A Short Story Collection

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been busy pulling a number of my short stories together into a collection. This is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, especially since a good number have already been published but have now gone out of print. I originally thought I might self-publish them, but then a friend of mine told me about a publisher he had been doing some work with, CFZ publishing. Like many small publishers they are quite niche, but their niche is one that fits well my style of fiction. So I’m going to give them a try.

But pulling your short stories together into a collection isn’t such an easy task, and here are a couple of things I’ve had to take into account:

Running order: This is a tricky one. The stories need to be sufficiently distinct from the ones they are adjacent to but not so different as to be jarring. I also wanted to mix up the previously published with the new material.

Opening stories: These are the ones that will appear on the kindle ‘look inside’ option and will determine whether the reader clicks the buy button or not. Therefore they need to give a good representation of the anthology and also be some of my better stories.

Final story: The collection needs to finish on a high note so the final story needs to pack a punch. This was quite easy. I have a piece of flash fiction that I feel rounds off the collection quite well.

Character names: I never noticed before that I have a tendency to reuse names. So for example where I had two stories featuring a character called Lucy, one of these needed to be changed, otherwise the reader might think the characters and the two stories are connected.

Editing: Some of my earlier stories, when I re-read them, needed a bit of tidying up since my writing has improved a lot over the years. Even some that have previously been published!

Title: Finally what should I call my collection? I thought about using the title from one of my short stories but none really stood out. Then my friend suggested I use the title from this blog. It is certainly fitting with the style of stories – science fiction and mild horror that could well be described as ‘weird fiction’, as well as echoing the cryptozoological bent of the publisher. So The Scribbling Seaserpent it shall be.

Early days yet – but I’ll keep you up to date with developments.

The Rise of the e-book

A couple of years ago when we looked for something on Amazon we would probably have a choice of hardback, paperback or audiobook. But now, with the rise of the e-reader we can buy our books as e-books too.

The more formats our books are available in then the more accessible they become and the broader the readership they can reach. There is more choice for readers as authors and publishers are making their backslists available as e-books – books which have otherwise gone out of print! And for authors in some genres – most notably romance – the advent of the e-book has opened up a wealth of new small publishers – and with them, new opportunities.

And look here. Two of the anthologies from Hadley Rille Books that I have had short stories published in are now available as e-books – Ruins Terra and Ruins Metropolis. For less than £1 you can’t go wrong!

Ruins in Seattle

If anyone reading this lives near enough to the Seattle area there are going to be a number of book signing/reading events for the Ruins series of books from Hadley Rille Books – That’s Ruins Terra, Ruins Extraterrestrial and Ruins Metropolis – two of which (Ruins Terra and Ruins Metropolis) contain stories of mine.

Details here

Unfortunately it’s on the wrong side of the pond for me but Eric tells me he is trying to get something organised over here and if he does I’ll let you know.

And in other news my contributor’s copy of Escape Velocity Magazine dropped through the letterbox at the weekend - and there - nestling among the fascinating articles and fabulous fiction is my story ‘Cone Key’.

If you haven’t already ordered yourself a copy I strongly suggest you do! You really won’t regret it.

I’d post a picture of it since it looks so lovely – if only I can find out where my hubby has hidden the charger for my camera!

2009 Writing Resolutions

A new year, and new opportunities – so what are my writing goals for this year? Here are my targets for 2009:

1. Find an Agent to represent Myth Making
2. Sell a short story to a SWFA pro market
3. Sell more short stories than in 2008 (more than 3)
4. Complete first draft of current WIP.
5. Enter the Yeovil Prize again.
6. Start putting reviews on this blog.

And do check out the Preditors and Editors readers poll – Ruins Metropolis has been nominated in the anthology category so if you’ve read and enjoyed it why not give it a vote.

Oh, and Happy New Year!!

Another Review - Ruins Metropolis

Fellow Ruins Metropolis author Ahmed A khan has just posted this review over on his LJ. I see we agree on several of our favorites.

Glad you enjoyed my story Ahmed.

My Take on Ruins Metropolis

Having finally finished reading all the stories in Ruins Metropolis I thought I might as well post my thoughts on this superb anthology from Hadley Rille Books.

The theme of the anthology was for all the stories to be based on the cover art by Debbie Hughes, and the variety of the stories produced is stunning. They range from fantasy such as Sumari’s Solitude by Alycia C Cooke which opens the collection, to science fiction stories like Veilsight by Camille Alexa.

There are stories set in the ancient world at the time of the Pharaohs for example A haunting in Gisa by Brenta Blevins. Mrs Kelly’s Ghosts by Anna D Allen in which Mr’s Kelly’s archaeological discovery has a personal resonance for her is set during the great age of Egyptian discovery. There are stories set in the present such as Amulet by Jacqueline Seewald, and the far future like The Tomb of Setankan by Sarah Wagner in which a dig on a distant world, aiming to prove a link with the Ancient Egyptians turns up something far more telling. There are stories that move across time like The City of the Dead by Barton Paul Levenson, or are set on distant worlds like When Love Dies by Jonathan Shipley.

A number of the stories are set in Egypt, but we also have stories set during some of the world’s other great civilisations. Karrying Keptara by RF Long is a beautifully written piece that really resonates, set during the destruction of the Minoan Civilisation, and Dancing on the Corpse of the World by Jude Marie Green is a powerfully evocative piece about the Mayans.

All these stories are superb, beautifully written and thoroughly gripping. Some others that I feel deserve a mention are: The Memory by Meg Swanton, In search of Camanac by C L Holland, Burning Stone by Stephen Graham King and End by Ahmed A Khan.

But I think my personal favourite story of the anthology is Children of the City by Lyn McConchie – a futuristic story of a group of children eking out an existence in the ruins of an ancient city, and the mysterious storyteller who appears as something different to everyone who listens to her tales, and yet turns out to be something else all together.

So all in all, if you are looking for a collection of really good stories to read then can I strongly recommend Ruins Metropolis – and I’m not just saying this because it contains my own story, In the Precinct of Amun-Re. I’ve really enjoyed reading it and I’m proud to be in such good company.

And check out the Hadley Rille Books website for some of their other excellent anthologies.

Ruins and Adders

My eagerly awaited contributer's copy of Ruins Metropolis has finally arrived, and it is a thing of beauty. I've only been able to read a couple of the stories so far though, because it's been swiped by my 10 year old daughter - but not for long - once she's asleep I'll swipe it back...

And why do people keep saying that adders are getting rare? We saw another one today, just a little baby, slipping through the leaf litter by the side of the road. (Not a red one this time though - just normal colour.)

Shh - she's asleep - time to go and reclaim that book...

Snakes in the Heather

Today, while I was walking around Winfrith Heath at lunchtime, I spotted an adder - one of those young brick-red ones. I’ve never seen one that colour before and I head to look twice, but it was most definitely an adder. The bloke I share an office with tells me that these red adders are typical of this area. He’s seen quite a few of them this year so far. Needless to say I picked my way back over the heath with extra care!

And in writing news – Ruins Metropolis is now available from Amazon.co.uk as well as Amazon.com. Looks like it’s going to be an interesting read. There are quite a few names I recognise in the line up, which is as follows:

"Old World Magic" by Adele Cosgrove-Bray
"End" by Ahmed A. Khan
"Sumari's Solitude" by Alycia C. Cooke
"Mrs. Kelly's Ghosts" by Anna D. Allen
"City of the Dead" by Barton Paul Levenson
"A Haunting in Giza" by Brenta Blevins
"In Search of Camanac" by C.L. Holland
"Veilsight" by Camille Alexa
"For Sale: One Gold (plated) Eye Of Horus" by Chris Benton
"The Eye of Re-Atum" by Christine Poulsen
"By the Pool of the Blue Lotus" by Erin M. Hartshorn
"The Name and the Shadow" by Gene Stewart
"Seeker of the Dead" by Gerri Leen
"Goddess Reborn" by Gianna Robbins
"Chamber of Illusions" by H.F. Gibbard
"The Final Goodbye" by Heather Kuehl
"Amulet" by Jacqueline Seewald
"The Return of the Queen" by Jennifer Moore
"When Love Dies" by Jonathan Shipley
"Dancing On the Corpse of the World" by Jude-Marie Green
"Convergence" by K.L. Townsend
"Kehmet's Curse" by Kari Livingston
"In the precinct of Amun-Re" by Kate Kelly
"The Librarian of Talimbourne" by Kimberly Vandervort
"The Amulet of Passages" by Leslie Brown and Sarah Totton
"Children of the City" by Lyn McConchie
"The Memory" by Meg Swanton
"Panthanatos" by Megan Arkenberg
"Carrying Keptara" by R.F. Long
"Qui's Contract" by Ransom Noble
"The Great Sleep" by Rob Rosen
"The Tomb of Setankan" by Sarah Wagner
"Burning Stone" by Stephen Graham King
"The Deserted City" by Victoria Kennedy
"Haroeris's Favor" by Willis Couvillier

Ruins Metropolis - Now on Amazon

It's out!

Just had an e-mail from the editor to let me know that Ruins Metropolis is now up at Amazon.com and should be available from Amazon.co.uk fairly soon, as well as serveral other outlets.

Now all I need is for my contributers copy to arrive, so that I can see my story 'In the Precinct of Amun-re' in print, as well as read all the other stories and see what the other authors came up with. It's an exciting project, and an impressive line up. Hadley Rille are producing some lovely books. Long may it continue!

Ruins Metropolis Update

Well not much longer by the looks of things – just had an e-mail from the editor and he’s hoping to start shipping the contributor copies in about a week. So, fingers crossed, I could have this in my sweaty little mitts sometime this month. I’m really looking forward to this one – it’s a really interesting project and I can’t wait to see what the other authors have done with the theme: (a story set in the ruins pictured with the woman as protagonist).

Ruins Metropolis - The Proofs

I’ve just had the final set of proofs through to check for the forthcoming anthology ‘Ruins Metropolis’ from Hadley Rille books, which will contain my short Story ‘In the Precinct of Amun-Re’.

The guidelines for this one were to write a story based on a picture – the picture that will form the cover of the book – you can see it here. The story had to feature the woman in the picture as the protagonist and be set in the ruins where she is standing.

I took the ruins to be the temple of Karnak and set my story there, but it is in fact Temple of Horus in Edfu, which looks very similar.

It’s going to be really interesting, when I get my contributor’s copy, to see what all the other authors came up with!

So, since it’s raining and I’m now feeling in an Egyptian mood I think we’ll go and see some mummies this afternoon.