New Gondolier Acceptance

The Slovenian translation of The Gondolier has been accepted by the Prizma SF Society for publication in their newsletter Infinity. No confirmed date for this yet as they have had some publication problems recently. This is the 29th langauge for The Gondolier and the 11th language in which it will be published.

Friday Flash Retrospective

Starting in July 2007 I posted a flash fiction story on this site on most Fridays for over a year – a total of 39 in all. Since then I’ve started looking for homes for them elsewhere, and last week’s sale to the Daily Flash anthology prompted me to review how far I’ve got. Here are the statistics:

8 published in Illuminations – The Friday Flash Fiction Anthology
8 others published on-line or in print, plus 4 reprints
6 published and then reprinted in Spanish
6 published in 10 other languages – a total of 15 publications
6 more due to be published in English in the Daily Flash anthology, plus a reprint elsewhere
3 more due to be published in 2 other languages
3 currently under submission to English markets
2 under submission to 12 other language markets

The Gondolier in Dutch

A colleague from work translated The Gondolier into Dutch for me last year and I promptly sent it off to the only two Dutch SF markets I could find. The editors of Pure Fantasy liked it, but they only publish Dutch authors. They did think about it for a while as the story had already been translated, but in the end decided to stick to their remit. The editor of Wonderwaan also liked it, but it doesn't fit in with any of their upcoming themes.

Unable to discover any other potential markets, I have decided to post the translation here.

De Gondelier



De zwarte boeg van mijn gondola baant zich een weg door het staande water van de kanalen. Reeds vele jaren, met mijn voorouders nog aan het roer, heeft deze trouwe ranke schuit passagiers langs de talrijke waterwegen geleid.

De zon ging langzaam onder in de oude stad en de komende duisternis werd zichtbaar in het water. Reeds als inkt zo zwart, een donkere slang zich zwenkend tussen de elegante zandstenen gebouwen. Ik ademde de koele avondbries diep in.

Zou er ergens een mooiere plaats zijn dan deze wonderlijke vesting met zijn kanalen? Terwijl de boot rustig aanmeerde genoot ik van de donker wordende hemel van Mars.



Einde

Translated by Tim Vanlangendonck

The Gondolier in Italian

The Gondolier has been published on Italian webzine Intercom SF. This is the 19th language I've been published in, and the 10th for The Gondolier.

Six Story Sales

As you may have noticed, I like writing flash fiction. In fact I've written 54 stories of less than 1000 words each. When I saw a call for submissions to Daily Flash - 365 Days of Flash Fiction, to be published by Pill Hill Press, I thought it looked like a great anthology.

I submitted the maximum 6 stories, all of which have previously appeared on this blog, and all 6 have been accepted:

Another Year
Blue Men
Grammar
Gone with the Window
Never Talk to Strangers
Prequel

The anthology is due to be published in December, ready for next year.

Magazine Review: Interzone #226

Issue #226 of Interzone presents the opportunity to vote for the favourite stories of last year. As if to remind you, three of last year’s well-know contributors are back for this issue.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Magazine Review: Albedo One #37

I like Albedo One – they send the friendliest rejections. It’s a nice looking magazine too with a colour cover and clear interior layout. The majority of space is given over to the fiction with just a few book reviews at the end and an interview at the beginning. It’s an interesting interview with Greg Egan, an author whose work I always enjoy. A generous seven stories pack out the rest of the pages.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Breaking Point by John Macken

The blurb for Breaking Point by John Macken talks about forensics scientists developing a system to identify future psychopaths from their DNA. This led me to expect something akin to Philip K Dick’s Minority Report, especially as it was received through SF Crowsnest as usual. Before you make the same assumptions, let me point out that this book is not in any way a science fiction novel.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

New Bengali Translation

The Bengali translation of my Roadmaker story Dog's Best Friend appears on the literary webzine Sonajhuri today. It's a bit tricky to find what you're looking for if you can't read the script. My story is here. I am the first non-Indian writer to appear in the magazine.

This is the 18th language I've been published in - and the first new langauge of the year.