I was going to post about going to WorldCon in Helsinki. As it turned out, Daily Science Fiction published my story ‘Spores of Freedom’ today, so I thought I’d put up a link to it instead:
Spores of Freedom by Jakob Drud on Daily Science Fiction.
The Helsinki post will follow shortly.
So, it turns out Florence is nice this time of year.
My wife and I both studied Florentine history way back in college, but I had never actually visited the city, so it was great to see the buildings, paintings and sculptures mentioned in all those dusty tomes I devoured on Machiavelli, the Medicis and the Rennaisance. Nothing like enjoying nerdhood in all its glory.
Among the nerdier sculptures, we found one of Lorenzo de Medici, a.k.a. The Imp, in the Uffizi museum.
‘Alien’ might or might not have been inspired by this Renaissance sculpture from the Medici chapel (below). It’s chomping out through someone’s neck instead of through the chest, of course, but the sculpture did depict a suit of armor. And you have to admit it would be impractical to break through a chestplate.
As a short story writer, I constantly send out stories to science fiction and fantasy magazines. I’ve collected over 850 rejections, and sold a story for approximately every twenty-five submissions. Needless to say, I’m working on improving my hit rate, and for that I’ll take any advice I can get.
One gem that can be found in the guidelines of many magazines is this: “Read a few issues of the magazine to get a feel for the kind of stories we print.”
Getting that feel is tougher than it sounds, though, because many editors will buy a great story even if it isn’t a typical match for the magazine. Still, magazines do have distinct styles, so in theory pinpointing what makes each magazine unique should make it easier to send a story the editor wants.
And even if it doesn’t result in increased sales, it’s still a great excuse to read a lot of short stories.
Enter stage left: ‘Read a few Issues’, a series in which I aim to reveal what makes each magazine unique.
I’ll start with Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a fantasy magazine that’s been a longtime favorite of mine.
BCS specializes in literary secondary world fantasy. Their ‘About’ page has this to say:
We want stories that combine the best of traditional adventure fantasy and realist literary writing—adventure fantasy plots in vivid secondary worlds, but written with a literary flair. Beneath Ceaseless Skies features exciting stories set in awe-inspiring places that are told with all the skill and impact of modern literary-influenced fantasy.
When you visit their submission guidelines–a must for any writer who wants their stories considered–you’ll find their definition of secondary world setting. The gist is that it’s a world that is different from our own primary world in some way, whether it’s in terms of zoology, climate, physics, or history. But seriously: Read the full guidelines. They say a lot about what BCS looks for in characters, narrative style and originality.
If you want to know more, BCS editor Scott H. Andrews has also given many interviews on the internet. This one, at the Odyssey workshop, has a lot to say about worldbuilding, characters and more.
However, it’s in the stories that the concepts set out in the guidelines truly come to life, so I’m going to look at how the stories deal with ‘Secondary World Settings’, ‘Characters’ and ‘Originality’.
What I’ve read
BCS posts two-story issues every fortnight. Sometimes they include a podcast and sometimes reprint a story from their archives. I decided to read some of the newest issues… and in the meantime work got in the way of actually writing this article, so BCS is now up to issue 220.
Secondary Worlds
Scott H. Andrews, the editor of BCS, is serious about this. Every story I’ve read is different from this world in a crucial way, and the worldbuilding varies a lot.
At one end of the spectrum we have a few stories that take place in otherworldly places.
In Margaret Killjoy’s ‘Men of the Ashen Morrow‘, a sacrifice to a creature-god called Hulokk is necessary to end the summer and usher in the winter that keeps the creatures of the west at bay. Seasons as we know them don’t exist in this world, and the monstrous Hulokk has imposed his own rules and necessities on the inhabitants. Magic can keep the god at bay, sometimes.
Jonathan Edelstein’s ‘Abere and the Poisoner‘ takes place on a world where gods have fallen to the ground, or landed, forming islands in the sea. Each god/island has specific properties that infuse the plants and indeed the inhabitants of each island.
Cae Hawksmoor’s ‘Requiem for the Unchained‘ follows the captain of an airship capable of navigating geiststorms, which consist of millions of lost souls, who attack the living. This concept is very different from Earth, certainly, but the story also contains shipyards, entrepreneurs and work gangs recognizable from our world.
Daniel Baker tells a detective story in ‘The Marvelous Inventions of Mr. Tock‘, which features enough mechanics and metalworking to qualify it as ‘gearpunk’ (or perhaps some other kind of punk). Either way, the world and plot operate on different principles than our known Earth, but with very recognizable social issues.
With other stories it’s not clear whether we’re on Earth or in similar world, and in fact it’s not really that important. It’s the rules and circumstances that shape the characters’ lives that are central to the story.
Greg Kurzawa’s ‘Masks of the Mud God‘ shows us the life of Miriam, who is one of the Raah, a different race that lives beside humans in a world where legends and gods may come alive. The imagery of the world is familiar: We hear of houses, bridges, bathrooms, languages, civilizations. But there are also legends of gods who walk the earth, and the Raah themselves who seem to have the upper hand in controlling it.
‘Think of Winter‘ by Eleanna Castroianni features earthly elements like a knight, a cathedral, and an invading foe, but also a set of Tarots and visions of the future. Very little of the world is explored in this story, since it’s limited to a single location. The real story and worldbuilding is in the main character’s relationship with and reading of his cards.
‘Out of the Woods‘ by Melissa Lingen must have been inspired by Robin Hood. The main character is part of the resistance against the king’s brother while the real king is away. The main character can use magic, though, which turns the story away from the familiar Robin Hood story. Magic also ends up making a very big difference in the end.
Finally, BCS presents stories that clearly take place on Earth, although some rules have changed.
Tony Pi’s ‘Proteus Lost‘ unfolds in Italy at a time when the Spanish Armada is preparing to set sail for England. The ‘secondary’ element comes from the magic of the world, more specifically the magic of shapeshifting, which the characters explore with scientific precision. The magic in this story is a natural force to be understood and controlled.
In ‘Wooden Boxes Lined with the Tongues of Doves‘, Claire Humphreys presents a world that gave me a lot of associations to England during World War One. The magic is at once very specific, in the form of the collection of dove tongues, and vague in that the magician’s tricks aren’t truly revealed. (Though this isn’t a review, I also have to say that I found ‘Wooden Boxes Lined with the Tongues of Doves’ a touching, disturbing story with an unexpected ending.)
Characters
About characters, BCS’s guidelines say:
We strongly prefer characters who yearn for something, external or internal, and feel driven to attain it.
You get exactly that from all the stories. It’s also clear that the yearning and drive is always intertwined with the rules specific to the world.
Tony Pi’s main character faces a problem that he must solve by understanding shapeshifting magic. The nameless poet in Jonathan Edelstein’s comes to an island for a flower with magical abilities that’s critical to his goals. Sal, the main character of Men of the Ashen Morrow, has a very clear goal related to dealing with the sacrifices demanded by Hulokk. Melissa Lingen’s main character resists the false king to fight for the righteous one, but during the story her goals change, and as a result she ends up changing some of the rules in her world. And in ‘Masks of the Mud God’, Miriam the Raah faces a problem specific to her race: that the Raah eat their children.
Originality
In conclusion, the stories in BCS are very much the product of the worlds, and the characters and their goals are in large part defined by those worlds.
This is also what makes the stories original. The characters work and live and have their home in their own worlds. The world is part of them as much as they are part of it. Moreover, in their battles the characters are often pitted against their world. Robin Hood themes, tarots, gods and magic may be well-known tropes in fantasy stories, but the characters and the distinct rules and hardships of each world gives these stories an edge that qualifies as originality.
I plan to run ‘Read a few Issues’ on the blog about three times this year, so check back again in June to hear more about another magazine.
Two kinds. Short story…
… And someone else doing the hard lifting.
Whether you’re writing a short story or a six part series, there’s no substitute for words. You need them, and you need them on the page in at least a semblance of order. You use them to shape a story, to write the important scenes, and to flesh out your characters with actions, choices and dialogue. After many, many words you end up with a story.
I love this part of writing. It comes relatively easy to me, and when I can write several days in a row without interruption, I get things done quite quickly. My daily goal is 1000 words, but often I end up with more. That’s what I’ve been doing the past few weeks, and I estimate that I’m about halfway through a middle grade novel about kids fighting monster surveillance on their school.
It’s easy to get in the zone with this story, and I think it’s because I’ve had the main character in the back of my head for nearly three years. I know him pretty well, and I know what he would do in most situations. Moreover, I know his friends and his problems and his enemies, and figuring out how he solves his problems is quite fun.
Getting words on paper depends on my ability to ignore the nagging voices in the back of my head saying that the first draft sucks, or that no one is ever going to read the story, or that I could be using my life to do something much better. You have to ignore those voices. I mean, imagine a bus driver having that kind of doubts when driving . “Someone’s going to run a red light and hit the bus, so I better pull over.” That’s not going to get anyone anywhere, so the driver ignores those doubts, and so do I.
For me, doubts are always easier to ignore when drafting new material. Revising stories is where it becomes really difficult, because I start looking for all the mistakes I’ve made and all the things that suck.
But that’s a problem for later. Right now I’m writing a first draft, and I’m really enjoying it. Writing is always work, but sometimes it feel like really fun work.
The fabulous folks at Far Fetched Fables will record “The Demi-Arcanist’s Will” for their excellent podcast. I don’t have a date yet, but this is the place to look for the news.
If you can’t wait to read the story, you can find it in anthology The Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror vol. 2, edited by Robert N Stephenson. The anthology is free to download and it contains stories by great writers like James van Pelt.
Until the podcast is up you can enjoy the other stories on Far Fetched Fables. The current issue has a story by the amazing Barbara A. Barnett, and you can also find recent stories by Alex Shvartsman, Addison Smith and Ken Scholes.
I found this review of Space&Time Magazine #126, which mentions my story ‘The Forgotten City’.
Meanwhile, someone on Amazon has an opinion about the Procyon Science Fiction Anthology 2016, which contains my story ‘Philosophical Warfare’.
This fall is turning into a cornucopia of short story publishing. The latest (and last) story of the year is “The Demi-Arcanist’s Will”, which is now out in The Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Volume 2 edited by Robert N Stephenson.
The anthology contains stories by great authors from all around the globe (South Africa, Argentina, Algeria and Australia to name a few). I’m particularly happy to be sharing the table of contents with fellow Codex writers Floris Kleijne and Samantha Murray.
And the best thing (for you, at least): the anthology is free, and you can get it as a mobi, epub or pdf.
More coolness. Far Fetched Fables (part of the District of Wonders) have made a podcast of ‘Master of Business Apocalypse’, which originally appeared in the UFO 3 Anthology.
You can listen to the story – and “1348” by Russell Hemmell – via this link.
It’s the first time I’ve had a story narrated, and I think Jonathan Sharp does a great job.
I share an office with a lot of crazily skilled people. One of them is Mikkel Frandsen, the 3D artist behind Creature Monster, and I’ve been wanting to put up a link to his page ever since I first saw his sculptures. There are so many details built into these sculptures that they’re stories all by themselves.
So if you want a load of cool, that’s the site to visit. He’s also on instagram as creaturemonster.
