Monthly Archives: August 2009

Curse of the Spellmans and A Very Nice Bar

homecover-curseLast night the universe was kind to me (and no, in case you’re wondering, it isn’t always – then again, maybe I don’t always deserve it). I was invited (courtesy of lovely Ron at Pulp Fiction Books) along to a book launch party for US author Lisa Lutz, she of The
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How Remiss of Me!

Over here http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/08/interview-aliette-de-bodard-by-marshall.html two of my friends talk to each other. Yes, that is important because one of them is Aliette de Bodard (talented writer, possessor of three-book-deal with Angry Robot) and the other is Marshall Payne (also talented writer and most excellent interviewer of people) … and living at Bibliophile Stalker’s awesome site of all stuff spec-fic. Cornucopia anyone?

Since
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Some Brain-work …

… from my more-than-clever friend and fellow Clarion South survivor, Brendan David Carson. On why vampires are no longer scary, but clowns are terrifying. His brain is only slightly smaller than China Mieville’s.

An excerpt is below and the rest lives here  http://brendandcarsonsfiction.blogspot.com/2009/08/vampires-anticlowns-or-something.html.

Vampires – the anticlowns. Or something.
Hail,
I have been having an interesting discussion with one of my best
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Nerd Love

I love my dictionary.

I grew up in a house firmly allied with the Oxford Classical Dictionary (hard cover, little illustrations, gold lettering). Today I use The Concise Australian Oxford with matching Thesaurus.

This morning, I had cause to go to the Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (published in 1954 by The World Publishing Company of Cleveland and New
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Addendum to The Fine Art of Submission

And! Just a gentle word on your follow-up letter to an editor about submissions you’ve made. A few words actually.

1. Wait the requisite amount of time before following up.

2. When you write your email/letter/scratch Linear B into a clay tablet/tattoo your carrier pigeon, include your name, the name of your submission, the date and means of submission (electronic or hard copy
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On the Fine Art of Submission

I’ve had quite a few people with queries about the how of submitting stories to magazines and journals in the last couple of weeks. So I thought I’d pull out the ole soapbox again and take up some real estate at Speaker’s Corner. I know I’ve banged on about submission guidelines before, so some of this will be well-trodden ground.
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