Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago, in 2006, I'd just had several landmarks in my early career as an author:


April 2006 saw my tenth publication, and my first story to appear in print: A Word in the Right Place in Scifantastic #4


In June 2006 The Grey Void was published in Aphelion #102. This was my first sequel, a follow up to The Grey Hole published in Aphelion the previous year.


Also in June, Artefact Nouveau was published in the English edition of Greek magazine Universe Pathways. This was my first reprint in a magazine other than the original, Fluctuations having been reprinted by Bewildering Stories the previous year.

The Editors: Sarah Dobbs

Scifantastic was an A4 print magazine that ran for 5 issues in 2005 / 6. I read all 5 and enjoyed the eclectic mix of tales they contained. I caught up with editor Sarah Dobbs on the viewing platform at the top of the Eiffel Tower. OK, again we actually corresponded by email.

GDJ: Scifantastic ran for 5 issues, and was notable for publishing my first story in print (sorry, moment of egomania there). Before that you ran a web page of the same name. Do you have a preference for print over web?

SD: Ha, and well deserved! I think everybody prefers to see their name in print, and read something you can actually hold. There's something much more permanent about it, though without the web version, the print version would never have taken off.


GDJ:How did you decide on the look and feel for Scifantastic? Was there a vision behind it, or were the choices of presentation limited?

SD: I wanted it to be bold, aesthetic, attractive and accessible, and to be able to present new art and artists that other magazines might not take a chance on. The presentation was limited, and I was inexperienced. I much prefered the soft binding to the first issue's ring binding.


GDJ:Producing a magazine is obviously a lot of hard work. What inspired you to give it a go?

SD: God knows! If I knew the amount of work it took I'm sure I would have wussed out. It just seemed like a natural progression. I wasn't as excited about the webzine any more, so it was time for something new. I got my enthusiasm back for the whole project for a while. I had a real passion for short stories, and particularly wanted to hear from women in this genre. Also, I knew I could publish exactly what I wanted, so it was like creating a magazine for myself. A bit selfish really.


GDJ:You published quite a wide variety of stories during the magazine’s run. What is it you look for in a story?

SD: I look for someone with a good idea, who understands what to do with words and structure. People with a real feel for language always grabbed me, or a new spin on an old tale. It's always easier to say what you don't look for: cliche's, hammy writing, poor dialogue, or the general ‘Dear Editor, I have been published to Mars and back, you would be stupid not to want my story’. Actually, no, I read cover notes last, and took what I wanted regardless (well, most of the time).


GDJ:You write romantic fiction as well as speculative fiction. Do you have a favourite genre or sub-genre?

SD: Not at all. There are different reasons for writing in different genres. I suppose I prefer stories that don't care what they are, genre bashing, crashing, stories and the like. It would be nice if there was a big publisher in the sky who didn't mind what genre you were scrabbling about in, but there isn't, so I guess at the minute I'm just enjoying writing my new novel without thinking what it might be tagged as. Post-literary pseudo-psychological fiction. It's called Tokyo Dreams (at the minute) so I suppose I'd deserve that.


GDJ:You were studying far an MA in creative writing at the time. How much did that help with the magazine, or conversely did Scifantastic help with your studies?

SD: It didn't. In fact, the bloody MA was what spazzed up the magazine, much to my dismay. No. I loved writing for the MA, and that took precedence. I sort of felt it was time to be a bit me-me-me for a change. Basically, being selfish took up all of my time. The magazine became an after thought and it was never supposed to be like that. It was the BA before that which helped everything. It laid such a solid groundwork and enabled me to start thinking about stories as something other than what you read in the bath when you want to relax. I have a feeling everybody knew about the importance of fiction before me (bit of a late developer I suppose)!


GDJ:What plans do you have for this year?

SD: This year I've got lots of extremities crossed that I'm going to get funding to continue doing my PhD full time. I'm about 40,000 words into an 80,000 word novel, so I'll also be plodding on with that. If I don't, then I plan to do lots of complaining while I continue with the PhD part time, plus do my delightful monkey job (sorry monkey job, you keep me in peanuts) to supplement the PhD and aforementioned complaining. It's all about the scribbling. I work to write, hope you all do too.


GDJ:Thanks for your time.

SD: Not a problem, I enjoyed it.

Demise

I was sad to discover yesterday, through Ralan's, that Scifantastic magazine has ceased publication. It's always sad to see a magazine come to an end, particularly in this case because my first story to be printed, A Word in the Right Place, appeared in issue 4.

Words About A Word...

It's 2 weeks since I got my copy of Scifantastic and read it cover to cover during that weekend.

Here are some comments I've received about my story A Word in the Right Place:

'Funny, but also kind of scary in a 1984 kind of way.'
'Very cool little story.'
'This is a very tightly written, sparkling little piece. Whether or not it's set in a sci-fi universe, and it may not even need to be, it makes for pretty effective, ironic, and comic commentary on people's attention span, and particularly on what gets the public's attention.'

I thought it interesting that 1984 was mentioned, the same reference that was made by one of the Australian editors.

I also got a note from Scifantastic editor Sarah Dobbs:

'Thanks for such an original story.'

Which was good, because magazine editors must see a lot of stories!

It's Here!

My copy of Scifantastic arrived in the post. What a great feeling, to see my name in print. Not had time to read much of it yet, I was too busy phoning people to tell them!

It's Out!

Sooner than I realised, issue 4 of Scifantastic, featuring my story A Word in the Right Place is out! Buy it now!

A Word in the Right Place

It's April. That means that my first story in print will be appearing this month. The editor of Scifantastic said:

"Many thanks for letting us see A Word in the Right Place. I loved it - very different!"

Previously it reached the final submission round with Australian semi-prozine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Editors there commented:

"I liked the humorous "1984" feel to this story. A good short piece."
"I enjoyed the quirkiness. Thanks."
"Amusing."

I hope you enjoy it too when it appears in print.

...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!

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!

Not as Soon as I Thought

I've just discovered the Scifantastic forum, which I missed on previous visits to their webpage. It seems the next issue, containing my story (hopefully), is not out until the end of March.

Meanwhile I have eight other stories out there looking for a good home. I'll let you know when I hear anything...

Third First

My time travel story Artefact Nouveau, my longest short story to date, has been published by Planet Magazine today. The thing I like about this webzine is that it provides art work to go with each story. This will make three 'firsts' I have coming up in the next couple of months:

- My first translated story in the Hebrew webzine Bli Panika
- My first story in print in Scifantastic
- My first story with accompanying art work in Planet Magazine

Fantastic!

Make that three stories accepted! I've just heard from Scifantastic, the new British small press magazine. They've accepted my story 'A Word in the Right Place' and it will appear in issue 3 or 4. I wrote it in one sitting while on holiday in Luxembourg last year. I've had trouble finding a home for it because it's a very British story and there aren't many British markets. This will be my first story in print.