Blurred Line

Considering that a pretty significant bulk of the science fiction on bookstore shelves these days is military SF, I've been rather surprised at how few military stories I've received for the anthology. Now, the genre might be one that doesn't translate itself so well into the short fiction, considering that a war must necessarily have a background (otherwise it's entirely pointless) and background requires a lot of infodumping, which you don't really have time for.

Still, I'd always assumed that many SF writers got started on the genre by Star Trek or Star Wars, or one of those TV shows with a starship meeting up with aliens. And, as Goodbye, Darwin is only offering a token payment, I assumed I'd attract a lot of writers who are just starting out. So, put the two assumptions together and I figured I'd end up with a lot of military SF. Wrong. In fact, if memory serves, I've only received one piece of military SF and only two or three more stories that were actually set in space. Of course, maybe I just have beginner writers pegged wrong. I don't feel any real sense of loss over it, though, since I'm not a big fan. Just curious, I suppose.

What I have been getting a lot of is science fiction humour. There's a lot of people out there who are trading in thought-provoking ideas for a series of gags, or just undercutting their own ideas by trying to pull off a joke instead. Now, humour SF has its place, and I've read some very good pieces. But didn't anyone ever hear that it's hardest to make someone laugh? Anyway, the vast majority of these don't even come close to cutting the mustard. (Hint: If you're reading this and planning to submit a piece like this, it might be best to reconsider.)

Two subgenres I wish I'd get more of are colonial stories and post-apocalyptic stuff. Both of these, I suppose, are about new human civilizations springing to life and that's something that's always fascinated me. I suppose both of these are viewed as having been beaten to death, though, because you don't see too much of it around anymore. I think I've gotten one post-apocalyptic story, but that's about it. (Hint: If you're reading this and planning to submit a piece like this, what are you waiting for?)

Anyhow, work on the anthology will, hopefully, be coming to a close soon. I'm looking for three more stories and then I'll be ready to get things moving on the production end.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Friday, June 09, 2006 - SF Subgenres and Goodbye, Darwin Considering that a pretty significant bulk of the science fiction on bookstore shelves these days is military SF, I've been rather surprised at how few military stories I've received for the anthology. Now, the genre might be one that doesn't translate itself so well into the short fiction, considering that a war must necessarily have a background (otherwise it's entirely pointless) and background requires a lot of infodumping, which you don't really have time for. Still, I'd always assumed that many SF writers got started on the genre by Star Trek or Star Wars, or one of those TV shows with a starship meeting up with aliens. And, as Goodbye, Darwin is only offering a token payment, I assumed I'd attract a lot of writers who are just starting out. So, put the two assumptions together and I figured I'd end up with a lot of military SF. Wrong. In fact, if memory serves, I've only received one piece of military SF and only two or three more stories that were actually set in space. Of course, maybe I just have beginner writers pegged wrong. I don't feel any real sense of loss over it, though, since I'm not a big fan. Just curious, I suppose. What I have been getting a lot of is science fiction humour. There's a lot of people out there who are trading in thought-provoking ideas for a series of gags, or just undercutting their own ideas by trying to pull off a joke instead. Now, humour SF has its place, and I've read some very good pieces. But didn't anyone ever hear that it's hardest to make someone laugh? Anyway, the vast majority of these don't even come close to cutting the mustard. (Hint: If you're reading this and planning to submit a piece like this, it might be best to reconsider.) Two subgenres I wish I'd get more of are colonial stories and post-apocalyptic stuff. Both of these, I suppose, are about new human civilizations springing to life and that's something that's always fascinated me. I suppose both of these are viewed as having been beaten to death, though, because you don't see too much of it around anymore. I think I've gotten one post-apocalyptic story, but that's about it. (Hint: If you're reading this and planning to submit a piece like this, what are you waiting for?) Anyhow, work on the anthology will, hopefully, be coming to a close soon. I'm looking for three more stories and then I'll be ready to get things moving on the production end. Cavan blogged at 9:58 PM \| 3 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart