It has definitely been a while since I did one of these. Many of my talented writer buddies have been going great guns just lately, and I would be remiss in not pointing you towards these fine new works!
Category Archives: Pimping
Oh, what’s this trumpet for? Why, to toot my own horn :-)
Haven’t done an updatey type post for a while, but here’s some writing-related stuff worth whacking on the ole blog:
Anywhere But Earth
First up, the complete Table of Contents for the Anywhere but Earth anthology has been released here: http://keithstevenson.com/CDLblog/2011/04/06/anywhere-but-earth-official-line-up/
It looks AWESOME. Several of my local writing idols have rated a spot in the book, and I’m totally chuffed that one of my Clarion stories “Eating Gnashdal” is also in the mix. Can’t wait to get my grotty hands on a copy (I especially love that retro-looking cover).
Shared Universe Shenanigans
A project I’ve been involved in with some of my Writers of the Future colleagues looks like it’s about to go live. It involves a single character in a shared universe, and it’s been both interesting and challenging to work for. Will say more when I can, but the editor has a great track record, the other authors seem to be top-notch writers or prolific young turks, and rather than a e-zine it seems more like an interactive community with some great possibilities. Again, more when I can say, will pop the link here when it all goes live. I maintain that writing is the single coolest job I’ve ever had 🙂
Review – An Eclectic Slice of Life
A review of Eclecticism’s first anthology An Eclectic Slice of Life has just gone live over at Horrorscope. Reviewer Matthew Tait has this to say about my contributions to the volume:
“Both Houndkin and The Ward of Hours take on mythological creatures set against eccentric backdrops – one in a hospital ward that lies at the nexus of time. The prose is mature and effortless … and it’s easy to see the argument for his success”
Full review can be read here: http://www.horrorscope.com.au/2011/04/review-eclectic-slice-of-life.html
That’s lovely, made my day that 🙂 I really get a kick when someone enjoys my Raoul stories, the same protagonist as from my WOTF-winning story House of Nameless – oh look, here’s a link where you can read it for free! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525 Oh hey, here’s the Ditmar ballot where it’s up for Best Short Story, if you’re so inclined http://wiki.sf.org.au/images/d/d4/2011_Ditmar_ballot.pdf 🙂
Midnight Echo #6
Just on the tail-end of it all now, doing the usual jiggery-pokery with contracts, bios, edits, and putting together an editorial for our themed issue. Was great fun, but will definitely be a relief to hand everything over once we’re finished.
RIP Livejournal
I’ve decided I’m more or less done with the infamous Russian Spam Factory, and will migrate most of my f-list and feeds into Google Reader. I just can’t do it anymore, everytime I fire it up it’s just depressing. I’ll still export this website via an LJ x-post, but apart from that I probably won’t be on there much from now on.
And the teaser…
There’s another cool bit of news that landed in my inbox this week, but it is unfortunately embargoed information. It’s killing me but the rules are the rules, I’ll post a mini update when it’s announced and all official-like. I LOVE BEING A WRITER! 🙂
Datlow Honorable Mention list & last minute Ditmar touting
Ellen Datlow has just released the extended Honorable Mention list from her reading for Best Horror of the Year Vol 3. I was very pleased to see my story “gunning for a tinkerman” (Aurealis #44) rated a mention, and was also happy to see several of my esteemed colleagues and buddies land on the same list with their own pieces. I won’t run out a laundry list, there’s just too many of them 🙂 you know who you are!
The complete list is here http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/334109.html & here http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/334359.html . As always I’m astounded at just how much short fiction Ellen Datlow reads every year, she’s the very definition of a voracious reader.
So hey, the emergence of this list is some pretty good timing, seeing as the nomination period for the Ditmar Awards is about to close. If you enjoyed “gunning for a tinkerman” or any of my other stories, please feel free to fire up this handy nomination form and list it (along with any other Aussie works you found worthy – there’s quite a few on Ellen’s list amongst other places). Form here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html
Here is my complete list of eligible works, for your information: http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=478
And a final reminder, my Writers of the Future winning story “The House of Nameless” can still be downloaded for free via this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525. It’s had a massive spike in downloads over the last few days, which can only be a good thing. Really happy with how well this is doing (and yes, this is also eligible for Best Short Story in the Ditmars, should you be so inclined).
“The House of Nameless” now available as a free e-book
My Writers of the Future winning story “The House of Nameless” is now available on Smashwords as a free e-book, available in several different formats. While I’ve ostensibly released this free version onto the world for Ditmar reasons (with the full blessing of the publishers at Galaxy Press) it’s also my trial run at formatting and managing an e-book. It’s also quite hard to get hold of the WOTF anthologies in Australian stores, so if anyone’s interested in seeing the type of story that gets into the book, here is one example. These anthologies are all available through Amazon, and now via Kindle as well – they also contain many words of wisdom from the best-selling judges, which are well worth the small download fee. If you want a hard copy, you will generally have to order these in (hence this e-book experiment to raise some 11th hour awareness of my story).Â
This story can be downloaded here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525
If you enjoyed “The House of Nameless” and want to consider nominating it for this year’s Ditmar Awards, the form can be found here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html . There are oodles of other most worthy works that you may also want to nominate, an almost exhaustive list can be found at the following wiki: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_eligibility_list
Well, this is it Ma, time to pimp that Ditmar!
Once again we find ourselves rocketing towards the Aussie Natcon, which means that it’s once more Ditmar Awards season. I hereby give you my annual shameless self-promoting blog post 🙂 the usual disclaimers apply, this list of my eligible works is for information only, and you should of course be nominating the works that you found most worthy or awesome. Rumours of a Jason Fischer Ditmar pork-barrel are sadly exaggerated, and it seems it’s merit or nothing, until some sort of SF pun category sees the light of day (man, I’d be a SHOE-IN).
There’s a scarily comprehensive wiki being maintained, a pretty thorough list of what Aussie genre writers published in 2010. The relevant page can be found here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_eligibility_list , but to make life easier for you, here are my eligible stories for the 2011 Ditmar Awards.
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Best Novella or Novellette
gunning for a tinkerman, Aurealis Magazine #44
Best Short Story
The House of Nameless, Writers of the Future Vol XXVI
The School Bus, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #46 (Highly Recommended, HorrorScope 2010 Recommended Reading List)
Sebastian, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #44 (Recommended, HorrorScope 2010 Recommended Reading List)
Goodnights to Heaven, Necroscope
The Ward of Hours, An Eclectic Slice of Life
Starship Zamedi, Zombonauts anthology
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A super-handy nomination form can be found here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html, or nominations can be emailed to ditmars@sf.org.au, or by snail mail to Ditmars, 6 Florence Road, NEDLANDS WA 6009, AUSTRALIAÂ
If you haven’t read any of these works or can’t get hold of them, please comment here, or send me an email at mail AT jasonfischer DOT com DOT au. I will hook you up with a reading copy of any of these, most likely electronic. I’ve made sure to get clearance from the publisher of Writers of the Future to share my winning story for this sort of purpose, so if you couldn’t get hold of the anthology and want to have a peek at my tale, please let me know.
I always take my Ditmar voting very seriously, and put quite a bit of effort into my nomination sheet, often rocking the establishment by not voting solely for myself in every category 🙂 I’m gonna go away and think about what other folks did in 2010 that rocked my socks, and will most likely post a list of this stuff when I figure it all out.
Goodreads
I’ve just discovered Goodreads, the website much beloved by fellow book-nerds everywhere. It’s bloody fantastic, and I’ve even added myself to the website as an author (chiefly for Gravesend, but it has also linked to a bunch of anthologies that my stories have been in, that sort of thing). A very cool way of keeping track of the To-Be-Read pile, show your reading progress, and post brief reviews and ratings of books that you’ve read. I’m an instant convert! While I signed up for this as an author-promotional tool, I got a feeling I will be posting and reviewing and rating books just as much as anyone else. The reviewing mechanism seems to be a lot more reliable and honest than the classic “1 or 5” scoring system on Amazon.Â
This is me: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2847548.Jason_Fischer
Why yes, I have been living under a rock 🙂 Feel free to add me or what-have-you.
Jason Paulos book signing in Sydney
Just a quick post to help promote Jason Paulos, all-round legend and pulp comic artist extraordinaire. This weekend he is part of a comic signing at Kings Comics, Sydney, so if that’s your neck of the woods it’s probably worth checking out. This is the gentleman responsible for the amazing cover-art of my zombie novella “After the World: Gravesend”, as well as the artwork for one of my comic scripts (appearing in an upcoming issue of his pulp-tastic comic EEEK!).
There’s a number of exciting new projects coming out from the good people at Black House Comics, and by all accounts there will be lots of stuff instore for you to sink your teeth into. Well worth checking out.
And I quote from the website:
“On Saturday the 30th of October, KINGS COMICS will be hosting the ever-decaying JASON PAULOS and the imminently gory CHRIS SEQUERIA between 12pm and 2pm, and they’ll be ghoulishly signing their very own books and comics for anyone who drops by and says hi!
If you’re not up to scratch on who these indecently talented guys are, JASON PAULOS has been writing and drawing comics since the late Eighties and is known for his anthropomorphic private dick HAIRBUTT THE HIPPO. Lately Jason has been getting into retro-horror and will soon have his early editions of the brilliant EEEK! comic published in the U.S. as a graphic novel by Asylum Press. Jason currently has a new EEEK! comic released through Aussie publisher Black House Comics with brand new stories not showcased in the EEEK! collection.
CHRIS SEQUERIA is also a veteran Australian comic writer, creating and writing a horde of heroic and horrific concepts that have appeared on newsstands nationwide, including PULSE OF DARKNESS, RATTLEBONE: THE PULP-FACED DETECTIVE, THE BORDERLANDER, and many others. He has also written for U.S. publishers, most notably contributing a Dazzler story in the recent X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS – X-MEN VS. VAMPIRES #1. Locally, Chris is currently writing the critically lauded DARK DETECTIVE: SHERLOCK HOLMES, an original Sherlock Holmes series also published by Black House Comics. “
http://www.kingscomics.com/site/pages/custom.php?CID=27
A retrospective account of Writers of the Future – Part 3
(for those of you who haven’t read these yet, the first two instalments of my WOTF retrospective can be found here http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=136Â and here http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=155)
Immediately after the awards ceremony, we writers and illustrators made our way back into the hotel lobby. Before the ceremony, this had been the venue for our swanky dinner, now we found that we were at the site of our first book signing. The organisers of this event are nothing if not awesome, and it makes my head spin to think how quickly they effected this change!
The lobby of the Roosevelt, shortly after its transformation from a dining hall into a book launch/signing. Big stacks of the anthology can be seen in the middle of the room, and along the outside of the room the illustrators wait next to their framed illustrations. Most of the writers can be seen in the middle of the pic, madly signing away.Â
A quick pimping of my peeps
Here’s some stuff that’s definitely worth checking out:
Clarion South survivor and fellow Adelaidean L.L. Hannett has just released a deliciously creepy story into the wild, “Their Own Executioners”. This can be found via this link at Chizine: http://www.chizine.com/their_own_executioners.htm
A new story by Peter M Ball has just appeared at Apex, “L’esprit de L’escalier”. It’s AWESOME, the latest in a great run of Apex stories now under his belt. Go, click, read: http://apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2010/09/short-fiction-lesprit-de-lescalier-by-peter-m-ball/
Fellow WOTFer Brad Torgersen has a novelette in the latest issue of Analog: http://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/outbound-now-available-in-the-november-2010-issue-of-analog-science-fiction-fact-magazine/
And fresh from the recent Worldcon, Laura Goodin has just posted a very thorough and quote-worthy account on how to moderate panels at SF conventions. This is a great survival guide, and something I wish I had read before my first stint as a panel chair*: http://lauragoodin.blogspot.com/2010/09/moderating-con-panels-introduction.html
*This unfortunate event was marred by the fact that one of my poor panellists broke their ankle the morning of the panel, and that something much cooler was going on next door. Sigh.
Writers of the Future, Vol XXVI
Well, the time is nigh, I have my greenbacks and courage in hand, and Writers of the Future awaits me. I’m taking it stateside for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to work with some jaw-droppingly awesome writers, attend the award gala, and finally meet my fellow contest winners (who seem like a lovely and talented bunch). The anthology containing the winning stories is now available for pre-order on Amazon:
I love the cover-art on this – absolutely gorgeous! Having collected a few of these anthologies, I can tell you that the essays from the judges are worth the cover-price alone. Years of wisdom is thus dispensed, sandwiched amidst stories that could launch many fruitful writing careers, jammed full of the excellent artwork from the sister contest, Illustrators of the Future.
Still can’t believe my writing is actually in one of these…this sure is a nice feeling, folks 🙂
I will try and blog the Writers of the Future week when I get the chance, but it looks like they keep a pretty hectic schedule. It may be a retrospective account of the workshop and other events, but it’ll all end up on here at some point.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Future needs getting to 🙂