Nature Physics accepts The Last Botnet for their Futures feature.

I've received some very good news on the reprint front. But I'm pretty sure I shouldn't go public about it yet, at least until the contract is signed.

So I will keep quiet for now, while failing dismally to suppress a grin.

V.

Over at AnthologyBuilder, Nancy Fulda has made Paradoxical Pasts her featured anthology. This is my second anthology to receive that honour. I'm surprised (but delighted) to find that my first, Two Degrees of Separation, is the third most bought anthology in AB's public library.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=216 (Paradoxical Pasts)

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=132 (Two Degrees of Separation)

My third anthology is Kill Your Darlings: A Jaine Fenn Sampler, which I assembled to celebrate the publication of Jaine's first novel, Principles of Angels. I heartily recommend both her long and short fiction to you.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=238 (Kill Your Darlings...)

V.

Most of you will be aware of the Rejection Letter fiasco and subsequent sh*t-storm. I don't propose to add to it here, other than to leave a couple of pointers and say what I'm doing about it.

If you want to know more, here's a good place to start:

http://ktempest.livejournal.com/322772.html

My friend Merrie captures my personal feelings on the wider subject far better than I could:

http://fairmer.livejournal.com/430964.html

I'll repeat here what I said in a comment there.

I've wiped the offending 'zine from my submissions list and donated the money they paid me for a story published earlier this year to a UK anti-racist organisation (Love Music Hate Racism).

And that's all I have to say on the matter.

V.

I have just received an acceptance for The Last Botnet from Henry Gee at Nature. This short-short will appear in the Futures feature of a future (sorry!) issue of Nature Physics.

Needless to say, my happiness level has just red-lined. What more could a former astronomer turned SF writer (part-time) ask for? Okay, the answer is "lots", but this will certainly do for starters.

The Last Botnet was one of those instant ideas, pretty much instantly written (all right, in a single afternoon). I passed it on to my critting angel (she knows who she is) who had some very useful suggestions, which I responded to. And lo! It came to pass that my 15-month "dry" ended with a bang**. And about bloody time too.

V.

(** not counting reprints)

Time for a new look round here. This one seemed appropriate!

V.

My contributor's copy of Mercury arrived today, a welcome fillip in a year when there's been no other good news on the writing front. (In fact, I haven't sold anything other than reprints for 14 months.)

Mercury is an Israeli SF magazine, very nicely produced in A4 format with a full colour cover, black and white interior illos and clear text. It is printed in Hebrew, of course, so the pages are read right to left, which means the whole magazine seems back to front to me. It is a strange but enchanting effect, making the magazine appear other-worldly and, ahem, truly science fictional. This is one of most delightful aspects of being published in translation. This is only my second time; the first was in a Polish magazine called Nowa Fantastyka.

Hebrew script is unrecognisable to me, even to the extent that I can't read my name, but the publishers of Mercury have illustrated Moon Flu, so I worked out that it's this issue's final story. I hope Mercury's subscribers enjoy reading it.

I was paid $50, which I consider very respectable (roughly 2 cents a word) for a reprint. I'd certainly work with these friendly and generous folk again.

http://www.mercury.org.il/

(The cover shown on the web site is from the current issue. I think my story was published in issue 27.)

It was kind of weird, but enjoyable, reading Two Degrees of Separation (my first AnthologyBuilder effort). Roughly half the stories were familiar, although not always the published versions (some I saw at workshop stage). The remainder were new to me. However, I enjoyed them all. Not one dud!

Favourite old story: On the Deck of the Flying Bomb, by David Redd, first published in Interzone way back in 1982. I loved it at the time; I still do. David Redd is one of the finest British writers of short SF (IMHO). If you want to read the evidence, please consider purchasing his collection.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=201

My favourite new story? Ouch, that's a toughie. I loved the stories by Sarah Edwards, Stephen Gaskell and Christopher  Kastensmidt, amongst others, but they were just edged out by Matthew Rotundo's 'Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown', which is simply huge fun and appeals to my enduring love of celluloid (as opposed to CGI).

Two Degrees of Separation is still Nancy Fulda's 'Featured Anthology' at AnthologyBuilder. If you haven't done so yet, why not make the authors happy, if not exactly rich, and buy one?

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=132

V.

Committed anthology, I mean.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=216

This one is a guilty pleasure :-)

V.

"Two Degrees of Separation" is currently the Featured Anthology at AnthologyBuilder.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/library.php

Good reading guaranteed.

V.

Yesterday, I sold a reprint of Moon Flu to Mercury, an Israeli SF magazine. The translated story should appear in the next issue, due soon. Such easy people to work with!  That was my first acceptance since last April, other than AnthologyBuilder. Talking of which...

AnthologyBuilder now hosts all my published stories :-) So, if you've ever read (and hopefully enjoyed) one of my stories, you now know where to find the rest, should you feel inclined to do a spot of anthologising.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/authordetails.php?byline=Vaughan%20Stanger

V.

I've finally finished compiling Two Degrees of Separation. It is now ready for purchase. If you like the look of this anthology, please consider buying it. I reckon it'll turn out to be a cracking read. Needless to say, I've just ordered my copy.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=132

The final inclusions were stories by David Redd and Steven Utley (thanks Sarah!).

V.

The death of Sir Arthur C. Clarke has just been announced. No great surprise, as he was 90, but it's still a sad day.

2001: A Space Odyssey, The City and the Stars, Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama. He was also a great populariser of science.

Need I say more?

V.

My first attempt at an anthology, courtesy of Anthology Builder, is nearing completion. I have space for one more story, possibly two if they're short.

Link to my "Two Degrees of Separation" anthology:
http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=132

*** Aliette and Sarah, this question addressed to both of you: Do you have a friend on the AB author list who has a story you'd like to see included? If so, let me know and I'll do my best to include them. ***

Link to AB author list:
http://www.anthologybuilder.com/browse_by_author.php

I haven't finalised the running order yet, and the introduction needs some work, but I shall probably finish the anthology this weekend. And yes, I shall be buying a copy!

:-)

Edit: Some Sherlock Holmes style investigation reveals that someone has already bought an earlier version of this anthology! Doubtless it's now a collector's edition ;-)


Vaughan

I for one was very sad to learn of the Rumor Mill's demise, particularly as I only found out after the event (I was on holiday at the time).

I guess Kent had his reasons.

I shall miss the comradeship, also the many useful resources.

V.

Rich Horton mentioned my name in his "Other nice pieces came from..." list in his year's summation for Hub. He was presumably referring to The English Dead (issue 36) as he stated that he didn't see Issue 2, which contained another of my stories. (http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&group=sff.people.richard-horton&artnum=4348).

It's always good to get a name-check from Rich as he's one of the best-known short fiction reviewers, plus a year's best anthologist. Also, I feel that The English Dead was one of my better efforts, so it's good to know he liked it.

And in other news: my account at AnthologyBuilder no longer shows $0.00!

:-)

Possibly the best review a short story of mine has ever received, for which I'm indebted to Shaun C. Green at The Fix:

A much stronger story in issue 36, Vaughan Stanger’s “The English Dead” takes a very different kind of myth as its cue. This is the mythology of Everest, of the men who climbed it, and of the secrets of dead men. A climber named Ben wants to discover the secrets of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who may or may not have reached Everest’s summit in 1924. Advanced techniques are used to produce a clone of Mallory, and Ben adopts the body and role of his companion, Irvine. Together, they set out to reproduce the events of 1924 and to provide an answer to the secret, once and for all.

“The English Dead” is an excellent story and fundamentally good SF; the central conceit, cloning historical figures, is not new, but its application is fresh. The climbing lingo reads authentically to a layman like myself. The obsessions of the tale’s central characters are well-portrayed, informing their decisions and actions as they move towards a convincing conclusion.

If you'd like to read the story, it's a *free* download from here: http://www.hub-mag.co.uk/images/Hub_36.pdf

Ralan Conley (yes, that Ralan) also left some praise for this story at the Hub site. And it's fair to say that he's got a corker in Issue 37.

I know that reviews aren't that important in the scheme of things, but a good one can warm the heart nonetheless.

V.

AnthologyBuilder has accepted a third story from me for potential reprinting in its bespoke anthologies. Slices of Life was originally published in 3SF way back in December 2002. In her acceptance email, Nancy Fulda wrote "What a beautiful story!"

Which made my day, needless to say.

Now, let's hope that someone decides to buy it ;-)

V.

Helix SF has just published my novelette Family Tree. It's my eleventh story to see print or pixels.

http://www.helixsf.com/

The story is free to read, although Helix welcomes donations, as that's how it pays its authors.

This story was workshopped at Milford in 2004, so if any of you were there -- thanks for the excellent critiques. At the time, the story was known as Silver Apples, but Sue Thomason was trenchant on the need to change the title. She was right, of course.

A good way to start 2008!

V.

I'm now two-for-two at AnthologyBuilder, so I'm starting to think that they accept any short fiction that they can confirm has been previously published somewhere respectable. But that doesn't invalidate what in my view is an excellent concept and a way of giving pre-published stories a new life.

Perhaps one day I'll have enough stories loaded that I can create a collection of published stories that I can give to my friends and family as a Christmas present. Or maybe my writer's group could do something similar. Or is that just vanity collecting/anthologising? Feel free to discuss!

Belated best wishes for a Happy Festering Season to all my LJ friends.

New web publisher AnthologyBuilder has accepted a reprint of my short story 'Moon Flu', which was first published in Oceans of the Mind in June of last year. Gardner Dozois gave it an Honorable Mention.

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/index.php

What that actually means is that anyone who wants to assemble (and purchase) an anthology from the fiction hosted on the AnthologyBuilder site can include my story, if they wish. There are royalty payments, though not large ones, obviously!

It's a neat concept and I wish Nancy Fulda every success with her project.

And an acceptance is not to be sneezed at.

(Actually I'm sneezing at just about everything right now, thanks to the head-cold-from-hell, but that's beside the point.)

V.