My short story “A Water Matter” is now up at Tor.com. This takes place just after the first third of Green, within the same continuity, though Green herself does not directly enter into the story.
Go enjoy!
Posted: 11:39 am Wed October 29 2008 | Comments(0) |
Don’t forget to warm up your keyboards for the Footprints anthology from Hadley Rille Books, edited by Eric Reynolds and yours truly. Guidelines here. Submissions are open through November 15th, so you’ve got some time.
We’re hoping for some strong stories from both newcomers and more established writers. Make me proud, people, make me proud.
Posted: 6:53 pm Mon September 22 2008 | Comments(0) |
In the unlikely event you have missed the news thus far, Ellen Datlow with a sad report on the death of Thomas Disch. I never got to meet him, but I’ve been reading his work all my life.
My condolences to all who knew and loved him.
Posted: 7:33 pm Sun July 06 2008 | Comments(1) |
Escapement [ Powell's | Amazon
Woot!
Posted: 10:17 am Fri July 04 2008 | Comments(1) |
Online collaboration lands young authors book deal.
Department of things that make you go hmmm…
(Thanks to tetar.)
Posted: 3:37 pm Mon June 23 2008 | Comments(1) |
A lot of writers read this blog, so I definitely want to pass the word. There is a fraudulent contest invitation out there, alleging SFWA is paying cash prizes for short fiction by new authors. See here for the gory details.
Remember, folks, if it’s too good to be true, it probably ain’t. Also, SFWA doesn’t sponsor contests for new authors. More to the point, if they somehow did, it would be headlined on their site.
Meanwhile let’s hope SFWA can trace the scamsters through the “submission” address and give a kick in the nadgers.
Posted: 3:27 pm Mon June 16 2008 | Comments(1) |
suricattus with a post on literary contracts. Go read it. I’ll still be here when you get back.
Got that? Good.
I accidentally got involved in a mailing list argument a couple of years ago when a fan made a mournful comment about how a certain writer had been screwed by a bad contract. Their point was that if not for the perfidy of the publisher, this writer’s books would still be available for readerly enjoyment.
Being the special kind of idiot that I am, I replied that a writer is always responsible for the contracts they sign. If they don’t understand something in the contract, they should seek reliable advice until they do understand. The point is that we as authors are responsible for our own careers.
(For my troubles, I received a scathing critique of my email .sig, as an example of how I was a fool who didn’t know what I was talking about.)
But we are responsible. Editorial ninjas don’t break into my house, place a pen in my hand and force me to sign a contract. Nothing is non-negotiable. That doesn’t mean the other party is required to negotiate, it simply means that a statement that a contract is non-negotiable is itself a negotiating position. Part of the trick is in knowing what’s reasonable to negotiate, and part of the trick is in knowing what your no-gos are.
In my case, I often have to alter contracts to protect my by-line, since my copyright name is not the same. I have only ever twice signed contracts releasing all my rights to a story, and in both cases it was work for hire short fiction with someone else’s intellectual property. I have asked for things I did not get, and I have occasionally gotten things I did not ask for.
The point is that your contract is yours. No one else understands your interests as well as you do, not your agent, your editor, your publisher, your mom, or your best friend. If you don’t understand your interests as represented in the contract, fix that before you sign.
Now go read suricattus‘ post again. She said all this much more elegantly than I could.
ETA: C.E.P. with an interesting legal comment on literary contracts here.
Posted: 6:11 am Thu June 12 2008 | Comments(1) |
In which I am beautiful…
Posted: 2:58 pm Fri June 06 2008 | Comments(0) |
SF Signal with a make-up Mind Meld featuring me — I bloviate on scientific accuracy in SF.
Bathtub cheese — Mmm. Or maybe not.
Lightning guns — What every homeboy needs.
Charles Taylor’s one wheel experiments — Not exactly a unicycle, but wow…
Sheep flatulence inoculation developed — I can haz less fartz, pleez? (Thanks to ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
lt260.)
How can you fail to read only the word California? — Another fascinating bit on neurolinguistic deficits from Language Log.
Strange Maps with a 1942 New World Order — Rather creepy. Good alternate history stuff, though.
A lot more than you wanted to know about the physics and sociology of traffic — Cool piece, though.
10 airports install body scanners — Security theater goes porno! (Thanks to my Aunt M.)
6/6/08 (my 44th birthday)
Time in saddle: 0 minutes (still recovering from surgery)
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 260.8
Currently reading: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia [ Amazon
Posted: 8:28 am Fri June 06 2008 | Comments(1) |
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