In other words, books.
Normally I have a personal rule against buying an anthology or a magazine issue I'm in--it just *feels* wrong. Perhaps becuase I'm spending money when I feel I should be making it, some subset of Yog's Law* or something. But I broke that rule. I didn't really want to, but curse it, Semaphore Magazine's 2009 Anthology just looked so lovely. I have a weakness for lovely-looking things, especially books, and then I considered it's really a now-or-never since the anthology has a pretty small print run...
Okay. That by itself wouldn't break the electronic bank, mind you.
And if my purchase of 2 issues from GUD magazine broke the bank, it's my own fault. After all, it's a Pay-What-You-Want deal. I feel I underpaid, but not horribly so (more than an issue of M-Brane costs as part of a yearly subscription), and I've always wanted to see what goes on between those covers. Literary spec fic?
So it seems I should blame the emptiness of my PayPal account on Crossed Genres' Anthology. Although it's pretty cheap in and of itself, especially as I got a subscription added for free as part of the pre-order special. I admit, the real driving force behind my buying this one this the fact that if they get 150 preorders, they'll randomly select 3 people to get another copy for their local libraries. I work at a library. I love libraries. I think it's how some pet owners get around the humane society.
So, yeah. Lots of fiction coming my way. And now you all understand how to get money out of me: pretty covers, pay-what-you-want offers, or libraries. I don't know what I'd do if somebody came around offering me all three.
*"Money flows towards the writer".
I'm still insecure enough to be surprised. I might or might not have mentioned this insecurity in the context of Publisher Weekly's review of Sword and Sorceress XXIV (coming out November 15!). The review, while overall complimentary, mentions that "some of the selections are less than stellar...".
Oh my god! I'm in that anthology! Surely MINE is one of the less-than-stellar selections! My writing career is over before it properly began! There's nothing left to write for, let alone live!
Well, maybe. I can't see into the minds of Publisher's Weekly. But I can read this review from Fantasy Magazine. I quote: "one story I quite enjoyed here was from a very young writer indeed, still in college: Therese Arkenberg’s “Lord Shashensa,” a nice (though not spectacular) fantasy about a ruler facing a hopeless war and the unexpected help she receives."
Meh, so it's not spectacular (or stellar?). "Quite enjoyed" is praise enough for me.
And thus my ego is sated. Or soothed, at least.
Today Aqua Vitae received a personal rejection from the anthology I submitted it to. The editor's comments were that it was well-written, but the story didn't grab him. All right. Rejection because of personal taste is the best kind, right?
So tonight (after a last-minute edit, even though I swore I'd never do that again...sigh), I'm sending it off my first-choice small press. And then there's nothing to do but wait...for months...for a reply.
How do people stand the waiting!?
(I know, I know, I should go work on my next book. I am. It's a real novel-length one, too--no more bastard novellas for me. Not that I don't love this one, but they're a bit of a pain to find markets for.)
This is a rather sad realization to come to. I've disagreed with the Roman Catholic Church (I'm tempted to add 'of course,' because I think even the most devout of us do disagree with our organized religion sometimes) before, but I've never been ashamed, or felt that, rather than simply mistaken or differing in opinion with me (not the same things), it was...well, in this case, vilely bigoted.
What am I talking about?
This and this, respectively. Or an article combinging the high/low points of both,this.
TL;DR version: if the idea of gays and/or women serving God as ordained ministers disgusts you, don't worry, the Catholic Church will take you in.
I guess I feel disillusioned. Apparantly the RCC is so comfortable in the idea that we'll never let those women or those nasty gay people into the ministry that we can use it as a recruiting point. Perhaps naively, I'd hoped we'd change our minds someday, at least starting with female clergy (my church's parking lot is filled with bumper stickers reading 'priestly people come in both sexes', so that's my best defense--on the ground, we look a lot less sexist and homophobic than we are as an organization). Well, we do seem to be opening up a little--not only will we allow straight men to minister, we'll also allow straight married men! What progress!
Oh, and theSt Mary Catholic Chuch mentioned here-- "The Milwaukee Archdiocese appointed its first married priest - a former Lutheran pastor, Father Michael Scheip - to a temporary post at St. Mary Catholic Church in Menomonee Falls in 2008, but he has since returned to Florida." in the latter article
--is my parish.
I will say, as a married man with a family, Fr Scheip could connect to us a lot better than other pastors we had. His homilies were a joy to listen to, even if (you see it coming, say it with me) I didn't always agree with them.
That said, a woman pastor could probably connect with me even better.
Perhaps I shall join the Anglicans or the Epsicopalians instead.
Well, it all started a few months ago when I found Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos on the library shelves. Being the Weird Fiction fan I am (plus, y'know, a weird fiction fan) I checked it out. I've already written a review of it somewhere in this blog, and I mentioned, I believe, the story "Jerusalem's Lot" by Stephen King. As it turns out, the short story has little or nothing to do with the book with a very similar title by the same author. But screw that, Salem's Lot was a great read anyway. Decently creepy with a marvelous use of third-person omniscient (as well as an author protagonist who ISN'T whole obnoxious).
Salem's Lot begins with a quote from Shirley Jackson'sThe Haunting of Hill House. I can't honestly remember if I'd heard of this book before this year--it sounds familiar, but I can't say where. I've read Shirley Jackson's short stories (I've mentioned their take on racism earlier, probably in the same post I talked about the Cthulhu Mythos book--I don't have that many book reviews in this blog), and some of them were pretty scary, but none of them hold a candle to Hill House. Part of the terror comes from how matter of factly it's told, how normal everything seems. There's some great dialogue, some horrifying scenes; overall, a haunted house story you'll laugh while reading (because it's clever, not the way you'd laugh reading, say, the first chapter of Christopher Paolini's Brisingr) and which will then linger in your mind so you can't sleep for a week. It's still worth losing that week's sleep over.
Now, this part needs a little explanation. Jackson wrote in the 40's and 50's, and her work has a style I associate, rightly or wrongly, with other authors I love from the first half of the 20th century: namely, Sinclair Lewis. So back to the library I go (because I work there), and still bleery-eyed from things that go bump in the night and Hill House, I check out Main Street. Main Street, at first glance, is probably the most normal of the books I've mentioned so far; it certainly isn't genre. It's a claustrophobic, intensely aware and insightful look at small town America in the 19-teens and twenties. A little scary for some folk, probably, but I'm enjoying it.
However, it's very hard for me to stay away from genre for long. I tend towards it. So it shouldn't be a surprise that, as I read Main Street, in which Sinclair Lewis makes many references to the old West, I find myself compelled to check out a western. Or five.
Yeah, five. During my lunch break at the library I just grabbed a pile, including Virgin River by Richard S. Wheeler and the classic Shane by Jack Schaefer. Even if you don't like Westerns or have never considered reading them before, I'd suggest you pick up Shane; it's a brief but very movingly told story about, well, stuff Westerns usually deal with: sacrifice, dark pasts you can't run from, range wars. But done with sensitivity, and with a little boy as the viewpoint character.
At this point, I'm about done reading and ready to move on to writing. What do I write? Well, I have been most recently reading Westerns...and I've long thought that the Western genre and the Sword and Sorcery genre have much in common. Test me on this sometime, pick up a paperback western and a paperback novel with Conan the Barbarian on the cover, read the two, see what sort of themes crop up. Damsels in distress, lots of adventure, exotic locations, testosterone...yeah. Those genres are related. They both used to be published in the pulps, which might have something to do with it.
So yeah. After all that, I'm writing a sword and sorcery (short story) series. It begins in a caravan that's in deadly danger...
I think I mentioned, in my review of the Mythos book, that it and the collection of sword and sorcery stories Warlocks and Warriors shared more authors than they differed in. So I didn't need to do all that roundabout reading to come up with material. But on the other hand, this was way more fun.
This is a day you have no doubt long awaited. Not only do you have the chance to order this insightful, daring, excellent, and otherwise wonderfully-adjectived anthology, this will also be the last I have to say on it for a while, so as to stop annoying you when you try to read about...well, if you're reading my journal, you shouldn't be surprised to see a lot of me talking about my writing; I'm not sure what else you might be trying to read. I have a kind of limited life, people.
That doesn't change, however, the awesomeness of this anthology. :D
The anthology's webpage has an entire list of ordering options. Ordering directly from M-Brane might be your best bet at this early date, when it probably won't take long for your order to be filled. Going for the .PDF is also a good option, especially as it's cheaper and you don't have to pay shipping (especially for any international readers who might be interested). You always CAN order from Amazon, and I wouldn't discourage it, though M-Brane (and the writers, including your lovely blogger) gets a smaller cut of the profit that way. If any of you have an Amazon account and would like to be canonized in the church of Mumbling Sage, you could always write an Amazon review for the anthology. Preferably with four or five stars *wink*.
And to wet your whistle, here's the first scene of my contribution to Things We Are Not, "Reila's Machine."
( There's a little foul language, and some beautiful people, and a machine. Belonging to a woman named Reila. )
So anyway. AV, edited version, weighs in at 25,000. My ego tells me to search for a small press and have a shot at getting my name--and my name alone--on the cover of some dead tree pages sometimes; my sister (often a smarter marketer of writing) suggested a novella series that's open now. The series offers pretty good pay, and only asks for FNASR for a year, and anyway Duotrope reports their reply time at a little over a week, so I sent Aqua Vitae off to them tonight. If it comes back, I can always go for my small press idea.
What can I say? It's been a learning experiance. Now I need to prepare my next WotF entry, somewhere between studying for my Intro to American Politics exam, writing an essay in Spanish, and reading a 47-page handout on Alister Crowley.
http://www.smallthingschallenge.com/
Click on the link at the above site and see $0.25 donated to Kiva and Save the Children.
You know you want to.
After reading my review of Rick Novy's "Winter," you may be expecting that I'm a tightwad who will never again spend money on the small press. Well, much as my bank account might that me if that were the case, it's not. In fact, not long after writing that review, I did it again.
I bought this book. Paperback. $21.60 on Amazon. It was published by Lulu.
And I really wish I knew more about the general readership (if such exists) of my blog, because if I knew any of you liked gay romance I'd be telling you right now to GO OUT AND BUY THIS BOOK.
Worth the money I spent on it? Oh, yes. I admit, I was experiancing buyer's remorse as I cracked the cover, realizing I had made an impulse purchase that cost me an entire evening's pay becuase I liked the cover art and becasue 28 customer reviews gave it an average of four and half stars. But then I started reading, and the buyer's remorse quickly faded. Those 28 customers knew what they were talking about.
As a veteran paperback romance reader (het romance, as my library stocks no other kind), I felt like I was breathing fresh air after a lifetime in a musty Harlequin closet. I really enjoyed the romance here--it was done with compassion and humor, rather than melodrama and purple prose. That, and the fantasy plot was at least as vital as the romance, and both plots blended well together. If asked, I might even classify it as fantasy rather than romance--or if I was in a funny mood, I'd call it a Western, placed as it is in a semi-1800s America setting. With empire building. Fans of gunpowder fantasy, or or maybe Elmore Leonard, should come running. As should slash fans.
So yes. Fantasy with refreshingly new setting and plot--check (Oh, plot. Well, there are gods. Some of them are eaten. The title does not lie to you. There's also a prison break, acutally more than one, and some heart pounding chases across a desert, and, you know, some romance. Slash romance.). Romance that doesn't make my inner diabetic recoil: check. Romance that makes my inner optimist smile and my inner cynic roll her eyes and go "Oh, all right": check. Buyer's remorse: no check.
Possibility of me impulse purchasing another Lulu-published book from Amazon sometime: check.
What? I very easily fall victim to classical conditioning. Which, come to think of it, will make it hard for me to read Westerns from now on--at least, hard to read them the way they were intended. But some will say Brokeback Mountain already accomplished that.
HELP SAVE THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TREE OCT
For those of you going WTF?, here's an FAQ.
Yeah. Guess you're not getting any of the time spent at that link back. By the way, if any of you are wondering what I'm learning in college--I got that link in a seminar. About how to use web resources. Go figure.
http://arageofangel.blogspot.com/2009/09/i
Apparantly, a person going by the name of Richard Ridyard has been plagerizing various works in the horror field...and getting the resulting works published.
And then he tried to submit a plagerized version of a Stephen King short story to Shock Totem: http://abrokenlaptop.wordpress.com/2009/0
Yech. As a King fan, I should probably be foaming for blood right now, but the people I feel most sorry for are the smaller-time authors in the first post. Being plagerized was one of the few things that ever brought my sister to tears. I only hope to god it hasn't, and never will, happen to me.
*sigh* I think this has taught me that not only is it creepy to cyber-stalk someone like that, it also leads to no good discoveries. But at least I won't be making a fool of myself in front of that cute boy in logic.
You know what's really awesome to see?
Go to the Kiva microloan site, select the 'loan' options, and under 'find loans,' sort by AMOUNT LEFT.
And before your eyes, loans will change from a hopeful green 98% funded to a beautiful red fully funded.
See for yourself.
No, this acutally isn't part of my stealth campaign to make you join my Kiva Lending Group. I really do think it's awesome to watch.
Okay, I really should buck down and get that Spanish homework done now.
I start this post just after finding out the metting of Carroll University's Queers and Allies will be taking place at 9:40 PM tonight. Which would be great, except Carroll is a 40-minute drive from my home and I start feeling sleepy at about ten thirty, ready to drop by eleven. And depending on how long the meeting is, I might be in my car home at that point--or later.
I think I'll send them my best wishes and try to participate in any Q&A actitives held during daylight hours.
I've finally found the time to read the Outer Alliance's position on the FFO situation and queer-unfriendly markets in general. I swear, every time I touch this it gets nastier--in this case, among the replies posted we see Freivald (the editor of FFO) trying to defend a statement that, deliberatly or not, equates homosexuality and pedophilia. I'd like to believe the statement wasn't malicious, but the best that can be said is that given the situation, it was bloody foolish. Read post #3 in the link to understand why word choice--and choice of example--in the constructon of arguments is vital.
I eagerly await the Outer Alliance's planned listing of queer-friendly markets, in any event. I don't know if that idea stemmed from this situation, or if it would have happened anyway, but I'm glad it's being tossed around. Mostly this is because of my natural inclination to cleave to the positive. I'd rather know where my views are welcomed than think about where they're, well, not. Though I know it's necessary to warn authors about the preferences (or prejudices) of different markets as well.
For my part, I have enjoyed reading FFO and I plan to continue doing so. It's free, so I'm not giving anything except my attention, and I'm giving it not to Freivald but to the stories he selects--good stories, generally. As for ever submitting there...as I explained to my sister, given the amout of semi-public wailing and hand-wringing I've given over this entire situation, it would be damned awkward to type "Dear Mr. Freivald, attached is my 900 word story..." ever again.
Wait? She says she's not submitting there again because it'd be awkward? There's not, like, some higher moral principle at work here?
Well...no. As I said, I disagree with Freivald several hundred times over (what, I haven't said that before? Okay, I disagree with Freivald in his views several hundred times over, as his beliefs seem to coincide with the Catholic teachings I gladly discarded not so long ago*), on the subject of homosexuality, its morality, etc, but I have no problem with the fiction his magazine has published so far, and it is an SFWA Pro market. Call me morally lax (go ahead, I know I'm moderate to the point on nonexistence on most matters), but I would still be able to sleep with myself every night if I got into the SFWA by selling flash fiction to markets with homophobic editors and then spent the resulting career writing fiction that promotes queer characters. Because the reader of my (hypothetical) fiction on FFO would not walk away with any negative ideas of LGBT that they didn't have before, and at worst I could be accussed of letting the issue slide. Which, if I did it consistently, would indeed be a problem and a moral fault, but I most assuredly don't plan to. I made my mission statement on September 1st, and I mean to stick to it.
In any event, today I finished typing up my second submission for Crossed Genre's LGBT issue.
*Mind, the Catholic teachings I have happily discarded are the ones that deal with homosexuality being sinful, not the entire kit and kaboodle of Roman Catholicism. There are things like social justice and the existence of a benevolent God I still agree with. Oh, and the idea that LBGT people are children of that benevolent God. That's a Roman Catholic teaching I heartily agree with.
One of my new year's resolutions (yes, I make mine at the beginning of the school rather than the callendar year; why not? Stuff acutally changes for me between August and September. Between December and January, not so much) is to buy more books. Specifically, more books from the small press. "Winter" is one of the first such purchases, from Sam's Dot Publishing (via the Genre Mall, which might not look nearly as elegant as Amazon but which is much easier to use and allows you to pay through PayPal, which Amazon doesn't seem to do).
My verdict, with less perentheses: while an enjoyable read, I'm not sure "Winter" was worth the $6 I paid for it. The entire booklet, including a short story "The Adjoa Gambit," was less than seventy pages long. For eight cents a page, I'd expect something mind-blowing (another example from my bookshelf: "Traitor's Moon," by Lynn Flewelling, was $7.50 for 540 pages. A little less than a cent and half a page.) Granted, the way the small press works, the reader does have to pay more for material than when she buys from a larger press. I'm more than willing to do so, provided the material I get is as good as larger press material. "The Adjoa Gambit," the short story included in "Winter," was excellent (as it should be, appearing previously in IGMS), but "Winter" itself felt like a much longer story compacted to novellette-length.
The title itself relates well enough to the concept of the story--a space mission returns to Earth after thousands of years time-dilation and finds the planet gripped in an ice age--and the one thing "Winter" and "The Adjoa Gambit" have in common is that they take place in cold places--"The Adjoa Gambit" takes place in a sort of concentration-camp for humans in the Antarctic after Earth has been conquered by an alien race.
Novy shines at characterization. Adjoa, the protagonist from the short story, is a genius kid without being annoying as genius kids can be. She has calm self-confidence in her abilities (namely, to gamble against alien invaders for very high stakes--and win) without being stuck-up, and it helps that the viewpoint character is skeptical of her while still respecting her as a smart kid. "The Adjoa Gambit's" conclusion is decided using brains rather than brawn, as in my favorite fiction. A-plus, five/five stars, depending on your grading system. I heartily reccomend it.
"Winter" also has an interesting protagonist: Yutiko, a winged alien. Novy represents the alien as acutally alien, rather than a human with wings. His body language and thinking are not human, but not beyond understanding, either. He also has an unbelieveably sweet moment (these things matter to me, I'm a chick, let it lie) when he lets an injured human crewmate sleep leaning against him, assuring him it will be no discomfort--"It will be like raising a litter again." Awwww. I do love a family man.
And the suspense in "Winter" carries on right to the end--I found myself rapidly paging through it before class started, knowning I would be unable to study logic whiel Yutiko and crewmate Hodges' fates were up in the air. But when I say 'right to the end,' I do mean it--the entire story is wrapped up in about six pages, which is fast even given the short lenght of the novellette. Solutions to various problems come so qucikly they feel like Deus Ex Machina even when they aren't.
I'm a busy person. I've always thought I would enjoy, even prefer, novella and novellette length stories to full novels. But most of the problems with "Winter"--a high price tag considering the amount of material, rushed pacing--would evaporate if the story were longer. Perhaps I haven't yet found my happy medium. Rating: B+, three and a half stars. Characterization was spot-on, which is important to me, though the fact that I loved the characters so much and wanted to see more of them made it even more bitterly disappointing that the story was so short.
But...my goodness...when I think of how often I've napped, read, sat with notebook in lap writing, sat with boyfriend's head in lap...not writing...
"In the midst of life is death," indeed.
(People who've been following me might notice that this post is practically incongruous with my last post. I certainly have further views on the matter, not just FFO [I'm still deciding if I want to continue reading it or not] but things like religion, LGBT, bigotry, non-bigotry, an all sorts of stuff like that, but I'll need time to put everything in order. And with the beginning of the school year, time is one thing I lack. Keep tuned, and I expect when I ever do come out with my opinions, somebody or other will be offended. This will be a new experiance for me. Your restraint with tar and feathers is appriciated.)
Learned some saddening news through the Outer Alliance today.An issue came up when Crossed Genres had an ad for their LGBT-themed issue (submissions are now open! w00t!) rejected by a 'relatively known SFF market'. And more details came out (at which point you may imagine me, however calm my posts might appear, sitting before my monitor with a pitchfork in one hand, torch in the other), and it turns out the market in question if Flash Fiction Online, an SFWA pro market.
The gods alone know how hard I have tried (and intended to keep trying) to break into that market. Every flash piece I write goes there. When one gets held another round for consideration, my heart sings. And I enjoy reading their fiction, too.
So what do I do now? I really don't know. I've been published before in 'zines that aren't LGBT-friendly (MindFlights, though it openly states so in its guidelines, and it's not a surprise since it's a Christian family market), but that was, of course, before I joined the Outer Alliance. I don't repent of those publication credits, though I would be happier if the publisher was more open-minded (especially as I keep writing inspiring pieces I think would be perfect...only they include queer characters). But now? I'm kind of glad I have no flash fiction written at the moment.
So yes. I wryly curse principles, the ones that happen to make FFOnline unfriendly and the ones that might mean I won't be submitting or reading it anymore.
Well, I might still read it. In secret. With a paper bag over my head. And a different page open in another tab that I can click to quickly if anybody sees.
As you might be able to guess, I'm conflicted.
Um, yeah...just read it an follow its advice. If applicable, Wikipedia in #8 can be replaced/supplemented with TV Tropes mentions. Just saying.
-Sage, who has bought an unreasonable number of books from the small press this week and is trying to decide which magazine subscriptions she'll demand as Christmas gifts
As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.
Chris Fletcher, who alerted all the Things We Are Not writers about this movement, suggested we post excerpts from our Things stories, but “Reila’s Machine” doesn’t have any particular short sections that could stand on their own as an example of LGBT literature, I’m afraid, and anyway I plan to post a more plot-oriented sample of it, with links to ordering information for the anthology, later on. Instead I’ll post an excerpt from a WIP (one of many), Last of the Lesser Kings. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and I hope you’ll all get the chance to read the rest some day.
“I’m so glad to have you,” Ashariel had told him once. “I couldn’t do this alone.” His skin prickled at the memory; they had been lying together, and Ashariel’s head rested on his shoulder, his words spoken into the hollow of Neathander’s throat. He had laughed at first, thinking it was a joke—of course he couldn’t have done what they just did together on his own.
“That’s not what I mean, you.” Ashariel tugged his hair, a flush shading his golden skin coppery. “It would be unbearable here without you. Surrounded by strangers…”
‘I’m so glad to have you.’ Remembering the words, Ashariel speaking softly, embarrassed, because he wasn’t used to speaking his feelings, still made Neathander’s heart pound. He felt almost like smiling.
The time would come one day when he could smile at memories.
Thank you for reading. For more information on the Outer Alliance, please click the link at the top of the post.
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