Daily Science Fiction: July Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

Fall is here but memories of a warm summer resurface when I compiled these reviews from my wonderful friends. The June reviews were ones I reserved for myself but while I worked on them my rock-solid cohorts plugged away at July. Mr Anonymous, Dustin Adams, and James Hanzelka have done their diligence and gave these wonderful works of art the once over. I, of course, couldn’t let them take all the glory so took the time to review a few of them myself. But this review isn’t about the people who do the reviewing, it’s about the storiesâ€.

 

The Stories

“Barnaby: Or, As Luck Would Have It” by K. G. Jewell (debut 7/3 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a tale of irony. Or in Barnaby’s case, unfortunate irony. Barnaby travels to an auction in Paris to bid on a simple abacus for his and his family’s collection, but soon finds something much more interesting, a ward of Napoleon, which brings good luck to the wearer.

The ward, however, can only be possessed by someone who is pure of heart, and Barnaby wants it for unselfish means. At first, Barnaby thinks only of himself, and thus cannot own the ward, but eventually, upon rearranging his thinking to that of his sick fiancee, becomes able to steal the ward from its current owner. Only at the last, does he realize his mistake.

I won’t reveal the particulars of the ending, but I will say the clues presented throughout were fairly revealing. Because of this, the story felt long. Once it became obvious there was to be a twist of luck at the end, I found myself anticipating it and growing impatient as the details of Barnaby’s desire and his theft wore on.

Overall, this was a fine story, but it could have been a little shorter.

 

I found “Like the Fourth of July” by John Paolicelli (debut 7/4 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) to be a convenient story for the date it was published, but lacking in being a true yarn.

We focus on a girl renamed Rebekah, who lives among others in a cult ready to cross over on the day of Rapture. Reminiscent of the Heaven’s Gate cult, we’re given a glimpse of what it might have been like.

Rebekah remembers her “before” name and at the last moment, decides not to take her pill and expire with the others, but to go outside and observe the comet which she’s been told will resemble a trillion Fourth of Julys.

This turns out to be quite true as the comet crashes into Earth and presumably extinguishes all life. I’m all for humanity ending stories, as long as that’s the beginning of the story, not the quick end.

 

“UPGRADE” by Allison Starkweather (debut on July 5th 2011 and reviewed by Anonymous).

An old woman’s failing memory is worsened by the fact her implant–digital memory–is failing too. Her grandson arranges for her to have state of the art module to replace the defective unit and so improve her life.

I had a sense of growing annoyance when I read ‘UPGRADE’. To be fair, I always get that sinking feeling when I have a nice mature story idea sitting on my hard drive waiting to be written and then come across something similar already written by someone else. However, this story was well written, and reflected some of the lack of coherence implicit with a failing mind. It was an easy read, but not a standout story. I did think that a little more could be done with the premise, but perhaps that is just me.

 

Is this what the future holds? Is this the extreme of cures in pill form? In “Blink” by Carol Hassler (debut 7/6 and reviewed by Dustin Adams), it is indeed. The pills to eliminate sleep proved to have ill effects, so the next great thing are pills which allow for the reclamation of our blinking time. Seconds a day add up!

I enjoyed this story, and interestingly, DSF broke the story in a place where I felt it had reached its natural conclusion. I then displayed the entire story, but found the additional words didn’t add to the narrative. In fact, they started us in a different direction which was wrapped up quickly, albeit apropos to the story itself.

So, I encourage you to check this story out. Read to the break, or beyond, it’s almost like reading two stories for the price of one. Someone should market this idea. Perhaps there could be a pill…

 

“Off The Shelf” by Gaea Dill-D’Ascoli (debut 7/7 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) represents the idea of purchasing a child. The main character buys a baby boy, after his expiration date, and we spend a few paragraphs reading about her/his second thoughts regarding the purchase. Each time something negative happens in the boy’s life, doubt creeps in regarding the initial purchase.

At 350 words, there isn’t much time to get to know anyone, but the author does a fine job of presenting a problem, and giving us a conclusion.

I found the age of the boy difficult to keep track of. I couldn’t latch on to a linear storyline. I also felt the short word count hurt the story. If it doubled to 700, this story could have easily been twice as satisfying.

Short, and well written, it’s worth a quick read.

 

“Filling up the Void” by Richard E. Gropp (debut 7/8 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is about an indentured servant who’s paying back a debt to the geneticists that gave him his new wolf body. The repayment is made through filming porno movies with other animal/human hybrids, as well as through individual sexual encounters.

The death of the Big Bad Wolf’s favorite client, The Linguist, creates minor complications to the plot, but major ones to his heart. However, here is where the story diverges.

As it turns out, The Linguist works at a university, “developing computer algorithms to better encode information.” i.e. coding our consciousness into data form. His death – is only the beginning.

This is a love story, told through the eyes of sex, violence, swear words, and blasphemy. (These are the author’s words, not mine.) Certainly this story offers a different fare, but heed the initial warning at the top of this page. If these things aren’t for you, read the following day’s story.

 

“Persistence” by Kurt Newton (debut July 11th 2011 and reviewed by Anonymous)

A pair of brothers have created a machine to bridge the gap between the living and the dead. They try to contact their father to offer him some solace.

This was a brief, well written story with an interesting, but not relatively fresh premise–I am reminded of a similar device proving the existence of Jesus in an another story.

There is a nice twist delivered half-way through the story. Despite being a very short story, it persisted for longer than I expected after the twistâ€

 

“Suspicious” by James Patrick Kelly (debut 7/12 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). After suffering a traumatic end to her marriage and suspecting infidelity Marva Gundersen seeks treatment. Initially agreeing to having a false memory implanted, she now wants it removed, or does she?

This story has an interesting premise and is done fairly well. I was a little let down by the ending because it seemed a little too mundane for the level of expectations built by the story.

 

“Distant Dragon” by L.L. Phelps (debut 7/13 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). Mei Ling is sitting with her grandfather hoping to catch sight of the yearly flight of the dragon. The dragon’s appearance brings the rains that sustained her village, but few are chosen to see him. Mei Ling hopes this will be her year.

This is a nice story about family, faith and the hopes of children. Like Santa, Mei Ling’s dragon is something that transcends the real world, and the author does a good job of transporting us to that mythical realm.

 

“Heart of Gold” by James Valvis (debut 7/14 and reviewed by Anonymous) is a super short story about a man born with a heart of gold, literally. It is written more like a fable. His condition is discussed in the story and compared to other conditions (brass balls!).Then man with a heart of gold meets a man without a heartâ€

I enjoyed this very brief story. It was well written, nicely paced and ends well. Small, but perfectly formed. Recommended.

 

Doll is a new little sister to Jakey, but not a normal little sister in “Still Life” by A.C. Wise (debut 7/15 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). She’s been created to fill the void left by a missing wife and lost daughter. As this family moves through life there are the normal twists and turns, but will the ending be the same?

I found the writing a little uneven in the beginning, but once the story settled in it became better. The story itself has a great deal of depth and touches on a number of different themes. In the end though, it’s a story about a family. The author does a good job of getting you to feel their loss and growth.

 

What if you had a peculiar form of Alzheimer’s? One where you could only remember what happens in the future. How would that affect those around you? Well, in “Deathbed” by Caroline M Yoachim (debut 7/18 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) you are about to find out.

This is a short story with a big impact. Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older, but the sadness and love the author packs into this little tale is touching.

 

“The Wishwriter’s Wife” by Ian McHugh (debut 7/19 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) is the story of a gentle and generous wishwriter and his gentle and generous wife. The wishwriter writes wishes so that people may get what they desire from a single wish, as long as it doesn’t break certain rules. He has his wish, but does his wife?

I’m not a big fantasy fan, but this story was well crafted and carried a nice story. I was a little put off by the repetition of “gentle and generous”, but that is a small quibble. The story has a nice little twist at the end, which I love in a shorter work.

 

“Paying the Tab” by Brain K Lowe (debut 7/20) is the story of Santos and Bernard. Santos is the hunter, Bernard the prey. Stalker and Werewolf meet one last time in a bar where hunter becomes prey, or does he?

I love a good werewolf or vampire story set in modern times. This is one of those with twists and turns throughout its short length. Good fun and a good read.

 

In “Counting Coup” by Kat Otis (debut 7/21 and reviewed by Anonymous), a world where people are divided into ‘daylighters’ (see in the day only) and ‘nightlighters’ (see in the night only), a young girl is able to see in both worlds due her mother catching moonblink during her pregnancy. When a young nightlighter comes silently to steal her belongings to prove his manhood to his clan(?), she spots him in the darkness and they talk for a while…

This story was a nice read and was well written. I found it rather hard to believe that groups of people could ONLY see in the day or ONLY see in the night, but I guess a longer story may explain this condition satisfactorily. That said, I was able to overlook this while reading and enjoyed the story.

 

“Forever Sixteen” by Amy Sundberg (debut 7/22 and reviewed by Frank) is the story of a very old woman who is still a young and vibrant sixteen-year old virgin. Clara is the Sybil, a woman with the gift of prophecy. She has been frozen in the twilight between adolescences and adulthood, the time in which a virgin girl is blessed with foresight, but with the gift of immortality comes isolation. She is a prisoner in a palace, forever locked away from a real life. Clara plans an escape, hoping a champion will rescue her, or at least take her virginity so her gift will be useless. She pins her hope on Eric, a young man seeking advice for his path.

“Forever Sixteen” is a castaway tale for a woman who isn’t alone. Her palace is set in a barren land. Clara is living in regret. She clings to a name she hasn’t spoken of in eons, the last bit of a girl she used to be long ago. Her noble commitment to become the Sybil for the benefit of her family now rings hollow to her. She increasingly seeks escape.

The story turns midway through when a new Sybil is ushered in, her replacement, a young girl who is looking forward to becoming immortal, will allow Clara to leave for good, but exchanging places for this naà ¯ve girl is more than Clara can bare.

I did like this story. Done from Clara’s perspective, you can envision the poor girl’s imprisonment within her mystique. From afar, she is revered. Imagine if the Pope begged you to help him escape for the Vatican. You might think he was testing your faith.

Although I did enjoy the premise, the sad existence of the character (and sad ending as well) left me more bummed as I read on. I almost feel as if my life would have been richer if I passed it by. Good story, but don’t expected it to brighten your day.

 

“Toad Sister” by Joanna Michal Hoyt (debut 7/25 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a tale about the necessity of the negative. Told first person from the perspective of the character who is traditionally vilified, the protagonist, in this case, is shunned until the realization comes that there’s a place for her in the world after all.”

“Toad Sister”‘ suffers mildly in prose due to its brevity, however, it makes up for this with compact storytelling. The story, for the most part is told, not shown, contradicting the modern tendency toward all show and description. Sometimes it’s OK to just tell it like it is, and how it happened. This story agrees.

I gave this story 4 rockets.

 

“Only Backwards” by Kenneth S Kao (debut 7/26 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a quaint story about a perfect moment and the time travelers who seek to revisit said moment.

I think.

Kenneth Kao gets a pass because I’ve read numerous quality stories from him. Regarding this one, I can only state that I started it confused, finished it confused, and was confused along the way. I love time travel stories. Big fan. Just not this one.

I rated this story by giving it 1 rocket.

 

The court jester entertains Prince James with a tale of a past employer of his in “The Jester” by Maria Melissa Obedoza (debut 7/27 and reviewed by Frank). The jester is popular in the court. He is loved by all but is clumsy. The jester jests to the prince that he is really a dark mage and shows him a box with puppets joined by a string, claiming they are a princess and her lover.

I found this to be a pleasing tale. The tale is a fable within a story, told well in the short amount of words with a creepy ending. What I didn’t like was the author’s overuse of adverbs, giving the piece false excitement when it wasn’t needed.

Despite my minor complaint, “The Jester” is a tale worth reading.

 

“Blessed are the Sowers” by Robert Lowell Russell (debut July 28th and reviewed by Anonymous)

I read Blessed are the Sowers once on the principle that a story only needs to read once and everything should be clear–I didn’t quote get that. The human race has been pushed to almost extinction by an alien race; Earth has been destroyed and humanity is on the run between the stars, but they haven’t given up. Despite being hunted themselves, human covert military units raid alien owned worlds, wreaking havoc and vengeance. The message they are sending is clearâ€

The story is one big explanation–a summary of events, if you will–delivered by the human commander to a captured alien. There is no action apart from small gestures, holding hands, etc. While the world/situation was interesting I can’t say the story really worked for me on an emotional level.

 

Patricia finds a bowler hat on the ground with a head poking through the soil under it in “The Large People” by Karen Heuler (debut 7/29 and reviewed by Frank). In short time, other heads begin to emerge from the earth, growing like weeds. Men and women, smartly dressed, reading newspapers while drinking coffee as if waiting for the bus, sprout from the ground until they are free from the earth. They are headed to the city, on their way to change it. The retired Patricia – missing her professional life – follows along.

“The Large People” is a uniquely inventive tale. The ‘grown’ people are indeed large, standing at a towering seven feet. They are coming to green up mankind’s sprawling progress. Patricia inserts herself as member of the group. Their leader, the bowler hat wearing man named Roland, is grateful that she is joining on their crusade. She becomes conflicted when she learns of the groups intentions. As the lone real person, she wonders if she is betraying mankind.

The story starts off as a curious fantasy that evolves into a speculative tale of activism. What first appeared as a harmlessly fun story, became a violent one. Roland tells Patricia that they are declaring war; even admitting that some may get hurt. The changing premise did give it a different tone.

Ms. Heuler wrote a splendid story. I could see a reader or two getting turned off by a tale that starts off as harmless fun then turning into something that appears to be making a political statement. “The Large People” does have an environmental activist flavor to it, but I rather liked it. The story does deserve a recommendation but the holes in its premise kept me from giving it one. I found it difficult to accept that no one wanted to detain seven-foot strangers when so much mayhem occurs. Absent that, I found the tale flawless, an excellent tale complete with a subtle moral.

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Analysis

Flash fiction is on the rise. More publications ask for it, are publishing more of it, and are reserving larger amounts of space in their pages for it. Yet, it is treated like the forgotten stepchild, left to walk home alone from school to do the chores while the natural children are driven to their dance recitals and football practice. Novella and Novelette receive all the praise while Flash Fiction child gets the calluses. Well not this time.

On Oct. 10th, Daily Science Fiction brought to all who receive their emailed story attention, the Micro Awards. The award honors the best flash fiction story of the year (flash fiction defined as works of fiction 1000 words and under). The editors of DSF encouraged their readers to nominate their favorite of the year. There is one problem with that, readers aren’t eligible to do the nominating.

As stated in their rulesâ€

An author may submit one story of his or her own; the senior editor of a magazine or anthology, or any staff member designated by him or her, may submit two stories if both are from his or her own publication and neither is self-written.

So we can’t (unless you wrote the story) but Jon and Michele can, and they can pick their own favorite, one apiece.

Although I can’t nominate my favorite, picking the one I think should win is something I can do here. There are several well worth nominating, but picking my favorite here at DSF was easyâ€

”Buy you a Mocking Bird” by Eric James Stone.

â€unfortunately, it debut Dec. 14 of last year (bummer). My second place choice would beâ€

“Y is for Yellow” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut June 22) .

â€but there are several well worth nominating. I hope to see several from DSF in the final round of the Micro awards. I urge all who have submitted to DSF to submit theirs to it.

I would like to congratulate fellow reviewer Dustin Adams for his finalist entry in the 3rd quarter of the 2011 Writers of the Future contest. His story was picked in the top half of the eight finalist; unfortunately, you need to make the top three to win L. Nevertheless, an amazing feat. Expect to see big things from Dustin in the near future. He is that good of a writer.

 

The Best of the Dunesteef

written by David Steffen

And so ends my latest stop on my world podcast tour, this time with Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich of the Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine. I highly recommend listening to this podcast for your fiction fix. Not since the Drabblecast has any publication given me a stream of stories that I so consistently enjoyed. Their choice in style does remind me somewhat of the Drabblecast, though they take longer stories, but Rish and Big have instilled the podcast with their own brand. This Best Of list covers the episodes from Episode 0 all the way to the current Episode 114.

They pick good stories, but where they shine the strongest is in the production values. Most episodes have a full cast recording, often with full-on Foley effects. The result sounds completely professional. In more recent episodes, they’ve taken volunteer producers, and the result has been consistently great from these guests, as each puts their own (but all hard-working) spin on it.

What makes The Dunesteef really unique is the after-story talk. After the story, Big and Rish talk about whatever they feel like talking about. Movies, or writing, or pet peeves, or about the making of the show. Very little of it is scripted, which makes it feel like hanging out with friends. They say they put the banter after the story so that listeners can easily skip it, but I have found it consistently entertaining. I’ve never skipped past it (nor any of the stories for that manner). This is what morning radio comedy shows are supposed to be like, but Big and Rish are actually funny, and they actually talk about stuff that I give a crap about. Besides Big and Rish, the other two regular staff members are the always entertaining Announcer Man (who always reminds me of Stan Lee for some reason), and their robotic production assistant R080T.

Another feature that makes this podcast particularly interesting is the “Broken Mirror Story Events” they held in 2009 and 2010. For this event, they give a short prompt for a speculative fiction premise, and all entered stories must follow that premise. Entrants can all read each other’s stories and vote on their favorites, and the top voted few make it onto the podcast. For instance, the 2009 event was based on the line “”Someone arrives in town, and discovers that everyone there is exactly the same.” I hope they do another one now that I’m a member, because this sort of writing exercise really gets me excited!

“That’s all well and good,” you say, “but what the heck does ‘Dunesteef’ even mean?” I wondered that myself. Oddly, Big and Rish have never explained what it means. I did the liberty of doing a bit of research so that I could share it with you good people, and you wouldn’t be frustrated while listening to the backlog that you don’t know what it means.

It turns out that Dunesteef is the common name for Clupea sanguis, a rare fish. The Dunesteef fish is easily marked out by its distinctive smell of freshly soiled sweat socks, and it reputedly tastes much like burnt hair, but it is considered a delicacy among the world’s mega-elite for its extreme rarity(only 12 people alive today have tasted of its meat) . Decades-long wars have been ended by the gift of a single plate of boiled Dunesteef given from one leader to another as a sign of great respect, creating a nigh unbreakable bond between the nations for centuries after. I don’t know exactly what Big and Rish had in mind with this name, but I’d guess they were trying to say how much they respected their audience, and how they intend to provide only the best for us. Or maybe it’s some kind of obscure satirical commentary on the plight of the noble Komodo Dragon. Or maybe it’s a joke about body odor. Really, with these guys, there’s no telling.

On to the list!

 

The List

1. This Must Be the Place by Elliot Bangs
What would you do if you could travel through time? This one gives a plan that I had never seen coming. Great story, great characters, well told.

2. Hang Up and Try Again by Derek L. Palmer
Who would you call if you could call anyone and talk to them for three minutes? Anyone, real or not, contemporary or not. What would you ask?

3. The Day Hypnotism Died by Kevin David Anderson
Four teenage boys go to a hypnotist act. They just want to kill a little time, but the show isn’t at all what they expected. A hell of a dark story.

4. Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep by Jason Sanford
Jason Sanford is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors. He has a varied style, and an incredible imagination. In this story, normally quiet and peaceful people have turned suddenly violent. It’s not a zombie apocalypse, it’s something different, something like I’ve never seen. “Peeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccceeeee!”

5. Anakoinosis by Tobias S. Buckell
Awell-told alien point of view, telling of a race of furry little aliens that have become the new workforce for a crashlanded ship’s crew.

6. ÃÅ”berman by John Medaille
This one is very dark, and definitely not for everyone. It is told as an interrogation of indestructible ÃÅ”berman, Nazi Germany’s superhuman soldier, captured in the midst of World War II.

7. Plague Birds by Jason Sanford
Yup, another Sanford story. This one in a post-apocalyptic wilderness filled with human-animal hybrids and AI vigilantes. I love this guy’s imagination.

8. Whelp by Damon Shaw
A horror story about a dog, not for the squeamish. I’ll leave you to discover the rest.

9. Tattletale by Christopher Fisher
A father makes up a scary story to scare his kids, but sometimes a lie goes further than you could ever anticipate.

10. Tupac Shakur and the End of the World by Sandra McDonald
Post-apocalyptic story where the world’s population has been afflicted by a condition where the slightest bruise will cause your entire body to turn rigid in a matter of hours. Don’t worry, you don’t have to like Tupac to like the story.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Good Day by Saul Lemerond
Not for the easily offended. One that manages to be very dark and funny at the same time.

Open Twenty-Four Hours by Edward McKeown
Welcome to Earth Mart!

Casts a Demon Shadow by Derek J. Goodman
A Weird West tale with curses, gargoyles, and six-shooters.

Raising Archie by Michael Stone
Michael Stone is a regular contributor to the Dunesteef. This is my favorite of his stories here.

Emmett, Joey, and the Beelz by Ralph Sevush
Golems. ‘Nuff said.

 

New Magazine: Cosmic Vinegar

written by David Steffen

Just a brief article today, to make anyone who might be interested aware of a new monthly non-fiction magazine titled “Cosmic Vinegar“, edited and (so far) written by Samuel X. Brase. In Brase’s own words, his goals for the magazine are twofold:

This e-magazine has two goals.

“One: to produce a politically inspired serial story. Written by Samuel X. Brase, myself, editor of this e-mag.

“Two: to produce reviews of independently published science fiction. Written by myself as well, to start, although I am open to outside reviewers.”

He has posted the first issue of the magazine, the October 2011 issue, and one of the two stories he reviewed was my “The Infinite Onion”, published in AE earlier this year. Brase says “This review is meant less to critique the stories and more to analyze the themes and narrative present.” I found it very interesting to see the discussion of my odd little flash story. One of the most interesting things I’ve found in this writing vocation is when others discuss the inherent themes in a story I’ve written. Sometimes those themes match up with what I intended, and sometimes they don’t, but I’m of the opinion that there is no incorrect interpretation of theme as long as it is supported by the text itself, regardless of author intent.

I’ve got to say I’m rather surprised for a story of mine to be reviewed in a magazine focusing on politically related science fiction. I’ve never really set out to write such a thing, and I would not have labeled my story as such, but I think his reaction is great.

Maker of Leviathans: Eric James Stone

A Nebula Award winner and Hugo nominee, Eric James Stone has been published in Year’s Best SF, Analog, and elsewhere. Eric is a Writers of the Future winner, graduate of Orson Scott Card’s writing workshop, and assistant editor at Intergalactic Medicine Show.

Eric lives in Utah. His website is www.ericjamesstone.com.

David Steffen: ÂThis has been quite a year for you, winning your first Nebula award, and being nominated for a Hugo for the same story. ÂHave these awards been a major goal for you? ÂWhat’s next?

Eric James Stone: I remember reading Hugo and Nebula anthologies when I was a teenager, so I felt incredibly honored to be nominated for both awards. While I did dream about being nominated for a Nebula or Hugo, I didn’t think it was all that likely because there are so many excellent authors writing today.

David: ÂWhere did the idea for your Nebula-winning, Hugo-nominated story “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” come from?

Eric: It came from an assignment at a writing workshop taught by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Sheila Williams. The prompt was: “You are in the middle of the sun and can’t get a date.” Because my religion is a big part of my life, and because I hadn’t seen a story with a believing Mormon protagonist in a high-tech future, I decided to write such a story. I wrote the first third of the story while at the workshop, but I had no idea what would happen in the rest of the story. Fortunately, I received a lot of encouragement from friends to finish the story, so I did. At the time, of course, I had no idea it would get nominated for anything.

David: ÂDo you find your view on writing has changed since you took the role as assistant editor at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show?

Eric:Â I’ve really learned the importance of a satisfying ending. One of the worst things for an editor is to read a story with a good beginning and middle, but which falls apart at the end.

David: ÂHas writing gotten easier for you over the years, or harder?

Eric: Both. It’s gotten easier in some ways, because I think I have a better feel for what makes stories work. But it’s gotten harder in other ways, because I notice my weaknesses more but haven’t quite figured out how to solve them.

David: ÂIf you could give just one piece of advice to aspiring authors, what would it be?

Eric: I took some creative writing classes in college. I thought one of the stories I had written might be publishable, so I submitted it twice and got rejected both times. That discouraged me enough that I quit writing stories for over ten years. My advice to new writers is not to be as big of an idiot as I was. Keep writing.

David: ÂWhat’s your happiest memory?

Eric:Â 2009 was a really happy year for me for reasons mostly unrelated to writing, so I look back on it rather fondly.

David: ÂWhat fictional place would you most like to visit?

Eric:Â The U.S.S. Enterprise.

David: ÂDo you have any works in progress you’d like to talk about?

Eric:Â I’m in the process of editing a novel for a publisher who may be interested, but I can’t go into specifics about it.

David: ÂAny upcoming publications?

Eric: I have new stories forthcoming in Analog Science Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, Digital Science Fiction, and Blood Lite 3: Aftertaste. (For some reason, I have the sudden urge to sing “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.”) My Nebula-Award-winning story will be reprinted in an anthology called Monsters & Mormons, as well as the Nebula Awards Showcase volume coming out next year.

David: ÂWhat was the last book you read?

Eric:Â Mission of Honor by David Weber. His Honor Harrington series is my favorite series.

David: ÂYour favorite book?

Eric:Â Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.

David: ÂWho is your favorite author?

Eric:Â When I was a teenager, it was Isaac Asimov. Later, it was Orson Scott Card. Now, I’ve read so many fantastic stories by great authors that I really can’t choose a favorite.

David: ÂWhat was the last movie you saw?

Eric:Â The last movie I saw in a theater was X-Men: First Class. I think the last movie I watched at home was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

David: ÂWhat is your favorite movie?

Eric:Â Probably Raiders of the Lost Ark.

David: ÂEric, thanks for taking the time for the interview.

Image Copyright © 2008 by Eric James Stone.

The Importance of a Thick Skin

written by David Steffen

This post was originally written up in response to after-story discussion on Dunesteef Episode 108 on their forum, speaking about how to take rejection.

A thick skin doesn’t come naturally. You have to cultivate it. One of the biggest ways that I did this when I started writing fiction is critique forums. My particular favorite is Baen’s Bar. Post some stuff there in the Baen’s Bar Slush, get some feedback, post feedback on other people’s stories. Yeah, the negative comments can be hard to take at first, but you learn to extract the useful parts of them. If you critique enough stuff from other people you can learn to take that cold critical eye and apply it to your own writing, and then when someone comments on your stuff, even when they don’t like it you can decide objectively “Yeah, that makes sense” or “No, that advice is absolute crap”. I wrote up an article a while back suggesting some rules for critiquing and receiving critiques. Some of it has to do with this subject, especially the rule “This Is Your Story”.

I don’t follow Dean Wesley Smith a great deal, but one concept he has that I really found useful is The Race. In that, you keep a score for all the stories you have submitted. 1 point for each short. 3 points for a partial novel manuscript, 8 points for a full manuscript. I mostly submit short stories, but I do have one old dog of a novel I occasionally send out. I have one children’s book going out occasionally that I count for 3 points, on the grounds that it has more monetary potential than a short story but is not as bulky as a novel. I have about 50 stories completed by this time, and I typically keep about 30 of them in submission at any given time, rotating the other ones in as I get rejections. With that and the children’s book, my Score’s hovered around 33 for quite a while, not too bad of a score.

One thing that helps is if you can find a way to not put too much anxiety into any single submission. Submitting in bulk really helps this a lot, because if you have only ONE submission out, it’s hard not to obsess over it. You send out one submission, and then when you get one rejection you are back at square one. If you have 30 stories submitted though, a rejection for one is just a scratch on the surface, not that big of a deal. I assume any given submission is a certain rejection, but that I have some chance across the board. Pessimism in specific, optimism in general. :)

And for tracking submissions, I keep an Excel spreadsheet for now. In which I do happen to do some obsessive stats tracking. The way I have it set up the file has gotten ridiculously large and it’s hard to update with new markets. I’m trying to work my way to a database system. I’ve got the basic database tables set up along with some forms to fill them and get simple reports, but I want more complicated stats reports and haven’t figured out how to do those yet in OpenOffice. If anyone wants it you can download a free copy of it at.

And, after that, just perseverence is the only advice I have. When I get one back i just send it out to the next available market I haven’t sent it to and work my way down the line. And just because it’s been around the block a few times doesn’t mean it’s doomed. 1 of my recent stories that I sold for pro rates had been on its 20th submission. And then finally it found that editor for which it was just right.

As part of those obsessive stats, I keep a count of my submission responses, and the number at which I receive rejections. I started submitting in June of 2008. In that time I have had 675 resolved submissions:
489 negative/neutral rejections
167 positive rejections
5 rewrite requests
14 purchase at normal rate (for 8 different stories).

To show how long the stretches were between selling those eight different stories, of those 675 submissions those were numbered #s 126, 129, 210, 232, 572, 591, 599, 626, 637. That gap between 232 and 572 was soooooo long for me!! But I made it, and now have had pretty good luck for the last few months! Here’s hoping my luck continues. As it is, with the sales I’ve made this year, and if the neo-pro markets I’ve sold to get listed by SFWA as pro markets, then I could be eligible to apply for SFWA’s “Active” status around June 2012, which is one of my major milestones I’ve set for myself.

Daily Science Fiction: June Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

At the time that I am writing this, DSF has passed its first year of publication. No news has surfaced on whether it is now a SFWA qualifying market. With a subscriber base of over 2600 and website that receives 10,000 visitors a month, I can only imagine that it is the-powers-that-be have yet to do the necessary homework to determine what most of us know already; they’re one of the most widely read speculative fiction venues out there right now. Some may consider their growth slow but I am finding it remarkable considering its expansion has been a grass roots type of campaign. Word is gradually spilling over, links are shared, and ecstatic authors announce their success to this new outlet.

Daily Science Fiction is the way of the future. The higher ups just don’t know yet. If you are still not sure, then check out this month’s reviews and go to their site and read them yourself.

 

The Stories

An explorer searches for a lost party in “V is for Vamonos” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 6/1). The nameless protagonist braves the jungle to find the Colonel. The Colonel is ill and his camp has been overrun. Has it all been for naught?

This story is set in a world in which animals can speak and have become partners with humans. Other than that I cannot find a redeeming quality about this piece. The story goes nowhere and resolves nothing. I couldn’t even decipher what species the protagonist of the story was. The tale was like the setting, lost in a jungle.

 

Death has come for the protagonist’s beloved husband in “Dealing with Death” by Brenta Blevins (debut 6/2). She is there when the dark angel arrives to take him. She strikes a deal and accompanies Death as he runs his rounds.

“Deal with Death” shows the grim reaper as a compassionate soul, using his power to relieve the pain the dying suffer. All pain is not so easily seen. The angel aims to spare some of pain that is yet to be received.

The story has a fitting end. Although the tale didn’t wow me, it left me quite satisfied that I read it.

 

An inconsequential man awakes to learn a time-traveler has come to kill him in “Apology” by Sam Feree (debut 6/3). A young woman from the future sits on his new couch in her muddy shoes, informing him he is the one person in history whose life matters none. He has become the stress reliever for a time traveling society, getting murdered thousands of times. They spend the day together, contemplating life and enjoying it to its fullest.

“Apology” is a dark comedy. I found the two characters very likeable. The time traveler is a fun girl who has had a bad day the day before. The protagonist is a detached fellow, taking the news of his upcoming murder quite well. You get the feeling that learning his life is, and will be, unimportant as a justification of a suspicion he always had. The story evolves into a romantic comedy, without the romance. We follow the pair around Chicago. The soon-to-be-dead hero just rolls with it all. Resigned that he will be murdered and accepting it as an eventuality.

The story line to “Apology” does sound weird but the tale comes off as normal. The two treat the entire affair like a first date, rather than a tragic horror that it should have been. I found Sam Feree’s writing style attractive. The story was easy to follow and enjoyable to read. Maybe it was because I found his protagonist easily identifiable (I hope not). If you are one who detests romantic comedies, this one likely isn’t for you, but overall, I found it not a bad tale at all.

 

“Sister” by Melissa Mead (debut 6/6). Sister and Brother flee from their cruel Stepfather. The pair take refuge in a cave near an enchanted stream. Despite her warnings, Brother drinks from it and transforms into a deer. He now must avoid the King who hunts in the woods. Perhaps Sister can protect him yet, pleading with the king.

“Sister” is written like an Aesop tale. The story has that halting and disconnected feel to it. The characters have names that our pronouns and the story jumps through long stretches of time. However, like an Aesop tale it has a moral and a fitting end to it.

 

A man opposed to a fascist society is prepared to perform a mutual assured destructive act in “Dharma Dog and Dogma” by Steven Mathes (debut 6/7). The authorities have busted down Dobbin’s door. He waits with his trusted German shepherd by his side and his thumb on a nirvana bomb. The device will instantly ascend all who are worthy to heaven in a kilometer radius. Potts, the fascist negotiator, is eager to stop him.

I found this premise to be ridiculous. The bomb does two things; bring awareness to all within its range than make all who are worthy vanish. It causes no other damage. I would think a society eager to control would welcome its use, seeing that it instantly rids all who oppose it off the map. I did, however, enjoy the writer’s way of bringing the piece to us. His writing is crisp and engaging.

 

A disgraced prisoner is found by his warden in “W is for When” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 6/8). Future violent convicts are sent to the past, made female and expected to become upstanding citizens. The warden is disappointed to discover the future felon has made prostitution her profession. She learns the practice of gender switching and exile has been declared cruel and unusual, but taking a job that is considered illegal does not bode well for her. The warden can overlook the indiscretion, if she is willing to do him a favor.

This was one of the better stories the quartet dreamed up. Loved the concept of the future time travel punishment. What made this one great was the poetic justice ending. Recommended.

 

A junkie constructs his dream woman from a discarded photo in “Building a Future” by Rhonda Jordan (debut 6/9). The protagonist finds an old picture in an abandoned house. He makes up stories of a fantasy past and tells it to others until he finds a female junkie who used to build androids. The pair work together to build their android, gradually forgetting their drug dependency as they create.

The tale is told as a success story. It was, but came off as disconnected success story. The distant feel made this piece not as appealing as it should have been.

 

Aliens seek to improve our favorite pet in “Made of Cats” by Judith Tarr (debut 6/10). Another invasion from space befalls on Earth. This time the alien’s motives are peaceful. They transform our cutest partners into something even cuter, as a demonstration of their good intentions, proving that even the best marketing sometimes overreaches.

“Made of Cats” is written as a humorous piece. Expect anything else and you’ll be just as disappointed as the protagonist’s five-year old daughter in this tale. I must admit, the story had its moments (the diet crack I found particularly amusing), but I felt it stepped over the line of funny and into the ‘generally silly’ territory half way through. Nevertheless, humor is subjective and subjectively speaking, Ms Tarr did well, but as a guy who likes to weave tales that tickle the funny bone, I can safely say my sides were never in danger of splitting.

 

Modern progress has come to a potion-maker’s home in “The Thinning” by Christopher Owen (debut 6/13). Becky is not happy at all when the power company arrives to link her house with the electrical grid. She sees no need for it and its very existence is a disruption to her potion creating.

Without elaborating, this tale is woven while Becky is in the middle of a love potion. The two events , making the potion and the arrival of modern convenience , have little to do with each other. The ending of the piece has a twist that mattered little to the overall plot.

 

In “The Clex Are Our Friends” by Mario Milosevic (debut 6/14), you are a soldier in a galactic war. The story is a manual intended to help you with the occupation and mopping up duty on the planet Cleck. It advises you on how to treat the native species and adapt to their culture. Take heed of its advice, even when it doesn’t make sense.

This satire of military and diplomatic protocol is more ridiculous than humorous. The manual is written as a pep talk, even when its very pages makes the world seem like a tour guide through the slums of a third world nation. Not a fun place at all.

 

A wizard misinterprets a want ad in “X is for Xylomancy” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 6/15). A Xylomancer shows up for an audition for a xylophonist. It appears they have little use for a sorcerer whose gift is to predict the future by reading sticks but the Xylomancer is out to prove them wrong.

When I read this I thought, “Really? Working for a band is the best this guy can do?” I have chastised many stories on DSF for being about nothing. This story falls in that category but it deserves praise. Sometimes pointless tales can be fun. This story was fun.

 

June’s reality is up for interpretation in “Blivet for the Temporal Lobes” by Dave Raines (debut 6/16). June’s life changed the day an experimental surgery cured her epilepsy. Her mind now sees people and things as metaphors of their true nature , transforming them how her brain perceives them. Threatening people become horrible monsters while the kind and caring turn into softer images. Her world has become an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ kaleidoscope equipped with modern day cultural references. June has learned to adapt to her revived life, accepting her ‘gift’ as a way to see how people really think and behave, until the day a man walks into her life who doesn’t change at all.

“Blivet” is a very inventive tale. Despite its short length, Mr Raines effectively plunged the reader into a world most of us would consider a hell. June’s ability appears to have a psychic quality to it, or at least June assumes it to be as such. She somehow manages to keep her job as a waitress, even when customers morph into wolves, mannequins, and other similes that fit how she perceives them. A man she refers to as Adonis is the lone exception. His failure to transform unnerves her, and turns this tale into a metaphor of its own.

“Blivet” is the type of story for everyone who was suddenly faced with doubts in their own ability. June has come to rely on her gift, using it to see how people feel and grasp at how they treat others around them. Adonis represents her shortcomings and salvation in one package.

It was while I wrote this review, it dawned on me the larger meaning of this story. “Blivet” is not just a well-told tale; it’s a metaphor on human perception. I found it ironic how a story of metaphors so effectively hid one of its own. I hope those who judge which tales of speculative fiction are the outstanding ones in next year’s awards, don’t overlook this one because of its length. Recommended.


Humanity adjusts to a plague of undead in “The Three Laws of Zombie” by Lavie Tidhar (6/17). Susan Hobbes is in search of a zombie who doesn’t obey the three laws that are ingrained in all zombies. Society has come to grips with them, creating religions and rationales for their make up and psychology. Ms Hobbes isn’t interested on how they fit into humanity. She wants to know if they are here to end it.

“The Three Laws” is part satire, part horror, part mystery, with it all mixing like a stew of milk, water, and oil. The story line is disjointed; jumping from action scene, to an article, to a character’s inner contemplation. The title and loose plot devolves into a half-hearted comedic attempt involving Isaac Asimov’s three laws governing robots. The story is difficult to get into. The changing scenes of small slices of society made it impossible for me to get grounded into the plot. One thing I did find interesting was the nature of Tidhar’s zombies, an evolutionary leap as a plant/animal hybrid, allowing them to survive on photosynthesis. The tale is unpredictable with an ending I wasn’t expecting. In fact, I’m still not sure what that ending was about.

Based on Lavie Tidhar’s ability to get his stuff published in almost every publication I have reviewed over the past year plus it is clear he has a following and is able to impress any editor he presents his work to, but I just don’t get it. One thing I will say is he has certain appeal to his writing. His stories do draw me in and his plots are unpredictable, but they almost always lose me before the end. One of these times he’s going to write something that I love; unfortunately, this one ain’t it.

 

A man on a forsaken world wishes to connect with God in “Godless” by Stephen V. Ramey (debut 6/20). All the worlds of humanity have been linked into the Wholeness, save Earth. Man’s home world has become a worldwide slum, a primitive backwater. The Wholeness is seen as a link to God by the protagonist. He is approached by an off world tourist, a woman who seeks to get dirty on the filthiest of worlds. The protagonist wants to be touched by God, no matter what the cost.

“Godless” is an idea that is taken from A C Clarke’s axiom that advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic to a more primitive society. I liked Mr. Ramey’s approach to this notion, well done; however, I felt the story was too brief to fully explore a future where off world technology outstripped Earth to this degree. Perhaps the author has intentions on building on this. I would like to see his next publication if he does.

 

A terminally ill John has awoken from a cryonics sleep to be greeted by a brother he never had in “His Brother was an Only Child” by Ronald D Ferguson (debut 6/21). When John Ashley died, he left a dying world. The one he has returned to appears to be rebounding. Enough trees have grown to make a forest, a strange creature called a ‘rabbit’ now has a population of a thousand. The planet appears to be on the mend but the caretakers of the hospital he is confined to are off. Save for his brother, everyone is distant, refusing to speak to him. Another patient shares the ground with him, deformed and shy. John finds it increasingly odd this hospital he is in and wishes to rejoin society again but learns recovery may take more time than he has.

This tale is reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone episode (not going to say which one), but the twist reveal in this story was done far cleverer than that crafty tale. Mr. Ferguson did a splendid job, providing enough clues so when I got to the reveal I was shocked that I didn’t know what was going on all along.

“His Brother” was masterfully done. Recommended.

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An ill woman is surrounded by yellow in “Y is for Yellow” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 6/22). The protagonist’s husband has moved her into a home painted in yellow. Everyone who comes to see her is clothed in the school bus color, even the grass is killed to rid it of the green. Her husband has said it is necessary for her cure. Green calls to her, but yellow stands in her way.

This is a clever superhero story, like none I have ever read. The sex of the protagonist threw me off, but it is story line that is too good for the comics. I loved it.

“Y’ isn’t the best story the quartet wrote, it’s not even the best this month, but it impressed me. Recommended.

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Angering your time traveling girlfriend can result in unfortunate consequences in “Love at the Corner of Time and Space” by Annie Bellet (debut 6/23). Darrin has been abandoned at the Crossroads of Time and Space. It’s not first time he has made Ashley mad but it is the first time she failed to come back to get him. The surreal corner is nowhere with access points to anywhere, the problem is Darrin has no idea on how to access them. He can continue to wait for her in this place where time isn’t a linear measurement, or find a way out for himself and a way to repair their relationship.

“Love” is the story of man who hasn’t yet grown up. It is clear Ashley is the one in control, and she is vindictive woman with the ability to send her naughty boyfriend into the ultimate time out. The story starts off with Darrin and his passively aggressive, self-pitied attitude stuck, wondering if Ashley is ever going to come back. The rest of the story is Darrin contemplating what he’s done wrong, just like a spoiled child in ‘time out’ would do.

The only appeal of this tale was the setting, a strange and surreal place, but I found its lone character not likeable at all. It sounded like his girlfriend pulled all the strings in their relationship , a narcissist with too much power , but his whining self-contemplation made me think he deserved her.

“The Artwork of the Knid” by John Parke Davis (debut 6/24) is the story of an alien species who have quietly come to live among us. The Knid are small and unassuming creatures. They’re slimy with tentacles for mouths and are intrigued with us. The silent creatures (silent because they don’t speak) have become something of a new age immigrants, performing menial labor work. They appear to absent of any creativity or imagination of their own until the protagonist is granted a rare artistic viewing.

“Artwork” is a strange type of tale. There is a deeper meaning to this piece but I confess it missed me. Part of the story briefly touched on what the knid where doing on Earth. The characters puzzle on this subject, not remembering when they first appeared. An explanation on how they got there wasn’t even explored. From what I gathered, they were just ‘there’ as if they always were.

The tale shifts when the protagonist’s first views a knid’s ‘play’. The event sounded more like a psychedelic trip than artist’s creation. Strange by description, religious by the effect it left on the protagonist. From that point on, the protagonist becomes something of a minor activist for the knid, treating them as a big brother would a smaller and weaker sibling, doing his best to protect them from a cruel world.

“Artwork” is a tale that drew me in. I was genuinely intrigued by the writer’s presentation of the knid and his protagonists perspective of them. I truly wanted to learn more about them. However, like the story itself, once I learned all I could about them, I discovered they weren’t all that interesting after all.

 

A knot connecting two ladders slips on Hevsen’s ladder, setting in motion a chain of events resulting in the “Fall of the City” by Daniel Ausema (debut 6/27).

“Fall of the City” follows a trail of innocuous circumstances. The story is set in civilization built on webs with machines called ‘spiders’ used like cars. The entire place appears to be overly fragile. I wasn’t sure if the city I was reading about was set in a steampunk genre or an alien civilization.

I thought the tale was told from way too distant of a perspective. The place also was strange, lending to a general disconnect I had with the piece.

 

What could be a bigger thrill than space jumping from a space elevator? In “Freefall” by Eric James Stone (debut 6/28) we find out. Gina loves to freefall. Her brother and father run the elevator but she is after only the thrill of the jump. Then disaster strikes. The asteroid counterweight breaks free and her brother is on the crawler on the way up. GeoTerminal 1 will be saved but at her brothers expense. She is his only hope.

“Freefall” is excellent science fiction. The premise is based on a future but likely technology with a potentially real problem. The story is quick and thrilling. The protagonist’s solution to the problem I found clever. My biggest complaint was its length. The story could have and should have been larger. It would have likely been fantastic instead of great. Recommended.

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Anna is running in “Z is for Zoom” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 6/29), but is she running from something or in search of the thing?

This tale baffled me. Anna just runs. Why? Couldn’t really tell you. There are hints but I was unable to decipher the reasons from them.

 

In “The God of the Poor” by James Hutchings (debut 6/30), the gods pick who and what they will have dominion over. Only one item is left. Who will look over the poor?

This is a very short, Aesop like tale. It didn’t quite work for me.

Analysis

ÂThis month marks the end of the Alphabet Quartet’s contributions. I have greedily reserved all the stories for myself to review. The entire series is set to be available soon at Escape Artists. Some of them I thought were wonderful, a few left me scratching my head, a good bunch I recommended. My personal favorite was the first, and longest of the bunch; “A is for Arthur”. This story is high on my best-of list for the year. In fact, it may be # 1. It is worth reading again.

Special note: My fellow reviewers (James Hanzelka, Dustin Adams, and Anonymous) have not abandoned me, nor did I forget to credit them for reviews they have done. This month was all mine but the next will be mostly theirs. I have just received my copy of the latest Writers of the Future. I plan on doing my usual review for the publication so set it upon myself to get all the June reviews done while piling July’s on my minions shoulders so I can turn my attention to the yearly anthology when it came in.

 

Frank feels like a big boy now, doing a whole months of reviews all by himself. He is so proud but is wondering when he will get his cookie.

Recommendation: Teddy Bears and Tea Parties

written by David Steffen

Just a brief post today to make an ebook recommendation. It’s one of my favorite stories, “Teddy Bears and Tea Parties” by S. Boyd Taylor, which I first heard on the Drabblecast. Don’t be fooled by the title; it is not for children. I am very serious about this. It’s a very dark story from a child’s point of view. Taylor’s an excellent writer, and I hope he continues to have success; I’ll be on the lookout for more of his stories.

Buy a copy on Kindle or Barnes & Noble, and check out his website.

Daily Science Fiction: May Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

A whole year of stories have gone by and here I am, 4 months behind. I’m catching up though. DSF does it make it easy for me. As long as they keep picking good ones, I’ll keep reading.

On to this month’s offeringsâ€

 

The Stories

A vampire comes to visit an old man on his deathbed in “Her Old Man” by Chuck Rothman (debuted 5/2 and reviewed by Anonymous). It is obvious that they had some sort of relationship earlier in their lives and he is resentful of the other female vampire that turned her. She makes him an offer…

This is quite a short story, but I wasn’t really taken with it. I love vampire stories and I think perhaps that is the problem: I am fairly certain I have seen this premise before, so it didn’t feel like anything new. It was well written, though and the twist at the end may appeal to others…

 

“Starlight Cantata” by Brian Laurence Hurrel (debut 5/3 and reviewed by Anonymous)

“Starlight Cantata” follows the first interstellar, faster-than-light space craft as it takes in new solar systems whilst sampling the delights of Earth’s ever expanding electromagnetic emission shell. The further they move from Earth, the older the broadcasts they hear–like traveling backward through time.

This didn’t really feel like a story to me as their was no actual conflict, no plot, no characters (the narrator is unnamed)–nothing really happens apart from observations. It was, however, a thoughtful piece and I quite like how it ended. I sat and thought about this story a little before writing this review and decided that this story itself was like piece of music and tails off quite nicely…

I think that was the effect the author was aiming for and, on that basis, I’d recommend it. Recommended.

 

The church raffle has finally received a donation worth bidding for in “R is for Raffle” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 5/4). Serena Draffin has donated her life. She may be sick of it but the prospects of stepping into a marriage with a handsome husband and lovely home makes it a grand prize indeed. The novel idea sparks others to donate things about them that others may find valuable. The church will have no trouble filling its treasury this year.

Quite clever, inventive and fun. One of the better stories the Quartet wrote.

 

Yesterday boy lives in the past, but is threatened by street thugs in the present in “Barb the Bomb and Yesterday Boy” by Julian Mortimer Smith (debut 5/5 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). Barb the bomb intervenes, suffering the consequences. She is saved by her mother. The yesterday boy, stuck in the past, does not know about his savior, yet.

This is a nice little diversion, well done and with a nice message. It leaves one asking the question about how our actions of today will affect the future.

 

“Values, Vision and Mission” by James Van Pelt (debut 5/6 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). Crockett is typical of someone in today’s corporate world that just wants to do his job, but management’s business of “teambuilding” constantly gets in the way. The connection to his dog Max foreshadows a new meaning to the old saw, “It’s a dog eat dog world.”

This story isn’t for everyone. It’s a nice fable about the modern corporate world. A fable not because of the obvious, but because of the idea that someone who actually does the work gets rewarded.

 

“Unveiled” by Ron S. Friedman (debut 5/9 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). This story is reminiscent of H.G. Wells, “The Time Machine”, where the inventor has a difficult time making his friends believe his tale of time travel. In this case the inventor has a novel means of proof.

The story appealed to me on a couple of levels, the obvious tip of the author’s cap to Wells, but also the unexpected twist of the proof. It is so simple that you wonder why Wells didn’t use it, but of course then he would have no story to tell.

 

“Facts about Gel, Glop and Other Semi-Viscous Substance You May Have Encountered Recently” by Michael Canfield (debut 5/10 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). This is a fact sheet, complete with misspellings and mistakes normally found in all such works, about a product gone awry. The author even includes the obligatory appeal at the end.

Given the debacle we see every day from corporate America (and other countries for that matter), governments and agencies I’m not sure if the author expects us to laugh or cry. I laughed.

 

Encephalon awaits death and the end to everything in “S is for Solipsism” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 5/11). The former supervillain (once known as Brainwave) has concluded that the world is a product of his imagination. His rival, Deathdrive, has come to end his tyranny once and for all. Encephalon is eager for it all to end, as his enemy.

An intriguing tale. Much of it is told as a classic bad guy monologue, pontificating to their enemy in the mist of a battle. The imagery is quite good, serving well to the satire the story is. This was one of the best the Quartet has written. So good I’m going to give it aâ€Â Recommended

 

The first man on Mars needs to be one driven dude in “Can’t Stop” by K T (debut 5/12).

Countless sacrifices, sums of money, and candidates are weeded through to get to the one person who will first set foot on the red planet. Such a man will have regrets to reach that goal.

Cute story. Not bad for such a brief tale.

 

“As Fast As You Can” by Nathaniel Matthews Lee (debut 5/13 and reviewed by Dustin Adams). What is it about super-hero stories that fascinate us? We read them and watch them and seemingly can’t get enough. Is it because like no other character, we wish we were them? We wish we could fly or that we were very strong.

Sideswipe is a speedster. He not only moves fast, but spends his moments in a state of sped up, so that we are all moving very slowly. He saves as many victims of accidents as he can, they, not knowing he was even there, believe they have simply been teleported to safety. But Sideswipe is also running from his pain. A failure to save his lost love which eats away as his seemingly eternal existence.

On the surface, perhaps we’ve seen these things before, but author Nathaniel Matthews Lee takes us beyond the mere facts and delves into the emotions of the characters/heroes and we learn not all is as it seems. Pain is found in the truth, and in the lies. This short story has more depth of character than some super-hero movies I’ve seen, and pound for pound, just as much action and gadgets.

Lengthier than most stories you’ll find at Daily Science Fiction, this one is worth every micro-second spent reading it. Recommended.

 

“The Instructions” by Amanda C. Davis (debut 5/16 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a harmless, fun little piece of writing about how to improve your life through the benefit of elvish folk, what they take in payment, and why not to slack off when the going gets good.

This isn’t a story per se in that it has a plot, but is nevertheless a fun, short read regarding the mythological creatures we sometimes take for granted.

Or at least, that’s what the instructions say we’ll do.

 

An epidemic paralyzes relationships in “Say Zucchini, and Mean It” by Peter M Ball (debut 5/17). The phrase ‘I love you’ has turned many into babbling catatonic patients. They repeat the words over and over. Hospitals fill and love ones are left behind. Changing the meaning of words seems to be the only hope.

This story revolves around the protagonist and Alice. The two have drifted together, her boyfriend and his roommate fallen victim to the strange disease. The protagonist strives to come to grips with his relationship and the world inflicted with plague driving mankind indifferent.

This tale was odd, and its oddness went beyond the strange premise. The story had the effect on me the author’s fictional disease had on characters. It left me down and indifferent.

 

Getting on the latest reality show should be a piece of cake for the muse of dance in “T is for Terpsichore” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 5/18). The muse stands in the long line for auditions and watches and absorbs the other contestant’s routines. By the time it is her turn, she should have all she needs to win.

This story reminds me of the time Dolly Parton participated in a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest and finished second. An amusing work of flash fiction.

 

The League of Heroes has lost one of it’s own in “They Do It With Robots” by Eric James Stone (debut 5/19). A grisly stage show out at sea has led Guillermo to Ogden’s trail. Only a robot would be used to cut out a man’s heart, or a hero who had let his love down.

This short piece had an extraordinary premise to it, but the symbolism of it was grand. My only complaint was its short length hampered its execution. Nice idea. Would have been better with more words, in my humble opinion.

 

A model’s will to endure is the theme in “A Study in Flesh and Mind” by Liz Argall (debut 5/20). The protagonist in this story is a nude model for an art class. The instructor is known as the Great Teacher. He is hard and harsh on his students, and on his models as well. A job like this is hard to come by. Holding onto it will test her limits of endurance.

“A Study in Flesh and Mind” is a story of cruelty. There is only one word that fits the Great Teacher , sadistic. The model has worked hard and overcame much to get where she is. She takes pride in her ability to hold her position and interpret the pose her instructor desires. The Great Teacher seems to be bent on stretching the limits of what she can take, and does his best to shove her over the cliff.

This is a story I could have gotten into more if I knew anything about modeling, or even participated in a sketch class before. Where the setting left me feeling a bit out of place, the authors ability to submerge the reader into the protagonist head made this story a work of art. It is only from her point of view can we experience the sadistic cruelty of the Great Teacher and see the session for what it really is , a one-sided battle of wills. I could feel the protagonist’s anger and hatred for the Great Teacher, and I could identify with her exhaustion at the end. Special note: the ending was fabulous.

It is only because of the slow start and my opinion that this story was a bit on the long side that reserves me from giving this piece my full-fledged recommendation, but if you’re looking for the definition of a character driven story, by all means, read this one.

 

A village combats a horrible monster in “Shades of Orange” by Caroline M Yoachim (debut 5/23). Demons deposit Ao, an orange, poisonous creature in the middle of the village. The villagers chose the protagonist, a fellow farmer, to lead the fight against it. The battle is hard fought. Victory means little for the monster’s poison has already infected the land.

This story has its roots in the Vietnam war and associates what Agent Orange did to the poor people over there. The tale failed to move me. Too depressing and predictable.

 

Two asteroid prospectors contemplate how they will spend their riches in “Men of Wealth” by Ross Willard (debut 5/24). Thomas and Geezer have just found the big score. They gamble as they wait and talk of what they will both do when they get back to the station.

This is one of those tales where you have to wait to the end to find the piece of this puzzle of a story you know is missing. The author set this up as well he could, but I still felt cheated in the end.

 

“U is for Ubiquitous” by the Alphabet Quartet (debut 5/25) Privacy? This 68-word story hinges on the present day dual definition of window. Not bad, considering its length.

 

The World Cafà © offers six beverages in “To Soothe Ravaged Throats” by Allison Jamieson-Lucy (debut 5/26). The items on the menu are potent, and are more exotic the further down the list you read, save the last. That one item is a noble choice, and for a price anyone can afford.

A quaint story with an appropriate length. There is little to quibble about it, but not one I would describe as special. Not a bad ending.

 

Friendship runs deep in “Cloaks and Gloves” by Patricia Russo by (debut 5/27). Rall is afraid of the world. Verenisse wishes to help her talented friend and offers to go on a quest to get him a pair of hero gloves. With the help of her cloak, Verenisse braves the harsh world to get her friend the courage he needs.

An editor friend once remarked how amazed he was to receive so many stories that were about characters who walked out their door and go for a walk without anything much happening to them. “Cloaks and Gloves” didn’t have that empty of a plot but it was close.

The story is set in a fantasy dystopia. Civilization appears to have crumpled. Sinister creatures called ‘Rat Folk’ lurk about. Rall creates and sells charms to guard against the monsters, but he makes the charms with his bare hands, a bad idea in this world.

Verenisse, a maker of cloaks, is his friend. Her cloaks give her a false appearance. She dons a cloak of an old woman and braves the outside world.

This tale has all the makings of a dark and scary fantasy. It was setup for a conflict, but a conflict never came. Much was made of the ‘Rat Folk’ yet the characters never come across one. Verenisse does confront a group of ‘Breakers’, which are nothing more than a gang of children. The encounter becomes a non-event, which is how I would describe most of this story.

Despite its eerie setting and ominous promise, “Cloaks and Gloves” became nothing more than a story of a shopping trip in the end.

 

A desperate voice is trying to reach from the other side of your computer screen in “Remember” by Will Arthur (debut 5/30). You are John Samuels, a member of the resistance. You have discovered an important secret about the invaders, so important they placed you in a memetic coma. You now believe you are someone else, living peacefully in 2011. This is your last chance to be free of your illusion.

This story is reminiscent of the movie The Matrix. The play on this tale is you are reading very important information while you read your computer. Not a bad attempt but really, it’s been done before. So ignore the story or we’ll unplug your brain.

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A time traveler’s dire warning is wasted on the wrong crowd in “Just Enough Time” by Douglas K. Beagley (debut 5/31). The protagonist and his four friends are enjoying their time in Starbucks when a lovely woman from the future bursts through the door with news of the future. The five latte sippers interrupt her and ignore her pleas to listen, eager to have their own innate curiosities answered instead.

The protagonist engages in prattle in this piece. He (like his friends) come off as extraordinarily self-absorbed. His narration is, you know, like totally dumb or something , if you get my drift. A story about modern twenty-something’s refusing to get the gist of future forewarnings is one thing. Babble with a time traveler as a back-drop is quite another.

Analysis

ÂI haven’t mentioned any before but May’s cover art I really liked. The black, sinister dragon under a full moon with a castle in the background is cool.

David Steffen is the editor and owner of Diabolical Plots. It is by his good graces that you are able to read these reviews of Daily Science Fiction. But other than providing space for them, he hasn’t done a damn thing to help. Nope. Hasn’t bothered to lift a finger at all. It seems he’s too busy establishing a “writing career”.

He completely ignores my suggested path to success – buttering up the publisher with compliments – instead choosing to “submit his best material” and relying that they’ll select his work based on “merit”. Please. Like that will get you anywhere.

Sure, he has some success, managing professional sales to places like Bull Spec, Digital Science Fiction, One Buck Horror, AE Canadian Science Fiction Review, and DAILY SCIENCE FICTION!?!

I guess congratulations are in order, Dave. Could you at least try to not look so happy about it?

Adventures in Amateur Art (Drabblecast Edition)

written by David Steffen

Introduction

I’ve always felt drawn to creative endeavors of various kinds. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist. When I was in high school I wanted to program video games. I tend to wander from one creative medium to another, drawn from one to the next by the prospect of something new and interesting. Writing has been the odd duck in this string of attempts in that I actually have stuck with it for years, and I feel like I’ve gotten to a point where I’m pretty good. I’m not planning to quit any time soon. Yet I’m still always looking to explore other mediums just to keep myself from getting too comfortable, because that way lies boredom. If you believe in Muses, at least in a metaphorical sense, I like to say “My Muse, she be fickle.” I’ve tried to force her to work for me, and that always fails. She just leaves if I try that, and will stay away until I stop trying to give her orders. I am much happier, and much more productive if I just go with the flow, and let her drive the car.

Anyway, the point is that I am now, as ever, having fun trying out new creative fields. At the moment I’m dabbling in story illustrations. I’ve thought about doing something like this for a while. In particular, I think it’d be fun to illustrate my own stories, or the stories of friends.  But I have never felt particularly driven to do so. But then along came the perfect opportunity, as offered by the Drabblecast!

Drabblecast is working their way up to a major site upgrade. As part of this grand project, Bo Kaier, their art director, has kicked off the Drabblecast Art Reclamation Project (follow the link for all the juicy details). Since about episode 130 of their podcast, they’ve had illustrations for every single episode, provided by volunteer artists. When they move to the new site, in an effort to make everything more uniform and to provide shiny new content to attract listeners, Bo has asked for volunteers to fill in the episode artwork for all those older episodes. Anyone who feels they might like to take a crack at it, there are still more than 50 episodes unclaimed–follow the link. The deadline stated there is August 1st, but that’s a very soft deadline. They’re currently shooting for mid-September launch, and anything they don’t have artwork for at that time… will just have to go without art for now. So, I’m sure they’d love to have whoever volunteer.

I decided to volunteer for 3 episode artworks for now, and I’ve completed and submitted by the time of writing this post. These will go up on the Drabblecast site when it’s ready to launch, but I’ve asked for permission to show the artwork I’ve done here. And, for those who might be interested in such things, I will describe how I did each of these pieces of visual art from start to finish.

The Art

“Malish” by Mike Resnick

“Malish” is a story about a deal with the devil. It’s a bit out of the ordinary for that type of story in that the main character is not the one who makes the deal. The main character is Malish, a racehorse, and his owner has made a deal with the devil, described in the story only as “the gnarly little man”. The devil comes to claim the owner, and while he’s there decides to nab the horse as well. But Malish won’t be taken so easily.

1. What to depict?
The first thing I had to decide is what I wanted the illustration to depict. I chose this specific story because I figured that I could do the image of the horse justice with the “pet cartooning” method that I was playing with last year. So, of course, I knew the horse would be in the image. But I wanted to get at least some hint of the speculative element into the image as well. In this case, the only speculative element is the presence of the devil, described as “the gnarly little man”. One of the biggest moments in the story is when the gnarly little man first tries to take Malish in the stable, so I decided to illustrate that.

2. Picture of a horse
Next, I needed to actually get started on the image. In particular, I needed to get the outline of the horse. My method for doing this is perhaps not the most sophisticated, but I think it worked well enough. First I needed a picture of a horse. I mentioned this to Bo and, he is such a nice guy, he contacted another Drabblecast fan and got me a few home pictures of one of her horses. Of the three, one stood out to me as a particularly interesting image, so I picked that. I like it, because the horse is looking right at the camera. You can see the horse’s face very clearly and it is the most prominent part of the image, but you can also see the horse’s body in the background. It has some interesting perspective proportions, with the horses hindquarters appearing smaller than its head.

3. Cartoon outline of the horse
Now I needed the bold line drawing of the horse, to give it a cartoon feel, with digital colors to be added in later. I can draw relatively well in freehand, but I decided that, in order to do the horse image justice, I would do some good old fashioned tracing. I printed out the image, overlaid it with tracing paper, and traced the boldest lines with a nice thick 1.2mm felt pen. The lines on the outer edges were easiest to see, as they showed through the tracing paper most clearly. Some of the others I had to just eyeball. Note, I added some lines that aren’t strictly lines in the photo, to suggest the shape of the horse’s body.

4. Binary image of outline of the horse
One trouble is that, when I scan this nice clean outline, the scanned image that ends up on my computer is not perfectly clean. The scanner picks up some of the paper’s texture, etc… So, to get a really clean image, I opened it up in Microsoft Paint, and saved it as a Monochrome Bitmap. This format only stores white and black, nothing in between, what computer vision folk call “binary thresholding”. Saving it as that leaves some extraneous speckles, but by zooming upsize in Microsoft Paint, I could clean those up with the eraser tool.

5. Sketching the hand
And then on to the hand. I drew it in a sketchbook freehand using my own left hand as a model. I’m very happy with how the hand turned out, as it’s one of my better attempts at realistic freehand drawing of human anatomy. For now, drawing the hand as close to my hand as I can.

6. Gnarlifying, cartoon outline, binary image
From the sketch I had to get back to a similar type type of cartoon image as the horse. Tracing paper, thick felt tip. And, remember, the hand is supposed to be the hand of the gnarly little man, so at this stage I embellished from the original image to make it gnarly. I tried to add swelling to all of the knuckles, and while I was at it, extend the fingernails and add prominent veins. And then I repeated the same steps I’d used for the horse to get a clean binary image.


7. Combining cartoon horse with cartoon hand
Now to combine the images, resizing, overlaying. Using Microsoft Paint for this again.

8. Simple coloring of image
Simplest coloring step, just using Microsoft Paint’s basic paint bucket. Tried to match colors to photograph. Tried making the hand green to begin with. The story did not specify the color and I wanted it to appear somewhat “other”.

9. Color shading of image
That last coloring scheme was rather too simple, so tried to add a comic style 2 step shading to the main body of the horse as well as to the hand. To make the shaded areas look like a differently lighted patch of the same color, went into Microsoft Paint’s custom colors, started with the original color, and simply dialed the Saturation level down. Since the new shading levels suggest the shape of the horse’s body, I removed the black contour lines I’d added to suggest that shape.

10. Extra Shading, Red Hand
I changed the color of the hand from green to shades of red because one person, upon seeing the image, immediately said “Is that a zombie and a donkey?” Okay, so green does tend to suggest zombies, so may as well change it. Confusing the horse for a donkey though… Not much to be done about that but educate him on the difference between donkeys and horses. 🙂

11. Final copy
Had to make some more changes before the final draft. In the original one, the hand is rather hidden behind the Drabblecast logo. There wasn’t anything to do but to shrink the image down and draw extensions. These extensions go outside the boundaries shown in the photo so I had to estimate what the rest would look like. I also added in a new background color with a gradient so it isn’t so uniform, and added in the title. I got some help from Bo on the title formatting, adding in the darker boundary to the letters, which i haven’t figured out how to do. That’s good because the font didn’t pop out of the background clearly enough without that.

“Marbles” by Ayn Sauer

“Marbles” is a dark story from a child’s point of view. This is one obsessive little girl, fixated upon her button collection. She plays by herself and sorts the buttons by size, color, number of holes. A neighborhood boy invites her over to play, and shows her his stuffed bunny with button eyes. Big mistake, as she immediately extracts one of the button eyes for her collection. And that’s not the end.

1. What to depict?
Decided to do this one in a child’s art style. I figured it could be a simple crayon drawing, perhaps a self-portrait drawn by the girl at a psychiatrist visit after the fact. And, what better moment to show, but the very moment when she has extracted the button eye. So I decided I’d draw the girl with the button, and the boy with the bunny within a child’s simple house shape. A bit later in the story, the boy’s cat plays an important role, so the cat’s in the image as well.

2. The drawing
I learned a lesson from the Malish illustration, to leave room at the bottom for the Drabblecast logo, so I made a grassy lawn down there. Simple house outline. Girl with triumphant smile and pose, holding up the button. Boy wailing and crying with one-eye bunny in tow. Cat off to the side. Instead of making an electronic font, I decided to draw the title and episode number into the crayon drawing itself. And, since the episode number has a zero in it, I made the zero into a button.

3. Final copy
I handed the image off to Bo, and he did some treatments to it, which I thought turned out well.

“The Fine Point” by Gary Cuba

“The Fine Point” has a very classic SF feel to it. In the story, someone has made a profound discovery about the world we live in–the world is made up of a limited set of repeating hexagon-shaped tiles. He proves this by marking a couple of nearby forested locations. Taking a photo from these two locations creates the exact same photograph. Evidence, he says, that rather than making every bit of Creation completely unique, God has used a repeating set of tiles.

I volunteered for this one because Gary’s a good friend of mine. I get a kick out of his stories and I thought it’d be fun to illustrate one of them to share with all the Drabblecast listeners.

1. What to depict?
This one was a bit trickier than the others to try to decide what to do. I wanted to get the speculative element into the illustration, but the speculative element in this case is extremely subtle. It manifests in the story by showing the two photographs side by side, but that by itself wouldn’t make a very compelling illustration to me. Instead, I decided that rather than illustrating an explicit scene/even in the story I would try to illustrate the concept of the story in a more abstract way. I decided that one way that I could manage to do this would be to try to do an image that might interest the great M.C. Escher, blurring the boundaries between reality and unreality. Since the pictures in the story were a forest, I thought I’d start with a forest.

2. Find a forest picture
I’d fully intended to take a forest picture with my own camera. But, that didn’t end up working out. Whenever I would head out to a nearby park, something would stop me from getting the picture. Sometimes it was weather. Once I got all the way there only to realize my camera batteries were too dead to take even a single picture. So, instead, I searched online and found at Burning Well, a website that has public domain images.

3. Sketch the forest
Hey, look, another use for tracing paper! :) I printed out the photo, then laid tracing paper over it. From that I was able to get the boldest outlines, the starkly contrasting tree trunks, the edge of the treeline in the background. There were a lot of details I had to doodle out by eyeballing it, all the leafy details especially.

4. Lay out hexagon pattern
Just found a single hexagon and repeated the pattern until I’d filled the area. In GIMP, I made the spaces between the grid transparent. I wanted some hint of the hexagon tiles in the story, so that the illustration could more effectively bring the story to mind.

5. Combine, with layers
Okay, now to combine three layers together with selective transparency effects. Again, using GIMP.
First, the sketch on the bottom layer, no transparency.
Next, the photograph on top of that, with a radial transparency to make it look like the photograph has bled away in a circular pattern.Â
Next, the hexagon pattern. This one with a square transparency pattern, so that the hexagon just bleeds in at the very edge.

6. Final copy
I couldn’t quite figure out how to get the title just right, so I handed it off to Bo and asked him for help. He worked his magic, and made the title work very well with the image. Note that the new title even has a color gradient from gray to green, that matches the image. Perfect.