Today was the culmination of my mentorship through the Vancouver School Board. I'd found that the VSB had this program when I was looking at teaching a night class in bellydance.
I remember writing when I was about twelve. Some bad poems and maybe a few good ones,which I still have. I was far enough ahead by high school (grades 10-12 in Alberta) that I was allowed to take a Communications class instead of Shakespeare (Yay!). It consisted of writing mostly, creative writing. Poems, stories, novels. Like my mentee who was twelve when we started,I began to write a novel, all by hand. This was before computers, just barely, but they were expensive and big then.
I still have that early, partially written novel. It would probably equal about fifty pages. Growing up on Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe, Frank Herbert and Robert Heinlien, there was a healthy dose of the Most Dangerous Game in my book. Though I don't think I got that far into the story.
My mentee, Diana, was inspired partially by Harry Potter. It's this generation's answer to Lord of the Rings, not that they don't love that story too. When we started, her writing was already at university level with a few problems that many first writers do. She had about 100 pages of a fantasy novel. We worked through some exercises and eventually she decided to concentrate on a new book that was about two girls emailing each other in different countries, as part of their school project.
Through this project I learned how savvy thirteen-year-olds are. You get removed by more than a few years and you forget. Great insights, adult minds and the great adventures of moving into adulthood. I was impressed and Diana made me think of scope again, in people and in writing. And I mentored because if my class had gone farther in high school and I'd had more support, at home, and from teachers, I probably would have fostered ahead much faster. If I can help some kids and steer them a little closer to their dreams, why not? Everyone should have dreams and reach for them.
At the mentorship ceremony today they said there were 95 kids throughout the Vancouver schools and 77 mentors (some mentors took more than one kid). I watched these little blooming stars as young as six do amazing things. A seven-year-old girl sing like a Broadway star. A boy of equally young age, play like Mozart. Writers, sculptors, chemists, computer programmers, and many other interests. The kids were amazing. Of course they're the most gifted in their subjects but I think they all truly were thrilled that they had mentors. And the mentors ranged from just out of high school to grandmothers.
Diana gave me a very sweet card with flowers and chocolates, and each kid got up with their mentor to say what they liked about the program and their mentors. It was very touching. It was a time investment but it's a nice feeling to nurture, especially if you don't have a child. Even if you do, someone who can guide who shares their passion.
I'll have to see how time works out next year and whether I'll mentor again. I told Diana I'm still here to help her with her book (she'd like to have it at a publisher's by the time she's fourteen). But it was most gratifying seeing the end projects and the bright stars who have yet to hit supernova.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Chocolate Pricier than Gas! Buyer Beware
I was going to write about Clarion tonight but I was caught by a little pricing/promotional thing today. London Drugs, here in BC and Alberta (no idea if it's farther east) tends to have fairly good pricing on items and has, besides a pharmacy, an A/V section, and a small food section of dry goods.
Chocolate bars is a big seller as they have one row devoted to them. I like my dark chocolate but tonight I was looking for soup. London Drugs likes to put their big red and yellow signs on certain spots that say "Another Super Low Price" or something very similar. So these signs are as thick as measles down the chocolate bar row and you think, oh good, a sale.
Not so. The dark chocolate Lindt bars that were running between $2.69 and $2.89 are now $3.49. Those regular low grade milk chocolate bars that you buy on a short whim, and which only run a dollar or more in a 7-11 or a Mac's are now the super low price of .99. It seems all of the chocolate bars have gone up twenty to thirty cents. That's a lot. Hmm, why is that?
Oh, there it is, the super new low price for a super small chocolate bar is .79 cents. Super small because they're called thins. Thins? Yes, not because you're being chintzed out of a chocolate bar for a higher price but because they are handily small and only will cost you 100 calories. What a laugh. Did they have to ship these in on the backs of an extinct species before trucking them for miles on gas guzzling Hummers?
It really made sense when I was at the checkout and they had a package of four Cadbury Thins for only $3.99. Now let's do the math here. The average chocolate bar is about 45 grams and let's say it does cost a whole buck. So four of these thins come to 110 grams as it said on the package. A quick calculation shows that it's not quite the same as two and a half chocolate bars. If you were to melt this back into 2.5 chocolate bars you'd be paying about a buck-sixty for each one.
Wow, Cadbury, that's a good scam. I mean, sure, make smaller chocolate bars so that those of us who want to watch our diet can eat less. Oh, but package four together to make them more resistible and then double the price. Cadbury may not have been the only one that has done this, but it was the noticeable one. And I thought I saw some of these "Thin" chocolate bars at 19 grams, not the 27 that would be one quarter of 110 grams.
That's quite a stroke of marketing genius and gram scam. Me, I'll just buy a big bar and repackage it myself and save me calories and money. Besides, dark chocolate has less sugar and fat and milk in it, which makes it lower on the calories to begin with.
Chocolate bars is a big seller as they have one row devoted to them. I like my dark chocolate but tonight I was looking for soup. London Drugs likes to put their big red and yellow signs on certain spots that say "Another Super Low Price" or something very similar. So these signs are as thick as measles down the chocolate bar row and you think, oh good, a sale.
Not so. The dark chocolate Lindt bars that were running between $2.69 and $2.89 are now $3.49. Those regular low grade milk chocolate bars that you buy on a short whim, and which only run a dollar or more in a 7-11 or a Mac's are now the super low price of .99. It seems all of the chocolate bars have gone up twenty to thirty cents. That's a lot. Hmm, why is that?
Oh, there it is, the super new low price for a super small chocolate bar is .79 cents. Super small because they're called thins. Thins? Yes, not because you're being chintzed out of a chocolate bar for a higher price but because they are handily small and only will cost you 100 calories. What a laugh. Did they have to ship these in on the backs of an extinct species before trucking them for miles on gas guzzling Hummers?
It really made sense when I was at the checkout and they had a package of four Cadbury Thins for only $3.99. Now let's do the math here. The average chocolate bar is about 45 grams and let's say it does cost a whole buck. So four of these thins come to 110 grams as it said on the package. A quick calculation shows that it's not quite the same as two and a half chocolate bars. If you were to melt this back into 2.5 chocolate bars you'd be paying about a buck-sixty for each one.
Wow, Cadbury, that's a good scam. I mean, sure, make smaller chocolate bars so that those of us who want to watch our diet can eat less. Oh, but package four together to make them more resistible and then double the price. Cadbury may not have been the only one that has done this, but it was the noticeable one. And I thought I saw some of these "Thin" chocolate bars at 19 grams, not the 27 that would be one quarter of 110 grams.
That's quite a stroke of marketing genius and gram scam. Me, I'll just buy a big bar and repackage it myself and save me calories and money. Besides, dark chocolate has less sugar and fat and milk in it, which makes it lower on the calories to begin with.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Canada's Great Secret
Okay, to tell the truth, a secret perhaps, but not a very great one. It's about me. Yes, all about me.
Now I'm not a famous nor an infamous writer. I have what would be called moderate to small fame. I've published many poems in obscure publications all over North America. As well, I've published about a dozen or so stories and come close to winning an award or two (shortlisted, honorable mentions), and published a smattering of articles but no big fireworks...yet.
As a Canadian speculative fiction writer, I'm small beans but not as small as others. And bigger than a few. Now here's the secret. Almost every other BC spec writer belongs to a small self-promotional writer's group called the Lonely Cry. I've been barred since the beginning of time and it seems a few other writers have joined my ranks.
Why barred? Well, first, Lonely Cry was created I believe by the now deceased (and probably still) very funny Mike Coney. I'd guess it's members started around 6-8 people ane really they would do a funny skit at the local science fiction conventions, and put out a broasheet highlighting new published works of the members. That was about it. Except that many of them netted interviews or newspaper coverage (albeit small) from this wee group.
So, now we go back a bit further in my history. I once decided to get serious about writing SF/fantasy and was accepted into Clarion West, a six-week intensive writing workshop in Seattle. After that, I was invited to join Helix (a local writers group, and at that point unnamed). So I brought to one of my first meetings a story I had written at or before Clarion. It had treelike beings who wove their history from the bark of their bodies.
A woman in the writers group decided I had stolen her idea because she had a planet with people who wove tapestries. Maybe there was more but in all neither of us had a truly original idea. Weaving happens in lots of stories. And our stories were so divergent that there was no resemblance at all. After telling me pointedly that I should watch where I got my ideas, even after I said I wrote it before I knew her, I was not anethema in her eyes and she left the group.
So when Lonely Cry formed she retaliated...I suppose. Only thing was, I did nothing wrong. I've never sold that story and doubt I ever will. It's not that original. She used to be invited to the readings that Helix did (Helix and friends) but after this continued treatment of me as the new Satan I grew tired of it and said she couldn't do the readings if I couldn't join Lonely Cry. And yes, one member naysaying could hold a dictatorship over the whole. Seems I could in Helix too though maybe a few were on my side.
That alone doesn't make me unknown but I'm a little uncomfortable with out and out promotional mongering. And I live in western Canada. In the great urban centers of Ontario and Quebec it is much easier to get funding, and to get recognized. Greater population basis, greater coverage. Grants are more available. I stopped being a member of the Leaque of Canadian Poets because they had funded readings in Toronto and nowhwere else. Hardly "Canadian" poets, that. Maybe it's changed. That was a long time ago.
Oh and when I've gone as one of many guests (pretty much any pro SF writer is a guest) to V-Con I was left off the list and the bios, not once but twice (or was it three times). There are other little things but somehow I manage to slide between the cracks.
There's no real "poor me" happening though because I haven't made a big splash. But I know what will happen when I do. They'll say, oh look an overnight sensation. When in truth most overnight sensations have been working at it for years. Still, I'm amazed how I can be so invisible and visible at the same time. Part of the reason I rejoined SFCanada, to see if I could increase my visibility (would you believe I first wrote invisibility?). What if you borrow that cloak and then find you can't take it off?
Now I'm not a famous nor an infamous writer. I have what would be called moderate to small fame. I've published many poems in obscure publications all over North America. As well, I've published about a dozen or so stories and come close to winning an award or two (shortlisted, honorable mentions), and published a smattering of articles but no big fireworks...yet.
As a Canadian speculative fiction writer, I'm small beans but not as small as others. And bigger than a few. Now here's the secret. Almost every other BC spec writer belongs to a small self-promotional writer's group called the Lonely Cry. I've been barred since the beginning of time and it seems a few other writers have joined my ranks.
Why barred? Well, first, Lonely Cry was created I believe by the now deceased (and probably still) very funny Mike Coney. I'd guess it's members started around 6-8 people ane really they would do a funny skit at the local science fiction conventions, and put out a broasheet highlighting new published works of the members. That was about it. Except that many of them netted interviews or newspaper coverage (albeit small) from this wee group.
So, now we go back a bit further in my history. I once decided to get serious about writing SF/fantasy and was accepted into Clarion West, a six-week intensive writing workshop in Seattle. After that, I was invited to join Helix (a local writers group, and at that point unnamed). So I brought to one of my first meetings a story I had written at or before Clarion. It had treelike beings who wove their history from the bark of their bodies.
A woman in the writers group decided I had stolen her idea because she had a planet with people who wove tapestries. Maybe there was more but in all neither of us had a truly original idea. Weaving happens in lots of stories. And our stories were so divergent that there was no resemblance at all. After telling me pointedly that I should watch where I got my ideas, even after I said I wrote it before I knew her, I was not anethema in her eyes and she left the group.
So when Lonely Cry formed she retaliated...I suppose. Only thing was, I did nothing wrong. I've never sold that story and doubt I ever will. It's not that original. She used to be invited to the readings that Helix did (Helix and friends) but after this continued treatment of me as the new Satan I grew tired of it and said she couldn't do the readings if I couldn't join Lonely Cry. And yes, one member naysaying could hold a dictatorship over the whole. Seems I could in Helix too though maybe a few were on my side.
That alone doesn't make me unknown but I'm a little uncomfortable with out and out promotional mongering. And I live in western Canada. In the great urban centers of Ontario and Quebec it is much easier to get funding, and to get recognized. Greater population basis, greater coverage. Grants are more available. I stopped being a member of the Leaque of Canadian Poets because they had funded readings in Toronto and nowhwere else. Hardly "Canadian" poets, that. Maybe it's changed. That was a long time ago.
Oh and when I've gone as one of many guests (pretty much any pro SF writer is a guest) to V-Con I was left off the list and the bios, not once but twice (or was it three times). There are other little things but somehow I manage to slide between the cracks.
There's no real "poor me" happening though because I haven't made a big splash. But I know what will happen when I do. They'll say, oh look an overnight sensation. When in truth most overnight sensations have been working at it for years. Still, I'm amazed how I can be so invisible and visible at the same time. Part of the reason I rejoined SFCanada, to see if I could increase my visibility (would you believe I first wrote invisibility?). What if you borrow that cloak and then find you can't take it off?
Sunday, June 3, 2007
My Harlan Ellison Story
For those who don't know Harlan Ellison is a short (he sometimes has had the Napoleonic syndrome) vocal man who was the darling of the SF community when science fiction started to really take off in the 70s (maybe also the 60s for Harlan). He came onto the scene with a different style of story and was soon crowned king of the genre. Over the years other people have shared that title, such as Neil Gaiman but Harlan remains an iconic, nearly a god in the field. What he says, people listen to. He's rich, he's written various movies and he's not afraid to say what he thinks.
Back when I was in Clarion West (a writers 6-week intensive writing workshop) one of our instructors was Ed Bryant. He's not that well known unless you know the ins and outs of the genre. Once a protege of Harlan's Ed sold a lot of short stories and one, maybe two novels. These days he's a reviewer for Locus but Ed always has his finger in a few pies. We became friends from Clarion and though I see Ed rarely we get together when we can. Ed's a terrible communicator and often suffers from complications of his diabetes. I see him once a year or two.
Anyway, he told this story at Clarion and though he didn't say it was the esteemed Mr. Ellison who did this there was certainly an innuendo that who else but he would have done this. Supposedly Harlan was invited to a garden party in California (where he lives) and he did not particularly like the people organizing it. So he scooped up some lovely west coast slugs from his garden, tossed them on a plate and stuck them in the fridge until they were moribund. He took them out and covered them in whipping cream. At the party he put them on the table with all the other foods and left before they started to crawl.
It was also said that Harlan had once autographed a woman's breast. So now we move forward to a World Fantasy Convention. This is the professional convention for writers, editors and publishers. Everyone who attends is pretty much in the biz from some aspect. There is no fan track and no people in costumes. One night they hold the author signing and pretty much it's a huge room with almost everyone who's published anything sitting at tables to people can get their books signed. It could easily be 50-100 authors. Even my name was put at a table but since I'm an almost no-name Canadian (sold poetry and a few stories mostly to Canadian publications)it was pointless to sit at the table because few people would know me. So I wandered around.
I also don't believe in getting autographs and don't really see the point. I consider the author and not the signature important. So I started going up to the authors and asked them to sign my arms. As I said, the autograph would last a while and then be washed off and therefore no lasting signature. Everyone pretty much got into the swing of it, with female and male authors signing my arms. Harlan was there but I hadn't got to him yet. At one point Jack Cady was signing my arm and Harlan came up to the water cooler, mouthing loudly to someone, What's she doing? Why is she doing that?
So eventually I got around to Harlan and asked him if he would sign. Succinctly, he said, no. If you have a piece of paper or a book, I'll sign that. I then told him how I felt about autographs to which he replied you're cute. But he didn't sign.
I believe that if I had gone to him first as the prince of SF then he would have signed. After all it was there in his history. The next morning I was having breakfast with Ed when Harlan approached to check something with Ed. Then he turned to me and said, Why did you do that last night? That was very strange.
A compliment? Jealousy? Amnesia of one's own past? I have no idea but I found it amusing coming from Harlan after the antics I'd heard he's done.
Back when I was in Clarion West (a writers 6-week intensive writing workshop) one of our instructors was Ed Bryant. He's not that well known unless you know the ins and outs of the genre. Once a protege of Harlan's Ed sold a lot of short stories and one, maybe two novels. These days he's a reviewer for Locus but Ed always has his finger in a few pies. We became friends from Clarion and though I see Ed rarely we get together when we can. Ed's a terrible communicator and often suffers from complications of his diabetes. I see him once a year or two.
Anyway, he told this story at Clarion and though he didn't say it was the esteemed Mr. Ellison who did this there was certainly an innuendo that who else but he would have done this. Supposedly Harlan was invited to a garden party in California (where he lives) and he did not particularly like the people organizing it. So he scooped up some lovely west coast slugs from his garden, tossed them on a plate and stuck them in the fridge until they were moribund. He took them out and covered them in whipping cream. At the party he put them on the table with all the other foods and left before they started to crawl.
It was also said that Harlan had once autographed a woman's breast. So now we move forward to a World Fantasy Convention. This is the professional convention for writers, editors and publishers. Everyone who attends is pretty much in the biz from some aspect. There is no fan track and no people in costumes. One night they hold the author signing and pretty much it's a huge room with almost everyone who's published anything sitting at tables to people can get their books signed. It could easily be 50-100 authors. Even my name was put at a table but since I'm an almost no-name Canadian (sold poetry and a few stories mostly to Canadian publications)it was pointless to sit at the table because few people would know me. So I wandered around.
I also don't believe in getting autographs and don't really see the point. I consider the author and not the signature important. So I started going up to the authors and asked them to sign my arms. As I said, the autograph would last a while and then be washed off and therefore no lasting signature. Everyone pretty much got into the swing of it, with female and male authors signing my arms. Harlan was there but I hadn't got to him yet. At one point Jack Cady was signing my arm and Harlan came up to the water cooler, mouthing loudly to someone, What's she doing? Why is she doing that?
So eventually I got around to Harlan and asked him if he would sign. Succinctly, he said, no. If you have a piece of paper or a book, I'll sign that. I then told him how I felt about autographs to which he replied you're cute. But he didn't sign.
I believe that if I had gone to him first as the prince of SF then he would have signed. After all it was there in his history. The next morning I was having breakfast with Ed when Harlan approached to check something with Ed. Then he turned to me and said, Why did you do that last night? That was very strange.
A compliment? Jealousy? Amnesia of one's own past? I have no idea but I found it amusing coming from Harlan after the antics I'd heard he's done.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Sunny Weekend Events
I love the warm weather. My body hurts way less and it's just great. My neighbor, who is renovating his home back to what it would have looked like in 1910 when it was built is now working on the outside. He said he's discovered where the bumblebees are living; in the holes drilled at the base and five feet up on his house, originally used for ventilation. As we stood there talking we observed the little bumblers going in and out and also into a break in the wood that overhangs my door (the bottom of the upstairs living room--I'm on ground level). He doesn't want his painters being stung but they're bees and there's a great shortage of them this year so he has a dilemma. Still, it's really nice to know we're housing bees and that they've made their hives in our houses. Symbiosis. Unfortunately, the wasps sometimes do the same and they're not quite as friendly.
I went to the Farmers Market at Trout Lake (thanks to Andrew for reminding me). It's early still in the season so it was mostly leafy greens, chard, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, rhubarb, red peppers, honey, goat cheese (oooh baby, gouda and peppered, yummy yum yum), and some baked goods. I bought oyster mushrooms, the weird looking morels which I don't think I've ever had, radishes, tomatoes, goat cheese (could you tell). And it was hot out. It's loverly.
There's so much happening this weekend. There is some sort of performance festival happening in east Van, in the living rooms of peoples houses: performances, burlesque, spoken word, music. Rhea's on her way over and we're about to check it out. Tomorrow is the heritage house tour (my neighbor plans to be on it next year) so I'm hoping to go wander through heritage houses of different vintages.
And my friend Sam is having a garden party, the wear white or frocks, eat delicacies and strawberries in cream, kinda thing. I'll go to that later. He has a tiny tiny hovel and therefore quite a good sized yard. My only problem is that I need to do some work this weekend too, alas.
I went to the Farmers Market at Trout Lake (thanks to Andrew for reminding me). It's early still in the season so it was mostly leafy greens, chard, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, rhubarb, red peppers, honey, goat cheese (oooh baby, gouda and peppered, yummy yum yum), and some baked goods. I bought oyster mushrooms, the weird looking morels which I don't think I've ever had, radishes, tomatoes, goat cheese (could you tell). And it was hot out. It's loverly.
There's so much happening this weekend. There is some sort of performance festival happening in east Van, in the living rooms of peoples houses: performances, burlesque, spoken word, music. Rhea's on her way over and we're about to check it out. Tomorrow is the heritage house tour (my neighbor plans to be on it next year) so I'm hoping to go wander through heritage houses of different vintages.
And my friend Sam is having a garden party, the wear white or frocks, eat delicacies and strawberries in cream, kinda thing. I'll go to that later. He has a tiny tiny hovel and therefore quite a good sized yard. My only problem is that I need to do some work this weekend too, alas.
Friday, June 1, 2007
May Submissions
At Twilight Tales www.twilighttales.com we do the great Summer Submission Challenge. No prizes, no accolades, just community and encouragement to get people to write. So without further ado, this was my month of May.
SUBMITTED IN MAY: 40 submissions
Spec fiction: 23 submissions
“Serpent’s Mouth” Pagan Fiction Award
“In God’s Image” Cryptopedia
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis, Withersin
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk
“Fashion Victim” Pedestal
“Changes” IGMS
“Safe Sex” New Genre
“Nick of Time” Weird Tales
“Flight” Clarkesworld
“Cold Bones” Story Station
“Amuse-Bouche” Deathlings
“Lady Lazarus” Interzone
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns, Fantasy Magazine
“Snow White’s Long Day” Cicada
“In the High Tower” On Spec
“Bite Me” Realms of Fantasy
“An Ill Wind” Talebones
“The Boy Who Bled Rubies” F&SF
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
Fiction: 9 submissions
“Touch the Magic” Strange Horizons
“No Place to Go” American Short Fiction
“Bird in the Hand” Pulpnet
“Cipher” Atlantic Monthly
“The Diver” Chattahooche Review
“Sackcloth and Ashes” Fog City Review
“Slow Burn” Cincinnati Review
“Elastic” The Sun
“House of Cards” Prairie Fire
Poetry: 8 submissions, 36 poems
“Secrets of Trees”, “Garuda’s Folly”, “Negotiating the Power that Drives Me Round,” “Dark Side,” “A Match for Nostradamus” Strong Verse
“Courtship,” “Whole World,” “What Goldilocks Learned” Going Down Swinging
“Biography,” “Circle,” “In Relation,” “the perfect crime,” “Oh You!” Sub Tropics
“Persephone Dreams,” “Finding Dionysus,” “The Traveler,” “Geomystica,” “Of the Corn” Tin House
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” “The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry
ACCEPTED: 2
“The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Stocking Stuffers” Naughty or Nice antho Cleis Books
REJECTED: 13 submissions, 7 stories, 20 poems
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Alien Invader” Baen SF contest
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk (dumb on my part as I forgot they want light and this is darkish)
“Lady Lazarus” Dark Wisdom
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns (6 hours to reject *sob*)
“Trials of Lemons,” “Time,” “Millennim’s Edge,” From the Asylum
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry
STORIES STILL OUT(from January on—markets only): 13
Venus Press, Abyss & Apex (poems), Dark Recesses, Aeon, Cleis Books, Chizine, Ruins, Magic & Mechanica, Cthulhu Sex, Splatterpunk Press, Hub, HLQ Spec, Holy Horror
BELIEVED LOST (markets that have not responded to queries and older than 9 months)
Drill Press, S.M.U.T. (I supposedly had stories coming out with these first two),Bloodrose, Like Water Burning, Storie, Andromeda Spaceways (they changed their system around this time), Pine, Arabesque, Adbusters, and all of the European markets including 9, Glasnost, Galaktika Magazine (bouncing), Real’nost’ Fantastiki, Nowa Fantastyka
Rewritten 3 stories, one that hadn’t seen the light of day in ten years. Reading Kushiel’s Chosen, finished Kushiel’s Dart, stuck on Iron Council.
SUBMITTED IN MAY: 40 submissions
Spec fiction: 23 submissions
“Serpent’s Mouth” Pagan Fiction Award
“In God’s Image” Cryptopedia
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis, Withersin
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk
“Fashion Victim” Pedestal
“Changes” IGMS
“Safe Sex” New Genre
“Nick of Time” Weird Tales
“Flight” Clarkesworld
“Cold Bones” Story Station
“Amuse-Bouche” Deathlings
“Lady Lazarus” Interzone
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns, Fantasy Magazine
“Snow White’s Long Day” Cicada
“In the High Tower” On Spec
“Bite Me” Realms of Fantasy
“An Ill Wind” Talebones
“The Boy Who Bled Rubies” F&SF
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
Fiction: 9 submissions
“Touch the Magic” Strange Horizons
“No Place to Go” American Short Fiction
“Bird in the Hand” Pulpnet
“Cipher” Atlantic Monthly
“The Diver” Chattahooche Review
“Sackcloth and Ashes” Fog City Review
“Slow Burn” Cincinnati Review
“Elastic” The Sun
“House of Cards” Prairie Fire
Poetry: 8 submissions, 36 poems
“Secrets of Trees”, “Garuda’s Folly”, “Negotiating the Power that Drives Me Round,” “Dark Side,” “A Match for Nostradamus” Strong Verse
“Courtship,” “Whole World,” “What Goldilocks Learned” Going Down Swinging
“Biography,” “Circle,” “In Relation,” “the perfect crime,” “Oh You!” Sub Tropics
“Persephone Dreams,” “Finding Dionysus,” “The Traveler,” “Geomystica,” “Of the Corn” Tin House
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” “The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry
ACCEPTED: 2
“The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Stocking Stuffers” Naughty or Nice antho Cleis Books
REJECTED: 13 submissions, 7 stories, 20 poems
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Alien Invader” Baen SF contest
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk (dumb on my part as I forgot they want light and this is darkish)
“Lady Lazarus” Dark Wisdom
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns (6 hours to reject *sob*)
“Trials of Lemons,” “Time,” “Millennim’s Edge,” From the Asylum
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry
STORIES STILL OUT(from January on—markets only): 13
Venus Press, Abyss & Apex (poems), Dark Recesses, Aeon, Cleis Books, Chizine, Ruins, Magic & Mechanica, Cthulhu Sex, Splatterpunk Press, Hub, HLQ Spec, Holy Horror
BELIEVED LOST (markets that have not responded to queries and older than 9 months)
Drill Press, S.M.U.T. (I supposedly had stories coming out with these first two),Bloodrose, Like Water Burning, Storie, Andromeda Spaceways (they changed their system around this time), Pine, Arabesque, Adbusters, and all of the European markets including 9, Glasnost, Galaktika Magazine (bouncing), Real’nost’ Fantastiki, Nowa Fantastyka
Rewritten 3 stories, one that hadn’t seen the light of day in ten years. Reading Kushiel’s Chosen, finished Kushiel’s Dart, stuck on Iron Council.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Revisionist Poems and Stories
This came about on another list when I mentioned that I've just sold my poem "The First Taste" to Dreams & Nightmares. It will be out in the January issue and is a revisionist poem about Persephone. I was asked what I meant by revisioning.
I ran into revisioning somewhere way back, maybe first to do with the retold fairy tales, especially the ones that were in the Datlow/Windling anthologies. I've also run into it in poetry but don't remember when anymore. It could have been in the creative writing courses at UBC or in the world of speculative poetry.
I guess the basis for any revisioning poem/story is that instead of a third person or narrative tale of a hero's or god's deeds, the tale is now told in first person. It might also be in the voice of the lesser being/mortal/bad guy who traditionally would be fairly two-dimensional. Getting into the psyche of the person and how they really felt.
This is sort of what happened to SF when it evolved past the embryonic stage of BEMs and started to become more realistic; or magic realism, set in today's world with just a small twist. (Is this the bastard child of canlit and spec fic?)
Like all genre words, it's just another fancy word for categorizing what we write. :) In my revisioning poems (which really is just the tale from another point of view) I've written on Dionysus, Kore/Persephone, Athena, Leda, Psyche, Demeter, Aphrodite (though the last really doesn't fit the same way as the others).If I was at home I'd just post the poem here, as it's a closed list and I wouldn't break any rights. I've also written one story on the oracle on Pythos before it/she became the Delphic oracle.
I'm sure there are other takes on revisioning but this is pretty much how I see and understand it.
I ran into revisioning somewhere way back, maybe first to do with the retold fairy tales, especially the ones that were in the Datlow/Windling anthologies. I've also run into it in poetry but don't remember when anymore. It could have been in the creative writing courses at UBC or in the world of speculative poetry.
I guess the basis for any revisioning poem/story is that instead of a third person or narrative tale of a hero's or god's deeds, the tale is now told in first person. It might also be in the voice of the lesser being/mortal/bad guy who traditionally would be fairly two-dimensional. Getting into the psyche of the person and how they really felt.
This is sort of what happened to SF when it evolved past the embryonic stage of BEMs and started to become more realistic; or magic realism, set in today's world with just a small twist. (Is this the bastard child of canlit and spec fic?)
Like all genre words, it's just another fancy word for categorizing what we write. :) In my revisioning poems (which really is just the tale from another point of view) I've written on Dionysus, Kore/Persephone, Athena, Leda, Psyche, Demeter, Aphrodite (though the last really doesn't fit the same way as the others).If I was at home I'd just post the poem here, as it's a closed list and I wouldn't break any rights. I've also written one story on the oracle on Pythos before it/she became the Delphic oracle.
I'm sure there are other takes on revisioning but this is pretty much how I see and understand it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
