Tag: CSFG

Monstrously fine!

B_red leavesI mentioned last August that I was interviewing monsters to feature in a short story I wanted to submit to the anthology call for CSFG Publishing’s Unnatural Order.

The good news is that the delightful beastie I chose, whose CV included such sterling job titles as Devourer of Souls and Great of Death, made the cut and has been included in the upcoming anthology.

Needless to say, I couldn’t be more delighted than to be again sharing a table of contents with the dapper Rob Porteous and the delightful C.H. Pearce, and eleven other talented monster  wranglers, including Grace Chan, Freya Marske, Nathan J. Phillips, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Leife Shallcross.

Thanks to editors Alis Franklin and Lyss Wickramasinghe for their unnatural selection.

The anthology will be out later this year. Don’t worry – I’ll keep you updated on all monstrous developments.

Monstrous and unnatural call out

the word terribly

The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG) has announced its next anthology and it’s monstrous and unnatural – just the way we like it!

The submission call for Unnatural Order makes it clear that editors Alis Franklin and Lyss Wickramasinghe are looking for tales about the truly monstrous in all its fanged, furred and tentacled glory. They want “stories that explore humanity through the lens of the inhuman” not protagonists who are just angsty, sparkly people-with-a-problem, or as they put it “rubber forehead aliens”.

No elves, no vampires, no zombies. No pining for a cure tales. They want non-human protagonists with attitude. Embrace the monstrous – you know you want to!

I’ll have to write a new <5000 word story for this, because my monsters do tend to be a little “monster-lite”. But I was thrilled to have one of my stories accepted for the CSFG’s last anthology, A Hand of Knaves, so I’m hoping to craft a suitably unnatural creature to join the Order.

The trouble is narrowing it down…. myths and folklore seethe with monsters who would happily find a home in a speculative fiction tale. I need to marshal my dire hordes or, in effect, run some beasties through a job interview to work out what I’m going to write about.

Read the guidelines at the Unnatural Order link above and get writing, my writerly friends, because submissions will close in October and you don’t want your monstrous progeny to miss out.

High, low, everywhere we go

B_heads2

Here’s a perfect demonstration of the highs and lows of a writing life:

In the same week of receiving confirmation that my short story would be published in the upcoming CSFG anthology, A Hand of Knaves, I’ve also had my historical fantasy novel rejected.

The publishers requested the full manuscript, on the basis of my unsolicited submission, so I sent it off and kept my fingers crossed for three months. Uncomfortable.

Alas! They said they liked it. But they did not love it.

There’s nothing to be done except take comfort from their comment that the main character was ‘likeable, engaging and well-rounded’, pull on my big girl writey-pants, and (like all wordsmiths practised in the dark arts of rejectomancy) get back to work. 

Five for silver – stand and deliver!

magpies

One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

Our local magpie horde come demanding treats, and in the best knavish style I’d like to ask you to stand and deliver … or, that is, to kindly request your support to help publish a new Australian science-fiction and fantasy anthology.

This year the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild* is publishing an anthology featuring rogues and scoundrels: A Hand of Knaves. Authors will be paid for their stories (the editors Chris Large and Leife Shallcross are probably finalising their selection from the submitted stories as I type**) but the CSFG wants to pay the authors, editors and artists more***.

To which end – crowdfunding!

There’s only SIX DAYS LEFT of the Hand of Knaves crowdfunding campaign.

If you follow that link to Indiegogo, you can support the anthology, and receive in return all sorts of benefits: art cards, books, acknowledgment in the anthology, a character named after you, or for those of you who write –  a structural edit or short story critique.

And, of course, you also get that delicious warm inner glow from directly supporting the arts. Mmmm.

Please share the link with anyone you know who is interested in Australian writers and writing – especially spec fiction, which is fantasy, sci-fi, horror, or any combination of them, and remember you only have until the 10th of January to support these delightful knaves.

 

* Disclaimer the first: I’m the vice-president of the CSFG.

**Disclaimer the second: Yes, I did submit stories to the anthology. No, I don’t know if my knaves have been chosen for inclusion.

*** Wondering about amounts? CSFG is a not-for-profit writing group, and most of the money made from selling previous anthologies goes to funding the next ones. The basic budget will pay authors at a rate of about 1 cent per word for a 5000 word story. I know! Story words are worth more than that! Professional industry rates for short stories are around 6 cents a word. Hence the crowdfunding, so thanks for any support you can give.

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