Q1 Update

My new sci-fi story Life Force will be published in Weirdyear on April 11th: Titus Rosario and Misha Hadrian are approaching planet Intaglio in Universal Architects Zero with plans for colonisation, except that Misha has started talking to an invisible elephant.

My latest novel, working title The Marquis, is finally complete. I started it in August 08 and although I changed its original setting, it's still the same idea I started with. I tried many other ideas since my first novel, but never completed anything. However, The Marquis stayed the course.

I have several other stories on the go. There's a second sci-fi noir story where Chandler's Philip Marlowe will be working on another disturbing case in dystopia, and there's a truly odd case of animalism gone mad that's close to fruition.

Messed up again

This time I sent a submission to the wrong email address at Shimmer. It's that kind of attention to detail I'm famous for. Oh well it's not as bad as waiting six months and then receiving, "Dear [insert name], Unfortunately due to [excuse] your submission was always going to be bottom of the pile..."

The novel (working title The Marquis) is progressing like an operation to remove wisdom teeth entwined with my rib cage. After two years five months three days two hours and twenty five minutes there are signs. But do I like the signs? Each day I set out like that excited five year old on my way to Jessica Jones's birthday party. Sadly, something terrible happened at Jessica Jones's birthday party. We were all led away in silence, and now many years later there are stories.

I have thirty stories published (there are links on the left side bar) and loads of poems at gattopublishing, What You Will See, although after emailing updates to my profile the photo with dodgy specs remains. However, I have an idea to make two slim collections into one not so slim, call it Poems and Stories and send it to the latest emerging publisher. Why not?

Forgetting to Update Duotrope

Many writers 'forget' to update Duotrope, the story submission website, especially when they've had a story rejected. Who wouldn't? It's human nature. Writers hate rejection, so why go and update Duotrope when you feel like murder. Screw the accuracy of the data. They can go and shove it sort of thing

Last week I forgot to update Duotrope when I had Jack Kerouac Eats Here ACCEPTED by the great people at The Smoking Poet. Due date December 2010. I started it about five years ago and shortened it and altered it until hardly any of the original idea remained. It used to be something odd about seahorses according to my diary. Now it's a rework of Kerouac's masterpiece with echoes of the great man. Although I think it's the perfect flash fiction and the greatest thing I've ever written, I'd got used to seeing, "We see thousands of submissions a week and unfortunately yours was the thousand and tenth....." Except that I ALWAYS update Duotrope success or failure.

Another odd email in the 192 spams after holiday was Paypal saying that Duotrope had cancelled my annual donation. I'm not going to ask them why. Okay maybe I will. They survive on donations although it seems they don't want my donation.

Christmas Backlog Times Are Changing

October, November and December used to be the perfect time to send story submissions to the editors of magazines. Writers are supposed to have other things to do. They're supposed to be busy with their high-powered day jobs, spending hard-earned credit on presents, and partying so they aren't in a position to weigh down depressed editors with their 500000 words tomes such as, Harry Trotter, He's Not At All Like Harry Potter.

The time to spare editors used to be the end of summer, when all those wannabeeJKs return from homes in France with tomes such as, Gone With the Mistral, A Book Not Unlike Gone With the Wind But Set in France. It's a seasonal thing, but not any more.

Here in Strange Story HQ, a divided packet of chicken chips shared around a single unlit candle invoked the proper spirit of Christmas, and writing continued unabated in the hope of catching the editors in relaxed mood with their feet up, mince pie in hand.

It's always worked before. Maybe it's the credit crunch, but during the last festive season, (which started on Oct 30th), I sent out eight submissions. How many responses have I received? Three! And one submission went red on Duotrope last week, indicating a query was due. Now I haven't had a response to the query. The other editors must still be sitting on top of a pile of emails, or having babies, or both. What is going on?

The night sky was clear...

Closely linked to my story Telescopes, or possibly even in support of it, who knows, there is a chance to see the full moon and Mars together on the big stage at 9pm tonight. Skies are set to be clear. The moon is certainly looking magnificent at 17:30.

Yahoo: Mars and moon in heavenly show.

Rate my artwork here.

Steve Dearden

I've been trawling the Internet for work by the writers in the Brace Anthology (Comma Press). My motive is to see whether Comma Press look like they'd be sympathetic to my style without actually buying the anthology. I was pleased to discover that Steve Dearden gives a great sample of his work, the opening of his story Clare Counting in Brace. Would Comma Press be interested in the things I write? How should I know?

I fouled up my Friday afternoon submission, addressing the covering letter to the person who replied last time. The guidelines clearly said address it to all editors. Silly me. Anyway, I apologised to them profusely, and it looks as though they'll consider it. All contacts with anybody are an opportunity though, even when it's an embarrassed apology.

Another Effort Sails Out

I pinged a US sci-fi mag a few months ago and received a generous rejection, so I'm trying them again with a 1250 word story I wrote in spring. It failed once with another US mag, and I've done a great deal of work on it since. I have three more stories in the wings which I'll be sending to the US before returning to the novel.

I constantly search for equivalent UK magazines, but never find anything. I Googled some writers in Brace, a 2008 UK anthology published by Comma Press, but never found a single example of their work published anywhere online.

Maybe I should Google harder and for longer. If I was an anthologised English writer, I'd be promoting my writing through my web pages. Maybe English writers think the web is beneath them. Anyway, Charlotte Allan, Juliet Bates, Annie Clarkson, Adam Connors, Steve Dearden, Paul de Havilland, Tyler Keevil, Richard Knight, Jacqueline McCarrick, Neil McQuillian, Chris Killen, Heather Richardson, David Rose, Guy Russell, and Guy Ware. Where is your work online?

Rejected by Expanded Horizons

Rejected by Expanded Horizons after I queried, but I never received the original email.

Wished me the best of luck with my writing though, and then declined my Expanded Horizons Live Journal community membership request.

Non Response From Expanded Horizons

Two issues of Expanded Horizons came out since I submitted a story to them.

Editor Dash never replied to my submission, so I think I can move on with this story. Maybe the email never reached its destination. They're a small mag.

Back On Shorts

Short stories again. I looked at some new material, and it looks good. I have a lot of work ahead. Some stories that have been around benefitted from a rewrite and I'm very excited about one in particular.

I worked on the novel for four weeks. Most of that was spent reworking the ending. I'll leave it four weeks and come back to it again.

About My Writing Credits - Eclectica Magazine

The editors at Eclectica have had the wisdom and foresight to publish my stories over the years. I was spotlight author in 2006@http://tinyurl.com/c5mn5g.

Eclectica was founded in October 1996 with the goal of providing a sterling quality literary magazine on the World Wide Web. At the time we were not able to find a forum that would be the net equivalent (in terms of content) of Harper's, New Yorker, Granta, The Atlantic, and other publications providing quality material for the appetites of a wide variety of demanding readers. Although some of these magazines even had their own web-sites, they were conceived as companions to the print items rather than sites that stood completely on their own."

"Thus Eclectica was born. The vision we shared was that of a magazine not bound by formula or genre, that harnessed technology to further the reading experience rather than for the sake of flashy gimmickry, and that was dynamic and interesting enough content-wise to keep readers coming back for more."

"Thirteen years later, quality is still the sole criterion in our editorial process. If it is outstanding writing, then we want to share it with our ever growing, global readership. We provide broad categories for convenience's sake, but we love to get material that just doesn't fit into them. And while there are many, many online publications now that succeed, to greater or lesser degrees, in doing what we set out to do in 1996, we pride ourselves on being one of the longest-running and most consistent literary ezines on the web."

About My Writing Credits - Transmission Magazine

Transmission is one of many magazines to have had the foresight, intelligence and great taste to publish two of my stories.

The people behind Transmission are:

Graham Foster

“Graham is the ukulele-playing, garlic-obsessed editor of Transmission. While, at best, he has an amateur knowledge of all things horticultural, he writes regularly for Urban Garden Magazine. His particular literary passion is contemporary North American literature, something he is indulging by studying for a PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he also teaches. His writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Literary Review and Times Literary Supplement. He believes there is no greater pleasure than reading a quality book while drinking a quality beer…”

Jo Phillips

“Jo is the gentleman designer of Transmission. He is a softly-spoken perfectionist who whiles away his time at the club, slim cigar in hand, singing Russian folk songs with his elegant, lilting voice. Not content with being the aesthetic brains behind the magazine, he also reveals his love and knowledge of literature at key moments. Jo has a degree in the History of Art and Design, but really his eyes are firmly on the future.”

Stephen Ireland

“When not huddled behind his computer screen, exercising his computer wizardry, web-designer Steve is Transmission’s in-house action man. While his team-mates would weep at such activity, Steve likes nothing more than a throwing himself down some gushing rapids in his kayak. His love of the white water aside, he also enjoys thunderstorm hikes followed by a bottle of red. He is also the creative force behind Ivyparkmedia, a web-design company with extra ones and zeroes…”

“Transmission is a sturdy skiff on the turbulent waters of independent literature, packed with a cargo of the best short fiction. It features exclusive interviews, articles, writing guidance from industry professionals and reviews.”

“Transmission is designed to appeal to literature lovers from writers and academics, to bibliophiles and bookworms. Published tri-annually on a not-for-profit basis, Transmission continues to explore the choppy waters for the best and most original literary voices.”

“We publish only the best short fiction and with every piece illustrated with original artwork, we hope to stand out from the crowd. We are amongst a very small number of UK printed magazines solely dedicated to the short story. While we don’t pay for submissions, if your work is published you can be sure it will find itself in a well-respected literary magazine (that’s us!), alongside interviews and writing guidance from established authors and industry professionals.”

“A magazine showcasing some of the finest writing talent.” – BBC Online

Time to go back to the novel

I'm working on several stories at a time, but this burst of story writing started as a distraction from writing a novel which I started in August 2008, and put aside on (checks diary) Friday May 1st, nearly three months ago. I was bored with seeing it each day after nine months and I've had two stories published as a boost to confidence as a result of the lay-off.

So the novel should all be horribly fresh when I see it again. Hopefully, it will be great, but more likely it will need another year's work. Never mind. 18 months is the minimum to write a novel, and summer is when everyone writes their blockbusters (6000000 pages of how a boy wizard called Harry Trotter took on the might of the British boarding school). There's no point rushing to get into the already heaving slush piles.

I want to submit it to an indie publisher in December, and for that I need the first three chapters. The first three chapters are greatly affected by how the whole novel feels, so I like to complete the whole thing and then redo the beginning. It's like running 1o0 metres, and then going back to the start to run the first 10 again. In writing you can do this. In running if you get the start wrong, the race is over, but not in writing. Not until the printer whirrs.