New Publication: Grimdark Magazine Issue #2

Issue 2 of Grimdark Magazine was released earlier this month, and I’m super excited. Why? Because I have a publication in it.

This isn’t just any other venue. This a professional venue, one that’s on the standards of the SFWAs. They’ve published incredible authors such as Mark Lawrence, Adrian Tchaikovsky, but in Issue #2 of the magazine they’ve published R. Scott Bakker, Kameron Hurley, Richard K. Morgan, and more. And guess what?

I’m published there too!

*sniffles*

I honestly can’t say how stoked I am to have my name alongside theirs. I’ve been a fan of R. Scott Bakker for a while now (reading about the controversy is books have stirred is amusing), Kameron Hurley is a Hugo award winner of incredible work that’s also been “slammed” by a someone we shall call Requires Attention. (That’s all I’ll say. Google is your friend – or in this case, your enemy), and I’m a huge follower of Richard K. Morgan and his work. He’s actually worked on the videogames Crysis 2 and Syndicate. He’s written work that’s considered to be a classic in science-fiction and fantasy. In fact, his novel, Altered Carbon, is getting turned into a film by James McTeigue, the director of V for Vendetta.

And I’m published alongside them. In a professional SF/F magazine dedicated to grimdark.

Even now I’m still busy wrapping my brain around it. Sitting in a boiling hot room, pounding away a cheap keyboard in the summer holidays, I never dreamed I’d be up to this point. And I am.

But I’m just getting started.

You can pick up the issue of the magazine here, on the home website. It’s also on Amazon, smashwords, etc, so pick where you’d like, but remember that this is a new publication that’s going pro straight out of the bat. Do what you can to support them, so grabbing it from the home website would be much better for ’em.

Also, if you could nab along to Goodreads, give it the appropriate rating, and add it to your list, that would be swell, too.

Thanks for reading, folks!

January 13, 2015 1

2014: A summary

Well, this might be a tad late, but it’s better late than never, eh? You might think that being on holiday gives you more time, but in reality it just frees up the time to do things you’ve been putting off.

Anyway, I’m doing it now. And 2014 was a HUGE year for me. It’s the year I became a published author and sold my first short story to a paying market. I did a lot of things, but it’s best summarized. I managed to do a ton of writing, selling over fifteen short stories, seven reviews, three audio podcasts, four interviews, and was nominated for two awards. I produced two short films and watched over 200 feature length ones. I read 50+ books and wrote one of my own. I’ve had my work stolen and translated into Korean behind my back. Yes, that actually did happen.
I started editing a Hugo award winning podcast and subsequently had the privilege of meeting and working with some of my favourite (not to mention biggest!) all time authors such as Peter Watts, Robin Hobb and Allen Steele. I’ve watched too many HBO shows and drunk too many bottles of beer. I’ve met some incredible people and made friends that’ll (hopefully) last a lifetime. I’ve grown as a person and writer (hopefully for the better!) and I want to thank you all for everything, especially for putting up with me and tirelessly reading my work when it’s been shoved in your faces. So a especially big thank you to all my editors who’ve taken the time to pick up a new writer from the slush when they could have gone for thousands of others. Being a published author at just 18 years old (I’m 19 now, but I was 18 when I sold my first one) is never easy, nor is it common. The key to getting published isn’t some sort of secret code or manipulation. It’s white paper, black ink, persistence, and a will of steel. I’ve gotten a mountain of rejections and no doubt will continue to receive them. But that one acceptance letter makes all the difference in the world, and that’s all you need. So keep trying, and don’t ever give up.

I hope everyone has a marvelous 2015, one that involves many books being written, sold and read to hungry readers all over the globe. Support your industry, yeah?

– Jeremy

January 7, 2015 1

Pre-Order issue #2 of Grimdark Magazine today!

January 3, 2015 2

New Releases!

First of all, I just want to say that I hope you all are having fabulous holidays with family and friends. And of course reading plenty of books and doing your own writing. No excuses! That 1000+ page fantasy epic is calling!

Anyway, I haven’t been having the best of luck in the fiction department (except with reprints). However, I have managed to get into two of my favourite markets and snag some awesome cover art in the meanwhile. Many thanks to my editors, Andy Coughlan, Adrian Collins and Iulian Ionescu for taking up my work and publishing me in your magazines. You have my eternal gratitude.

They are as follows:

Grimdark Magazine Issue #2

Wow. This is quite a big one for me. They’re a new publication, but a professional one. They’ve published (be it fiction, interviews, what have you) authors like Joe Abercrombie Mark Lawrence, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Richard K. Morgan, R Scott Bakker, and Karemon Hurley, the last three of which I’ll be sharing the issue with, which is INCREDIBLE. I’ve been a fan of Bakker for a long time, so being able to have my name next to his is very gratifying. For this issue I did a review of Karen Miller’s The Falcone Throne, which I received an ARC of. You’ll be able to pick up the issue on Janurary 1, here.

Fantasy Scroll Mag Issue #4

I’ve been trying to get into this one for a while. It wasn’t easy: I mean, they’ve published the likes of Cat Rambo, Ken Liu, and Piers Anthony. However, I did manage to worm my way into the fourth issue with a review of Joe Abercrombie’s Half A King. Included are other awesome works by Seth Chambers, Cat Rambo, and Rachel Pollack, as well as reviews of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and a handful of interviews. It’s a great issue, and you can pick it up from a variety of your favourite retailers, or even directly from the site, here.

The New Accelerator Issue #2

This cover art is pretty awesome, you’ve got to admit. It’s basically got a reprint of my story, A Dome of Chrome, which, might I add, snagged an Honourable Mention from Writers of the Future contest. The issue can be picked up from the Apple store, or the Google play store if you’re into androids.

Well, that’s it for now. I doubt I’ll get anymore sales this year (although no doubt some more rejections are on their way). I’m approaching the one year anniversary of being a published author soon, so I’ll take this opportunity to thank everyone that’s helped and supported me over the years, as well as all the editors and publishers who have taken me on.

Thanks for reading, and have a great holiday!

December 25, 2014 0

Short Story Reviews!

It’s not easy to get your books reviewed by other people. And these aren’t even books, these are short stories. And it’s well known that short stories don’t exactly cast as wide of a berth that novels do. So getting someone to review short stories is even harder.

But I’m not one to give up, and I sent out some copies to reviewers to take a peek at and if they truly liked them, to review on their blog.

I was pleasantly surprised to know that not only was someone willing to do just that, but they were willing to review, in detail, all four stories. Now that’s awesome.

The stories reviewed at: Heart of Steel, Aliens Ate My Anti-Grav Speeder, A Dome of Chrome, and Without A Trace. The full blog slash review is over here, so go check that out. Lisa’s doing an incredible job, casting light on stories and magazines that might not otherwise get that attention, so it’s well worth giving her a few minutes of your time.

And if you don’t have the time to read the whole thing (she really did go into detail on some of the stories, and honestly there’s no greater reward than that for a writer), she summed it up like this: “His storytelling range is impressive, even just going on what I’ve talked about here…from dry humour to imaginative alien cultures, whether short stories or sharply written flash fiction, there’s a lot here to explore, and I’ve only mentioned four stories! I call that an excellent start, and my fingers are crossed for published novel.”

Dry humour? Imaginative alien cultures? How does that not sound awesome? (Yes, I do have a very dry and dark sense of humour. It’s gotten me in trouble more than once). Either way, I definitely use her blogs as sources for reviews to read, because she liked mine. She must have good taste then, right? Seriously though, her stuff is awesome. Give it a read…and thanks again to Lisa! I hope to meet you one day and hand over that published novel. It’s coming, don’t you worry.

December 8, 2014 0

Narrated Podcast for Robin Hobb story!

Check out my mother’s work on Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm’s lovely story.

Loulou Szal

Hello, hello…Just wanted to tell you all that my latest sci-fi narration for the popular online sci-fi magazine..’STARSHIPSOFA’, HAS BEEN UPLOADED AND IS NOW READY FOR LISTENING TO!!

I’m proud to have been given the honour of narrating a story called ‘Old Paint’ written by the very talented Megan Lindholm, otherwise known as Robin Hobb; author of the fabulous fantasy books..’Fool’s Errand’, ‘Royal Assassin’, ‘The Mad Ship’ and many more. It was a marvelous experience, one that I hope to have again!

Check out the podcast here!

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November 22, 2014 0

Top Ten Writing Mistakes Editors See Every Day

Stephen Carver

In addition to writing and teaching, one of the things I do for a living is to evaluate manuscripts for their suitability for publication. I read fiction (and non-fiction) across several genres, and write comprehensive reports on the books. I try always to guide the author towards knocking his or her project into a shape that could be credibly presented to literary agents, publishers and general readers. You know how Newman and Mittelmark introduce How Not to Write a Novel by saying, ‘We are merely telling you the things that editors are too busy rejecting your novel to tell you themselves, pointing out the mistakes they recognize instantly because they see them again and again in novels they do not buy,’ well they’re right; I am one of those editors.

However good the idea behind a novel, when the author is still learning the craft of writing – like any…

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October 14, 2014 0

New Anthologies and artwork

So, it’s been a busy few weeks for me. With university trying to drive me mad (only a few weeks left thankfully) and meeting writing deadlines, I haven’t had much chance to enjoy my completed work. I did go to the EB Expo herein Sydney on Saturday (and that was great) but otherwise I haven’t had many chances to sit back and see the fruits of my labour. Until now.

I was browsing the iTunes page of The New Accelerator. I have a reprint in their second issue. Anyway, I saw this:

Marvelous.

Honestly, I was just stunned by how good it was. I’ve seen some pretty horrendous artwork. The sort that makes you realize that we as humans have already lost. And people pay a lot of money for it. Your book will be judged by your cover, and so I was thrilled to be getting something this awesome. And they were paying me to be in the anthology! Honestly, I’d have paid for artwork like this.

There’s the proper file (without my name) here:

Amd And I adore the planets and moon in the background, as well as the climbable trees and cluster of domes. I won’t lie when I say that I had a very different image in my mind when I wrote the story, but this is damned good and I’m loving it. When people read your work carefully enough so that they adsorb the details (like the trees and opaque domes) you know you’re onto a great thing.

The actual issue isn’t available yet, but you can subscribe to them through the iStore and read it on any iOs device here.

And the cover art for the Issues themselves are incredible (note this is just a trial issue, hence the lack of many names).

But that’s not all.

I sent a story to Bards and Sages Quarterly back in January. I didn’t expect to get accepted. They’re a print magazine after all. But I did, and this is the cover art:

I’ll admit, it’s not groundbreaking, but again, I didn’t pay for it and I was surprised to get in, considering how big it is (they even have a Wikipedia page). It’ll be in print soon, but an e-copy is available right here in any format you like.

So, that’s it for now. I’m over the moon at the fantastic art for A Dome of Chrome, and I’m also looking forward to holding the print anthology of Bards and Sages in my hands.

October 5, 2014 0