Archive for the 'Short Fiction' Category

Giving it Away for Free

Kevin Andrew Murphy April 7th, 2009

Witch Way to the Mall

Witch Way to the Mall

This was going to be a small announcement that I’ve got a story coming out in Esther Friesner’s Witch Way to the Mall this next June, and Baen is offering five of the stories early, including mine (you have to click all the way to the end to find it, since it’s not linked in the contents), but, well, it’s sort of morphed into a rumination on copyrights and giving it away for free.

This was prompted by a short letter I got last night from Paizo, a gaming company I’ve bought from before and who has given me some very nice PDFs of their other games as free samples:

Dear Kevin,

Wizards of the Coast has notified us that we may no longer sell or distribute their PDF products. Accordingly, after April 6 at 11:59 PM Pacific time, Wizards of the Coast PDFs will no longer be available for purchase on paizo.com; after noon on April 7, you will no longer be able to download Wizards of the Coast PDFs that you have already purchased, so please make sure you have downloaded all purchased PDFs by that time.

We thank you for your patronage of paizo.com. Please check out our other downloads at paizo.com/store/downloads.

Sincerely yours,
The Paizo Customer Service Team

This has prompted a great deal of talk on the Paizo and Wizards boards and elsewhere, with a press announcement from Wizards saying they were shocked shocked! to find that people were violating their copyrights on the internet, and they’re now suing people as far away as Poland and the Philipines — this particularly ironic since a number of years ago, they themselves violated the copyrights of a number of authors, myself included, with the publication of the Dragon Magazine compilation CD.  But the fact that my very first professional sale (if not publication credit), which was reprinted by Wizards without my permission, was then pirated around the globe without Wizards’ permission?  I suppose I could fall into a fit of apoplexy that my words my precious words! were no longer under my control.  But since I’ve been giving that article away for free on my website for years, the mental chain is more: sauce, gander, world’s tiniest violin.

This isn’t to say that I don’t think Wizards has the right to pull those works they do hold copyright to from publication, but giving customers who’ve already paid for the work less than twelve hours notice is rather bad form.  Moreover, I think it’s inane to cut off electronic reprints of out-of-print books, especially when there’s a demand for them and the fans will have to chose between pirate networks and the absurd prices of antiquarian booksellers.  And when I say absurd, I mean absurd: Last night I went on to Half.com to get a book I wanted, and while I was there, the engine (which had remembered my previous searches) told me I could get a copy of  Wild Cards Card Sharks, which has my first professional fiction publication, for only $1.37.  This seemed absurdly reasonable, and since I’d heard they were going for much more (and I only have two copies myself) I decided to snatch it up, only to find that the price had jumped to $53 once I clicked on the link and it was absurd the other way.

I’m not going to pay $53 for a paperback.  Moreover, I don’t expect any fan to.  And it’s not like I’d see any of that money from the antiquarians in any case.  I’d rather the fans download it from Polish pirates, then buy something current (such as, for example, Busted Flush or Witch Way to the Mall).

Which I suppose brings us full circle: There are free stories–regardless of how they got there–and if you like them, you can buy more stories.

Comicon International 2008 — Dr. Horrible, The Dark Knight, and me

Kevin Andrew Murphy July 30th, 2008

Back from Comicon. Also back from Westercon. Thoughts….

First off…wow. Comicon was amazing. In over twenty years of attending, Comicon’s managed to outdo itself again, mostly by dint of those who came, both industry types and fans. I don’t know how many, but numbers of over 200,000 were rumored and probably underestimated.

Second thought, what’s up with the art shows at all the cons? At Comicon, I saw more winged kittens in the art show than superheroes, or for that matter, any comic book characters. Yes, I understand the cottage industry of marketing to dragon and cat fetishists, but seeing the same dracokitty art recycled from Westercon to Comicon was surreal given the difference of the rest of the convention.

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Wild Cards: American Hero & other interactive web fiction

Kevin Andrew Murphy February 2nd, 2008

Tor’s new Wild Cards website has been spiffed up and updated, with information on the mass signing in Albuquerque today with most of the Inside Straight authors. Moreover, Tor has just launched the American Hero website, the fully in-character blog and promotional website for American Hero, the superhero reality television show taking place in the Wild Cards universe and a central part of the plot of Inside Straight.

There are twenty eight characters on the show and we’ve got illustrations for all of them from the amazing Mike Miller. More, all of the authors have been writing confessionals from the standpoints of their characters. Up now for Week 1 are Joe Twitch (created and written by Walton Simons), Spasm (created and written by Daniel Abraham), Drummer Boy (created and written by S.L. Farrell), and Rosa Loteria (created and written by yours truly).

Rosa Loteria portraitGo over and take a look. Ask the characters questions. Of course, the contestants are all busy with challenges on the show, but who knows, some of them might answer. (Mine are Rosa Loteria and The Maharajah.)

This is also kind of exciting as an author since it’s a new publishing venue. I’ve seen website expansions to the content from movies, most notably the rather amazing Donnie Darko site which had some neat fiction which expanded the movie, and likewise the (now long defunct) website for the Point Pleasant tv show. But this is the first time I’ve seen extra web fiction content being done for a series of novels and anthologies, especially author created and owned.

Anyway, please take a look and see what you think, and also, let’s talk about the web as a venue for new fiction in general.

Wild Cards week: INSIDE STRAIGHT coming out, BUSTED FLUSH in the works

Kevin Andrew Murphy November 21st, 2007

Well, it’s been an exciting and fun week for Wild Cards. I just turned in revisions on my story for the second volume of the new trilogy, Busted Flush, in which my character Cameo finally has a feature (as opposed to cameo or supporting actress) role in a Wild Cards story. Have had a lot of fun working on that and getting to play with George R.R. Martin’s new character, Hoodoo Mama, and Daniel Abraham’s character, Bugsy, aka. Jonathan Hive, who not only has a strong supporting actor role in my story, but has a starring role in the first volume of the new series, Inside Straight, and got specific mention in the glowing review that just came out in Publisher’s Weekly.

But you don’t just have to take my word for it or wait for January when the volume officially comes out: Tor’s publicity department has let out advance reading copies, and two of them (signed by all nine of the Inside Straight authors, George R. R. Martin, Daniel Abraham, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Carrie Vaughn, Michael Cassutt, Caroline Spector, John Jos. Miller, Ian Tregillis, and “newcomer” S. L. Farrell) are currently being raffled off at the Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist blog, which should also have an interview with all nine authors in the next few days.

I’m also looking forward to Inside Straight because my new character, Rosa Loteria, gets her chance to shine there as well (and gets mention in a review at Fantasy Bookspot along with a larger cast of characters).

UPDATE: Another review just posted at Genre Go Round Reviews.

My 2006 Best Short Fiction Picks

Lois Tilton January 21st, 2007

What I do now that I am no longer writing fiction is to review it. For the last year, I’ve been the short fiction reviewer for the Internet Review of SF.

I originally had Great Plans to do a 2006 Year’s Best Short Fiction column for IROSF, but these met the usual fate of Great Plans. I did, less ambitiously, compile a list of my most highly recommended stories, and I thought it might be of interest.

This is not a totally comprehensive list. I don’t claim to have read anywhere like every piece of short fiction published during the past year; these are my picks out of those I have reviewed, which includes stories from most of the pro and semi-pro zines, both print and online, but no anthologies. I have also, perhaps unfairly, excluded those pieces that I consider episodes or outtakes from some longer work.

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Stupid Writer Tricks: 10 Writing Tricks to Avoid

David Louis Edelman January 19th, 2007

Here are ten writing tricks and techniques you sometimes see in amateur manuscripts that I think it’s best to avoid. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, some of which I’ve noted below; there will always be exceptions to the rule. But in general, if you hew to these guidelines except in very special circumstances, you’ll be a better writer for it.

Let’s use a football analogy here. Sure, once or twice a season, you’re going to try a wacky, off-the-wall play that will completely take the opposing team by surprise. But your win/loss record is going to be largely based on how well you master the fundamentals: running, passing, blocking. The smart coach knows that the aim of most plays is to advance the ball a few yards down the field, not to make the spectacular 95-yard touchdown.

What I’m trying to say is this: If you find yourself using one of these tricks, give your story a close look to see if there’s some other problem you’re trying to compensate for. That’s all.

1. The unreliable narrator. This little sleight-of-hand has been done to death, and it doesn’t really add anything but cheap tension to the story anyway. Now, biased narrators are perfectly okay; everyone’s got a point of view and there’s no reason a narrator should be any different. But narrators that outright lie to the reader solely to throw a wrinkle in the plot should be avoided. Notable exception: Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

2. The typographical special effect. Prose is not a visual medium. Yes, the look and feel of the book in your hand can add to the experience (or detract). But I believe that typographical special effects and font changes should be used sparingly in most works of prose. Just like you don’t judge a wine based on the type of glass it’s served in, the ink and paper are just vessels to get your story across to the reader. Notable exceptions: Jeff VanderMeer’s City of Saints and Madmen, John Barth’s “Lost in the Funhouse.”

3. The intruding author. Inserting the narrator as a secondary character in a fictional story is boring, boring, boring. We’ve all seen a million examples of the wall between author and reader breaking down a la Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo and half of Stephen King’s novels. Richard K. Morgan had one of his characters at the end of Market Forces read a novel whose plot matched that of his Altered Carbon series, and I found that it temporarily jarred me out of an otherwise absorbing story. (Keep in mind that there are plenty of good fictional stories authors have written about themselves; but that’s not the same as chucking the author into an otherwise traditional fiction just for the surprise value.) Notable exceptions: Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Breakfast of Champions.

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101 Critiques — 13-line critique update

Kevin Andrew Murphy January 14th, 2007

Well, DeepGenre has hit a milestone in that we now have 101 critiques in the 13-line Critiques section.  Or, more accurately, we have 95 submissions with criticism and 6 new submissions which do not yet have critiques but soon should.

“New” is also a bit of a misnomer.  What happened is that over the holidays, in addition to the usual holiday muddle, there was an absolute avalanche of spam in the critiques email box, burying the submissions until now.  If you submitted something and it is not posted, please resubmit.

 We should also shortly be creating a new email address, viewable only as a graphic so as to vex the spambots, and will then be closing down the bespammed current address.

Quiet on the set! “Clove Smoke” in production.

Kevin Andrew Murphy November 13th, 2006

Well, last night was a first for me for a couple things, the second of which was a complete surprise: It was not only my screenwriting debut (actually story credit with script consultation, but most of the dialogue is right from my short story), but also my acting debut, a cameo with two brief lines of dialogue.

I also have the contract in hand now, so I can go ahead and broach radio (or actually blog) silence.  Last spring, I met up with Robert Mims, a new producer looking for material for a short film.  I sent him a copy of “Clove Smoke,” a short of mine that’s been well-received and even translated into Spanish.  Next thing I know, I’m looking at a screenplay adaptation by Robert’s writing partner, Justin Queen.

A thumbs up, and next thing we’re in the fast track.  Principal shooting finished yesterday at the House of Shields in San Francisco, where I’d gone both to get to see the actual production of the filming of my story, and to set myself up for a cameo as background.  Stephen Watts, the director, then surprised me by offering me the role of the bartender, since it gave me a speaking line and also offered some contrast visually since I’d known the color palette the production designer was going with and I’d dressed to match it, adding the red that the principal actors weren’t wearing for the scene.

I also got to meet the actors, Anissa and Jason, who are playing Aurora and Jimmy, a strange bit of serendipity giving them the same initials.  They were great, both in terms of acting and in looking the parts.  The second, in fact, even better than I’d pictured them, thanks to Anissa’s wardrobe (she’s also a model) and Kirsten Larsen’s skill as production designer.  Richard Cascio, the director of photography, was also getting some amazing shots, or at least from what I was getting to see literally looking over his shoulder–one shot was from the bardtender’s perspective, so I was standing right behind him so Jason could get the right line of sight to my eyes for when we later reversed the shot.

And I stepped on a light box one of the grips had left behind the bar, mistaking it for some sort of platform you’re supposed to step on.  However, one fluorescent bulb is not a disaster and it was fascinating to watch a full production up close.  The dolly shot curving around the bar was particularly amazing.

What was also amazing was the location.  The House of Shields is a hundred years old, literally, being built in 1906 and opened in 1908 (delays caused by the great quake and fire).  Edwardian lamps, the bar from the old Palace Hotel, coffered ceilings and so on.  Gorgeous. House of Shields interior

New Audrey Niffenegger serial

Lois Tilton October 23rd, 2006

People might be interested in looking at this: the Chicago Tribune is serializing a new story by Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Travelers’s Wife.

Title: At Home, with Cats

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-cats-special,1,1968651.special?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl

Hooking the reader (and hopefully the editor) with the first 13 lines

Kevin Andrew Murphy July 16th, 2006

While I can’t speak for Damon Knight, late creator of the “13 line critiques,” I think a bit of explanation is in order.  The idea of being able to hook the reader (and hopefully the editor) with the first thirteen lines of a short story is fairly simple and straightforward.  Yes, the ”first thirteen lines” may sound like an esoteric magical number–and the name “Damon Knight” certainly adds to that ambiance–but they spring from a very plain dry fact: When using proper manuscript procedure, a double-spaced sheet of paper has 25 lines, 1 1/4″ margins, and Courier typeface.  However, on the first page of a short story, with the header, author information and appropriate spacing, that number is halved to thirteen lines.

There.  Nothing esoteric about it.  You could just as easily say “You have the first half a page” to hook the reader and entice an editor to remove the paperclip and turn to page two, rather than reaching for the form rejection slip.

Unfortunately, this bit of commonsense practicality keeps getting misinterpreted as a form in-and-of itself, like a sonnet, with authors deliberately placing a cliffhanger at the final word of line thirteen.  Stop this.  Please.  Just because you intrigue the reader enough to make them turn to page two does not mean they’ll want to go on to page three.  Moreover, if you start the story with a demon dangling the baby off a cliff, what are you going to do for an encore?

The cliffhanger emphasis comes from television teasers, those short bits at the start of TV shows which introduce the beginning of the episode and usually have an incredibly strong hook to entice the viewer to stay through the first commercial break, rather than channel surfing.

Short stories, thankfully, are not quite in that same boat, so “hooking the reader” does not mean “open your story with a moment of high melodrama.”  Yes, you can, but you are also allowed to start with something slower and softer.  You don’t have to overcome two minutes of commercials and a hundred alternate channels, only a paperclip and editor enuii.  This doesn’t mean readers will sit still for uninteresting blather, endless exposition or stultifying backstory–and editors and especially junior editors are just looking for some reason to be bored–but a languid, lyrical or dreamy intro can still hook the reader so long as it provides sufficient intrigue.  Do not underestimate the power of plain good writing.

Another trouble with melodrama/cliffhanger beginnings is that, all too often, they have nothing to do with the story at hand.  If that’s the case, even if the reader does get to the end of your story, the reader will feel cheated and the editor will be annoyed if there is no payoff to what was right there at the start of the very first scene.  You’re also cheating yourself as an author if you don’t put something, not just dramatic, but significant, as your very first line.  Along with the last line, those are going to be two of the most powerful lines in your story, by sheer virtue of their placement.  The first lines are the hook.  The last lines are the clincher.  The first thirteen lines of the hook are not just what gets your story read, but combined with the clincher at the end, if they match, they’re what gets your story sold.