SFFWorld Members big Blog thread

[Matthew Hughes]

I've only just found out that Old Venus, the retro-theme anthology I was part of, has won the Locus Award for best anthology of 2015. It's predecessor, Old Mars, also won the Locus Award for 2014. Congratulations to editors George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois and to all the contributors.

My story was "Greeves and the Evening Star," in which I attempted a Jeeves and Wooster romp, with the names changed. It probably has no reprint possibilities, so perhaps I'll put it up for a free read.

Speaking of reprints, a neat little short-short story of mine (750 words) "The Hat Thing," is reprinted in Polar Borealis, an on-line magazine of Canadian sf written by pros and emerging authors. The zine is a non-profit labor of love put together by Canadian megafan Richard Graeme Cameron, with GoFundMe funding that lets him pay the contributors.

If you want a good smattering of Canadian sff, for a free read, PB is well worth a look.

 

[kennychaffin]

I've only just found out that Old Venus, the retro-theme anthology I was part of, has won the Locus Award for best anthology of 2015. It's predecessor, Old Mars, also won the Locus Award for 2014. Congratulations to editors George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois and to all the contributors.

Woo-Hoo! That's excellent!

 

[kennychaffin]

Speaking of reprints, a neat little short-short story of mine (750 words) "The Hat Thing,"

I like it.

 

[Facing]

I like it.

Yeah. That was cute.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Do most people here use Blogger? I've gone for wordpress, but it seems I may be in the minority.

My website is wordpress, and my blog blogger. No reason, except what seemed to suit each best at the time.

Anyhow, today I mused on creativity and where it might come from. I didn't find many answers:

http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/where-ideas-come-from.html

 

[Jo Zebedee]

http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/on-finding-time.html

 

[Matthew Hughes]

Last month, editor Nick Gevers asked me to write a story for an upcoming anthology called Extrasolar, to be published by PS Publishing. Somebody who had been expected to deliver a story had not done so and the deadline was coming up.

Nick described the theme of the antho thusly:

Stories will deal with the recent discoveries via the Hubble Telescope and other efforts at identifying extrasolar planets--all those bizarre solar systems made up of superjovians, hot Neptunes, superearths, lots of planets close to their stars, wild eccentric orbits, etc. What are the implications of these observations, for the nature of planetary systems in the universe as a whole, for the hope of finding life elsewhere in the galaxy, for SF itself, a genre that traditionally has anticipated other solar systems arranged rather like ours?

So, basically hard SF, which I don't write, but I can do space-opera set against interesting backgrounds. So I was very pleased to take a shot at it. I decided to revive Erm Kaslo, my hardboiled "confidential operative" whose investigations take him out among the Ten Thousand Worlds of The Spray. The story is called "Thunderstone" and it shows Erm before the events in his upcoming novel, A Wizard's Henchman, when he has to deal with the universe arbitrarily switching its fundamental operating principle from rationalism to magic.

Nick has accepted the story. The antho will be out next year.

Fans of my Luff Imbry tales owe Nick Gevers a tip of the hat. It was he who suggested, after Luff's initial appearance in the novel Black Brillion, that I write some stories about him for the quarterly PS Publishing anthology, Postscripts. Without Nick's suggestion, I might have let the fat man fade into the shadows.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I ranted about how we should build people up, not down:

http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/positivity.html

 

[kennychaffin]

I ranted about how we should build people up, not down:

http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/positivity.html

You've been watching our political conventions I see.

BTW I agree completely. I think we should all follow Thumper's Father's Words:
"If you can't say something good, don't say anything."

(this of course applies as well to criticism of stories/books. Pointing out the errors, etc. is important and good, but should be done in a good way as well, positive things as well as negative things.)

I posted notices of my latest publication - Joy - on 365 Tomorrows in a variety of places this morning and the first response I got other than +'s, likes was "Too bad it wasn't spellchecked and proofread."

Admittedly I did upon rereading it at the site notice and was sufficiently embarrassed by a missing comma. But still it could have been said more kindly, or simply ignored, particularly since once it is submitted, it (as was the case here) it is out of one's hands. In fact I had no idea this story had even been accepted til it was published today.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You've been watching our political conventions I see.

BTW I agree completely. I think we should all follow Thumper's Father's Words:
"If you can't say something good, don't say anything."

(this of course applies as well to criticism of stories/books. Pointing out the errors, etc. is important and good, but should be done in a good way as well, positive things as well as negative things.)

I posted notices of my latest publication - Joy - on 365 Tomorrows in a variety of places this morning and the first response I got other than +'s, likes was "Too bad it wasn't spellchecked and proofread."

Admittedly I did upon rereading it at the site notice and was sufficiently embarrassed by a missing comma. But still it could have been said more kindly, or simply ignored, particularly since once it is submitted, it (as was the case here) it is out of one's hands. In fact I had no idea this story had even been accepted til it was published today.

People can be insensitive, at best. I doubt any of us haven't posted something without tpyos.

I'm back on track today with my Friday blogs, this one is on editing. Which I should really go off and do:

JoZebwrites: The dreaded edit

 

[Matthew Hughes]

A Wizard’s Henchman is now listed as a forthcoming title from PS Publishing and is available for preorder.

It’s a science-fantasy novel originally serialized in Lightspeed Magazine under the title, The Kaslo Chronicles. Here’s the blurb:

Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.

As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.

But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.

The novel is available in two editions: an unsigned, jacketed hardcover for £20 (US$27) and a signed, jacketed edition of 100 copies for £35 (US$46). Being PS editions, the quality will be first-rate.

A petite avian has told me that both books have arrived in the PS warehouse so any preorders ought to be filled fairly quickly. There will also be an ebook at some point, though I don’t know the price.

I haven’t got a jpeg of the final cover art yet, but I’ll post one when I do.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Recent book reviews on my blog.

 

[kennychaffin]

Recent book reviews on my blog.

Thanks for all those Stephen. Particularly the Nick Lane one.... It's on my tbr list.

 

[Matthew Hughes]

Here’s the cover for A Wizard’s Henchman. It’s by Ben Baldwin, who has done all the covers for my PS Publishing books and most of my self-pubbed ebooks and paperbacks. I recommend him strongly.

 

[kennychaffin]

Very nice!

 

[Alasdair Shaw]

I just listed top five favourite military science fiction series at http://alasdairshaw.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/top-five-military-science-fiction-series.html
What do you think about my list? What obvious ones have I left out?

 

[Jessica Martin]

Just go through below link to find some interesting collection and clog posts....
http://www.plodit.com/blog/

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Just a quickie. I've got my mailing list working, at last, and am starting to use it more seriously. There will be exclusive content to subscribers, information about releases and launches and the like. It will not come out every week and spam but only when there is news. As a launch offer, I'm giving a free ebook (Inish Carraig - aliens vs Belfast) to the first 15 sign ups.

JoZebwrites: Mailing lists - and why you might want one.

Also up this week - why new writers should think about promotion long before they release anything:

http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/promotion-why-its-never-too-early.html

 

[C.E. Gee]

Want to share your latest blog post with the rest of the SFFWorld community?

Here's where you can post your links for everyone to see

Since the last time I posted to this forum I've added a number of new links to stories of mine that have been published.

If you're into Science Fiction I'd recommend Buck's Driving Force. If you're into fantasy/mysticism I'd recommend As the Crow Flies.

I sincerely hope you enjoy these stories.

NAMASTE

C.E. Gee AKA Chuck

http://www.kinzuakid.blogspot.com

 

[kennychaffin]

I posted an older story from Prosthetic Amalgams on my Mansions of the Mind blog.

The Spark of Life

Enjoy!