Jump to content

Official Blatant but Honest Self Promotion Thread


EruditeFool
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey board folks, 

It's been a pretty cool month for me. I had my story "The Two Out of Three Rule" included in Flame Tree Publishing's Murder Mayhem anthology. It was my second pro sale, and got me into Codex and a SFWA affiliate membership. The book is half up-and-coming writers and half classics (think Mark Twain, Lovecraft, Conan Doyle.) It's an absolutely beautiful book! And I get to say I'm in an anthology with Poe. :)

And second, my story "The Farmgirl and the Kitsune" just got published in the Hugo-nominated Abyss & Apex magazine! It's my take on a Japanese folktale: pretty dark but a lot of fun. Also, the story is a subplot from my first novel Granters, which I'm just starting to shop with agents. Hoping that having a partial publishing credit will pique their curiosity! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Rorshach said:

Will take som time getting used to your avatar, however.. Change is sometimes confusing :)

I can understand that. I think I'd been using that old Elric image on the board for about eight years (before that I used Amok's Roose Bolton). So I don't change very often.

Still feels weird using Teltö.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, The Grey Wolf said:

Btw, does anyone have any general advice on how to get short stories published they could offer me?

Two options:

  1. Write enough short stories that you have around 70,000 words total. Query agents and small presses for the collection (note that an awful lot of agents and publishers only deal with novels, so do your research about which ones are OK with short story collections).
  2. (A better choice, I think) - Submit individual stories to magazines in your genre. Use this to find them - http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Search/ByFilter - then follow the submission guidelines. If you can have some luck here, this makes it more likely that someone will be interested in a collection later on.

Contrary to what you might hear from the likes of George R.R. Martin (who seems to think this is still 1976), the short story market is tougher than the novel market. With novels you are only competing against other first-timers, and since novels take longer to write, there's less competition. With short stories, you're competing against the world's best authors for a handful of slots in the top magazines (i.e. the ones that actually get you noticed), and everyone can churn out short stories faster than novels. Oh, and to add insult to injury, the money is in novels. No-one (including Martin himself) can sustain themselves full-time on short stories alone.

I've written short stories, but I've never managed to sell a single one so far, even though I've made it with a novel and the odd bit of poetry. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's awesome, THE FANTASY BOOK CRITIC reviewed both my latest books.

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2016/10/mini-reviews-cthulhu-armageddon.html?m=0

The audiobook of CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON alsocame out today. Good timing everyone. Post-apocalypse human vs. monster vs. god vs. monstrous human action! http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Cthulhu-Armageddon-Audiobook/B01LX4JCHS/

Edited by C.T. Phipps
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, SeanF said:

Would you like to provide a synopsis (spoiler-free?).

You mean in addition to the blurb?

Our protagonist, Teltö Phuul, is a low-level Necromancer, whose job is to make sure that the zombies ('liches') at the local library stack the shelves correctly. Necromancy is a universal ability in this world, and in Teltö's homeland is taught in schools like mathematics - those who pass the exam occupy the highest social niche, while everyone else makes do (or is converted into undead labour). Teltö is very much an anti-hero - his views and personality are shaped by his place within the system, though some of his character flaws are entirely his own.

Teltö gets dragged into some unsavoury political shenanigans involving both his homeland (the Viiminian Empire - a crumbling bureaucratic nightmare) and the neighbouring Northern Principality (a border-line theocratic military dictatorship, which regards Necromancy as pure evil). Teltö's people are still paying off war reparations from the last conflict some decades before, and there is still a lot of bitterness.

The book is really about Teltö's literal and metaphorical journey (how can he change? how far can he change?). That's about all I can say without getting spoilery. :)  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

You mean in addition to the blurb?

Our protagonist, Teltö Phuul, is a low-level Necromancer, whose job is to make sure that the zombies ('liches') at the local library stack the shelves correctly. Necromancy is a universal ability in this world, and in Teltö's homeland is taught in schools like mathematics - those who pass the exam occupy the highest social niche, while everyone else makes do (or is converted into undead labour). Teltö is very much an anti-hero - his views and personality are shaped by his place within the system, though some of his character flaws are entirely his own.

Teltö gets dragged into some unsavoury political shenanigans involving both his homeland (the Viiminian Empire - a crumbling bureaucratic nightmare) and the neighbouring Northern Principality (a border-line theocratic military dictatorship, which regards Necromancy as pure evil). Teltö's people are still paying off war reparations from the last conflict some decades before, and there is still a lot of bitterness.

The book is really about Teltö's literal and metaphorical journey (how can he change? how far can he change?). That's about all I can say without getting spoilery. :)  

Okay, thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

WEEKLY SELF-PROMOTION: THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY by me and TO BEAT THE DEVIL by Michael Gibson will be available for free from Friday to Sunday. If you enjoy dark superheroes, cyberpunk hellish fantasies, and lots and lots of black humor--either of these books will be for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Supervillainy-Saga/dp/1514269392/

https://www.amazon.com/Beat-Devil-Technomancer-Novels/dp/153073455X/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...