Jason Fischer's Blog, page 27

Midnight Echo #6 – the goings on, and a wee serving of angst.

Hey folks,

We've had a few hiccups this end, but it's all under control again.  We lost our executive director, and between that and real life interrupting all three of the issue #6 co-editors, the wheels of Midnight Echo did fall off somewhat.  Nevermind, we are back on track!  All the slush has been read and responded to, and if you haven't got a rejection letter from me today it means that you are in the 2nd round of reading, congratulations!

There were some great pieces in the slush, and some less-than-great, but one of the things that I noticed were over 3/4 of our slush didn't comply with standard manuscript format.  Many markets have subtle differences in how they want submissions laid out, but if you comply with Shunn's template (found here: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html) you will be okay 90% of the time.

I'm also stunned that several authors quite clearly didn't read the guidelines, with several stories not even qualifying as speculative fiction.  If you can't be bothered to check out what a market is actually looking for, it tells me that you've probably bombarded several markets at once, knowing nothing more than the editor's email address.  It's…not exactly professional.  Always ALWAYS read the submission guidelines.  It will take 1 minute of your time, and vastly improve your chances of finding a home for your tale.  If in doubt, try using duotrope.com which categorises open markets by genre and payment – submit smarter for success, and such.

Lastly….female authors are currently accounting for 26% of our total submissions.  I've put out the call to folks through several mediums/forums, sent some emails around personally soliciting work, and I really don't know what else to do.  If you wonder why a lot of genre magazines seem to publish 75% male authors in the average Table of Contents, THAT'S bloody why (or at least one reason why – I'm sure that in Chauvinism HQ other editors are puffing on stogies and laughing as they shred women's stories holus bolus, or whatever it is they do in there).  I personally am trying to do the right thing by everyone, and it's a little frustrating.  Remember, if we don't see it, how are we meant to buy it all I can do here is reiterate my wish to see our final TOC be a little more inclusive, and representative of the writing community as a whole.  If I didn't give a shit, I wouldn't mention it, grumble mumble, gnashing of teeth…

Closing date is 31st Jan, and guidelines can be read here: http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=144

Friday Pun

Me: "So, Australia missed out on the FIFA World Cup bid."

Workmates: "meh"

Me: "Does that mean the captain of the winning team will get to call himself a Qatar Hero?"

Dominonono!

When a postapocalypse is really an interregnum

I've long been a fan of postapocalyptic fiction, and there's just something about humanity on its knees that gives me goosebumps.  There was a phase when I consumed naught but postapocalyptic stories, movies and video games like a starving man in a Sizzlers, and you probably don't want to know how many times I've watched Mad Max 2.  I still consume the subgenre occasionally, but I think the point where I was voraciously reading the Deathlands books (war-porn postapocalyptic series, the publisher cranks em out every month or so) was when I realised I Had to Give It A Rest.

Still, good fun was had

As far as subgenres go, it's  been on the radar for a long time, notably since the Cold War, when folks were worried that the whole world was going to resemble Fallout 3 on a difficult setting.  And according to the wise sages at Wikipedia, this sort of fiction has been around since the beginnings of literature, with the Babylonians and all their mates having a crack at it (and it posits that the Book of Revelations is a solid candidate for postapocalyptic fiction, which amuses me more than it should).

In my own reading adventures, one thing I've notably avoided is apocalyptic fiction.  Disaster movies and novels, where the breaking of the world is actually taking place, this sort of thing barely keeps my interest.  Okay, so the zombies have arisen, the meteors have struck, and the ocean just washed away your house:  what happens next?

This is where things get interesting (for me, at least).  It's all about the What Happens Next.  When the rules are wiped from the slate, when nothing is left of our society, our civilisation, except the tall tales told by the desperate around timid little campfires, the ruins hinting at what once was, what has been lost.  For me, that's where it's at.

Which tells me that, despite all of my own tastes in media, and to some extent my own writing, I'm not actually that into the postapocalyptic.  In the truest sense of the word, I'm a fan of the interregnum, and like my fiction spiced with a healthy dose of Dark Ages.  Interregnum is quite literally "the time between kings", and in some places it's been treated as a great background device, the feel of a tragic loss, an ennui that can persist for centuries.  I'm thinking of Asimov's Foundation books, to some extent Star Wars from ep 4 onwards, and some great stuff like Mary Stewart's King Arthur books, and most recently Stephen Baxter's novel Coalescents.  One of my favourite areas of historical fiction is the fall of Roman influence, the rapid and complete withdrawal of civilisation from the fragile British Isles, and Stewart and Baxter handled this brilliantly in their respective books.

In Fight Club, I was really rooting for Tyler Durden, and the prospect of Project Mayhem had me salivating:

"We wanted to blast the world free of history…. picture yourself planting radishes and seed potatoes on the fifteenth green of a forgotten golf course.  You'll hunt elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center, and dig clams next to the skeleton of the Space Needle leaning at a forty-five degree angle.  We'll paint the skyscrapers with huge totem faces and goblin tikis, and every evening what's left of mankind will retreat to empty zoos and lock itself in cages as protection against the bears and big cats and wolves that pace and watch us from outside the cage bars at night."

OH HELL YES.  And this, boys and girls, is why I've drifted into writing stuff like zombie fiction – not because I give a rats about how an extinction event has happened, I really just want to know, what the hell is humanity going to do now that it's on its knees?

What happens next?

I can't bear it

Reviewage #2 – It Never Rains But Pours

Wow, these things are rolling out in quick succession!  I truly appreciate when folks take the time to give reviews to short fiction, it's a bugger of a job and a proper review takes quite some time to prepare.  In a previous life I did a lot of fiction reviewing for places like Tangent Online, Specusphere, ASIM, and Last Short Story.  I have emerged from those places with total respect for those who would wield the critic's pen (and the affirmed desire to never again wield the same myself – done my time etc.).  I sincerely believe that every writer should have a go at reviewing, it's great to exercise your own critical faculties, as well as a chance to pay it forward to discerning readers and review-gathering authors like moi.  Over time it's helpful to get an oversight of your preferred genre, learn from the mistakes of others and such.

Anyhow, onto the reviews.  Firstly, reviewer David Conyers over at Albedo One had this to say about my ASIM #46 story The School Bus:

"Mark Farrugia's issue 46 of Andromeda Spaceways standout stories were those of the horror genre. Jason Fischer's "The School Bus" was the best with a post-apocalyptic Australia complete with zombified kangaroos. Told from the point of view of a child, it built its horror slowly so that when the final revelation hit hard, it was the human parents who were the scariest characters to be found anywhere in this dark and disturbing world that Fischer created."

http://www.albedo1.com/reviews/andromeda_spaceways_46_on_spec_77.html

And once more from Horrorscope, my Aurealis #44 story gunning for a tinkerman gets a look-in.  Reviewer Mark Smith-Briggs says:

"Jason Fischer's Gunning for a Tinkerman uses a blend of character and action in the highly entertaining outback tale of a former preacher hunting a man through a world of giant snakes and witchcraft. An apocalyptic style fantasy, there is a lot of fun to be had with Fischer's free flowing prose and warped sense of humour."

http://www.horrorscope.com.au/2010/11/review-aurealis-44.html

It was also nice to see some fellow ink-siblings get recognition for their efforts in ASIM #46, especially  Chris Green and Felicity Dowker (and in Chris's case also for his oztastic "Jumbuck" in Aurealis #44).  Andromeda Spaceways got me into short genre fiction, will always hold a special place in my heart, and I'm glad to see that recent issues are getting such positive feedback.  Despite its mad pulp-retro beginnings, I really believe ASIM has matured and represents Aussie writers very well indeed.

Reviewage

Over at Horrorscope, reviewer Mark Smith-Briggs has undergone the herculean task of reviewing three issues of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in one hit!  Of my issue #46 story The School Bus, Mark says:

"Jason Fischer's The School Bus also uses the innocence and naivety of youth to construct a dark examination of an outback society trapped following the outbreak of a zombie virus. A story of layers, Fischer draws you in through the horrors of a zombie hoarde only to reveal a far more sinister underbelly from the town itself. His writing is a brilliant example where saying a little can be far more disturbing than saying too much."

I am so pleased to hear this, it's exactly what I was aiming for with this story.  The rest of the review can be read here:

http://www.horrorscope.com.au/2010/11/review-asim-46-48.html

(I'm still madly in love with the zombieroo cover)