A weekend of Scifi for free!

I've just received an update on the free SciFi convention being held soon in Sydney, and it's looking great. There's  free be bag (for the first 100), panel groups, authors to meet, special presentations, a short story completion and lots more.

It's call Unicon Freecon, and will be on from 26-28 October at Building Six, University of
Technology, Rooms CB06.06.103 and CB06.06.123.

It's free, so I guess you can just show up. However, seats are limited, so you would be better to register in advance.

You can download a rego form here

You can find out more here

I'm going and I'm excited!

Ups and Downs in Writting

In my short career (if it can be called that) as a writer, I've already learnt that writing is full of ups and downs.

Up: My name in Writer's Digest as one of the winners in their 81st annual competition. There it is seventh place.

Down: Getting my first 'form' rejection letter for a short story I submitted to a Scifi magazine.

Up: My first paid story will be appearing on In fabula-divino on the 1st of November.

Down: Having to waiting until the 1st of November for my first paid story to appear on In fabula-divino.

Up: I've started work on my first long story.

Down: Realizing that if I don't start writing faster I will take a decade to write my first long story.

In the end the ups are great, the downs are not, but it's good to be on the ride.

A bit like life.

Some More on Reading

I'm sure that I read to slow.

I mentioned my backlog unread Scifi magazines last time, well it is just getting worst. The reason, I'm reading books.

It just took me about six weeks to read the 'Hunger Games' trilogy. I really enjoyed the books, but found the final conclusion a bit disappointing. I'm not talking about the little twist at the end, which was good even though I saw it coming. I mean the very end, after the climax and resolution of the conflicts. I found it flat. Don't know how it could have been better, but it didn't work for me. I still enjoyed the books.

I've now gone from one series that the rest of the reading world has already read to another. I've started reading book one of 'A Song of Fire and Ice', 'A Game of Thrones'. I really want to read this book, and I already love it, at just 142 pages in, but I'm very worried that I won't make it through the whole series. The last long series I tried, Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time', I didn't finish. I just stopped at book six, or it could have been seven. Anyway, I just got to the point where I needed to read something else and never went back. I want to read the whole, 'Wheel of Time', series, but I would have to go back to the start and that is a daunting prospect. I fear that I'll have the same problem with the 'Firs and Ice' series. It's already seven books long, I think, and they are not short books. My version of 'A Game of Thrones' is 807 pages, not including the appendix, and all the others look just as long.

But I do want to read them.

Love Sci-Fi - No Money

If you love all things Sci-Fi & Fantasy,called Specfic now days, (Yes. I am old) love the idea of going to a conference about all things Specfic, but have no money, you are just like me.

I've found a way to get a Specfic conference fix without money. It's called 'The 2012 Unicon-Feecon'. It's a free, all things Specfic, conference being held a UTS in Sydney 26, 27 & 28 October. It's going to have all the really cool things you'd hope to have a a Specfic conference, including a short story contest, which I am entering.

You can download the details and registration form for the conference and writing contest at http://utsatheists.weebly.com/sff-unicon.html

It's free, so why not come?

More Writing Success

I Submitted a short children's story to the 81st Annual Writer's Digest Competition back in May. So long ago that I'd almost forgot about it. I certainly was sure I didn't do any good.

But I was wrong!

Early Thursday morning I received an email from Writer's Digest that my story, 'Leprechaun Tours Australia' has been awarded seventh place in the Young Adult/Children's Fiction category. I said 'Wow'.

I will get a prize money cheque  in the mail some time in the next 60 days. I don't know much it will be, but it will be my first ever cheque for writing something. 'Wow'

I also get a whole bunch of free stuff and discounts from Writer's Digest, and I can display the really cool 'Award Winner' thing that is up in the corner. My story will also be published in a book next year containing all the winning stories. 'Wow'

I have sold my first story

This is amazing, someone is actually paying me to publish one of my stories. Who is this incredibly clever, insightful someone? Nicole Murphy, publisher of In fabular-divino (The Tale-Tellers).

Let me explain. In fabular-divino is a webzine that publishes one story a month of a specfic nature. Nicole selects one story a month, from that months submissions, to be published on the site after she has worked through a full editorial process with the author. Nicole is a very experienced writer and editor, so the story gets a real good polish. She than pays the author $100 for the right to publish the story on In fabular-divino for a month and to put it in an anthology at the end of the year. The author also gets two free copies of the anthology and royalties after costs have been covered so that the next year is financial.   The full submission/selection process is found here. 

I feel very privileged to have such a great breakthrough so early in my writing career. Nicole has already said some wonderful things about my story on the site blog and I looking forward to what I'll learn from all this. I'd actually almost convince myself that my story going to be accepted. This was because it's so different from the two other stories I had read on the site. I like both stories at lot, especially the latest one 'Regret', but neither of them are the type of story I would ever write. However, Nicole has proved me wrong.

Oh, and the story is called 'Crossroads' I will appear on the site for the whole month of November.

Submissions

I've never been quite sure if I should post about my story submission, say when I've submitted a story and where I've submitted it. I'll always post about successes, when I've had a story accepted, but I seem to be worried about letting people know about possible failures. I see some ego issues here.

Anyway, because I think ego is a dirty word, here are my current submissions. ( The song is great.)

I submitted my short story, 'Bounty' to Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine on the 16th of August. Seeing that it is the No. 1 SF Magazine in the world I will be very surprised if get a story accepted my first go. They gave me a tracking number and told me it would be about 5 weeks before I'll hear anything. I've checked my tracking number at least twenty times. :)

My only other submission is my short story, 'Crossroads' to In fabula-divinos (http://thetaletellers.wordpress.com/). Which is a webzine, I think, that publishes one short story a month, of an up and coming writer, and then puts all the stories into an anthology at the end of the year. You have to submit your story between the 1st and 7th of each month. You then find out on the 8th of the month if your story has been accepted.

So, even though I submitted my story to Asimov's two weeks before the story I submitted to In fabula-divinos, I'll find out if In fabula-divinos has accept my story at least two weeks be fore I find out Asimov's response.

Interestingly, to me, is that one of the requirements for In fabula-divinos is that you've not had any professional sales. Acceptance by Asimov's would be a professional sale. If, amazingly, Asimov's accepted 'Bounty' within the next two days, I would become ineligible for In fabula-divinos. However, if In fabula-divinos accepts 'Crossroad', and then Asimov's accepts 'Bounty' after that what happens?

I don't know.