DOUGLAS SMITH | Writing the Fantastic

I've posted a bunch of updates to my Foreign Market List, so check them out if you're a writer interested in submitting to foreign language (i.e., non-English) short fiction markets.

Update: This event will begin at 6:30pm, Jan 30, 2012

Five years ago, on December 13, 2006, my dad passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's. I was therefore very pleased to be one of the authors invited to attend the inaugural "Authors Fight Alzheimer’s" book signing fundraiser. The event has been put together by Canadian authors and publishers in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Society, and will be held on the evening of January 30, 2012, at the North York Central Library Auditorium, 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto.

If you can, please show up, meet an author, buy a book, get a book signed, or just show your support in the fight against a disease that steals us from the memories of our loved ones and takes them from us before their time.

From the organizers:

Authors of various genres will be present to sign their books with the proceeds going to fight Alzheimer’s disease. The theme "Read…Think…Remember" promotes keeping the mind active through reading, an important defense against the disease.

Author Attendees (as of December 18) include:

• MuseItUp Publishing – Joanne Elder, Sandra Clarke, Kevin Craig, Nancy Bell, Helene Prevost
• Double Dragon Publishing – Deron Douglas, Anne Grobbo
• Chizine Publications – Doug Smith (two-time Aurora Award winner), Caitlin Sweet
• Dragon Moon Press – Erik Buchanan, Jessica Frey
• Dark Dragon Publishing – Karen Dales
• Crime Writers of Canada – Melodie Campbell, Rick Blechta, Joan Boswell, Alison Bruce, Sheila Dalton, Alex Markman
• The Writers Community of York Region – Malcolm Watts, Heather Lambert
• And - I.J. Schecter, Peter Dennis, Mark Pezzelato.

Guest Speaker – Dr. Sandra Black, Director, LC Campbell Cognitive Neurology Research Unit, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Professor, department of medicine (neurology), University of Toronto

Thanks to Deron Douglas for publishing a commemorative book for this event.

Authors interested in participating in the event or for more information, please contact the Event Organizer:
Joanne Elder jelder1@rogers.com

CORPORATE SPONSORS:
Borden, Ladner, Gervais LLP
MuseItUp Publishing, Sunrise of Aurora, Edward Street Bistro

I'll be appearing at this year's SFContario again. The convention will again be at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 300 Jarvis Street, Toronto.

Here is my final schedule of panels, signings, and appearances for the weekend:

Friday, Nov 18:

8 PM – Aurora Pin Ceremony (Solarium)

Saturday, Nov19:

11 AM – Writing Short Stories (Ballroom A)

12 PM – Half a Century Later (Moderator) (Parkview)

3 PM – Autographs (Bridge)

5 PM – Books and Their Adaptations (Moderator) (Gardenview)

Sunday, Nov 20:

12 PM – Aurora Award Ceremony (Shade Restaurant) Wish me luck!

2 PM – The Business of Writing (Solarium) Hope to see you at the convention!

I've blogged earlier about my new collection of fantasy short stories being translated and published in France.

Well, the collection is now out, and you can check it out on the Dreampress site. Cover art is by Daniele Sera. Thanks again to Dreampress publisher, Benoît Domis, for his interest in my stories and for making this happen.

I'd posted earlier about my collection Chimerascope being selected by the jury for the 2011 Sunburst Awards for Literature of the Fantastic.

The awards ceremony itself was held on September 14, 2011, hosted by Authors at Harbourfront, who also kindly hosted a dinner for the finalists and their guests prior to the ceremony.

Teddy Wilson of Space's Inner Space hosted the ceremonies, which included readings by the finalists who were in attendance (me at the left), with actress Meira Gold doing an excellent job filling in on the readings for the finalists who were unable to attend in person.

The winner in the adult fiction category was Guy Gavriel Kay (pictured here on the right, along with myself and fellow finalist, Hayden Trenholm) for his novel "Under Heaven." In the Young Adult category, the winner was Paul Glennon for his novel "Bookweirder."

Full details on the winners and the short-listed works, and some more photos from the evening can be found on the Sunburst site. Congratulations to Guy and Paul for their well-deserved wins. And thanks to the Sunburst society for all of their hard work and to Authors at Harbourfront for hosting the awards. I'm proud to have been a finalist for Canada's only juried award for speculative fiction.

Healing Waves (cover at the left) is a just-released charity anthology of short speculative fiction, in both ebook and POD editions. The project was the brain child of Maggie Bonham, publisher of Sky Warrior Book Publishing and editor Phyllis Irene Radford.

All of the proceeds from sales of the anthology will go to this charity in aid of Japan's earthquake and tsunami relief. All of the stories in Healing Waves are speculative fiction and are set in or pertain to Japan.

I'm proud to say that I contributed my story "The Red Bird" to the anthology. Please consider buying a copy of the anthology to support the ongoing relief effort in Japan. You can purchase the anthology through Smashwords. Thanks for your support!

I'm very happy to announce that "Fiddleheads," a new short story of mine, will appear in the Canadian anthology, Chilling Tales 2: In Words, Alas, Drown I, edited by Michael Kelly and to be published in the fall of 2012 by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.

Not much more I can say right now, except to point you to the cover of the first volume at the right, and that I'll post more info and the cover for volume 2 as it comes available.

About a year ago, I blogged that Benoît Domis of DreamPress had approached me regarding publishing a collection of my fantasy stories in France.

All the details have now been worked out, and I am very excited to announce that La Danse des Esprits will be published this October and will include thirteen (a good number for a fantasy collection) of my previously published stories, translated into French. Aside from the coolness of having a new collection and in another language, I am particularly excited because of the people involved with this project.

First, it's great to be working with Benoît again. He was formerly the publisher and editor of the excellent French dark fantasy magazine, Ténèbres, in France (now an annual anthology), which published two of my Heroka shapeshifter stories, "Spirit Dance" and "A Bird in the Hand" way back in 2000 and 2001. He's been a fan of my work since then, and always said that one day he would do a collection of my stories. Thanks, Benoît, for your support and for making this happen!

Next, one of my absolute favourite artists, Daniele Sera, agreed to do the cover, shown here. Feast your eyes on the gorgeous job he did! The image (and the collection title) is a nod to my story "Spirit Dance," my first Heroka story and one which won the Aurora in 2001 for best short form in French. Yes, werewolves rock.

Finally, one of my all time favourite authors, Charles de Lint wrote the introduction for the collection. Major fan boy moment. I still can't believe that he graciously agreed to my out-of-the-blue request, and am very grateful to Charles.

Here's the table of contents for the collection, which includes an Aurora winner, five Aurora finalists, a Best New Horror selection, and a new, never published, Heroka story ("Dream Flight"):

• Spirit Dance
• The Red Bird
• By Her Hand, She Draws You Down
• Memories of the Dead Man
• A Bird in the Hand
• Dream Flight
• The Boys Are Back in Town
• Out of the Light
• The Last Ride
• The Dancer at the Red Door
• Going Down to Lucky Town
• A Taste Sweet and Salty
• A Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by Van Gogh

Again, La Danse des Esprits is planned for release from Dreampress in October 2011.

My novelette "Scream Angel," which won the Aurora Award in 2004 for best short fiction, has been selected for the annual FantAstika 2010-2011 Almanac by the Human Library Foundation in Bulgaria. "Scream Angel" was first published in Bulgarian in the magazine, Terra Fantastika, in 2005 (see cover at left).

The story will be one of twelve stories included in the almanac, along with about thirty pieces of non-fiction. The FantAstika Almanac is "an annual 400-page publication dedicated to interesting (and possibly human-evolving) events in SF, mostly in Bulgaria but also around the world." The anthology will be published in both print and ebook formats.

This marks the fourteenth sale for "Scream Angel" and its eleventh translation.

Krista Ball continues her three-part interview with me on my experiences in publishing my two collections and working with small presses. Part 3 is below or you can also read it on Krista's blog. Here are the links to the earlier posts in the series: Part 1 Part 2

Question: What are three things that people need to consider before going with a small press?

First is reputation. If you're considering a small press, check out their authors and contact at least three of them. Ask them about their experience with the press. How involved were they in the publishing process? Did they get cover input? What about the quality of the editing and copyediting? What about promotion? Where were they reviewed? Scan the awards ballots and see which presses are showing up regularly. And check out some of their books, especially their covers, and their author list. Any big names on their list? Would you like to be included on that list, or have you not heard of anyone that they publish?

Second is distribution. See my comments above. For the time being, print distribution into bricks and mortar bookstores is still very important. So you will want to understand exactly what distribution deals the press has to get your book into bookstores. And I'd include their business model in this as well. Do they only do limited print runs? Do they do paperback editions (cheaper for readers) or only hardcover? Do they produce ebook editions?

Third is the degree of authorial involvement in the publishing process. I mention some of this under the first point, but if you're considering a publisher, then they should be able to tell you how much you'll be involved with key decisions in the process, especially the cover.

Notice that I didn't mention money. I'm not saying that the money isn't important, but I'd suggest that you worry less over an advance and instead ensure that you understand their royalty structure, especially for the eBooks. And most importantly, make sure that you understand what rights you are licensing and are comfortable with how and when those rights revert to you.

Okay, I'm way beyond just "three things," but I have to mention another key option that any writer with a backlist of short stories needs to consider in 2011, and that is self-publishing a collection as an ebook or even as a POD book plus ebook. I haven't done an e-collection yet, but I have put up most of my backlist as individual ebook short stories, available through all the big e-tailers and now also on my own store. I can easily put out an ebook collection of just my fantasy stories, or my SF stories, or only my Heroka stories. It's all under my control.

It would take too much space to discuss indie publishing here, but it's become fairly simple to self-publish a book, whether it is a collection or a novel. If you want to know more about that world, I would strongly recommend Kris Rusch's "Business Rusch" blog series and Dean Wesley Smith's "Think Like a Publisher" blog series.