Sunday 19 July 2009

Friday 17 July 2009

Wizard Anthology

Hot market news! Prime Books will be publishing an anthology of wizard stories in November 2010 and are looking for submissions.

The details are here, but in short:
Length: 5000 words or less.
Submission Period: 1st July 2009 – 31st March 2010.
Payment: 5 cents per word ($250 max), plus a pro-rata share of 50% of the anthology’s earnings and 1 contributor copy.
Submitted electronically.

Editor John Joseph Adams (also assistant editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) has this to say about the content:

(a) The story should be about a wizard, witch, sorcerer, sorceress, of some kind (basically, any sort of user of magic).

(b) The fact that the story has wizards in it should be vital to the story, i.e., magic should be an important factor in the resolution of the plot.

(c) The wizards should be literal, in that they do actual magic, not like a pinball wizard or something like that.

(d) I’m interested in all types of wizard tales, but am especially interested in seeing some stories that explore the idea of wizardry from a non-traditional viewpoint–i.e., something based on the Chilean Kalku or on the supernatural practices of other cultures.

(e) The story may be set in a secondary world, the real world, the present, or in a historical time period…let your imagination run wild.

Monday 13 July 2009

Link-mania

Rachelle Gardner (and a mass of commenters) looks at social networks and how they fit into a writer's life.

Over on Nathan Bransford's blog, there's some guest bloggers talking about Everything You Need To Know About Writing A Novel, In 1000 Words, The Top Seven Things Every Aspiring Author's Website Must Have and the Five Stages of Querying Grief.

Ever wondered just what is meant by 'the same, but different'? Jessica Faust gives her views on The Meaning of Different.

Jane Smith comments on the dangers of responding to reviews and collects some cool links for other pieces in The Author's Big Mistake.

Sarah Monette talks about series fiction in When Last We Left Our Heroes while Alison Kent shares novella tips in Size Does Matter.

Sunday 12 July 2009

Next Meeting

After a truly fantastic meeting yesterday, verily it has been decided that the next meeting will be 10th October at Alchemy Manor.

Thursday 9 July 2009

The Turing Test Wins Edge Hill Prize

Chris Beckett's collection, The Turing Test, from Elastic Press, has won the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize, earning Chris a remarkable £5,000 cash prize. The judges said:

"I suspect Chris Beckett winning the Edge Hill Prize will be seen as a surprise in the world of books. In fact, though, it was also a bit of surprise to the judges, none of whom knew they were science fiction fans beforehand. Yet, once the judging process started, it soon became clear that The Turing Test was the book that we'd all been impressed by, and enjoyed, the most - and one by one we admitted it. This was a very strong shortlist, including one Booker Prize winner in Anne Enright, and two authors who've been Booker shortlisted in Ali Smith and Shena Mackay. Even so, it was Beckett who seemed to us to have written the most imaginative and endlessly inventive stories, fizzing with ideas and complete with strong characters and big contemporary themes. We also appreciated the sheer zest of his story-telling and the obvious pleasure he had taken in creating his fiction."

Andrew Hook (publisher of Elastic Press, and editor of the BFS's New Horizons) said: "Naturally, we're very pleased about this." Obviously he is overwhelmed! Copies of the book are still available from Elastic Press. More on the Edge Hill Prize here.

Thursday 2 July 2009

Raw Terror

Holy Maria! Mike has done it again! His story Kittens has just been accepted for an anthology from Read Raw Press. The book to look for will be Raw Terror, edited by Ian Hunter. No news as yet on when it's out so we'll let you know as and when!