Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Three

Well it's three months since my third stories reached round three of the selection process at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. They only keep them for three months while they decide, and one in three make it into the magazine, so I should be hearing from them any second.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Portuguese Delay

Apparently the next issue of Portuguese magazine Phantastes has now been delayed until next year. Not sure if my story A Word in the Right Place was due in this issue or not, but I won't be seeing it for a while now.

On the bright side Greek magazine Universe Pathways containing my story Artefact Nouveau is now due in less than a month. I have been wondering, though, how the pseudo-French title will translate into Greek. Only time will tell (a little in-joke there for those who have read the English original).

Friday, August 25, 2006

Anonymous Rejection

I've received a story rejection by email - but I don't know who it's from! It's not an email address that I submitted to, and the sender only uses a first name and no other identification. I sent the same story to half a dozen foreign-language magazines, so it could be any of them. I'll have to wait for the others to reply now to narrow it down!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

New Career

My new career as a reviewer is taking off, with my review of Scifantastic #5 appearing on the UK SF Review website.

Everything seems to have gone quiet on the story front; no responses of any kind for a few weeks now. I only have 6 more weeks of study left though before I can begin writing again. My long-neglected novel has been on my mind, so I'm eager to get on with it.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Who Reviews the Reviewer?

The kind of small press magazines that I have been published in so far tend to get overlooked when it comes to reviews. Most reviewers stick to reading the big professional magazines. Rather than continuing to bemoan this fact, I decided to do something about it and write some reviews myself.

My first review is of Universe Pathways and appears at the
UK SF Review website.

I'm in the middle of Scifantastic #5 at the moment, so I shall be completeing my review of that magazine in a few days time.

I would really like to see regular reviews of all the UK SF magazines, and I intend to fill this gap whenever possible. If you have a magazine that you would like to see reviewed, please email me and I'll make sure I fit you in.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Conspiracy Theories

My alien invasion conspiracy story Fool Britannia appeared in Aphelion this time a year ago. It received the most comments of any story I've had published so far. Here are a few of the highlights:

"The subtlety of some of the historical events made it fun to figure them out."

"In short, very eloquent, funny (the footie side explanation was quite convincing, i'm afraid), and reminiscent of our conspiracy theory faves."

"I thought this was a well written story, both fun and funny."

"A good little story and a tight read."

"The punch line at the end is priceless."

"Conspiracies rule...and this story had an enlightening angle on the genre, utilizing excellent so-called British humor (often said to be dry), and this droll officialspeak which always works well in a comical setting."

Friday, August 04, 2006

One Hundred Results

My latest stories published on line have pushed the number of results from googling my name to over 100! Admittedly lots of those are multiple hits from the same sites, but it still feels like a significant number.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Stellar Destinations

When I was young I used to like making up holiday brochures for other planets. I found one of them a while back and it inspired me to make some more, mostly for my own amusement. I then realised that I could post them on a blog - after all they're never going to be published anywhere else!

So here it is:
Stellar Destinations. Have a look at all the places you might visit one day. It's open to submissions too, so if you've been off-planet recently feel free to share your experiences!