Brisbane Writers Festival

Graham has reminded me – is anyone going to the Bris Writers Festival in September?  I’ve just booked my flights to go up, would LERVE to catch up if any Orbiteers planning to be there!!!

Janette

Snow!!

I can’t tell you how chuffed I am. It’s snowing!! Proper, real snow. I haven’t seen the stuff since I left Switzerland twelve years ago – and here it is, in my own back yard. The sky’s full of it. It’s glorious!

The Conflux Virtual Mini-con “Prepare to Dream”

Hi there Orbiteers. Will anyone else be ‘attending’ the Conflux virtual minicon next weekend? I just saw a posting from one of the organisers and it looks like quite an interesting collection of ‘speakers’ – including our own dear Marianne.

For those not in the VISION writers group, here’s what I got:

The Conflux Virtual Mini-con “Prepare to Dream” will take place this weekend at the forums at the Conflux website (www.conflux.org.au/forum). It’s free to log in and join in the fun, so I hope that everyone will find someone they want to chat to and will come along. The program (Australian Eastern Standard Time) is as follows: Conflux Virtual Mini-con – Prepare to dream Saturday August 2 12pm –

Glenda Larke 1pm – Chris Barnes 2pm – Gillian Polack 3pm – Bruce Gillespie 4pm – Phill Berrie 5pm – Stephen Hunt 6pm – Peter Strong 7pm – Karen Miller 8pm – Fiona McLennan 9pm – Maxine McArthur 10pm – Sharyn Lilley 11pm – Karen Herkes 12am – Ellen Datlow 1am to 6am – break 7am – Sherwood Smith 8am – Nicole R Murphy 9am – Jonathan Strahan 10am – Kaaron Warren 11am – Sean Williams 12pm – Kevin J Anderson 1pm – Cat Sparks 2pm – Jackie French 3pm – Jack Dann 4pm – Simon Haynes 5pm – Marianne de Pierre

— Nicole R Murphy Programmer, Conflux 5 www.conflux.org.au

Registration is free and (having just done it, I can assure you) simple.

Cheers,

Graham.

What To Do About Editors?

Hi Gang. I’m feeling a bit confused today. I just had a story rejected for reasons I completely disagree with. This would normally be OK but this is the second time it has happened with this particular story and both editors rejected it for the same reasons.

I’ve had rejections before – God knows! – and I’m always happy to try to learn from them. It’s even possible that, sometimes, I actually do! But this is different. Everything the editors say is wrong about this particular story is something I’ve done deliberately.  And I’m absolutely convinced what I’ve done works and works very well.

I’m trying very hard to accept their verdict – i.e. that their readers wouldn’t like it. After all, they are the experts in what their readers want. But they’re not putting it like that. They are saying there are structural faults with the story and I just cannot agree with them. I know how to construct the kind of story they’re pushing me towards but it’s not what I want this story to be.

I suppose you’re starting to wonder what the point of this whinge is? Well, I think it’s this. It’s something like my rejection of the notion of government- (or market-) directed research. The editors and publishers are pushing us towards a kind of literature that they believe they can sell – something that satisfies their own short-term needs. It is possible, of course, to write good stories that fit their rather narrow criteria but it is also cutting us off from producing work that is more varied, interesting, or just plain different.

I saw a list of ten rules no short story writer should break by a prominent editor the other day. They were the usual kind of rules that one hears all the time. The guy said flatly he would not publish a story that broke any of these rules – wouldn’t even read it! Then, serendipitously, I came across this story by Chekhov on the Project Gutenberg site. It is a beautiful story and it breaks almost every one of this editor’s rules. He wouldn’t have read it. He wouldn’t have published it. He seems to have roughly the same criteria as most editors I’ve dealt with lately.

Now, I’m not saying I write like Chekhov (I wish!) and I’m not saying that stories by Chekhov would be popular if published in SF&F magazines. I’m just saying, shouldn’t there be room for Chekhov somewhere?

Graham.

Back, from the future…

Luke Keioskie writes:

Hey gang

Yes, I returned relatively unscathed from Gencon. What a place! I had to dodge the Klingon jailer (a rather busty faux alien intent on eliciting a gold coin donation before she’d let unsuspecting Trekkies out of a less than plush jail cell), received wads of ‘cash’ from a guy looking like Jack Sparrow if he was dressed by Queer Eye (the cash in question was cards for a new game called Men at Sea, though what sort of men, I didn’t ask…), and tried my hand at Guitar Hero 3 (I sucked). We got there on the first day, so it was pretty quiet. I wish I’d had more time, because there were acres and acres of tables set up for roleplay, card, board and computer games. I was expecting something more like Supernova – I was wrong. Next year, I’m planning an overnight stay and I’m definately going to register for a game or two. Killer Bunnies sounded interesting…

I caught up with Marianne. She looked well, if a little frazzled after a month of conventions. She had some tips for my manuscript, which was good – the main one being TAKE YOUR TIME. She told me the last thing you want to do is to send it to Bernadette or Deonie if it’s not 100% perfect. I agree. I’ve finished the first draft of my zombie novel, but it needs a lot more care, a lot more attention and about 10,000 more words. I tend to skip everything but plot and action, so backstory and characterisation are two things I have to work on in my second drafting stage.

Anyway, Gencon was totally worth it. A place to wear your geekdom with pride. Too often I feel suspicious hiring Star Wars from my local Civic Video, thinking I have some sort of disease. At conventions, normal people are the disease. And chicks dressed as Klingons are the cure!

Keep writing, writers, and I’ll see you on the shelves.

Gencon bound

Luke Keioskie writes:

Hello Orbiteers,

Just a quick blog (if there is such a thing) to say I’M GOING TO GENCON!!!!!! Can’t wait. The Brisbane Convention Centre filled with gaming, comics, sci fi and fantasy freaks and geeks. Sounds like fun to me. I’ve got my pocket money and my Goonies T-shirt all ready to go. For those of you in Queensland (Terry and Fiona are the only ones, I think…?) I’ll be at Gencon on Thursday if you can make it, would love to catch up. I’m hoping to run into author-in-residence-extraordinare Marianne as well and get her to sign my copy of Dark Space (anyone read it? She blends latino culture with space travel, very trippy, very engaging). I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Keep writing, writers.