Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction

I’m not writing all that much at the moment, because editing an anthology is even more crazy and more time consuming than I expected — and I don’t think I was fooling myself about the amount of work it was going to take in the first place. My previously written stories are making the rounds at various markets though, and this has been a very good week, with two semi-pro sales to report.

On Sunday I heard back from Bards & Sages Quarterly — they will be publishing my tiny slipstream humor SF story “Manna From Heaven” in the October issue. B&S appears to appreciate my flash stories that make fun of or subvert Biblical plots. Last year they published “Superior Firepower,” a story about the final battle between good and evil as predicted in Revelations taking place in our day and age. “Manna From Heaven” is inspired by Exodus. Perhaps I should write a flash humor story based on every other book of the Bible and see if I can get them published. Adam and Eve chomping on Snow White’s poisoned apple? Robo-Christ? The sky’s the limit.

My other sale is a much longer story titled “A Better Tomorrow,” which was picked up by Interstellar Fiction, a new e-zine, for their inaugural issue. IF is new to the business, but they’ve been super friendly and responsive, a great experience so far, and I can’t wait to see what else they come up with for the issue 1 lineup.

“A Better Tomorrow” was one of the first stories I wrote in 2010. However, I wasn’t satisfied with how it came out, so I shelved it and kept coming back to the story every six to nine months as my skill as a writer improved. It wasn’t until late last year that I felt comfortable enough with the story to begin shopping it around. It had a few very close calls before it found a worthy home.

“A Better Tomorrow” is a pulp thriller set on an Earth-to-Mars spaceship that is damaged en route, dooming the crew. How will they react in a hopeless situation? The story feels a lot like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, down to a opening with an action sequence cut from the middle of the plot. Very curious to see what readers make of this story.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 at 11:30 am and is filed under Acceptances & Publications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.