishing short fiction at all. ;-)
To the surprise of no-one who knows me, I love online magazines. (Check out the Shiny Stuff section for links to my favourite stories!) And really, what’s not to love. So long as you have an internet connection and some kind of tech to read on, you have easy access to a vast quantity of free fiction. If you don’t like reading on a computer screen, then you can throw a few quid the magazine’s way and subscribe to get the e-book versions delivered to your preferred reading device, and many magazines do podcast versions of their stories and dead-tree versions as either individual issues or end of year anthologies.
But me, I read on screens. (Laptops, unlimited broadband and wifi – the three best inventions in the universe, I tell you true. Kindles and iPads come a close second.) I slush for Lightspeed, so would, of course, highly recommend anyone taking a shuftie at it. They publish some awesome fantasy and science fiction, along with author interviews (and they’re reopening for subs on 20th June, if you’re that way inclined!) Lightspeed also has a sister magazine – Nightmare - for the horror aficionados, though I’ll confess to not having read much of that as yet. (Bad Jen, no cookie.)
Strange Horizons is another firm favourite and has my highest stories-I-like hit rate of all the magazines I read, and always gives fascinating non-fiction. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is another top one, and is great for thoughtful secondary world fiction, as well as some gorgeous cover artwork. Clarkesworld completes the top tier online magazine roster, and another one with gorgeous cover artwork, however I find them a little bit highbrow at times so can be something of an acquired taste. Always worth a read though.
Crossed Genres can always be counted on for fiction that pushes at the traditional boundaries and has a specific interest for stories about under-represented people. (They also do some cracking anthologies, but anthologies are for another post!) Expanded Horizons is another great magazine pushing for more diversity in the field and publishes some truly breathtaking stuff.
In the department of ‘does what it says on the tin’, there’s Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Alt Hist, which, no surprise, do heroic fantasy and historical/alternate historical stories, so if that’s your thing, that’s where you want to go. If you like longer short fiction, then may I point you at GigaNotoSaurus for all your novella pleasures. If you prefer much shorter short fiction, than Daily Science Fiction does flash fiction five days a week (and free subscription if you want the stories delivered via email.)
Other fab free online mags include Abyss & Apex, Indian SF, Subterranean Magazine, Apex Magazine, Philippine Genre Stories and Ideomancer, and if you get a taste for any of them, don’t forget to donate a couple of quid to show your appreciation and generally keep them going.
Lastly we have the hybrid online magazines – those that exist in both dead-tree and electronic formats and include, but are not limited to, things like: Albedo One, who sell PDF versions of their magazines, Something Wicked has moved to an annual anthology but back issues are still free on their site, Shimmer has some of their content free online while selling the full issues in print and multiple digital formats, and fans of the TTA Press range of mags can easily buy DRM-free digital copies of Crimewave, Interzone and Black Static from Smashwords.
So, yeah, no-one’s publishing short fiction at all. ;-)
13 June 2013
Ancient Wonders: Pauline E Dungate
Oops, one more Ancient Wonders interviewee for you lovely peeps - our very own Pauline E. Dungate!
Tell us a little about yourself, and what you like to write?
I spent all of my working life as a teacher but ended up as the resident teacher at Birmingham Nature Centre with a classroom full of exotic animals. I spend a lot of time reading, writing and reviewing when I am not in the garden. I take my camera on exotic holidays looking for wildlife. Last year it was Ecuador.
What inspired you to write “One Man's Folly”?
Every year there is a Middle Earth Weekend at Sarehole Mill in Hall Green, Birmingham. Because of the Tolkien connection, the local paper often runs articles about his influences around this time. On the photo of Perrot’s Tower, an octagonal building, I noticed that the corner stones of the topmost floor looked very different from the rest of the brick built building. That led to the question of what they were made of. What if it was a stone circle in the sky. The story grew from there.
If the TARDIS could drop you off to any one site in its heyday, where would you go?
It would probably have to be Hadrian’s Wall – either that or British Camp, the hill fort on the Malvern Hills.
What appeals to you most about ancient sites/landscapes?
The mystery. We know so little about them so there is much that can be imagined and no-one can tell us we are wrong.
What do you have coming out next?
I am working on a near future thriller set in Birmingham plus a number of stories. I write reviews and poetry as Pauline Morgan and there are plenty of my reviews around. The writers’ group I belong to has recently put out a pamphlet called Grapeshot which has three of my poems in it.
[Pauline E Dungate’s stories have appeared in anthologies such as Skin of the Soul, Narrow Houses, Swords Against the Millennium, Beneath the Ground, Merlin, Victorious Villains and Under the Rose. She has won prizes for poetry and has been a judge for the Arthur C Clarke Award. She reviews for SFCrowsnest and runs workshops covering all areas of creative writing. She lives in Birmingham with husband and fellow writer Chris Morgan.]
The Alchemy Book of Ancient Wonders is available in paperback and ebook formats from multiple retailers - see the anthology page here for linky links!
Tell us a little about yourself, and what you like to write?
I spent all of my working life as a teacher but ended up as the resident teacher at Birmingham Nature Centre with a classroom full of exotic animals. I spend a lot of time reading, writing and reviewing when I am not in the garden. I take my camera on exotic holidays looking for wildlife. Last year it was Ecuador.
What inspired you to write “One Man's Folly”?
Every year there is a Middle Earth Weekend at Sarehole Mill in Hall Green, Birmingham. Because of the Tolkien connection, the local paper often runs articles about his influences around this time. On the photo of Perrot’s Tower, an octagonal building, I noticed that the corner stones of the topmost floor looked very different from the rest of the brick built building. That led to the question of what they were made of. What if it was a stone circle in the sky. The story grew from there.
If the TARDIS could drop you off to any one site in its heyday, where would you go?
It would probably have to be Hadrian’s Wall – either that or British Camp, the hill fort on the Malvern Hills.
What appeals to you most about ancient sites/landscapes?
The mystery. We know so little about them so there is much that can be imagined and no-one can tell us we are wrong.
What do you have coming out next?
I am working on a near future thriller set in Birmingham plus a number of stories. I write reviews and poetry as Pauline Morgan and there are plenty of my reviews around. The writers’ group I belong to has recently put out a pamphlet called Grapeshot which has three of my poems in it.
[Pauline E Dungate’s stories have appeared in anthologies such as Skin of the Soul, Narrow Houses, Swords Against the Millennium, Beneath the Ground, Merlin, Victorious Villains and Under the Rose. She has won prizes for poetry and has been a judge for the Arthur C Clarke Award. She reviews for SFCrowsnest and runs workshops covering all areas of creative writing. She lives in Birmingham with husband and fellow writer Chris Morgan.]
06 June 2013
Fox Pockets: Piracy
Woohoo! We have official launch!
Fox Spirit is delighted to announce the release of the first Fox Pocket ‘Piracy’.
The order of the next three volumes has been confirmed as Shapeshifters (I'm in that too!), Guardians and Missing Monarchs.
Small but perfectly formed collections of stories by a den full of talented writers, put together by Fox Spirit books for your enjoyment.
The stories are flash fiction, giving the reader bite sized introductions to Fox Spirit and the writers we love to work with. All designed to fit perfectly into the pocket so you can take a little fox with you everywhere you go.
There are ten books to the collection being published during 2013 and 2014 and titled:
Piracy, Missing Monarchs, Shapeshifters, Guardians, Under the Waves, In an Unknown Country, Things in the Dark, The Evil Genius Guide, Reflections, Piercing the Veil
Stories in Fox Pockets will wander unfettered between genres, mixing horror, fantasy, science fiction and crime. The subjects are deliberately loose to invite a wide range of interpretations. This pocket series showcases some of the wealth of new talent coming through in genre fiction.
The books will be available as a paperback through Lulu for 24 months after the release date of each volume. Ebook releases will take place a month after the paperback and will be available for longer, but not forever.
Fox Spirit will be offering a subscription to the paperbacks as part of a giveaway through the newsletter this summer so please subscribe on our home page to make sure you don’t miss out.
More about all our titles at www.foxspirit.co.uk
Piracy can be found at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/various/fox-pockets-vol-1-piracy/paperback/product-21058618.html
---So there you go, official press release and everything! Go pick yourself up a fun anthology right now!
The order of the next three volumes has been confirmed as Shapeshifters (I'm in that too!), Guardians and Missing Monarchs.
Small but perfectly formed collections of stories by a den full of talented writers, put together by Fox Spirit books for your enjoyment.
The stories are flash fiction, giving the reader bite sized introductions to Fox Spirit and the writers we love to work with. All designed to fit perfectly into the pocket so you can take a little fox with you everywhere you go.
There are ten books to the collection being published during 2013 and 2014 and titled:
Piracy, Missing Monarchs, Shapeshifters, Guardians, Under the Waves, In an Unknown Country, Things in the Dark, The Evil Genius Guide, Reflections, Piercing the Veil
Stories in Fox Pockets will wander unfettered between genres, mixing horror, fantasy, science fiction and crime. The subjects are deliberately loose to invite a wide range of interpretations. This pocket series showcases some of the wealth of new talent coming through in genre fiction.
The books will be available as a paperback through Lulu for 24 months after the release date of each volume. Ebook releases will take place a month after the paperback and will be available for longer, but not forever.
Fox Spirit will be offering a subscription to the paperbacks as part of a giveaway through the newsletter this summer so please subscribe on our home page to make sure you don’t miss out.
More about all our titles at www.foxspirit.co.uk
Piracy can be found at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/various/fox-pockets-vol-1-piracy/paperback/product-21058618.html
---So there you go, official press release and everything! Go pick yourself up a fun anthology right now!
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