Getting Short Fiction Published & a Coffee Giveaway

December 20, 2013

Coffee_Cover_v1r2

I was recently interviewed at SF Signal on the subject of getting one’s short fiction published. Really, the answer is very simple and straightforward: write a good story and keep submitting it until it sells somewhere. But if you want a more elaborate version full of snark, or to learn what sort of bribes I accept, or to see me slam non-paying  markets (again), then go ahead and click that link!

And speaking of getting short fiction published, I recently sold a humor flash “Bedtime Story on Christmas Eve, 1,000,000 AD” to Spark: A Creative Anthology and it will appear in the next issue., which launches on January 1 and features a foreword by Kevin J. Anderson.

A reprint of “Life at the Lake’s Shore” will appear in an upcoming “Outpouring: Typhoon Yolanda Relief Anthology,” a charity projected edited by Dean Francis Alfar. No link yet, but I will post one as soon as it’s available.

Not much else to report on the acceptances front at this time, but then things do tend to slow down around the holidays.

Meantime, I’ve been laboring away on Unidentified Funny Objects 3. I’m very happy to report that I already have three stories from three huge names in SF/F, and a fourth story in final edits. I have a really cool cover, too. Expect more information on this in January. A number of folks asked about the next submission period: we will have one in the Spring, most likely in March.  I am absolutely committed to keeping each volume of the UFO series open to subs from the public alongside the stories solicited from the top pros.

Meantime, there are a few days left to enter the giveaway for a signed paperback copy of COFFEE: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic. Over 700 people already entered this giveaway, but it’s free to enter, so why not give it a shot? Just click here to participate.

#SFWApro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Milestones

July 26, 2013

#SFWApro

Earlier this week I sold two more stories. Stupefying Stories picked up “An Indelible Feast” and “The Storyteller.” And while every new sale is sweet, what makes these special is that they are my 50th and 51st original short stories accepted for publication.

I made my first short story submission on May 10, 2010.  I submitted “The Skeptic,” my first story, which I wrote the month prior, to Clarkesworld, from which it was promptly and politely rejected.

It has been 41 months since I began writing that first short story. This means I’ve averaged more than one original short story sale per month over the course of my writing career so far! And that’s not even counting reprints, podcasts, and translations.

I am incredibly thrilled to be so far along the writing career path after just a few short years. There are plenty more milestones for me to conquer, and I’ll be gleefully working on those in the coming months!

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Publication: The Far Side of the Wilderness in Beyond the Sun

July 21, 2013

BTS#SFWApro

Beyond the Sun, an anthology of space exploration edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, is out. It includes a story of mine titled “The Far Side of the Wilderness,” a dark tale about an interstellar colonist’s quest to bring his people back to Earth.

This story is heavily inspired by the Biblical tale of Moses. The title is a quote from the book of Exodus, though not a very well-known one. Even the title of the colony planet, Kemet, is the ancient name for Egypt. Having said that, it greatly amused and surprised me to find how many of my beta readers missed the Biblical connection entirely. The important thing is, they enjoyed the story!

Beyond the Sun features fiction from such heavyweights as Robert Silverberg and Mike Resnick, as well as award-winning or -nominated short fiction authors like Cat Rambo, Brad Torgersen,  and Nancy Fulda, to name just a few. I’m in really good company, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys space opera.

The book is available at Amazon now. You can also find it at B&N and elsewhere.

Also, I heard back from Cast of Wonders over the weekend — they accepted a reprint of “You Bet” and will be podcasting it, probably sometime in early 2014. This story has lots of dialog by wacky characters and so it seems perfect for audio. I can’t wait to see what the Cast of Wonders crew does with it!

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman