Tag: writing

Science Fiction Poetry

~ emmakosborne ~ 4 Comments

I was recently notified that a poem of mine has been accepted at a big-name, very cool market! I can’t talk about it yet, but yay! Can’t wait to reveal the full news!

I’m excited that a lot of places seem to be upping their poetry content (or including it in the first place!) There’s something quite beautiful about rendering the mixture of science and fiction into carefully constructed poems. I think that poetry allows you to explore the abstract or the wondrous with a lot more precision and perhaps with less stricture than regular fiction. Certainly, the narrative can sometimes be more varied and more experimental.

My favourite science fiction poetry is definitely the words sprouted by the hybrids in Battlestar Galactica. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Courtesy of the Battlestar Wiki:

End of line. FTL system check, diagnostic functions within parameters repeats the harlequin the agony exquisite, the colors run the path of ashes, neuronal network run fifty-two percent of heat exchanger cross-collateralized with hyper-dimensional matrix, upper senses, repair ordered relay to zero zero zero zero. – Battlestar Galactica, Torn.

Do you write poetry, SF-themed or otherwise? Got any favourites?

One More Clarion Post

~ emmakosborne ~ Leave a comment

No Clarion for me this year. I received rejections from both UCSD and West, much to my disappointment.

I know that it’s not the be all and end all, and I intend to continue to work hard on my writing. I will keep submitting. I’ve got three upcoming publications within the next 2-4 months and a few more irons in the fire.

Still, I would have loved to have taken six weeks away from my day job to write, to learn, to meet people and to improve my craft.

Next year. There is always next year.

I’m reminded of one of my favourite Robin Hobb quotes:

“The fight isn’t over until you win.”

― Robin Hobb, Royal Assassin

Tenterhooks

~ emmakosborne ~ 5 Comments

At this point, all I can do is hold myself in a state of cat-like readiness.

If you’ve found me by searching for people waiting on Clarion news, welcome. Pull up a chair. UCSD is pretty much sorted, I suspect, but you and I both know that West is a mystery.

Maybe a writing exercise would help pass the time?

You’ll have to excuse me, I’m far too frazzled to come up with something, but do hit me up in the comments if you’re up for some kind of word-related challenge.

General Villainy

~ emmakosborne ~ 3 Comments

It has been said many times over that a good villain is the hero of their own story. Couldn’t agree more.

Personally, I like villains with complex backgrounds and high ideals that make perfect sense if you squint. Y’know, like Magneto. He has lived through terrible things and is a product of those struggles. (Plus, him breaking out of his plastic prison in X-Men 2 is my favourite scene from any action movie EVER.)

Think about Walter White or Tywin Lannister. Arguably, Tywin is the more noble of the two – yes, he lies and schemes and kills his foes, but his declaration that his actions are all for his family and his legacy actually ring true when you hold his words up against Walt’s endless lies and ego.

Sometimes it is all in where you stand. Daenarys Targaryen is a conquerer as much as a liberator, and shows no mercy to those who have wronged the weak. Remember, this is the woman who has crucified people (OK, so they had just done the same to a bunch of slaves…) She fights fire with fire and rules in some cases by asserting her values onto several different ancient cultures (not that they were necessarily GOOD, of course.) Would the people of Meereen and Pentos and Yunkai see her as a villain or a hero?

I adore a good villain and I love a solid antihero. Got any favourites?

Clarion Season

~ emmakosborne ~ 18 Comments

It has rolled around for the fourth time. Like, oh, hundreds of writers around the world, I have submitted an application to both Clarion UCSD and Clarion West.

I can’t stop checking my email.

Usually I’m waiting on something writing related – a submission, a beta read, very occasionally a contract – but this is different. I know (promise) that I’m not going to hear anything for a little while. I still can’t help checking. And checking. And checking.

Brain, Please Stop.

I really, really, REALLY hope that this year is my year. But, you know, all of the other times I’ve missed out have only made me a better writer, and if I don’t go to Clarion then I’ll be off on a holiday to Europe. You could call that win-win, yes?

I’ll just be over here, pushing F5 and thinking positive thoughts.

*stares*

Edited to add: So, I’ve gotten a rejection from Clarion UCSD. Holding out for news from West. Eeeeeeeeeeek.

Award Eligibility – Chronos and Ditmar Awards

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Turns out that my short story Squeak as published by Daily Science Fiction is eligible to be nominated for both the 2014 Chronos (Best Short Fiction) and Ditmar (Best Short Story) awards. Cool!

The Chronos honours genre work by Victorians, whilst the Ditmar is an Australia-wide award. You can find a full list of the eligible stories here:

Chronos eligibility list

Ditmar eligibility list

Nomination info can be found on the Continuum site – generally, you need to be a member of the fan community to nominate, but voting memberships can be picked up for a fiver if in doubt.

Go take a look! Loads of great stories and novels up this year. And if you decide to take a look at mine, thank you for reading!

What would you do for a story?

~ emmakosborne ~ 5 Comments

I heard about a guy who got arrested on purpose. He walked up to a couple sitting at a restaurant, flipped over the table and started ranting. He got arrested, alright.

Turns out, he did it because he’s an actor, and he wanted to know what it was like.

What would you do for a story? Drop acid? Join the army? Put on a bunch of weight? Go talk to engineers, watchmakers, fishers, surgeons, physicists, homeless people?

I write mostly science fiction and a bit of fantasy. I make a lot of shit up. Like, a lot. Sure, you can wear a suit that allows you to cling to walls and heals when you tear it. Yep, you can totally run a ship that has a garden instead of an engine. Go ahead, shoot with a gun that switches bullets when you shout at it.

Granted, I try to run my stories past a scientist if there’s something I’m worried about nailing after I’ve done my research (aeroponics and photovoltaic cells were SO FREAKING INTERESTING) Luckily, I know a bunch of scientists (thanks, you guys!) But sometimes you can only really get something right if you’ve experienced it, eh?

The novel I’m working on might just require me to run a couple of obstacle courses. Yeah, we’ll see how I go with that.

How about you? How far would you go for art? How far have you gone?

Women Destroy… ALL GENRES! RAAAAAAAAH.

~ emmakosborne ~ 1 Comment

I’ve recently posted about this, but OOH LOOK. NEW THINGS! Apparently the women of the world are not content with destroying JUST science fiction. Of course, we’re in a pretty spectacular situation here – Lightspeed’s kickstarter has raised over $15k to fund their special issue containing a stack of new stories, reprints and flash fiction authored, collaborated and edited by an all-women team of awesome. What’s next? Horror! Fantasy! Maybe getting our hands on some kind of multi-genre lair so that we can all hang out and discuss general geekery? Who knows! THE WORLD IS OURS.

Ahem.

Anyway. If you haven’t kicked in, please do! There are some awesome bundles available in the mix, and every cent thrown their way funds more content for the female genre writers of the world. This is a very good thing.

Clearly this is an exciting time. I absolutely love writing science fiction and fantasy (and also a bit of horror, sometimes, if that’s the mood that takes me) because it is so very much fun to make things up and to explore any and every world that is out there (or hey, worlds that I ENTIRELY MAKE UP ALL BY MYSELF!) I love writing it because I love to think about what’s beyond the here and now. I’m the sort of girl who thinks all the time about  mind controlling drugs, about dwarven caverns that wend and weave under mountains, about blasters and spider-web rope and cosmic warps and engines made from photosynthetic plants. I think about settlement wars within Mars colonies, cursed pocket watches and people who can yank your soul right out of your mouth. There are so many ideas out there to explore, and I love the fact that I can let my brain run rampant during the creative process. I think that my best stories are also tangled up with my heart. I find myself wondering about the people I write. What are they seeking? Which words, when said by a loved one, will tear them to pieces? How do they move past tragedies? Do they find joy? What are they positively overwhelmed by?

Writing science fiction and fantasy and horror and hey, general weird stuff allows me to mix in all of the above and that makes me so very happy. Funding the Lightspeed kickstarter is a small step to making the writing of all female genre writers more visible, more mainstream, more accessible. I’m sure that you’ll agree that this is a very good thing. 

Women Destroy Science Fiction Submission Call

~ emmakosborne ~ 4 Comments

Hark, female writers of the science fiction! Something cool is happening. The illustrious Lightspeed magazine are throwing their doors open to women (and whomever identifies as a woman) for a special issue to come out in the middle of the year. It must also be noted that Lightspeed keeps a gender balance in terms of their regular issues. But, you know, it’s kinda awesome that they’re having a specific issue for women, huh?

If you have something that suits, I encourage you to submit. I have! You can find the details, as well as a wonderfully inspirational message from Christie Yant (the guest editor) right here. Submissions close on February 14th.

And hey, if you don’t have anything ready to go by then, keep writing. Keep submitting. Some claim that women do not (or cannot) write science fiction. Ridiculous. Just look at the ladies out there who have and do destroy the joint. Octavia Butler. Karen Joy Fowler. Lois McMaster Bujold. Charlie Jane Anders. Margaret Atwood, FFS.  Kij Johnson. Kelly Link! Nalo Hopkinson. The wonderful Eleanor Wood. There are also many, many more.

I believe that creative women should all strive to write, strive to publish our work. Every story is important, no matter the genre or where it is accepted. As Virginia Woolf wrote in A Room of One’s Own:

“Literature is open to everybody. I refuse to allow you, Beadle though you are, to turn me off the grass. Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

Go get ’em, ladies.

News of the Positive Variety

~ emmakosborne ~ 3 Comments

A couple of lovely things have happened lately. I’m very pleased to confirm that Aurealis is taking my story Clean Hands, Dirty Hands! They’re currently on a quest to be considered a professional market by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, so if you have a spare $19.99 burning a hole in your pocket, you can subscribe and receive 10 whole issues of spectacularly good fiction. And one of them will have my story in it! And also, it might help me out for SFWA membership in the future, so everyone wins, really. 

In other news, my horror story The Box Wife is set to appear in Shock Totem #9. I’m thrilled to have found such a wonderful home for this one, as it is… well, I guess you could call it “unusual”. I’m quite sure that it is the most disturbing thing I have ever written. I can’t wait for this to hit the shelves. The cover art for Shock Totem (by the exceptionally talented Mikio Murakami) is always completely and utterly drool-worthy and the stories are top notch. 

I should also mention that I had a blast at GenreCon in October this year. The State Library of Queensland has got to be the most impressive modern library I’ve ever seen. It is stunning. My partner in crime Eliza Rose and I met some wonderful people over the weekend (you’re all awesome!) and, let’s face it, pretty much kidnapped the hilarious and dirty Chuck Wendig. Go read his books, that’s an order. I’d like to thank Kate Cuthbert for introducing us to the cool kids and also huge thanks to Alex Adsett, Patrick O’Duffy, Narrelle Harris, Imelda Evans, Kathryn Fox and Cat Sparks for being lovely and welcoming to this little newbie. We also did karaoke, which we will never speak of again (hot tip – don’t do rap).

I’m currently slogging through a novel this month, which is going more slowly than I would like, but faster than anything else I’ve done this year. So I guess I’d call that a win. Other than that, I am wishing fervently for a time-turner so that I have a chance to edit a couple of short stories that I’ve been working on lately. TOO MANY THINGS TO WRITE. 

November be crazy. Whew.