Entries tagged with publishing

Current Mood: accomplished

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dr-phil-physics.com UPDATE

Web Site Updated

Since I set up my website at dr-phil-physics.com in early 2008, I intended on keeping it up-to-date and expanding it. Well I kept up with it for a while, but... it got a little out-of-date and I didn't end up with the time for expansion.

Until now.

Today I've loaded in the latest News on the homepage, Publications and have added pages on Readings and... started an FAQ page on my 29th century universe.

Coming Soon

Right now a lot of the links in the Publications page go to entries on this LJ. However, I will have dedicated webpages for each of my stories as I did for the earlier ones. The homepage will be cleaned up and many of the News entries moved to Old News, which will be made easier to use. And a list of Cons attended and upcoming Cons.

And maybe some more free stories. (grin) Enjoy.

Dr. Phil

EDIT: The link to my website was missing (thought available on the sidebar). Oops.

Current Mood: enthralled

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April 1st, 2010

The March 32nd Report -- Yet Again

Who schedules a major test on April 1st? Why Dr. Phil does! As my noon class was struggling with Exam 3, I did a quick check to see if LocusOnline had their news stories up yet. They did!

-- 2010: News Summary of the Year To Date
Thu 1 Apr 12:01 am Cory Doctorow has had a busy year. First there was his ill-fated attempt to write in real-time on the Internet...
-- Google to Digitize Lost Library of Alexandria
Thu 1 Apr 12:01 am Google Books Exec Dan Clancy: "Google simply had to invent a practical means of time travel, which we can now reveal to the public..."
-- Doctorow and Stross to Write Authorized Sequel to Atlas Shrugged
Thu 1 Apr 12:01 am "We realized that both of us shared one important trait with Ayn Rand: all three of us really, really like money..."
-- Tachyon Publications Announces First Annual Make-a-Genre Contest
Thu 1 Apr 12:01 am Contestants must submit a table of contents and a persuasive essay to be used as their anthology's introduction...

And Speaking Of, Uh, Google

If it's still today, fire up Google. Otherwise, you can always jump to the story.

Also there's this link, to Google Labs latest update to Google Maps, where we learn that "Today our esteemed team of physicists from Google are proud to announce that they have discovered an extra dimension in our universe." And, why Yes, I did have a pair of "cutting-edge red-cyan glasses" in my technology bag. Why wouldn't I? (And they DID work, so there. Pthhhbt!)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: chuffed

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300

Yet Another Milestone

Yesterday, Saturday 20 March 2010, I shipped my 300th submission to any market. Like my 200th submission, this was to Writers of the Future -- I believe my 32nd submission to that contest. Still have a little eligibility left. 62 completed stories sent out 300 times, with 14 publications and one more pending. Not bad for not even eight years of sending things out, if I do say so myself.

It took 1427 days after 9 June 2002 to get to the first hundred submissions on 6 May 2006, 725 days for my second hundred on 30 April 2008 and 689 days to the third hundred. #301 is already shipped and #302 should go out sometime in the next few days.

Hopefully I'll be able to do some more work on novels as well this year -- perhaps work on getting an agent. (double-grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: angry

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Harlequin Steps In It Big Time -- RWA Slaps Back

A Horrifying Development

Lots of people read romances. And the paranormal romances are clearly a cousin of genre writing -- and sometimes it is a pretty artificial division. I read Marjorie Liu's stuff, and Meljean Brook -- these are authors I know from Clarion and online, respectively.

Growing up, the brand name Harlequin seemed synonymous with Romance to me -- I guess in terms of sales, for good reason. But recently Harlequin decided to announce a new venture, essentially mining their slush pile for an in-house vanity press operation. For God's sake, Publisher's Weekly ran a news flash with a straight face. I heard about this first via Nick Kaufmann via Nick Mamatas.

But now Scalzi and Making Light have lit in, because -- Thank God! -- the RWA (Romance Writers of America), MWA (Mystery Writers of America) and SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) have all condemned the move. In particular, RWA is to be commended, seeing as they have the most to gain and lose in this effort:

One of your member benefits is the annual National Conference. RWA allocates select conference resources to non-subsidy/non-vanity presses that meet the eligibility requirements to obtain those resources. Eligible publishers are provided free meeting space for book signings, are given the opportunity to hold editor appointments, and are allowed to offer spotlights on their programs.

With the launch of Harlequin Horizons, Harlequin Enterprises no longer meets the requirements to be eligible for RWA-provided conference resources. This does not mean that Harlequin Enterprises cannot attend the conference. Like all non-eligible publishers, they are welcome to attend. However, as a non-eligible publisher, they would fund their own conference fees and they would not be provided with conference resources by RWA to publicize or promote the company or its imprints.

Sometimes the wind of change comes swiftly and unexpectedly, leaving an unsettled feeling. RWA takes its role as advocate for its members seriously. The Board is working diligently to address the impact of recent developments on all of RWA’s members.

So far, it sounds as if Harlequin sounds hurt, but has removed the name Harlequin from the new venture. It has not, however, decided to skip becoming "Romance Publish America".

Why This Is Evil

Self-publishing is when you hire someone to print your work -- it is very useful for certain limited interest publications, gifts and small runs of things for family & friends. Vanity publishing is when you hire someone to pretend you're a professional author -- they make you believe that your book is "just like" something which has been vetted and marketed by a real publisher.

As annoying as rejection is and as big as slush piles get at real publishers, you really can't judge your own work all that fairly. For someone else to say, "hey, this is good, we can work with this, and we'd like to pay you this much to publish your work", is setting the minimum bar level.

In real publishing, money goes to the author.

If I put up a story on this LJ or on my website, http://dr-phil-physics.com , I'm doing this for fun and/or to give people a taste of my writing for free -- especially given that some of my real publications are hard to get. And I've been using unpublished stories so as not to interfere with those who have published me. But I know these are not vetted, edited works. They are my words and I can give them away if I feel like, provided they're not under contract elsewhere.

For you to pay Harlequin, or its minions, hundreds or thousands of dollars to produce books that likely will not sell and will never get promoted to "the real publishing arm" is a scam. The bait-and-switch aspect of slush piles and rejection letters is just too vile to support. Harlequin's management should be ashamed of themselves and grovel at the feet of their authors, their readers and the writers' organizations like RWA and beg their forgiveness and vow to sin no more forever. Period.

So far, no. Clearly we are misunderstanding Harlequin.

And this has to be CRUSHED IN THE BUD, lest in these dangerous financial times, other legitimate publishers begin to start thinking -- hey, I've got this fucking big slush pile, too, and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad if I followed Harlequin's lead. And don't get all sanctimonious that hey, it was Harlequin that did this, one of those Romance publishers, complete with the eye rolling of superiority. Because it could happen to anyone in any genre. No, really. It could happen elsewhere.

NO. It'd be BAD. It's not RIGHT. And you people all know it. Preying on the wallets of those with hopes and dreams of becoming published authors is WRONG. And EVIL.

So just STOP IT. NOW.

And please, PLEASE, PLEASE... Don't Fall For This Shit Yourself.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: working

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Ah Well, It Didn't Cost Me Anything

War of the Words Short List

The novel I sent to the UK first novel contest apparently didn't make the short list. C'est la vie.

They actually posted the short list back on Tuesday 8 September 2009, the day after they were going to make contact to the authors. I wasn't sure they were sticking to the schedule, since they'd mentioned they got a lot of entries and then on Friday 4 September 2009 said they were going to expand the short list from I think six to ten authors. But, sigh, I hadn't heard from them and so remembered to go looking on the SciFi Now U.K. site.

Ah well. Nice thing is that I have this novel, which I'll look over one more time, then I'll start sending it out again.

It's all good. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: disappointed

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Going Out With Some Style

Another SF Market Closing

Word is spreading around that Jim Baen's Universe is closing. While the most impact it has on me is that I will have no more submissions to JBU -- and will never appear on its webpages -- the fact is they are announcing this "early" and will continue e-publishing through the April 2010 issue. All the stories they currently have contracted for will be published and paid.

I'm sure that many SF writers will comment, as I did above, about losing another market to sell their stories. Of course, one of the arguments against short fiction markets is that too many of those interested in them are interested in SELLING to them and not BUYING. A lot of people hoped that JBU had found a model that would work in today's marketplace, and after being open for a couple of years, perhaps people got complacent that a successful business model had been found. It is ironic that JBU's announcement comes on the heals of SFWA's announcement that the Tor.com website will count as a SFWA pro market.

I met Eric Flint and Mike Resnick at Windycon two years, at a talk about JBU. They were both very concerned with both getting quality SF out there, and of giving a chance to the next generation of writers. Multiple people read through the slush piles, and they also used Baen's Bar as a way to help new writers wring out the problems of their stories. Though I never got a chance to meet Jim Baen himself before his passing the other year, I kind of hoped that JBU would be able to stand as part of his legacy. Alas, twas not to be.

Finally, I'd let to send out a Thank You to

nancyfulda Nancy Fulda, who was one of the slush readers for JBU and mostly the assistant editor who sent me my rejections. JBU had a fast turnaround time and a wide word count range, so nearly all of my stories could be routed through them -- and Nancy saw most of them. I used to joke to my friends that "Nancy Fulda hates me", but that's not true. Editors are rejecting the story, not the writer -- send them another one, write more, write more better. (grin) Another assistant editor who stands out is Sam Hidaka, who I know comments on the WOTF Forum, again helping out new writers.

Jim Baen's Universe and its dead tree offspring The Best of... will be missed. But not yet. They're still running until the April 2010 issue. And that's still a lot of SF stories to read. Just not mine.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: melancholy

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A Death In The SF Family

Charles N. Brown, 1937-2009

Just saw on Ellen Datlow's LJ

ellen_datlow that Locus magazine founder and editor Charles N. Brown is dead. His health has been up and down ever since I learned about Locus about eight or nine years ago, but he gamely went on with his business -- reading, editing, interviewing, going to cons, eating and drinking -- and writing about it all, the good and the bad, in his monthly column. Sounds like he died in the saddle, so to speak, coming back from his last appearance.

Locus publisher, editor, and co-founder Charles N. Brown, 72, died peacefully in his sleep July 12, 2009 on his way home from Readercon.

His masthead entry in LocusOnline reads:

CHARLES N. BROWN is Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of 29-time Hugo winner Locus magazine which he founded in 1968 and has been involved in the science fiction field since the late 1940s. He was the original book reviewer for Asimov's, has edited several SF anthologies, and written for numerous magazines and newspapers. Brown founded Locus in 1968 and has won more Hugos than anyone else. Also a freelance fiction editor for the past 40 years, many of the books he has edited have won awards. He travels extensively and is invited regularly to appear on writing and editing panels at the major SF conventions around the world, is a frequent Guest of Honor and speaker and judge at writers' seminars, and has been a jury member for several of the major SF awards.

I had the great fortune to meet Charles at the WOTF XXIV workshop last August. He is invited to WOTF in order to help give the Reality Speech about how we're all crazy to be trying to be SF/F writers. (grin) A little dose of reality is a good thing, especially delivered by a man I might call a genial curmudgeon (double-grin), but alas such things are likely to fall on the deaf ears of those of who love to write and do still believe. (~~I probably have some pictures, but I'm not on a computer with any of the photos right now, so that'll have to wait.~~ UPDATE: Pictures below.) Fellow 2004 Clarionite Amelia Beamer headed out West after Clarion and managed to become an Editor at Locus and I know how well she fit in the Locus family -- special thoughts go out to her in particular.

The WOTF XXIV "Reality Speech" delivered by Locus Editor Charles N. Brown

Charles Holding Court w/ Tim Powers (l), WOTF XXIV Gold Medal Writer Ian McHugh (c), Al Bogdan (r)

Locus will survive, it needs to survive. The August 2009 issue is supposed to include a remembrance of Charles N. Brown. The arrival of my subscription copy of Locus at the beginning of every month is always greatly anticipated -- this is one issue that I wish would not have come so soon.

Rest easy, sir.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: accomplished

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Here's A Novel Opportunity

Keeping On Top Of Things

Yesterday I posted on my three favorite monthly non-fiction SF/F publications. There's always gold to be mined from these sources. For example, at the end of David Langford's Ansible 264, there was this little tidbit:

Novel Competition. SciFiNow and Tor UK offer publication with 20% royalties (but no advance) to the winning sf/fantasy novel -- whose 80 to 150 thousand words must be available by the closing date of 20 August 2009. Lionel Fanthorpe could probably do it in a couple of weekends, but previously published novelists are barred ...
http://tr.im/novelcomp

Well, I'm an unpublished SF novelist, so let's check this out.

More Details (after the cut)
( Read more... )

Be sure to follow the links and read the whole rules.

So... Is This A Good Deal Or Not?

Worst case -- I have a finished manuscript and it gets tied up for a couple of months. But I'd be on the shortlist. If I don't even make that, then I'm in and out in even less time.

Best case -- I win the damn thing. So the contract is non-negotiable. We're talking about real British publishers, Macmillan and Tor U.K., and getting a novel fast tracked. Surely getting a novel published and the publicity of winning the competition is worth something, right?

As for the money. Yes, they get to dictate the terms. That part seems fair. I mean, why go to all the trouble to pick the best SF novel from this competition and then fail to reach an agreement with the author? The rule is, money goes to the author -- there are no entry fees and with electronic submission, no direct costs to submitting an entry. Yes, I know that with no advance and getting paid a piece of the royalties only means that it will be a long time before getting paid. Okay, eyes open, but if I were to do a traditional novel sale, we're a long way from getting a check of any amount by that method, too. And without an advance, there's no problem with ruining my career by not earning out said advance. (grin)

Twenty Percent

Since short fiction pays not a lot and I've never done a novel contract, there's a lot I don't know. Is "20% royalty on net receipts" a good deal or not? Back in April, noted Goblin & Fighting Princesses author Jim C. Hines wrote on How Many Books do you Have to Sell?.

Sticking purely with mass market paperbacks for the moment, let's say you get royalties at 8% (fairly standard but not universal for an original mass market, I believe) and a cover price of $7.99 (also standard U.S. cover price for mass markets). So you're earning $.64 per book. Juggle the numbers, and a $5000 advance means you're going to need to sell roughly 8,000 books (7,812.5) in order to earn out. In my case, I'd guess the publisher probably did a print run between 10,000 and 15,000 books, but that's a total guess, and hopefully more experienced publishing folks can speak to that piece. (ETA: ramblin_phyl points out that there's also a break-even point in the cost-efficiency of first print runs, which might mean the numbers on that run were a little higher.)

Hardcovers and e-books add more variables, as the royalties are different, but I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible for this example.

So I read that and figure 8% of one sort of pie and 20% for another sort of pie -- at least it tells me that the 20% figure isn't a nasty low ball pitch to naive newbie novelists, like moi. (grin)

And I Have A Project

One of my stories is now at 47,000 words -- it has grown too large even for the one or two novella markets and I have started work to take it to a novel anyway. It has a sequel story, which could also be expanded -- that would take care of the mythical second novel clause in the contract. In other words, this is work I was going to do this fall on my sabbatical anyway. And you know I like deadlines.

Yes, I only have five weeks to get this done, but I have the story. We're just rebuilding it. I can do this.

So the next question is -- are you sitting on any finished or nearly finished SF novels? (evil-grin)

OAS Project

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: determined

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The Technical Semi-Official Announcement

July - December 2009

With my grades for the Summer-I Session at WMU turned in at the end of June, I have completed my teaching duties until January 2010. Technically that makes me unemployed. Unofficially, though, since I had arranged for no classes during Summer-II (July-August) anyway, having everyone in the Physics Dept. decide they want to teach during Fall gives me an opportunity. Mrs. Dr. Phil is just finishing a six-month sabbatical and goes back to work on Monday 6 July 2009. It makes sense then, for me to declare this next six months that:

Dr. Phil will be on sabbatical from July to December 2009 -- and will use the time to write and complete a couple of SF novels.

Moving into 2010 then, I can continue submitting shorter works, but also begin sending off manuscripts to book publishers and agents, trying to line up one of each.

A Novel Approach

I've actually been seriously writing SF novels and short stories since October 1990, but only submitting anything to markets since June 2002 and those have all been novellas and shorter. A couple of times I've blocked out part of the summer, usually Summer-II (July-August) to "get a novel done", but things come up. In 2007 we had a lot of projects to do around the house. In 2008 I had to prepare for and then decompress from the WOTF workshop. During the 2008-09 academic year I was teaching full-time, and between that and my sinuses productivity fell and my record keeping files have been in a little disarray. Funny how time gets away from you. Six months? Much more conducive to getting the job done.

So There You Have It

While technically not a sabbatical, and an unpaid one at that, it does seem the perfect time to do it. Just how worth it would it be to try to scare up a couple of months of working in this economy? By calling it my sabbatical, I can concentrate on my writing and hopefully move onto the next stage of my writing career. I've already accomplished a good deal of work in the first couple of days. (grin)

Indeed, I'll be shortly announcing my next big project... in the next post.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased

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Reading The July News

It's The Second Of July

And that means new issues of three of my favorite non-fiction SF/F sources. Yeah, I've probably written about this before -- so are you reading these, too? What, not yet? Yeesh!

More Words And Pictures Than You Can Shake A Stick At

The July 2009 issue of Locus magazine arrived today. We didn't get any mail on the 1st, so I think our postal person must've been sitting by the side of the road reading my copy. (Actually, it comes in a sealed envelope so no one gets it before you do!) When I first started reading Locus, I'd see the coverage of events and cons and see all these pictures -- and I'd find out what my favorite authors look like. Now I look and see my friends. People I've seen or even done panels on at cons. People I've workshopped with or were instructors at workshops. What? Am I becoming an insider in the biz? No, probably not. But I know the insiders now. (grin) I keep recommending Locus both to new writers who want to know how it all works and to SF/F/H fans who want to read interviews and learn about who's who and what's coming.

You can get subscription information from LocusOnline. Really, it's a LOT of content and the one print magazine I receive that I devour from cover to cover the day it arrives. It seems like all magazines are suffering from subscription shrinkage and Locus is no different. But so many authors and publishers reference Locus that I don't know what we'd do without it. PLEASE give it a try. There are some stores which carry single copy sales, but not around here. (grin)

Online...

Then there's IROSF -- The Internet Review of Science Fiction. It's free right now, but you want to subscribe. Why? So you get a nifty little e-mail reminder at the beginning of the month reminding you that the new issue is up. Reviews and neat articles about people and sub-genres and history. Check it out here and also their cool logo gear at CafePress.

Speaking of you, our beloved readers, we wanted to point out that IROSF no longer requires a subscription to view—for now. We've been experimenting with ways to make our material more accessible, and this particular one has been a mixed blessing. More and more people are stopping by to read an article or two each month, but then there's the trouble of being forgotten about the following month. We'd like to invite you to sign up for the site, which is not only free, but also keeps you in the loop. You can comment on our forums and articles, becoming part of the conversation here. You'll also receive an email each month, letting you know that a new issue has come out. So take a moment and "subscribe." It's fun, you won't miss all the great stuff that's coming in August, and did I mention that it's free?

And Across The Universe

And then there's David Langford's legendary Ansible. If nothing else, this long running (July 2009 is the 264th monthly installment) U.K. e-fanzine will make you laugh. Thog's Master Class is legendary.

And now I've done my community service for the month -- and I'm going back to reading IROSF and Ansible... having already made one pass through Locus. (double-steal-grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: accomplished

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Another New Story From Down Under

Now Arriving Andromeda Spaceways Flight #39

The second of two issues of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine with Dr. Phil stories arrived in the P.O. Box. My short story "In The Blink Of An Eye" appears in ASIM Issue #39.

Quick -- Turn To Page 61 And Start Reading!

A Murder Mystery Where There Is No Body... Yet

    "So where’s the body?" Cooper asked as they got into the armored police cruiser. "I’d like to see it before you give me any case details."
    "We can’t show you."
    "You don’t have the body?"
    "No, sir. We have the body. We just can’t show you yet."
    "Detective -- you’re starting to annoy me."
    "Sorry, sir..."
    "And stop this sir crap. That’s equally annoying."
    "Sorry, Dr. Cooper."
    The other detective, Bates, finally spoke. "It’ll be much clearer at HQ than the crime scene, Dr. Cooper."
    "Just Cooper will do. We all work for the same side," Cooper said. "Now why can’t you show me the dead man?"
    "Because he’s not dead yet."
    Cooper nearly got angry. "Then how do you know with such certainty he’s going to be murdered?"
    "Because he’s sealed in a stasis tube -- along with the speeding bullet which is aimed directly towards his brain."
    Stan Cooper blinked twice without speaking.
    "And the murderer is your old pal, Seth Caputo."
    Now Cooper was interested.

You interested, too? I have a subscription, so I just got my copy -- even here in the U.S. You can get a six-issue subscription, too, which is a helluva deal especially if you ask that it begin backdated to include my stories in both issues #38 and #39. But you can also order single issues and PDF versions. See http://www.andromedaspaceways.com/ for details. Note: Issue #38 is current available in both print and PDF, though not long for the latter. The PDF version of Issue #39 will be available "soon".

Enjoy!

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased

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In Which A Fellow Author Sings, In A Manner Of Speaking, For Her Supper

"It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else."

Catherynne M. Valente, author of what appears to be the rather remarkable novel Palimpsest -- which I haven't yet read but have seen many good things about -- starts today a serial YA novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

(it) began as a book-within-a-book in my adult novel, Palimpsest, a part of the protagonist's childhood, a strange novel for children written in the 1920s, about a young girl spirited away to Fairyland by the Green Wind, and her adventures there, battling the wicked Marquess, befriending outlandish creatures, and growing up. As I traveled to promote the book, readers asked me one question more than any other: Is it real?

Well, circumstances have forced the book to become real. Though you can click on the banner below, donations are highly recommended by Dr. Phil, because it can be tough out there being a full-time writer and these are tough times.

New installments come out every Monday and today, 15 June 2009, is the first. I've only just had time to start it, but the writing is lovely, the kind of story which cries out to be read aloud. And indeed, though I've not clicked through, there is a link to an audio version read by the author.

Come For The Call To Arms, Stay For The Party

I met Cat briefly at Penguicon 7.0, when we were all at the mass author signing, but I learned of her through Michigan writer

jimhines Jim C. Hines, as he and Cat were doing the writing workshop there. So I heard about all this on her LJ

yuki_onna. And now that this is all up and happening, I am linking it all here for your enjoyment, too.

Thanks!

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: busy

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9 Guidelines Update

My Story In Greek From Last Year

Back in November I found out that my story "The Uranium Age" had been published in Greek by Εννέα (Nine). At the time I only had rough guidelines via

nihilistic_kid Nick Mamatas. But today I received an e-mail from Εννέα with new guidelines:

Dear SF writers,

Despite the international economic crisis we decided to move our Comics & SF supplement, the "9" magazine, from Wednesday to Saturday, a day with much bigger (almost double) printrun and better sales. We also added 16 more pages (from 32 to 48). So now we need longer SF stories. Stories from 3.500 words up to 5.500 words.

We would be obliged if you could "spread" the following submission guidelines to your fellow writers any way possible.

Looking forward to read your stories

Best regards

Angelos Mastorakis
Chief Editor of "9"
The Comics & SF magazine

Well, yessir! Longer stories? I can do that! (grin)

"9" - NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES - 2009

"9" is a weekly Comics & Science Fiction supplement (50 pages, full colour) of ELEFTHEROTYPIA, a major Greek daily newspaper (print run 100.000). Every week we publish an SF story 3.500 to 5.500 words long. We publish only Science Fiction, not Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery or Horror. We are always interested in good stories, whether published before or not. Not counting the Greek SF stories, we have already published stories written by famous American, Australian, Austrian, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Canadian, Croatian, Cuban, English, French, German, Italian, Serbian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese and Rumanian authors.

LANGUAGE: We accept stories in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish & Serbocroatian.

RATES: for the one-time non exclusive publication rights (first Greek language serial rights) plus the first option for a possible future anthology = 0,03 EURO (3 EURO cents - approximately 4 US cents) per word. We pay after publication. We keep the exclusive Greek translation rights. (That means if you sell your story again in Greece and the second publishers use our translation they have to pay us otherwise they will have to use a new translation) Of course if we decide to include your story in an anthology we make a specific agreement.

CONTRACT: We do not (REPEAT-WE DO NOT) make contracts. To make one contract every week is too much paperwork for us. We do not have time, we have to meet a 50 page deadline every week (52 times a year)!

PAYMENT: We send you an invoice by e-mail that you have to fill, print, sign and send back to us by ordinary mail. (BEWARE: As we cover for you a 20% state tax the amount mentioned on the invoice is not the amount that you are going to receive - it is your fee plus the 20% tax rounded to the nearest 5 EURO amount). In 4-6 weeks we transfer the money in a bank account that you specify. (Unfortunately we had to discontinue the payments by personal cheque). We send you also 3 complimentary copies.

SUBMISSIONS: .RTF or .DOC files by e-mail to ennea.sf@enet.gr (BEWARE: This is a new e-mail account created especially for submissions). Also disposable typewritten or word-processed manuscripts (with your name address & e-mail, on one side of paper, with numbered pages, indented paragraphs, enough spacing between lines and wide margins) to the following address:

Mr. ANGELOS MASTORAKIS
CH. K. TEGOPOULOS EDITIONS S.A.
ELEFTHEROTYPIA - "9"
10-16 MINOOS STREET
GR 117 43 ATHENS
GREECE

NOTICE: A short biography and the following facts about the story must be included in your submission (when it was written, first publication data, any awards, etc.)

We cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage to your submission. Do not send submissions by recorded delivery or registered post.

By submitting a story you agree for its publication under the abovementioned conditions

You're welcome.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: amused

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March 32nd Report

Google Comes Through

Logging in this morning, it looks like so far nothing has happened with this Internet worm. Not that I wanted chaos created by bastards, mind you. But... If I find out it was all a ploy to get everyone to run Windows Update and install that stupid Windows Genuine Advantage program... Just sayin'.

But Google's Gmail had their annual contribution with Gmail Autopilot. Why bother responding to all that email when you can have Google do it for you?

And In Publishing News

Mrs. Dr. Phil found this announcement on the big publishing megamerger, "representing 63% of all scientific journals and consuming 99% of library budgets."

All yer eggs in one basket. What could possibly go wrong?

And For The Smart Young SF/F/H Set..

We have LocusOnline's Special Reports:

-- Greg Egan, Kelly Link Collaborate on Novel
-- Clarion Workshop Reality Show ***
-- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Sets Off Publishing Mashup Frenzy
-- Department of Education To Retire the Semicolon
-- Audrey Niffenegger Subject of Congressional Hearings
-- Final Sturgeon Volume Shatters Myths

*** - I've been proposing this for years. (grin) I mean while I was at the 2004 Clarion workshop I commented that Clarion was like Survivor except no one ever got voted off. That if we did add the conflict and the backstabbing and the TV cameras, maybe we'd get people interested in SF/F short stories again. Nah.

Yeah, and I did reset the posting date even though it is 00:44 hours EDT on the second now.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: excited

Entry tags:

Award Noms

Go Nikki!

Nichole Kimberling

kimnik, fellow 2004 Clarion wayfarer, has her novel Turnskin on the short list for the Lambda Literary Awards. The Lambdas recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. The awards will be announced on Thursday 28 May 2009.

Not only that, the independent press dedicated to publishing science-fiction and fantasy stories with gay and lesbian protagonists she runs with her partner, Blind Eye Books, ends up with two nominations for the current year. They had one last year as well.

Blind Eye Books publishes Tangle Girls, which includes the Dr. Phil short story "Under Suspicion".

LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

* The Archer's Heart, Astrid Amara, Blind Eye Books
* The Magician and the Fool, Barth Anderson, Bantam Del Rey
* Wilde Stories 2008, Steve Berman, Lethe Press
* Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories, Craig Gidney, Lethe Press
* Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books

Anyway, congratulations!

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: annoyed

Entry tags:

One Hates To Pile On, But...

Failing At The Internets

Re: Today's news about Realms of Fantasy. It's been a while since I've had occasion to visit the RoF homepage, but you know?

27 January 2009 Tuesday 22:30 EST

http://www.rofmagazine.com/

Dear Realms of Fantasy fans:

We apologize for our extremely outdated site. The magazine is still going strong and is better than ever. We are working on a new and much improved design for the website and hope to have it up and running this summer. In the meantime, the Forums are still operational and you can still access the Subscription and Guidelines areas. Please be patient—we know you are going to love the new site!

http://www.rofmagazine.com/issues/current

Issue: August 2006
Inside this issue

Look, Even My Website Is Currently Out Of Date...

... but I'm a one person operation, and sorry, but my classes and my writing come first. (grin)

BUT, in 2009, couldn't they at least find some fanboy intern who keep the pages even somewhat up to date? This irks me, because it's not fair to the authors.

It's as bad as if a major anthology still hasn't gotten around to doing a major print run even though the book was launched way back on 15 August 2008. Seriously.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: saddened

Entry tags:

Another Market Bites The Dust

Realms of Fantasy

RoF announced a quick demise -- one so fast that the editor hadn't been contacted before the news got out -- and it's roaring about the blogosphere. So I thought I'd mention it here. Just in the last couple of days

slushmaster was reminding people about submissions for the Halloween 2009 issue, etc. But he confirms the story here as of fifty minutes ago. Main notice is here at SFScope -- and at LocusOnline. I daresay the staff has been caught flatfooted on this one.

I don't write much fantasy, but had a couple of stories which had been slowly percolating along and I always figured I'd submit to RoF. A sudden drop in newstand sales was cited. I've actually bought RoF at Schuler's, but I haven't been to a book store in the last two months due to weather, not economics. Given that there's been bad weather everywhere, I wonder how much of this is a knee jerk bean counter response to the wrong problem? Alas...

This is the second big hit that fantasy has taken, what with the earlier cancelation of The Year's Best in Fantasy & Horror.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Xanadu

Entry tags:

200

Another Milestone

Yesterday I shipped my 200th submission.

It took from 9 June 2002 to 6 May 2006 (1427 days) for the first hundred, but just over half as many (725 days) for the second. Yes, I think I'm improving and beginning to get some results. And yes, halfway through that first hundred submissions I invested in going to Clarion in 2004, which absolutely made a profound difference in my writing, in what I know about how the writing business works and introduced me to a number of wonderful new and established writers.

Ray Bradbury says to be a successful writer you have to write a million words -- and throw them away. Well, I have over a million and a half words just in one unfinished project, so I've got that. And I know of successful writers who took 600 or more rejections before they really made it -- or stacked rejections X number of feet high -- and I hope I don't need quite that many. (grin)

My 100th submission was to Fantasy & Science Fiction, which was fitting because Gordon Van Gelder was our guest editor at Clarion. And now my 200th submission is to the 3rd Quarter XXV-th Writers of the Future Contest, which is also fitting considering how long I've been sending to them and that some of my successes have come from them. And I'm still eligible to try to win a prize from them. (double-jeopardy-grin)

But...

I know what some of you are saying. It was just the end of April, not the end of June. Why send early? Well, there wasn't a lot of point in waiting. I had a story ready and in less than two weeks the postal rates will go up, so it'd just cost me more money to wait until the last minute. And yes, I did put a FOREVER stamp on the SASE return envelope, so it won't cost WOTF any extra to send me my results, yay or nay.

201

Of course it's May 1st and time marches onward. Strange Horizons has closed to submissions, but I still have one in process there, so they're out of the running until July 1st. But one market closes temporarily and another is bound to open back up. Jim Baen's Universe was scheduled to reopen on May 1st, but their submissions page still said:

Jim Baen's Universe is closed for submissions until an unspecified future date but not before March 2008.

...

Web submissions can be made through our currently off line submissions form.

But I'll tell you something funny about the old World-Wide Web: (1) We are so used to things happening at Internet speed that we tend to forget that (2) a lot of Really Useful webpages don't get updated instantaneously. So, since I had good information that JBU should be reopened today, I went straight to the supposedly offline submissions form, which cheerfully told me:

Note: Story submissions are currently open.

So, not only do I have submission number 201 in the field, I also have 12 stories out at market right now, tying my all-time record.

A milestone, indeed.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: chuffed

Entry tags:

Milestones

The end of April 2006 brought with it two milestones. One just part of the usual -- the end of the Spring Semester. The other a mark that will appeal only to this audience -- the completion of my first year on LiveJournal.

A Long Haul

It has felt like a long and tough semester, my 42nd since I started teaching. In general I almost never miss class, no matter what. Yet I missed three, count 'em, three days this semester. Two from a flu which laid me low and one from a trip to the side of the road as my oldest, highest mileage Blazer broke at 307,000 miles.

While I'm sure most of my students don't care, I really want those three teaching days back. There's too much good Physics, too many good stories, to miss even one.

A Secondary Milestone

I started building my Science Literacy booklist in the 80s while in grad school. It's now happened that some of the "new" books from that period are older than my current students -- and in some cases it's beginning to show.

I'm going to have to spend some time this summer revising my booklist, methinks. What fun! (grin)

A Year Of Blogging

Haven't I always had a blog on LiveJournal? Apparently not. I meant to do something pithy on that anniversary day, but I was in end-of-semester mode. Due to Western's shift in the calendar in January, Finals came a week later this year, which is why I had time to start a blog last year. (double-grin)

Clarion is, of course, responsible for my blogging.

slithytove, specifically. Though I'd run across LiveJournals before then, it was always individual entries found in a Google list. Thanks, John.

A May Milestone

And Saturday marked a real event in my science fiction writing career, as submissions number 99 and 100 were sent out. 37 stories sent out 100 times. The actual century submission was to Gordon Van Gelder and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, which is fitting because Gordon was the guest editor at my Clarion and with fourteen submissions, F&SF leads as my top source of rejections. (triple-word-score-grin)

It'll take a while longer to get to the century mark in rejections, but it's coming!

Dr. Phil