Tag: SF

Award Season!

~ emmakosborne ~ 2 Comments

I thought I’d do a round-up post on the work of mine that is eligible for awards this year. It’s nice to see a whole lot more runs on the board than in 2013 (I think it was just some flash?).

So! I’m eligible for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, as well as the Hugos and Nebulas (ahahaha, yeah. If that happens, I’ll eat my hat.) In terms of local stuff, my stories are eligible for the Ditmar and Chronos awards, too.

My poem ‘Crashdown’ that appeared in Apex 60 is also eligible for the Rhysling award for poetry for 2015. Hurrah!

Stories are as follows:

– The Box Wife – Horror short story at Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

– Zip – SF short story at Bastion Science Fiction Magazine

– Clean Hands, Dirty Hands – Historical fantasy short story at Aurealis Science Fiction and Fantasy. This story was given a three star rating on the Tangent Recommended Reading list!

Please feel free to mention your eligible work in the comments! I will also post some of my favourites of the year very shortly.

Good luck to everyone!

The Box Wife Now Available

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I’m very happy to announce that my horror short story “The Box Wife” is now available in Shock Totem #9! You can grab it on Kindle here, or pre-order a print edition (yes! It is in actual print! Swoon!) here.

Here’s what editor K. Allen Wood has to say about it:

With a touch of SF, Emma Osborne’s “The Box Wife” is sure to leave you uncomfortable. The box wife is one and many, but you’ll recognize all.

Yep. Spooky.

There are also some really wonderful stories in the issue, including the following:

* Unacceptable Content, by Catherine Grant (Editorial)
* Buddy, by Kathryn Ohnaka
* Saturday, by Evan Dicken
* Morning Books and Evening Books: A Conversation with F. Paul Wilson, by Barry Lee Dejasu
* Thirteen Views of the Suicide Woods, by Bracken MacLeod
* Anteroom, by Peter Gutiérrez (Poetry)
* Strange Goods and Other Oddities (Reviews)
* Hey Man, by Tim Lieder
* The Nightmare Rolls On: A Conversation with Stephen Graham Jones, by Zachary C. Parker
* You Are Here, by Stephen Graham Jones
* Good Help, by Karen Runge
* Alan Roscoe’s Change of Heart, by S.R. Mastrantone

I hope that you enjoy, if you’re inclined to have a read.

Novel Draft Done!

~ emmakosborne ~ 3 Comments

Whew. So! I managed to finish writing the draft of the novel that I’ve been working on since GenreCon after Chuck Wendig gave me the challenge of finishing it in a year.

I am SO GLAD that I knocked it over. I’ve written a bunch of longer things throughout my writing life but have rarely (if ever) gotten close to the/an end and have never actually finished a novel-length story completely. Just almost. Which, I have discovered, is not the same at all.

I wrote the last chapter whilst sitting in a terribly expensive fancy organic cafe in Paris. Yep, I wrote on holidays (of course!) I wouldn’t have made my deadline otherwise, and what are holidays for if not traipsing around the world, sleeping in and writing?

That day felt amazing. The rush was incredible. I could finally see the whole shape of it. I have a bunch of things to work on when it is time for editing (it is being shelved for a couple of months at least) but overall, I’m really happy with how the story worked out in the end. And, you know, I’m really surprised with how some of it played out. When I got to the original end, I knew that there was more to tell, and the characters pushed the plot far beyond where my original ideas finished. Hmm!

So! Editing to come later, but until then, I’m going to start working on some shorter stories that have been tugging at my sleeve whilst I’ve been working on the novel.

Excelsior!

Long Haul Writing

~ emmakosborne ~ 4 Comments

I mostly write short stories. In the last couple of years I’ve been writing and editing and submitting and editing and submitting and reworking and trunking and occasionally finding success and writing and editing poems and short pieces of fantasy, horror and SF. This year, I’ve had a couple of things come out (in places like Apex Magazine and Bastion SF, no less!) which has been very exciting and fun. I still have a story due out shortly at Shock Totem…

Aaaaaaaand that’s about it. Nothing out on sub, except a reprint. I’m waiting for a couple of markets to re-open, and I’ve been tinkering with some stories, but mostly, I’ve been clawing my way through draft zero of the novel I’m working on.

The first 25,000 words were pretty breezy. I knocked out quite a bit during Nanowrimo last year (although November is basically MONTH OF DEATH for my day job, so that kinda makes it difficult).

Let me tell you, the next 10,000 words or so were like simultaneously pulling teeth and fingernails whilst riding a large excitable dog and trying to put on eyeliner.*

Luckily for me (and anyone who spends time in my company) things are getting (slightly) easier. I think I’ve finally broken through the tricky bits and the end is in sight.

So, with a bit of work and luck, I’ll have my draft finished by October, which is the deadline Chuck Wendig gave me.

He’s promised to steal the idea if I don’t write it all down by then, the bastard.**

So! Wish me luck writing my rather queer YA science fiction adventure! I’m having a blast and I hope that I manage to pull it off!

 

 

*I am really, REALLY not good at this. It’s basically an awful lot of poking and cursing.

**I actually wildly adore Chuck and would never question his lineage.

 

Zip out at Bastion Science Fiction Magazine/Yay Diversity in SF!

~ emmakosborne ~ 1 Comment

I’m very happy to announce that my short story Zip has recently been released in Bastion Science Fiction Magazine’s fifth issue!

August_cover

Cover art by Milan Jaram

You can download the issue right here, for less than the price of a cup of coffee:

Bastion SF Issue #5

There are some wonderful stories within, so please do check it out if you can. It is so lovely for me to show people my stories, as writing is so often a solitary process.

Bastion SF have been a delight to work with, and have been incredibly supportive and encouraging of my work. They are proud and excited to publish my military SF story, which, unlike many, features a gay protagonist yearning for his lost love. My story also includes a genderqueer character, which was also something they were very happy to see.

There has been a lot of talk about diversity in science fiction and fantasy lately, and I think we can all agree that diversity in race, gender, sexuality and religion is only ever going to make the field stronger. I’m very happy that my story can in some small way contribute to this diversification.

I’m lucky enough to have been positively reviewed already – Alexis A Hunter blogged about issue #5 kindly saying the following:

This story had to be my very favorite of the issue. It’s hard to find a single thing to dislike about this one. It hit all my favorite buttons: military sci-fi, a gay protagonist, so much glorious tech perfectly woven in, and true heart, true meaning.

I’m so happy that this story has struck a chord with people, and I’d like to thank Bastion SF for being amazingly positive about it all!

To everyone who has gone out of their way to purchase an issue, thank you. And thank you also to the spectacular people who critiqued the story for me. You guys are the best.