Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bilingual


You may remember that my time travel story Artefact Nouveau is due to appear in the Greek sci fi magazine Universe Pathways in October. They began printing a semi-annual English edition this year and have asked if they can use the original English version in that too. Not sure when that will be out, presumably July, but here's a picture of the first issue:

Monday, March 27, 2006

A Plethora of Publications

I've spent quite some time since I started submitting stories attempting to find suitable markets. There are very few professional SF magazines, quite a few semi-prozines and plenty of small press and webzines, and they all have slightly different audiences.

You can get information on them from such websites as Ralans and Spicy Green Iguana. If you want to submit to any market, you need to read their submission guidelines every time. They may have changed, or they could be on hold so you really need to know your market.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

A Bit of a Lull

Work on the eagerly anticipated novel has come to a bit of a halt; I know what's going to happen next, but inspiration has temporarily fled.

Several short story ideas are still biding their time at the back of my mind, but the current coursework for my degree isn't leaving me much time.

Meanwhile I got another short story rejection today, which always dampens your spirits. Still, the number of stories I still have under submission means I must get some good news soon.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Foreign Markets

The Foreign Market List maintained by Douglas Smith has been updated. This is the website where I got the information about Bli Panika and Universe Pathways, among others. I've fed some info back to Doug on various mags, and he's mentioned my name beside the updates.

I've had rejections from China and Denmark but I'm still waiting to hear from some others.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Fluctuations - One Year Later

Today marks the anniversary of my second story to have been published, Fluctuations in Bewildering Stories. I started writing this story during what will come to be known as my 'early creative period' in 1993-4, when six other stories were completed including Devotion (see below).

When I returned to writing in the summer of 2004 I found the hand-written opening two paragraphs of Fluctuations among my other work. I wrote the rest in October 2004 and it was the fifth story I submitted, in November.

More recently Bewildering Stories has anounced plans to publish several anthologies. I haven't been contacted for the first volume, but I'm egotistical enough to hope that Fluctuations might be selected for a future volume. I still like to re-read the editor's review occasionaly to cheer me up after receiving a rejection or two.

Monday, March 13, 2006

The Isreali Opinion

A very kind author and fellow contributor to Bewildering Stories, Tala Bar, has looked at the Bli Panika forum for me to see what they thought of Devotion.

It seems that the forum critiques generally wanted a larger story and
more of a surprise ending. Funnily enough I've had a couple of other comments that the story felt like it was part of something bigger; there probably is scope for more, but at nearly 5,000 words it's already getting quite big for a short story. As for the ending, it isn't a great surprise, but it's the how and why that makes the story. One of the things that most English language magazines say in their guidelines is that they don't want totaly unexpected endings that come out of no-where.

The other thing worth mentioning is that Devotion is one of my earliest stories, written 12 years ago. I only have one more of that vintage that I'm still trying to place.

So, over all it's been an interesting experience. My first translated story, and I guess to some extent the readers' opinions will be shaped by the translator. I'm just pleased to have had a story accepted by two different editors.

Friday, March 10, 2006

...Issue 4



The Scifantastic forum now has details of the line up for issue 4:

Fiction:

Overweight - Christian Martius
The Giant Fresh Fruit Invasion - John L Probert
Charlie - George Steele
A Word In The Right Place - Gareth D Jones
Love Thy Enemy - Joel Williams
Captain Andy - Ken Goldman
Ecdysis - Clint Wastling
Lego Land - Aliya Whiteley


There are a couple more stories to be decided on, apparently.

Getting quite excited now!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Coming Soon...

The editor of Scifantastic has confirmed that my story A Word in the Right Place, the shortest story I've written yet, has been scheduled for issue 4. This is due to be published at Easter. I can hardly wait to get the magazine in my fingers!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

If Only I Could Read It!

The Hebrew translation of my story Devotion is now on-line at Bli Panika. It even has an illustration to go with it. Of course I have no idea what it says, apart from the fact that I wrote it. There's also a forum, but again I have no idea if anyone has said anything about it. If anyone out there happens to read Hebrew and could help me out...