Category: Writing

Branching Out

By:  TempestThe Publishing Biz
Branching Out

We’re adding several new features/columns at Fantasy magazine over the next few months.  (And I’m in charge!  Wooo!  I love being in charge.) One of the more fun aspects is getting in more different types of reviews.  TV, Film, Comic Books, etc. (I asked Wil Wheaton to do the comic column, he never answered me.  Now I can’t decide if it’s because my email got lost/overlooked or because he was insulted that I said we couldn’t pay.)

Anyway, the first of our film reviews is up today.  Genevieve Valentine gave up several hours of her life–at dear cost, I might add–to watch and review a SciFi channel miniseries.  All to make you people laugh.  So go over there and read it.

I will say, the majority of our reviews will not be so heavily styled.  But once I read the text she gave me, it had to be done that way.

Next week I talk about that damn Torchwood finale of fail and perhaps the Doctor Who first two episodes of win.

Some Help, If Folks Don’t Mind

By:  TempestWriting
Some Help, If Folks Don't Mind

I have come across a minor research hurdle and wondering if anyone out there is able to help. It’s a simple yet hard-to-Google topic that I’d rather not get into publicly (not because it’s embarrassing, just… other reasons). Anyway, if you are a Native American individual and/or know a great deal about the Native groups that populated the East Coast Region before colonization and can help me with a minor question, please contact me via this link. Thanks!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

By:  TempestThe Publishing Biz
Credit Where Credit Is Due

Due to some stuff on the Internets, I did some research (omg) on the # of women writers in the three digests so far this year.  The results of this, and my thoughts on the magazine that came out on top (Asimov’s), are over at the FSFBlog today.

Sean Wallace informs me that last year Fantasy published 83% women.  And, if you don’t remember, when certain types of people noticed this (I’ll leave it to you to determine what types of people those were), there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth and cries of “Oh, it’s so sad that Fantasy magazine doesn’t care about me and my stories”, and other such goings on. (cue tiny violin.)

SF Reddit?

By:  TempestThe Publishing Biz
SF Reddit?

Several months ago Ian Randal Strock (I think) was making noises about creating some system to aggregate/collect links to online magazines when they put up new issues. My memory on this is sketchy, but I remember thinking it was a good idea. I never heard anything more about it, though, so I’m guessing it never moved out of the idea phase.

I was thinking about it yesterday when poking around on Reddit.com. For those who don’t know, Reddit is a bit like Digg, but not as slick. People submit posts/articles and redditors vote on them (up or down) and the stuff with the most votes rises to the top of the main page. I just found out a few days ago that users can create subreddits on topics they’re interested in and other users can subscribe to subreddits and see the latest additions on a separate page. There’s a feminist one (that seriously needs some participation from non-assholes) and I found a couple of Short Story ones.

This got me thinking, would an SF/F/H subreddit be useful for what Ian or whoever suggested before? Editors would be encouraged to post whenever they had new fiction available or links to the individual stories, if they like. Readers would subscribe to the subreddit and get alerts whenever new fiction is available. The links from reddit go directly to the site with the content. And I believe subreddits have rss feeds, making things even easier.

Anyway, what do others think of this idea? Would you find it useful? Editors, would you find it annoying to announce new issues/fiction in this way?

ETA: I went ahead and created the subreddit. I figure if it takes off, it does.  If not, no skin off my knees.

5 Links Make A Post

By:  TempestGeekitude
  • It’s Blog for a Beer day @ Fantasy. It’s open thread/freeform today; no theme.
  • On SFBookswap there’s a list of fiction published by women in print magazines from January – April. I’d love for folks to stop by and give some opinions on any of those stories that you’ve read. Are there any I should definitely hunt down and read?
  • PodCastle is finally up and running! I know I’ve been waiting with baited breath and all that. First story is Come Lady Death by Peter S. Beagle. I believe my story is set to appear this summer. Several weeks ago when editor Rachel Swirsky announced what the first few stories were going to be, I expressed delight at seeing Hillary Moon Murphy’s Run of the Fiery Horse on the list. I loved that story so much when I first read it that I wrote a fan letter (something I’d never done before). Rachel asked me if I’d like to introduce the story for PodCastle due to all my squeeing, and I said yes. I believe the story is episode 3, so add PodCastle to your feed thingydoo and don’t miss it.
  • One of the prettiest (and most anticipated) anthologies of the year is finally out: Paper Cities. Filled to the brim with authors I adore, edited by yet another person I adore (Ekaterina Sedia), and published by a guy I tolerate ;). There are already many glowing reviews of the book and I’m sure there will be more. So buy it and stuff.
  • If you haven’t checked out the Weird Tales 85 Weirdest People of the last 85 Years list, you should. Weird Tales is celebrating its 85th anniversary (starting this month, actually) and it’s absolutely amazing how Stephen and Ann have turned the magazine around. The design, the fiction, the non-fiction, just everything is awesome.

I AM A WEIRD PERSON

Today @ Fantasy

By:  TempestNon-Fiction Publications
Today @ Fantasy

I have some commentary up about wikis, both large, famous ones like Wikipedia and small ones with narrow focus.

The Carl Brandon wiki-ers ran into [some ugliness on Wikipedia] pretty soon after they started heavily editing, when a category they created–People of Color in SF–was nominated for deletion…

…This led to Carl Brandon members renewing their interest in having a CBS wiki, just as FeministSF.net has an FSFWiki. I think this is a great idea for many reasons, not the least of which is the nastiness one often experiences on Wikipedia. That nastiness has a few things at its core. One being that some people have serious power issues and play them out in whatever venue allows them to–Wikipedia is an easy fiefdom to conquer, if one has the time and no life. Another being that American culture, the culture which many people contributing to the English language Wikipedia are steeped in, often devalues the contributions of women and minorities, but does so in a backhanded way: by claiming that their contributions shouldn’t be called out on the basis of race or gender or nationality, but instead thrown in with the “mainstream”, which just happens to be overwhelmingly populated by white males.

Click here to read the rest and offer your opinion.

My Thoughts on the News About Amazon

By:  TempestNews
My Thoughts on the News About Amazon

A lot of people have linked to the thing about Amazon telling POD publishers they have to print their books though Booksurge (owned by Amazon) or they won’t be listed. Some are very upset about it, some have determined that it won’t impact their business, and others are freaking out!

I will admit that I am not entirely sure of all the ramifications, but two bits of information floated my way that make me think that the situation is not so dire. The first is that, according to Deborah Layne, nothing will change for her and Wheatland Press, and she’s with Lightning Source. So rumors that Lightning Source people have to switch over are, apparently, not entirely correct.

Which leads into the other thing I heard. The first bit of news about this came from Writer’s Weekly/Angela Hoy. And let me tell you, I don’t trust a damn thing that woman has to say. In part because she’s a vanity book publisher dressed up as not, but because I’ve had personal dealings with her that convinced me she’s really not as knowledgeable or interested in helping writers as she seems.

Several years ago, back when I was teaching writing classes, I pitched some ideas to her for the writing classes area associated with Writer’s Weekly. The full account of what happened is here, but essentially I came away from the encounter thinking that Angela didn’t know a lot about fiction writing and selling, yet was acting if she did. At the time, I just thought she was deluded, but after reading and hearing more about her, I’ve come ’round to the opinion that she’s more than a little scammy.

Someone on the BroadUniverse list pointed out that this news from Amazon really only affects POD publishers who are not part of an existing distribution system, like Ingram. The kind of POD publishers that can’t get their books stocked in Brick&Mortar stores because they won’t accept returns. The kind of publishers that have names like PublishAmerica. So really, this is terrible news for PA and that ilk, but not necessarily for all small presses. Again, this is the impression I’m getting from various sources, but if anyone has information to the contrary, I’d like to know. Mainly, I feel like anything that upsets Angela Hoy can’t be all bad.