Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
April 2021 - Science Fiction Microstory Contest (comments only)
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
Mod
It was a great meeting and I really appreciate you taking the time out of your trip to come and have lunch with me! So nice to finally meet you face to face!Okay everyone, I can confirm and personally attest that Jot is a really nice guy. :)
Mod
Gonna head out in our first RV trip in a few days. Not sure yet how far we'll get. Would be great to make it to the Grand Canyon, but likely it'll be a shorter trip.
Mod
Have a great--and safe--trek, Jot. Beautiful time of year for it!
Mod
Does your exploration vehicle have a trilithium-based propulsion system?-C
Mod
I'm back in the grid in South Carolina. Will post my story tomorrow.
Mod
Mine's up. Now I can read the others.
Mod
I kept getting notifications from goodreads about you guys, so I peeked in.Love this months theme and a story popped into my head.
I've missed you guys!
Story is posted.
Mod
Mod
Was a great time with you and yours, Jot! And thank you for the hospitality and grand tour of your terran terror tank. : )
Mod
Did I miss the call for our votes this month, Jot? Anyhow, am sending you mine.
I don't think GoodRead's email notifications are working properly at the moment.
I tried something new. Recorded my story this month on SoundCloud. It's all a bit amateurish - I don't have an external mic, and I was too lazy to re-record some parts where I messed up. Hopefully enjoyable though: https://soundcloud.com/user-419172394...
It may be good to have the yearly sci-fi anthology not only published but also run as an audiobook. Or it could be a podcast series even. That would be interesting as podcast series, could serialize the anthologies from past years and the tack on later anthologies as new seasons.
Mod
Well, I do narrate audiobooks and have produced them for Amazon's ACX platform. This makes them available on iTunes and Audible as well. You can hear my audiobook samples at justinsewall.comSo I could narrate and edit the selected stories, then upload it all into ACX when complete. You would just have to trust me with divvying up any profits that accrued since it would be through my account.
Just an option. It would take some time of course, depending on how many short stories are included.
30+ stories would be a big job. Unless we just did a best-of, or each author only provided one favorite story.
When Carrol and I edited and produced the first of the Future Is Short anthologies, and--as I'm sure Sharon can attest--when people here have edited/collated, and Carrol produced, the next 3 of the anthologies, it was indeed a significant-size job. Each of those was for only a single-year anthology, averaging (a bit less than) 3 stories per author. NOTE also that all, or nearly all, authors were, in these cases, easily reachable for obtaining permissions (forms) from. If you're planning to do this for longer than a single year's worth of stories--let alone if you're thinking of doing it for the years all the way back to early 2013/late 2012--well, have fun getting those permissions (finding current e-addresses may be quite a job in itself).
I don't mean to be discouraging--just suggesting it's more a job than it looks like. Also, what did you have in mind re "editing" the pieces, Justin? Copyediting for consistency--within each story? among the stories for consistency throughout the book (e.g., of spellings)? Surely not content editing--? "Editing" of specific word choices for clarity of oral form of book--? Or---???
"Best of" would be a mistake, I think, given what happened after that was tried for Future Is Short *2. Author's choice of 1 (or 2, or 3?) story/ies would be far more manageable and less likely to cause splits in this group or limit it to only one or two types/styles of stories.
I'm happy to do some of the editing, but only to limited extent.
An anthology is a heavy lift. If we are interested in doing one, we'd need to plan ahead for it so the people involved can schedule for the time. I know for my own part, I wouldn't have the time right now. Perhaps we revisit this in a couple months to see if there is enough current interest and at the point if there is, we can assemble an editorial team and set some deadlines. But I do like the idea of the stories being recorded. 'Portable and in the ear' is a definite added value to any book these days.
Hi Paula!I was only offering to narrate/produce the audiobook. The printed version would need to be compiled, arranged, lightly edited for spelling/punctuation, and finalized. Then I would begin the audiobook. Depending on how many stories it ends up being, it will take some time to produce the audio version. Editing on my end is for making clean audio, not for changing words or content.
Great points, Justin and Sharon.We should probably add that "minor" matters like getting the book copyright (easy enough, through US Copyrights Office), buying and downloading the ISBN numbers (for ebook and POD formats), someone to format and/or design the book, and--do not ignore this part--and working to distribute and sell the book are also important parts of the process. And whoever are the team doing this manifold work should have everyone's--verbal, at least--support during the process.
Elements: A super power/ability; a mask