Hello, invisible friends! How’s your life going? I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day so I’m not doing anything tomorrow. It’s not like I’m against this holiday, I just never have the energy, dough or forethought to do anything about it. Anyway, I’ve been busy. Here’s some stuff that’s hopping:
- Innsmouth Magazine (Issue 9) was released on Friday. You can read it online for free.
- While it is free, we’d appreciate a donation to Innsmouth Free Press. Why? Because I haven’t won the lotto yet and I’ve got to pay for this stuff.
- The Apex Book of World SF, Volume 2 is up for pre-sale. I’m in it. Gaze upon the cover and despair.
- I’m on the cover of Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Not only that, but I have the longest surname of all the writers. Take that, David Nickle! The hardcover edition of this book is also on pre-sale.
- I’m editing a couple of anthologies next year. With a Canadian press. With non-Monopoly money.
- Going to the Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland this May unless an unexpected bout of poverty hits me. Which is why you want to donate and buy my books and stuff.
Today Orrin Grey blogs briefly about the Fungi slush. He mentions the need for a cover letter and a word count. Aye. This is important and useful for us. Eventually all the stories on hold will be put in an Excel spreadsheet and categorized. That is where nuances such as “is this a reprint” or “how long is it” matter. If we can have quick access to the information, the better. It saves us having to open a file and squint as we try to figure out who (or what) wrote this and how long is it. Furthermore, biographical data helps me. I don’t mean I want to see cover letters that detail your every move but if you say “I am a Canadian writer living in Toronto. My credits include so and so. Here is a X word story for your anthology” that is a huge help. Why? Well, because if you are Canadian I know I should: a) Submit your story for Canadian awards and anthology compilations b) Keep you in mind if we do an all-Canadian anthology c) Nationality is one way CIP data is cataloged. And librarians look at this too. So a brief cover letter does provide me with much needed tidbits. In short: if you are Canadian I’d definitely like to know. If you’re not Canadian, I’m still interested because I may use the data to determine how many authors from how many places submitted. At the very least I want a word count and a cover letter in the body of the e-mail.
Stories that deal with the following are very numerous right now:
- Person turns into mushroom. Nothing else.
- Person ingests mushroom. Nothing much happens.
- Sentient mushroom sits and thinks.
But mushrooms are more than that! Fungi can be an inspiration for fashion. They can eat plastic. They may appear in Prehispanic statuettes. Mushrooms have been consumed for thousands of years, you don’t have to set your stories in the present. Oh, and mushrooms grow all over the world. Please, more stories from different cultures!
Think outside the mushroom box and impress us with your style and originality.
Fungi is open to submissions until February 15. More information here.
We’ve been accepting submissions for the Fungi anthology for about two weeks. If you are going to send something, here are some pointers (as I see it, I do have a co-editor and he may also be blogging about this in the next couple of days):
- There is an excess of people-turn-into-mushrooms-the-end stories.
- We need more geographic and cultural variety. It’s all looking very present-day urban USA right now. No historical stories. Barely any sci-fi.
- On that tangent, I don’t mind straight horror but where is the mushroom noir? Or the steampunk with truffles?
On the slush break down: Alright, where are the women and the international writers? Is there a secret party nobody has told me about going on right now? If so, I want in on the action. If not…um, won’t you send something?
Fungi is open to submissions for another two weeks (until February 15). More information here.
Note: Too many people are also playing it safe. If a mushroom anthology is not the place for bold risk-taking, I don’t know what is.
I really wish I was at the point in my writing career where I’m super-famous and everyone wants to buy stuff from me. But since I’m not, I have to do the agent dance like all the other mortals.
Thus, I’m cleaning up the novel and writing a blurb/pitch/whatever-the-hell-you want. Here is the blurb. I need feedback. Would you want to see a partial based on the following:
Mexico City, 1988: Meche, fifteen years old and a dork by default, has two equally unhip friends – Sebastian and Daniela – and a whole lot of records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future begins to look brighter for the trio. Meche and her friends have a chance to fix everything in their lives. They’ll piece back together their broken families, change their status as non-entities and get a love life.
Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the city, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral. Meche manages to cope with her family and things are going well enough until she runs into her childhood friend, Sebastian. Suddenly, Meche is pulling out old Polaroids and remembering things she buried a long time ago.
What happened back in ’88 to destroy her strong bond with Sebastian and Daniela? And why did Meche have a fall-out with her father?
Sound Fidelity is a novel of magic, music and heartbreak.
While I have your attention, Orrin and moi are interviewed about the Fungi anthology and what we want to see in the slush.
I leave you with a video by Mecano:
The open submissions period for Fungi (an anthology I am editing with Orrin Grey) is fast approaching (January 15-February 15) and I wanted to talk about mushrooms and size.
We generally think of mushrooms as small because we are used to seeing little white caps growing on the ground. We do not imagine them as large, but some of the largest organisms on earth are fungus. One species, Armillaria solidipes (formerly Armillaria ostoyae), known as the honey mushroom, was found in Oregon a few years ago. It has been growing for some 2,400 years and covers 3.4 square miles. Now let Alice chew on that!
To make things more difficult, some mushrooms don’t look like mushrooms at all. The Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum resembles a lump of coal. It’s inedible. Not that you’d like to sauté that thing.
Then there are the mushrooms that glow in the dark, members of the Mycena family. It doesn’t get any groovier than these babies.
In conclusion, when considering possible ideas for Fungi think of all the fungal variety surrounding us. Oh, and do check my list of things I’d like to see in the slush. Enjoy the mushrooms.
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