Monday, October 30, 2006

Against the Odds

Australian magazine Andromeda Spaceways had provisionaly accepted my alternate history story A Few Good Men, the third time one of my stories has made it to their final submission round. According to their website, one in three stories then ends up being published. Mine has just been rejected; so much for those odds!

Undeterred, I have sent it straight off to one of the new UK magazines.

In case you're wondering why the links in the sidebar don't go anywhwere, I'm gradually reinstalling them following a freak keyboard accident that destroyed my template.

Friday, October 20, 2006

More Mags

Another new UK Sf magazine Fiction Magazine is due to launch in January as a paying market. Meanwhile I've found out about another 3 UK magazines:

- FarThing
- PostScripts
- Scheherazade

I've added them all to my side bar and ordered the latest copy of each to look at. Reviews will appear at UK SF Review in due course.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Collaborative Developments

I've had 1 1/2 sections back from my collaborators, and I've completed the introduction to the story. Although I've already plotted the conclusion, I can't write it until I know who all the characters are. I've written a few paragraphs leading into the conclusion, so it's shaping up nicely.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Second Chance for Last Adam

The print issue of Static Movement, which is to contain my story The Last Adam, has been rescheduled to be printed by a different publisher. Not sure when yet, but at least there's movement again.

Friday, October 13, 2006

The Conspiracy Grows

I now have 7 people signed up for my collaborative story, and the intrigue and secretivensss are begining to border on the paranoid.
I've sent information to each of the authors about the background, and each has individual instructions about things to include. Other than that I have no idea what they will write, but the elements I have given each of them should allow me to tie them all together at the end.

It's great fun, though I'm spending as much time on messages and emails as I would on writing it myself!

You can watch the drama unfold at the Aphelion Lettercol.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Blind Collaberation

The first of my 13 story ideas to get off the starting block is a collaborative story I've been planning for a while. I've called it a blind collaboration as none of the other contributors will know what each other are writing, and none of them know what the point of the story is.

I've had six volunteers from among the Aphelion community, so it's about ready to roll.

How does it work? I've created a setting and background against which all of the contributions will be written. I'll also set a common time frame to avoid continuity problems. Each author will be free to create their own character to do with as they will, within the bounds of the setting of course.

The rest is a secret. Actually, several individual secrets known to each author individually. They won't know the significance of their respective communiques until they see the final story.

I think it's going to be great.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Ex-Student

As of today I am no longer a student!

After six years of part-time study with the Open University I have finished all the work towards my degree in Environmental Science.

Theoretically, this means more time for writing.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Alpha and the Omega

My copy of the new issue of Universe Pathways has arrived, containing the Greek translation of Artefact Nouveau. I can't read any of it of course, though I can just about decipher enough Greek letters to read the transliteration of the main character's name.

Also today I received an email from Hub magazine to say they're way behind with reading but I should hear soon. It's nice to know that I haven't just been forgotten.