[La Bloga's regular Sunday columnists might not post today, due to other commitments.]
Writers don't always know how long a story will end up. Sometimes what you thought would become a novel turns out shorter, like into a novella, or doesn't meet the minimal-length guidelines for a novel. And the market for short novels is more restricted than for novels.
I wrote one with a super title--The Enigma of the Grandest Gardener of Texcoco--that no matter what I did, would NOT grow any bigger than 20,000 words. For me, and those of you with a work of about that range, here's a chance to maybe get it published with a big press. Begun as an on-line and digital publisher, this is their first venture into print publications, and they state they encourage submissions from Latinos and others (the "underrepresented"). They have digitally published stories by Adam Troy-Castro and Daniel José Older, and stories with Latino characters, like Loco by Rudy Rucker. Here's the information:
Tor.com Imprint Submissions Guidelines
Posted on: May 29, 2014
We will consider unsolicited, un-agented submissions for the next three months and will close submissions at the end of August. We are accepting agented submissions throughout this period.
What we're looking for: complete, original science fiction and fantasy stories of 17,500 words or more, with a preference for novellas and short novels. We are seeking stories with commercial appeal that take advantage of the particular strengths of the novella and short novel formats. We aim to publish titles in the adult marketplace, but will consider young adult submissions.
Ideal submissions will benefit from the careful and interesting world-creation that is the domain of the novel and the concise focus on language and emotion that the novella demands. We do not accept works that have been previously published elsewhere, works that fall below the specified word length, or works not identifiable as fantasy or science fiction.
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| Tor.com graphic from Daniel José Older story |
We encourage submissions by writers from underrepresented populations. This includes but is not limited to writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and ability, as well as characters and settings that reflect these experiences.
How to submit: Submissions should be emailed to carlDOTengle-laird AT tor DOT com. They should be in something approximating standard manuscript format and be sent as .doc, .docx, .rtf, or plain-text attachments. They should not be sent as plain text in the body of an email. Please send a ten-page sample for shorter novels. For serializations, please provide a synopsis of the overarching plot and a plan for the development of your work in each serial part.
Put SUB: at the start of your subject line. While we are very excited about unsolicited submissions, and have had excellent luck with acquiring unsolicited submissions for Tor.com’s shorter fiction program, please understand that we expect the majority of our catalogue to come from agented submissions. We do not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions.
We can find out how open Tor.com is to Latinos, blacks and indios, by submitting our stories to them. Vamos a ver. I would suggest you prep your MS pronto, before August, and get it in because their list will get filled.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
Border Patrol Nation
Most U.S. citizens tend to think stopping undocumented workers at the border is a good thing that won't affect them. They should check out Todd Miller's new book about what militarization has done to the Land of the Free. It's entitled Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security and here's some facts from it.
"The U.S. borders have long been Constitution-free zones where more or less anything goes, including warrantless searches of various sorts. In the twenty-first century, however, the border itself, north as well as south, has not only been increasingly up-armored, but redefined as a 100-mile-wide strip around the country.
"Our “borders” now cover an expanse in which nearly 200 million Americans, or two-thirds of the U.S. population, live. Included are nine of the 10 largest metropolitan areas. If you live in Florida, Maine, or Michigan, for example, no matter how far inland you may be, you are “on the border.” You can be stopped, interrogated, and searched “on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing.”
Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Contest
I own a copy of a previous winner, In A Town Called Mundomuerto, and love the magical realist writing of author Randall Silvis. Anyway, the submission period for this contest doesn't begin until August, but this posting will give you speculative fiction writers time to get manuscripts prepared. There is a reading fee.
From the Omnidawnwebsite:
The winner of the annual Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Competition receives a $1,000 prize, publication of their chapbook with full-color cover, 100 copies, and display advertising and publicity.Fabulist Fiction includes magic realism and literary forms of fantasy, science fiction, horror, fable, and myth. Stories can be primarily realistic, with elements of non-realism, or primarily, or entirely non-realistic.
Open to all writers. All stories must be original, in English, and unpublished. 5,000 to 12,000 words, consisting of either one story or multiple stories. Online entries must be received between Aug. 1 and Oct. 22, 2014. Reading fee $18. We expect to publish the winning chapbook in August of 2015.
About Omnidawn: "Since 2001, we publish writing that opens us anew to the myriad ways that language may bring new light, new awareness to us.
We began Omnidawn because of our belief that lively, culturally pertinent, emotionally and intellectually engaging literature can be of great value, and we wanted to participate in the dissemination of such work. We believe our society needs small presses so that widely diverse ideas and points-of-view are easily accessible to everyone.”
Issues Science Fiction Contest
If you're more into writing "hard" sci-fi, here's a contest with a $1500 honorarium and only requires one-page about what you would write! No reading fee.
"Authors should submit a précis or brief treatment (no more than 250 words) of a science fiction story idea that explores themes in science, technology, and society. Submissions must be received by June 1, 2014.
"Stories should fall into one of the following five theme areas: Big data / artificial intelligence / brain science; Education / jobs / future of the economy; Defense / security / privacy / freedom; Biomedicine / genetics / health / future of the human; Future of scientific research / automation of research & discovery. IST will select up to five semi-finalists for each category. Authors will have 3 months to submit their story, between 2,500 and 5,000 words. Winning stories will be published in IST, and authors awarded a $1,500 honorarium. Read all the details."
Issues in Science and Technology (IST), a quarterly journal that explores the intersections of science, technology, society, and policy. The editors of IST believe science fiction (SF) can help to bring key challenges and dilemmas in science and technology to an influential readership in new and compelling ways. Scientists, engineers, researchers, and policymakers often only see small pieces of an issue. SF writers can imagine entire worlds. By fully thinking through how today’s critical issues will play out, science fiction inspires, cautions, and guides those shaping our future. Throughout 2015, IST will publish one SF story per issue, on topics of broad societal interest.
Denver Museo's children's summer camp
Latino Science Fiction Explored
And if you haven't heard yet, I'll be in L.A. next week and hope to meet and talk with everyone who can attend. This is a precedent-setting gathering of 6 Latino sci-fi authors! What could happen? Quién sabe, pero vamos a ver.
The Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Program at University of California, Riverside will host “A Day of Latino Science Fiction” next Wednesday, April 30, to be held in the Interdisciplinary Symposium Room (INTS 1113). Free and open to the public.
The morning author panel will feature 1. Mario Acevedo, author of the bestselling Felix Gomez detective-vampire series (The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, chosen by Barnes & Noble as one of the best Paranormal Fantasy Novels of the Decade, and finalist in the Colorado Book Awards and the International Latino Book Awards.
2. Science-fiction and cyberpunk novelist Ernesto Hogan (Cortez on Jupiter); the co-authors of Lunar Braceros 2125-2148, 3. Rosaura Sánchez and 4. Beatrice Pita. The afternoon panel features writer and director 5. Jesús Treviño (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Babylon 5 and the book The Fabulous Sinkhole); and Michael Sedano, La Bloga Latino lit blogger; as well as Ph.D. candidates Danny Valencia, Rubén Mendoza and Paris Brown.
6. I'll be there talking about my alternate-world fantasy novel The Closet of Discarded Dreams (and about sci-fi stories) that took honorable mention in the International Latino Book Awards’ Fantasy/Sci-Fi, last year.
Come and find out about getting your spec lit published, the market for Latino sci-fi, the state of Latino spec lit and what the future might hold for our obras. It should be a chingón time, and we hope you come to add your voice and opinions. Check the details, especially about parking.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
Writer Submissions open
BorderSenses Literary and Arts Journal seeks to provide a venue for emerging and established writers/artists from the U.S.-Mexico border area and beyond to share their words and images.
We seek poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and book reviews in both Spanish and English from every corner of the world. We also cherish a diversity of visual artists. Translations can be accepted provided the original author has consented to publication rights and to reprinting.
Mexican American Studies for Texas Children & Schools
Day of Action - Monday, April 7, 2014
1) E-mail all of the Texas State Board of Education at [email protected] and in the body of the e-mail put: To All Texas State Board of Education members (insures all 15 board members receive it) and simply tell them you support the implementation of Mexican American Studies in Texas schools, and that this is important for the success of all Texas children and the State of Texas.
3) You can also call Texas State Board of Education representatives and tell them you support Mexican American Studies in Texas schools.
(SBOE members, districts they represent and contact numbers)
We ask all of colleagues and friends from across the state and the nation to E-mail and call into the Texas State Board of Education this coming Monday, April 7, "Day of Action," and to spread the word on this initiative. This is in preparation for the SBOE meeting on April 8-9 in Austin where a vote is anticipated. There will also be a march and press conference from Cesar Chavez Blvd. to the Texas State Capitol on Tuesday, April 8 beginning at 9am.
If you want to testify at the April 8-9 SBOE meeting in Austin, you may register on the website or by fax between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. this coming Monday; or, in person or by telephone with the appropriate agency office. You can also register for this.
See additional information from our friends at Librotraficante and MASTexas. Gracias for your support and action on Monday.
Juan Tejeda
Chair/National Assoc. for Chicana & Chicano Studies Tejas Foco Committee on MAS Pre-K-12
Recognition for a Chicana advocate
Next Saturday you can throw some chanclas around to the sound of some of the best Tex-Mex in Denver, and join in celebrating the good works of Flo Hernandez, chingona advocate of bilingual radio in the Southwest.
Stopping XL Pipeline
From 350.org comes this:
We’ve gone to DC to stand against the Keystone XL pipeline before -- but never like this. In the last week in April, a powerful alliance of ranchers, farmers and tribal communities will converge in Washington for a demonstration called “Reject & Protect,” and it’s shaping up to be the most beautiful demonstration against Keystone XL yet. We have the ingredients we need to make this action unignorable — what we need is your help to bring it all together. Can you pitch in to make a BIG impression on the President and help stop this pipeline once and for all?
It’s going to be a sight to behold. There will be dozens of riders on horseback. And Native Americans raising 30 tipis ready to go up on the National Mall. There will be demonstrations and ceremonies to tell President Obama that the risk to our land, water and climate from Keystone XL is too great to allow. And all of this will be led by an unprecedented alliance that won't back down.
The goal is to be the talk of the town during the crucial last week of April when President Obama will be making up his mind about the pipeline. This is our exclamation point on two years of powerful action against Keystone XL.
It’s a bold vision, and we don’t have much time to pull it off. If it’s going to work, it’ll take all of us. So please pitch in whatever you can, and let’s make this happen together. Onwards!
P.S. If you can join the big “Reject and Protect” rally in DC on Sat., April 26th (date changed from April 27th due to permitting issues) please sign up to stay in the loop.
http://act.350.org/signup/rejectandprotect/?akid=4377.851902.hdKJVd&rd=1&source=350&t=3
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
