There and no way back again

AnthologyBuilder goes live

2009-07-02T19:29:58Z

I expect most of my LJ friends know this already, but just in case you don't...

AnthologyBuilder has exited Beta!

As if to celebrate, someone recently bought five of my stories!

The more the merrier ;-)

Honoured (or should that be Honored?)

2009-06-26T17:38:53Z

Stars in Her Eyes, which was published in Postscripts 17, has received an Honorable Mention in the Dozois Doorstep (aka "Year's Best Science Fiction").

Am I pleased, or what? I threw a huge pile of effort at that story over several years, as did my writers' group and the Milford 2004 crew, and I was mightily p***ed off that the only review I read was a stinker.

Big thanks go to snickelish for letting me know.

Dreamwidth invite codes

2009-06-18T16:42:40Z

I, too, have two invite codes to give away -- first come, first served.

Edit (20 June):

Can't give 'em away, apparently!

(Has the dream rush ended?)

If not, leave a comment and I'll PM you one -- if you're quick enough!

V.

Musings on diversity in my own fiction

2009-06-06T21:33:44Z

Various friends of mine, including marshallpayne1 and aliettedb, have recently posted diversity analyses of the main characters in their published short fiction, which make for interesting reading. My rather paltry stock of published stories means that I'm going to take a purely qualitative view of my own work rather than crunch numbers.

If I have any strengths when it comes to depicting diversity, I suspect that it is in my female characters. I say this purely on the basis of feedback I've received from female readers, writers and editors. Two of my fourteen published stories feature female narrators. I feel that Family Tree (transcriptase.org/fiction/stanger-vaughan-family-tree/) and Slices of Life are two of my strongest stories; the latter was published in 3SF by Liz Holliday, who (take it from me!) would not have accepted an ineptly presented female lead. Several of my unpublished stories also feature female narrators; one contains an exclusively female cast.

I have written several stories that feature exclusively male characters, generally because the historical setting and/or derived events required it. A typical example is The English Dead (www.hubfiction.com/hub/Hub_36.pdf), published in Hub #36, in which Mallory and Irvine's attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1924 is recreated. My stories of elderly Apollo astronauts -- Sons of the Earth and Dying of the Light (aka TLP) -- are similar in that respect.

The ages of my characters covers a very wide spread, most memorably in The Peace Criminal, where the antagonist is a centenarian. Two generations of children are depicted in Family Tree (I'm rather proud of the Appleheads). Of course, quite a lot of my characters have ages similar to mine when I wrote their stories, or a little younger. I guess that's a common phenomena.

Sexuality is not an area my stories have touched on to any great degree, although there is certainly some sex (e.g. in Family Tree, In Deep with Janine and Slices of Life). Interestingly though, the adult Appleheads in Family Tree have formed a menage a trois. It occurs to me now that the two males might be bi-; it certainly didn't occur to me at the time of writing. The other story that has a (very weak) gay context is The English Dead, but more because of the speculation in some quarters about the real Mallory and Irvine than anything actually depicted in the story.

Regrettably, my published stories contain no people of colour and very few characters from cultural backgrounds significantly different to my own. However, things are not quite as simple they seem, because my various unpublished and/or unfinished stories contain characters drawn from a much wider range of backgrounds, including one PoC narrator. It frustrates me that none of these stories has sold yet, but perhaps the truth is that I'm not yet skilled enough in that aspect of writing. Hopefully I will improve, because I firmly believe that diversity in fiction (as in all else) is important.

(With the exception of The English Dead, all stories mentioned above are available for purchase at AnthologyBuilder: www.anthologybuilder.com/authordetails.php)

Vaughan

Holding pattern

2009-05-20T14:27:47Z

I can now be found on DreamWidth, with the same username as on LJ.

LJ remains my primary blog.

Feel free to friend me (or whatever the terminology is round here).

This entry was originally posted at http://vaughan-stanger.dreamwidth.org/478.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

The Dead Giant

2009-04-19T19:38:07Z

The death of J G Ballard was announced earlier today.

This was not unexpected news, as he'd been ill with cancer for a long time, but sad none the less.

Ballard was truly one of the giants. If I compiled a list of my ten favourite short stories, there would be a couple of his on it for sure.

A few years ago, a fellow Milfordite described one of my stories as somewhat Ballardian. I can think of no greater compliment.

My latest anthology

2009-04-03T19:47:23Z

www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php

From my introduction:

Which would you rather do: continue to pound the keyboard of your misbehaving PC or turn the pages of a proper book made from dead trees?
Don't tell me you actually thought about that choice for more than a millisecond.
In this anthology you will find strange tales of touchy-feely interfaces and animated monkeys, the ultimate botnet and the blue screen of death, plus many other humorous and thought-provoking stories.
This book does not reboot.
---
For those days when your computer refuses to play ball...

;-)

The Last Botnet...

2009-03-30T18:54:57Z

...is on AnthologyBuilder.

www.anthologybuilder.com/viewstory.php

This hard SF short-short was originally published in Futures (Nature Physics) in September 2008.

(Oh, and there are another ten of my stories there too, should you wish to indulge in a spot of anthologising.)

String is sprung

2009-03-26T17:53:44Z

Nature published String-Driven Thing in its Futures fiction column yesterday.

I'm still waiting for my copy of this most august of scientific journals to turn up, but in the meantime I'll stave off the frustration of not having got my paws on it yet by reminding myself that Nature has a circulation exceeding 50000.

Go me!

V.

Reality trumps fiction

2009-03-25T17:59:44Z

There are some pretty outrageous happenings in my novel in progress, but I can't beat this:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7963581.stm

News just in

2009-03-10T17:37:57Z

sfscope.com/2009/03/realms-of-fantasy-is-not-closi.html

Delighted for everyone on my f_list who've had stories accepted but not yet published by RoF.

Let's hope Warren Lapine's new company can make a success of it.

Listening comes first

2009-03-08T15:59:38Z

I can't imagine anyone reading this post has failed to notice the RaceFail09 s***storm. I'm not going to comment on the specifics, as plenty of people on my f-list and elsewhere have done so already. Anyone who saw what I wrote (and did) about the Helix s***storm last year will know my views on racism. And yes, I have much to learn and more to put right on that score.

Some possibly tangential thoughts:

Empathy: Much more needed. All of us. Me too.

SF&F industry: The fact that people of colour (and doubtless other groups) are still furious because their voices aren't being heard means that all of us who contribute to that industry (or consume its products) need to do more to promote diversity. Supporting publications that publish a wide range of work by a wide range of writers from a wide range of backgrounds is one thing we can all do. Supporting verb_noire (and the like) is a good place to start. Responding positively to criticisms when one has tried to "write the other" and are perceived to have failed is another. In doing so, hopefully one becomes a better person and a better writer.

But we all need to become more empathic for lots of reasons, not least because this is a crowded and steadily warming planet with an increasingly damaged ecosphere. Nothing will get sorted if the privileged amongst us don't listen and then do what we can to help everyone to act with a common purpose.

Is it too much to ask that the SF&F community lead the way?

Patrick McGoohan - RIP

2009-01-14T17:28:56Z

The BBC is reporting that Patrick McGoohan has died, aged 80.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7829267.stm

Star of The Prisoner, my all-time favourite TV show, which was set in The Village (aka Portmeirion in North Wales). At his best, McGoohan was a truly commanding screen presence.

Another of my heroes sadly gone.

F&SF goes bimonthly...

2009-01-03T14:13:54Z

Which is a sensible "keep it going" decision in the (difficult) circumstances. It will decrease F&SF's fiction count per annum by around 10-15% (double issues).

One wonders what's next for the distinctly unhealthy looking market for short fiction? Analog and Asimov's to merge? (I hope not!)

Published!

2008-12-31T11:54:11Z

My thirteenth published story, Stars in Her Eyes, hits the bookshelves today, with the publication of issue 17 of Postscripts. I've just received my subscription copy. My hardback contributor's copy will be along in due course.

The paperback is gorgeous; the hardback, which will doubtless take a few weeks to turn up since I've only just finished with the signing sheets, will be beyond gorgeous (trust me). As a fellow writer put it: it will levitate under the power of its own gorgeousness and demand worship from all who behold it. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but not much.

The suitably festive cover is here: store.pspublishing.co.uk/acatalog/info_392.html

This is the final issue of Postscripts magazine. Fortunately Postscripts is continuing as a quarterly anthology.

Destroyer of Words

2008-12-21T09:18:53Z

Started with ~1800, ended up with ~900, which is a significant number and a useful afternoon's work.

Good cause and a one-off offer

2008-12-06T20:51:49Z

Dear friends

Vera Nazarian needs our help.

http://community.livejournal.com/helpvera/

I have an item in the auction, if you're interested.

http://community.livejournal.com/helpvera/13455.html

Let's help one of the good people.

Vaughan

The Writer Meme

2008-12-05T20:37:39Z

I hate memes...

Peer pressure is a terrible thing...

Age when I decided I wanted to be a writer: I never did, because I wanted to be an astronaut or failing that a scientist, but I've always enjoyed writing. With hindsight, the turning point might have been at school, age 13 or 14, when the English class I was in held two "write a story" competitions in successive years. I won both, got nice prizes (Yay for payment!). My entries were in the novelette to novella range. One was called The Power Game, I forget the title of the other. I still have them, somewhere. Both ripped off my favourite authors of the time, namely Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.

Age when I wrote my first story: 10ish

Age when I first submitted a short story to a magazine: 37

Age when I sold my first short story: 42

Total number of submissions: 332

Total sales: 16 stories sold, plus 6 reprints and 11 to AnthologyBuilder (Setting the world alight...not)

Thickness of file of rejection slips prior to first story sale: 72 rejections (I'm a slow learner)

Approximate number of short stories/novelettes/novellas sold for cash money: 14 (out of 16: one failure to pay, from a then SWFA qualifier no less; one swap of low pay for a subscription)

Poems sold: 0 (none written since school)

Age when I started writing my first novel: 41

Age when I started writing my first completed novel: ahem

Age I finished that novel: See previous answer

Age I started my second novel: 49

Age I finished my second novel: At a guess, 51

Age when I sold a first novel: Does not compute

Total number of novels written (discounting duds): 0 (I abandoned novel #1 before finishing it, than goodness. It was s**t.)

Books sold: 0

Books in the process of querying: 0

Short stories in the slush: 6 (plus others chasing reprints)

Short stories written this year: 4 (all very short)

Age when I became a full-time novelist: I'm predicting 55

Age now: 49 ("Gee, he looks young for his age.")

Happy now?

Futures (Nature)

2008-11-27T19:17:08Z

I've just received an acceptance for 'String Driven Thing' from Henry Gee at Nature. This satirical SF short-short will appear in Nature's Futures column, presumably next year.

Nature Physics published another of my SF short-shorts earlier this year, so I'm doing rather well there.

Nice to have another pro sale. That's three this year -- the other was Aeon Speculative Fiction.

V.

One for the Brits

2008-11-11T18:41:24Z

(Or rather, for those located in or near London.)

On Wednesday 26th November 2008, from around 7pm in
The Melton Mowbray
18, Holborn, London, ec1n 2le

BSFA 50th anniversary party

Including the announcement of the winner of the BSFA Short Story competition

ALL WELCOME

(No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome. There will be a raffle.)

(Note one-time only change of venue.)

For further information about the London meetings, contact Tony Keen, London Meetings Organizer, keentonyuk@yahoo.co.uk

Is anyone interested in going? It would be fun to put the world to rights while waiting to see who's won the BSFA Short Story Competition. Not me, I didn't enter....

1997 and all that

2008-11-05T19:12:31Z

I well remember the euphoria of 1997, when the British electorate kicked out the Tories and Tony Blair became Prime Minister. That euphoria proved short-lived. Many people built up hopes that have since been dashed. I hope and trust that today's euphoria results in a positive legacy that is considerably more lasting.

The widespread sense of relief and release, of renewed optimism, is entirely understandable, well earned and long overdue. But in the end Obama must be judged on what he does, not what he says. He is a truly great orator. Let us hope he is also a great doer, for the world needs a lot of "do" and fast.

Quite soon, he will have to make some tough decisions. If he does what I hope he will do, then he may have to inflict short-term pain in order to obtain long-term gain, e.g. on combatting climate change. I hope he has the courage to do so. I hope those people who voted for him (as I would have if I were American) will continue to support him through what I'm sure will be some dark times.

But please, I beg, don't ever let him turn into your Tony Blair.

V.

Barrington J. Bayley - RIP

2008-10-16T17:10:40Z

Locus has reported that Barrington J. Bayley has died, age 71. IMHO one of the most underrated of British SF authors. Fall of Chronopolis was a particularly gripping novel -- and like a lot of his novels, bleak as all hell. He was no stylist, but he possessed a vivid imagination.

He'll be much missed by those who know his work.

Sale!

2008-10-14T17:11:56Z

Late yesterday, I heard from Lee Harris (Hub). He wants to publish "Extra Time". The contract arrived today. Now that's what I call service.

Extra Time is that (relatively) rare bird, a sports-themed fantasy story.

Hub is proving a happy hunting ground for me -- I'm three for three there.

V.

Planet Interzone

2008-09-25T21:25:43Z

I've been spending quality time with AnthologyBuilder again. This time, my project is Planet Interzone. I've reproduced the introduction to the anthology here:

Interzone burst onto a moribund UK SF magazine publishing scene in 1982, came to prominence in the mid-to-late 1980s under editor David Pringle, and remains the premier British SF magazine to this day, now under the stewardship of Andy Cox et al at TTA Press.

This anthology does not pretend to be the definitive Interzone collection. Instead it presents, in chronological order, most of the Interzone stories currently hosted on AnthologyBuilder.

I have been fortunate enough to collect some wonderful stories in this volume, from both the David Pringle and TTA Press eras, including the most recent winner of the Readers' Poll. Several of my all-time favourite Interzone stories are collected here, plus one what I wrote.

Hopefully this anthology provides an entertaining and stimulating introduction to one of the world's leading SF magazines. If you enjoy reading the most recent stories, I urge you to take out a subscription.

Vaughan Stanger

(Interzone subscriber since Issue 1)

Link to anthology: www.anthologybuilder.com/library.php

One of the stories I've included is the superb 'Touching Fire' by Nicola Griffith. As luck would have it, Nicola has got in touch and directed me to a video of a dance interpretation of the story, which is narrated by her. I can't imagine a better accompaniment to my anthology.

Nicola's blog article is here: asknicola.blogspot.com/2008/09/murder-music-heat-and-sex-music.html

The YouTube version of the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBU-D5JX-lo&eurl=http://asknicola.blogspot.com/2008/09/murder-music-heat-and-sex-music.html

Enjoy the video, then maybe buy the anthology? It contains some wonderful stories, many by authors who deserve much greater recognition.

V.

Help Ralan.com

2008-09-16T21:10:55Z

If you use Ralan.com to find markets for your writing please consider making a donation during Ralan's September fund-raising drive.

Without Ralan, I'd be down several sales. The same is doubtless true of many other writers.

Even ten Euros would make a difference. Please donate now.

V.