UPDATE: a list of major publishers open to unagented submissions is on the website
The good news: Penguin has joined the open call of Allen & Unwin and Pan Macmillan with its Monthly Catch. You can email an MS and synopsis during the first week of each month. It’s almost like the good old days when you could send your creature to the slush pile most any time of the year, but this is likely to get a reply a lot faster. Poetry, text books and scripts/plays not eligible.
The ugly: Disney, you suck. Corporate wankers corrupting Joy Division’s iconic Unknown Pleasures cover art with your pathetic mouse. Sod off back to screwing over fairtytales, you gits. And no, I’m not linking to it.
It has been a case of third time unlucky for Dymocks, which has presented three versions of its author contract for those wanting to publishing under its imprint — and been criticised each time for imposing unpalatable terms on the author. Crikey’s Lit-icism blog provides a nice overview of the continuing reservations about the service. Perhaps check for version four and, as with any contract, check the fine print, decide if the service is worth the price, be aware of what it might mean down the track…
Also on the nose, but in a rather more fetching manner, is Kim Wilkins, polishing off another manuscript in her ‘fetid nightie‘.
And now for the fresh air:
Last week, I had the pleasure — I guess that should be the joy, really — of umming and ahing my way through a wonderful episode of Scifi and Squeam with Joy94.9 host Sonja and fellow guest Rob Radcliffe. We gushed over Gothic movies and paid special mention to the late Ken Russsell, in particular his Gothic and Lair of the White Worm.
Also: Jay Kristoff reports there was a kerfuffle over at Goodreads, once again delivering the message about being ever so careful when replying to or commenting on unfavourable reviews; Louise Cusack shares the sharp covers of the new e-versions of her fantasy trilogy; and Sean the Bookonaut speaks up for the Stellas in an argument I’m still catching up with…
My novella Salvage, a seaside Gothic, is available for pre-order in paperback from Twelfth Planet Press for $15 plus postage.
“Seeking to salvage their foundering marriage, Melanie and Richard retreat to an isolated beach house on a remote Queensland island.
“Intrigued by a chance encounter with a stranger, Melanie begins to drift away from her husband and towards Helena, only to discover that Helena has her own demons, ageless and steeped in blood.
“As Richard’s world and Helena’s collide, Melanie must choose which future she wants, before the dark tide pulls her under … forever.”
Twelfth Planet Press has announced the forthcoming publication of my novella, Salvage — big smiles all round. The novella was written primarily over three consecutive years, at my writers’ group retreat on Bribie Island, and then finished off in a fourth retreat on the shore of Lake Weyba at Noosa. The cover art is by Dion Hamill, who also provided covers for TPP’s Horn, amongst others (and not, as previously written here, TPP’s edition of Marianne de Pierres’ Glitter Rose). Now, the edits…
A little while ago, writer and reviewer Thoraiya Dyer said that one day I might provide her with a glimmer of hope in a short story, and I said, much chuffed with her review, that I was working on it and the jury was still out. Well, the jury has returned its verdict, and I’m pleased to say, it’s guilty. ‘Mornington Ride’ has found a home in the FableCroft anthology Epilogue, the theme of which is hope after the apocalypse (it’s original working title was, in fact, Apocalypse Hope). I think ‘a glimmer of hope’ sums up my yarn well. The icing on the cake is that Thoraiya has a story in the anthology as well!
Here is the table of contents:
‘Time and Tide’, Lyn Battersby
‘Fireflies’, Steve Cameron
‘Sleeping Beauty’, Thoraiya Dyer
‘The Fletcher Test’, Dirk Flinthart
‘Ghosts’, Stephanie Gunn
‘Sleepers’, Kaia Landelius
‘Solitary’, Dave Luckett
‘Losses Beyond the Kill Point’, Kathleen Martin
‘Cold Comfort’, David McDonald
‘Mornington Ride’, Jason Nahrung
‘The Last Good Town’, Elizabeth Tan
[Edit: due to my botching the WordPress publishing feature, this post originally appeared with a too-early date stamp.]
Awoke to the news that Anne McCaffrey has died, aged 85, and I imagine all around the world readers are looking up and waiting to see if any dragonriders take flight to stave off the threads of dark the news has struck. Of her books I’ve read, from her famous Pern universe, one passage still rings clear, in which and a boy and a girl meet and fall instantly in love, and the narrator tells us there are two kinds of love, the one that creeps with time and subtlety and comfort, and this second one, the lightning bolt. Oh, yes.
No doubt McCaffrey’s words linger still in the minds and hearts of her fans, and will continue to do so as long as those words are available, for generations to come. We will always have dragonriders to stave off the dark.
Still catching up after some touring — more on that once I’ve sorted through the metric s-load of photos and try to remember where I was for the past month — but it’s worth a peep over at Apex, where Tansy Rayner Roberts surveys a bunch of Aussie writers about their weird stuff. Interesting stuff, about our love-fear relationship with the bush and the sun, and a great quote from Margo Lanagan:
“I’m regularly surprised by how timid and squeamish some readers are”
I couldn’t get to the Digital Writers Conference in Brisbane, but Alan Baxter was a panelist and his report makes me jealous! Alan also reports on the launch of Hope, a suicide awareness anthology that has an enviable TOC of spec fic writers — the Paul Haines story in particular pops out and demands attention; get it anywhere you can!
Two very informative writer-bloggers have been prolific while I’ve been away and I’m still trying to catch up, but for starters, I loved the suspense and tension post from Terribleminds, and Ian Irvine has given prolific a bad name, actually, not only unveiling his own painful path to publication but getting guests in to share their writerly wisdom e.g. this excellent post from Stephen M Irwin on the first step.
It’s Nanowrimo — I’m not indulging, have already done a couple of sprints this year and needing a little chance to catch a breath before the new year. There’s some wisdom from Patrick Duffy for those who are, though.
Our fellow World Fantasy colleague Ellen Gregory has provided a glimpse into both the con and San Diego’s Old Town. World Fantasy is a superb conference for writers due to its focus on the business, even if this year’s program was a little less interesting for my interests. A panel on the social impact of true immortality was an eye-opener, however; I hope I can find my notes! Plus there was the ‘for the hell of it’ Aussie party catered by the always generous Garth Nix, Jonathan Strahan and Sean Williams, and the Brits did a great job of raising interest in Brighton 2013, though the Marmite almost cost them the goodwill!
Another snippet of nom nom nom: for those unpublished writers with a YA MS hot to trot, check out the Hardie Grant call as posted at Perilous Adventures.
I am a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This post is the personal opinion of the writer, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
We’re back, and a wee bit tired as the clock has turned over the 36-hour mark since we got up some morning recently in my beloved New Orleans, and here’s some of the stuff that’s been happening in my absence that’s too good not to share:
Anywhere But Earth, launching today in Sydney, is all systems go at the online store
Brisbane’s awesome Sarah Calderwood is interviewed on ABC Radio about her debut solo album! The song she sings in the studio is stunning.
Beat magazine makes it official: The Tea Party have tested the reunion waters and found it warm enough to take another splash — cool!
Kyla Ward has launched her solo poetry collection, The Land of Bad Dreams, with aplomb — see the vids! (Okay, this actually happened before we left, but we couldn’t be in Sydney for it, and it looks like it was a hoot of a night.)
Oh, too: Macabre, an excellent overview of Aussie horror fiction, and Surviving the End, in which I have a story, are both available — the first as e-book showing there’s still some life left in the sadly collapsed Brimstone Press, the latter as a pre-order. Check out more happenings in Aussie horror publishing at From the Pit.
Looking ahead: for those in Melbourne, wicked Brissie band Tycho Brahe support Psyche at the Espy on November 12 — that’s this Saturday. Sad, I was, to miss their Halloween gig back in Bris.
And this time, my back wasn’t turned, because I was at World Fantasy Convention to see Alisa Krasnostein receive her press’s achievement trophy. A superb effort!
I am a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This item is the personal opinion of the writer, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
Dark Prints Press has released the table of contents for its Surviving the End anthology, to be launched at the Swancon “Doom Con” in Perth at Easter next year — lovely thematic resonance, there! (Marianne de Pierres is a good choice of guest of honour, given her dystopian outings.) The antho sounds nice and tight, with extra interest thanks to the inclusion of Craig’s between-story interludes and the novella.
As well as my yarn, ‘The Last Boat to Eden’, there is:
Unwanted, by Martin Livings
The Long Ago, by Amanda J Spedding
Hiatus, by Michael Bailey
The Stuff of Stories, by Kathryn Hore
Harvest, by Ashlee Scheuerman
the novella, The Failing Flesh, by Joseph D’Lacey
and narrative interludes by the ‘Story Collector’, Craig Bezant
It’s not just official … it’s available now: the first section of Aurealis #45 is available at Smashwords as a free download. This is a big shift for the venerable Aussie spec fic mag, which is using the digital arena to go monthly, incorporating AurealisXpress. It’s starting with #45, the last issue compiled by Stuart Mayne as editor, and is breaking it up over four months under the stewardship of Aurealis co-founder Dirk Strasser (21 years ago!) and Carissa Thorp. Somewhere in the queue is a story of mine of which I’m quite proud. Yay!
I’ve been told that the #45 yarns will be collected into a print ‘best of’ edition in 2012, which is good news, because I do love my artifacts!
Sean the Bookonaut has already given the new-look e-edition a shot and his review is quite favourable.
Having just had a squiz at the pdf, and it’s come up well, internal artwork included, and it’s cool to see hyperlinks.
