Yog's Notebook, blog edition

The Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy take place every year at WorldCon. This year it's happening August 30-September 3 in Japan. Anyone with a WorldCon membership is eligible to vote, and that includes people who purchase a supporting (non-attending) membership. So for $50 you could help decide who wins the awards.

Even if you won't be voting or attending, the Nippon2007 site has a page listing all the nominated works, with links to read all of the short stories and some of the novels for free online. I can attest that Glasshouse is excellent, and I've enjoyed other work by many of the other authors.

Labels: awards, books, hugo, science fiction, stories

Bill Kte'pi, whose story "Everything Life Carries on Without" appeared in our Spring 2007 issue, is currently serializing a novel on his website on a donation basis. It's a fast-paced story about vampires, conspiracies, and New Orleans called The Saint of Daybreak.

From the first chapter:

There was no time for shoes if I wanted the hooker to live.

I’d left them on the floor on her side of the bed, and caught a glimpse of them when she picked up my T-shirt to dry her tears on. Watching her, something drew my eyes to her throat, some old habit, some new awareness saw the artery pulse, a little twitch she wasn’t aware of.

I grabbed her wrists and yanked her across the bed, rolled us both to the floor, kicked the bathroom door open bare-footed and listened to the floorboards. The worn-out quilt slumped to the floor in our wake, most of its weight having been pinched to the edge of the bed.

“What the fuck –”

“Shh!” I covered her mouth. Shit, I’d forgotten that it hurt to land on things. My hip flared in frustration. Those little things, those stupid little things, you could forget them so easily. “Ever been religious, Maggie?”

He'll post the second chapter once donations reach $20, and the following chapters for each $40 after that. I've read an earlier draft of the entire thing, and it's a really interesting story. Go read the rest of the first chapter, and if you like it, consider donating a few dollars toward the rest.

Labels: bill kte'pi, fiction, novel, serial, vampires

I just caught up on all of the stories we've received through the end of April. We'll be sending out responses as soon as I can get Lucas to review the things he hasn't read yet. We tend to do rejections first (some stories pretty clearly won't work for us), and then start evaluating which of the stories that pass the first round will actually make it into the magazine.

Every time I read a batch of new submissions, I notice certain patterns in stories that are really an automatic no for me. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to send us their work, but some things aren't going to make the cut. Here's a few elements to avoid:

* Completely gratuitous violence. I want a balance of science fiction and horror, but we receive a lot of things that are gross without being scary or thought-provoking. Especially when the story is about raping or torturing women. Sorry, no.
* Stories that have more sex than plot. I'm not saying no sex at all (Bill Kte'pi's story "Everything Life Carries on Without" certainly includes it), but if the whole point of the story is the sex, there are other publications that would be better choices for your work.
* All action, no plot. Tell me about zombies, monsters, aliens from another galaxy. Go ahead and blow things up. This is great. But ultimately we want stories about people, not GI Joe adventures.

That said, here's what I wish we'd receive more of:

* Stories about strange technology and its implications. The Singularity. Nanotech. Read the "Lobsters" story in Charles Stross' Accelerando for a great example.
* Space exploration. I'd even go for retro Moon colonies if it had a good setting and characters. Get out into the unknown.
* Humor. Being funny can be hard, but you can develop a sense for what works and what doesn't over time. Have a friend read it if you're not sure.

In general, the thing that would most help the stories we reject is having someone else to review it before it's submitted. An outside reader can help spot problems while you still have a chance to fix it. Ultimately, Lucas and I want to select stories that readers of Yog's Notebook will be excited to see, and the best thing you can do to get your work there is to have other people read through it, and tell you what they think.

Labels: reading, science fiction, sf, stories, things to avoid, things to do