The Sword and Laser discussion
S&L anthology acceptance emails have been sent!
Ah well. Thanks for the opportunity regardless.
I had fun writing my stories and I see this as practice for the many more rejections I'll surely face.
I look forward to reading the stories of those who made it.
Ditto. Well done those 20 people and looking forward to seeing the selected ones. Was nice to be given the opportunity to submit.
Thanks for sticking to the deadline, Tom! I will try to find a life for my two submissions elsewhere :)
I'm excited to be included in this anthology! Thanks for putting this together and I look forward to reading the other submissions.
Congrats to the 20 chosen ones. Look forward to reading them. And thanks Tom and Veronica for putting it together.
Well done Jeffrey. I know there is a fantasy anthology on facebook looking for submissions. I may use mine for my own anthology. There will be others.
You better love me Tom and Veronica. I needed that $200. Seriously though, congratulations to all the winners. I can't wait to read your stories.
Alexandra wrote: "Well done Jeffrey. I know there is a fantasy anthology on facebook looking for submissions. I may use mine for my own anthology. There will be others."Thanks! And there are always new markets. I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do with the story.
Mod
When does it come out and will it be the monthly pick? o.O
In the SF Signal podcast, you mentioned there wasn't a set release date as of yet. Would you happen to have a more general estimate for when you're hoping to publish the anthology by?
I'd also like to say thanks. I continued to work on my short story after I submitted it, using it as an opening chapter, and I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the novel that resulted.
It was writing for the contest that got me started writing everyday. I wouldn't be anywhere near finished with my novel if not for the habits I built up over the course of writing the short story.
I'd also like to say thanks. I continued to work on my short story after I submitted it, using it as an opening chapter, and I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the novel that resulted.
It was writing for the contest that got me started writing everyday. I wouldn't be anywhere near finished with my novel if not for the habits I built up over the course of writing the short story.
Mod
That's great to hear ET! I don't remember if yours was one, but several entries received the notes "Seems like an opening chapter not a short story" which is a positive for sure! Glad to know you stayed inspired.
We hope to have all the rights and things cleared away by September 15. Then we need to do edits. Not heavy edits thankfully, but all books need edits. While all that's being done we'll be looking for publishing partners. We plan to have Creative Commons and self-published versions for sure, but we also want to see what other options are out there.
If all goes well I would hope no later than sometime early 2014 you would be able to download or purchase it! I'm not deliberately being vague, but having never done this before we don't really know how long it's going to take.
Tom wrote: "THERE WERE TOO MANY GOOD STORIES!!!!!You're doing it all wrong! You're suppose to send out thousands of identical emails stating that you appreciate the interest but the story simply wasn't what you were looking for. Perhaps some note about improving clarity or spelling and how you might be interested in further submissions.
How am I going to start my rejection slip collection with some comment about too many good stories? That is far too cheery to count as a rejection slip. I had a spike installed on my wall just for the occasion. Now I have to go write my own vague and spirit crushing comment to impale on my wall spike.
Should I sign it Tom and Veronica, or Veronica and Tom, or just The Sword and Laser Gang or Crew?
Mod
You're doing it all wrong! You're suppose to send out thousands of identical emails stating that you appreciate the interest but the story simply ..."
Always Veronica first. Always.
"It is at this moment that I realize that this was a horrible idea." I hope you don't really feel that way. Speaking as someone who didn't make it. I'm glad I entered. I enjoyed writing my story and learned a little more about my writing process, and style. I wont lie, getting that email would have meant a lot but I regret nothing (except for a few embarrassing grammatical errors I discovered post submission).
Mod
No no, just a little sarcasm. Mostly. We do hate letting people down. Ever.
At least now we know. I can send mine somewhere else. My next question is what's the cover art going to be? Also, when do we get a table of contents? I don't know why but I always like when anthologies release the ToC a month or two before the release.
Mod
Congrats to everyone who got chosen! I look forward to reading your stories.
Matt wrote: "I very much enjoyed the experience. This is my first time writing a short story and submitting and it was a lot of fun.Here's my sci-fi story if anyone fancies taking a peek:
http://ingy.ca/cc"
Oh it was a great experience. In fact, the third story I didn't have time to submit prompted me to write more stories about the main character. I've got three completed adventures so far. So this contest kicked my imagination into overdrive.
Congratulation to all those who got accepted.
Congratulations to all who were accepted and thanks to Tom & Veronica for setting this up in the first place. It probably spurred more authors than you'll ever know. Thanks again for the opportunity and I can't wait to read the anthology!
Hi, all. Just wanted to pop in to thank Tom, Veronica, Aaron, Becca, CJ, and Josh for all the reading they did. I'm one of the fortunate twenty, and deeply honored to be so. I'm a long-time listener, and I can think of no better place to get my very first publishing credit than here.I hope you all enjoy my contribution when the time comes. I know I can't wait to read the other nineteen.
PK
Congratulations to everyone who got accepted! Looking forward to reading it.
Yep, thank you for getting me to actually finish something - and Foil & Phaser is a really nice spin-off.I do wish there was some way of finding out whether it was a B+, an F, or simply not the droid you were looking for...:)
Seawood wrote: "I do wish there was some way of finding out whether it was a B+, an F, or simply not the droid you were looking for... :)"I know exactly how you feel.
Rejection stings... not knowing why is even worse, but unfortunately the "rejection slips" rarely contain feedback :)
Seawood wrote: "Yep, thank you for getting me to actually finish something - and Foil & Phaser is a really nice spin-off.I do wish there was some way of finding out whether it was a B+, an F, or simply not the d..."
I am working on some ideas. In the meantime, anyone who wants to share their story can send it in to Foil & Phaser. I've already put one of mine up, this time without the typos.
Congratulations to everyone selected! I'm disappointed my story prey didn't make the cut, but I had fun writing it. I've posted it on my blog The Aspiring Writer so feel free to like, share, and critique it. And I look forward to reading the winning entries.
I would like to repeat Tom's comment: there were many, many good stories amongst the submissions. At time it seemed it would have been possible to put together several themed anthologies just from the neat parallels between different stories, and the ways in which different authors treated their material. Anyone who submitted their work should feel proud of it.
Congrats to all the winners. I'm just glad I took a shot at it. Two more rejections for the ever growing pile. And for everyone else who were also rejected, polish it up and submit it to other journals and ezines. There are lots of paying spec fiction markets out there.
What do you think the odds on Tom and Veronica drinking enough over the next year to forget how much work it is putting this anthology together to do another?
There are ways they could reduce the workload, starting with a MUCH tighter submission window. :) But we should probably give them a LITTLE more recovery time before slapping that idea in their faces!I'd like to add my own congrats to those who had stories accepted. Can't wait to read the results. :)
I was thinking something like everyone who submits an entry, reviews 5 other entries (not their own) and rank them somehow then Tom, Veronica & co could select from the top 30% (or whatever). There maybe some way to game such a system that I'm not considering (there usually is)
The easiest way to reduce the workload would be to limit everyone to one story. Very few markets allow multiple submissions. If everyone submitted 3 stories, which statistically they probably didn't, and that's nigh on 1000 entries, limiting it to one (and thereby encouraging people to concentrate on making that one the best it can be) would cut it to 330. Congratulation to those who made it!
Barely been on here cos of work and (appropriately) writing, but thought I'd pop in and say congratulations to all who got their stories accepted. I'm obviously disappointed mine wasn't among them, but from some of the stuff I've seen in these forums, I knew competition would be stiff.Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
So, when can we see the ones that won? I'm really excited to see what other people came up with.
congratulations to those who made it, I can't wait to read them
Congrats to Paul and all the other writers whose works were accepted! I look forward to seeing the range of works across the Sword & Laser genre.
Congratulations to everyone accepted! Even though I didn't make it I'm so glad I submitted a story, because I ended up taking the idea from my short story and working it into an entire novel that I've been busy planning (and writing finally) all summer!
I wish you could send along the notes at least, or even form letters. Empty silence is not a nice thing to be left with.
Gotta give'em credit for getting the decisions made in a reasonable amount of time given the number of submissions. Form letters wouldn't do much to help improve your story or writing. You could head over to the Foil & Phaser website (http://foilandphaser.wordpress.com/) if you want some feedback on your submissions.
I really need to be more active on the forums. I didn't realize that only 20 stories got picked. Now I'm even more overwhelmed at getting one of my stories included in the anthology.Seriously, holy crap.
Now I really have no excuse not try getting my other stuff published.
Wilson wrote: "I wish you could send along the notes at least, or even form letters. Empty silence is not a nice thing to be left with."True, but it's sadly what most submissions generate. I submitted my first novel to two dozen agents. Half of those didn't bother replying, and only one ever sent back more than a form letter. It wasn't until I got shortlisted at an actual publisher that there was much in the way of feedback.
In my experience of popular (as opposed to academic) publishing, this is an inevitable consequence of both the numbers and the psychology of rejection. For this anthology, 20 stories out of well over 1,000 submissions means we'd have to craft 980 write-ups for the rejectees. Daunting. And then, of course, if silence is no fun, hearing why someone rejected you can be worse.
I got a rejection letter from Marion Zimmer Bradley once. She said, bluntly, that she just couldn't find any reason to give a damn about my characters. Kind of sucked all the fun out of getting an actual letter from her.
P. Aaron wrote: "I got a rejection letter from Marion Zimmer Bradley once. She said, bluntly, that she just couldn't find any reason to give a damn about my characters. Kind of sucked all the fun out of getting an actual letter from her. "Ouch! But at least you knew what to work on! She could have just said, "Never bother us again."
P. Aaron wrote: "Wilson wrote: "I wish you could send along the notes at least, or even form letters. Empty silence is not a nice thing to be left with."True, but it's sadly what most submissions generate. I sub..."
Despite that, I don't think I've ever had a no-response from a short fiction market. Agents, yes. Anthologies and zines, no. They always send at least a form rejection (which presumably requires bcc-ing everyone into a single, standard, thank you email). As suggested in the podcast, I suspect at least some entries came from people outside the Goodreads group. The anthology was listed on Duotrope etc.
Still, I can understand they're busy :)
So where is the thing for submission to the site aggregating the unaccepted stories? I've been dragging the forum but I can't find the link. Is this still a thing?
Daniel wrote: "So where is the thing for submission to the site aggregating the unaccepted stories? I've been dragging the forum but I can't find the link. Is this still a thing?"Tom wrote: I believe this is what you're looking for?
http://foilandphaser.wordpress.com/
To read the submitted stories select Renegade Anthology from the menu.
To submit one yourself, see this page or email to foilandphaser at gmail dot com.
Please leave a note somewhere that this was an anthology sub. You can also include a short bio and links to your site/social media which we will put up with the post. And if you've already posted somewhere else, we can reblog/link to it.
We have sen our emails to those accepted for the Sword and Laser Anthology.
It is at this moment that I realize that this was a horrible idea. Why? because we only can pick 20 stories (because reasons). Which means we were assured from the start to disappoint 99% of you. But there it is.
THERE WERE TOO MANY GOOD STORIES!!!!!
So if you did not get an email today don't feel bad. Lots of great stuff couldn't fit. And if you haven't got an email from us by now, well, know that we still love you, but your story will not be in the anthology.
And HUGE thanks to our readers that helped us in the selection process. Without Becca, Josh, CJ and Aaron we could have never got this done.
Let's all give a big round of applause to those who did make it in. All of you all rock so hard it makes us weep with joy.
Now I'm sure you all have questions so please direct them to Veronica
/me ducks