Douglas Smith's blog

In 2013, I wrote a 32-part (still surprised I had that much to say!) series for Amazing Stories on how to market and sell short fiction. One of my key pieces of advice in that series, which I dealt with in Part 15, was to keep your work in the mail. Don't worry about the story being rejected. Don't worry about the number of rejections it accumulates. Don't worry about how long the story has been circulating. As long as you can find a professional market to send that story to, keep sending it out.

Now in case you wonder if I always follow my own advice, I present for your amusement and edification a recent experience.

Back in November, I sold a story called "Dream Flight" to the new professional magazine The Dark, which is edited by Jack Fisher and Sean Wallace. My story will appear in issue #3 in February, and the very awesome cover is displayed at the right. Even better, I just received the table of contents and discovered that "Dream Flight" will be the lead story.

Excellent and wonderful. It's always a thrill to sell a story, and especially to appear in a new magazine. I've always loved this story, and knew that it would eventually find a home. But this sale brought a special thrill, since I'd written "Dream Flight," well, a while ago. 

So how long did it take me to sell this tale?

Wait for it...

Seventeen years. Yep, seventeen years. It was the second story that I ever wrote, and the second of three Heroka stories that I've written (the Heroka are my shapeshifters who also appear in my novel, The Wolf at the End of the World).  How many rejections did it accumulate over those seventeen years? Sixty-four.

But I never gave up on it. I kept it in the mail (or, in recent years, the email). And it finally paid off with a sale to a pro market, a lead story, and my name on the cover.

Never give up. Never surrender. And keep it in the mail.

A note on rights for beginning short fiction writers: If you've read my Amazing Stories series, you'll know that I spent a lot of time on making sure that new writers understand the issue of licensing rights for your fiction. Related to that, "Dream Flight" had been published previously, but only in French (in France (Tenebres) and Quebec (Solaris)). It had never been published in English before, so I still retained the First English Rights that The Dark required to purchase the story. 

[Update: When I signed my contract for "Dream Flight," The Dark was paying professional rates. However, since then, The Dark has dropped its pay rate to three cents a word, so is now classified as a semi-pro market. Another example of the vagaries and challenges of the short fiction market.]

I wrote earlier about a 3-part series that fellow writer, Zainab Amadahy, was writing for Muskrat Magazine about the lack of cultural diversity in the typical science fiction & fantasy convention. My prior post had links to the first two parts in the series. Zainab has now posted the third and final part in her series, in which she provides some excellent ideas for possibile panel topics that explore the issue of how to introduce greater diversity into not only SF&F conventions, but also the literature, the publishing industry, and our society and way of thinking. I hope that you'll check it out. I'm also hoping that maybe we can suggest some of these panels for an upcoming Toronto convention, such as the always excellent Ad Astra, in April 4-6, 2014.

I wrote recently on this blog about my cultural appropriation concerns when I was researching and writing my novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, which deals with and incorporates Anishinabe (specifically, Ojibwe) and Cree characters, stories, traditions, and issues, all around a theme of environment destruction and loss of animal habitat.

In November, I had the pleasure of meeting Zainab Amadahy, a fellow novelist and (among many other things) a writer for Muskrat Magazine, when she attended the launch for the book in Toronto.

A frequent discussion point around SF&F literature relates to its traditional domination by white writers of European ancestry (I could add "male" to that list, but that's not to the point of this post). Zainab is writing a three-part series for Muskrat, that she describes as follows:

What I’d like to offer in the next three segments are some suggestions to Science Fiction and Fantasy convention organizers everywhere who might be interested in growing and diversifying their events. Part one of this blog will outline the issue. Part two offers solutions and approaches. Part three will contain concrete suggestions for panel titles. 

Part one of her series outlines her own experiences (some positive, but mostly not) stemming from the typical lack of ethnic diversity at SF conventions. Happily, she cites my book launch as one of the positive experiences.

In part two of the series, just posted today, Zainab explores ways of diversifying events and discusses why diversifying your con might be important.

I'm not sure I'm in full agreement with her point #5 in part 2. If you tell a con organizer that something needs to be fixed, you're generally going to be invited to join in trying to fix it. Cons are volunteer-run, fan-funded operations that can always use extra help. And being invited in is a good thing, since it implies interest in solving the problem--and fixing an organizational problem is generally easier from the inside.

But beyond that, I'm in strong agreement that much can be done to make SF&F cons more ethnically and culturally diverse and inviting.

I'll post the link to the third part in Zainab's series when it goes up. I hope you'll check out the posts and leave Zainab a comment. Feel free to leave a comment here as well.

“When we understand each other's stories, we understand everything a little better—even ourselves.”

—Someplace to be Flying, Charles de Lint

This will be a long post, but for me, it's an important one. I'm basing this post on the afterword that I include in my new novel, The Wolf at the End of the World. However, since a potential reader, especially a First Nations reader, may have concerns over the issue I address here (and therefore not read the book), I'm posting that afterword here.

On the Origin of The Wolf at the End of the World

My intent for writing this post is primarily to address a fear I had about writing The Wolf at the End of the World.  But before I can get into that, I need to first talk about the book's genesis.

The first story I wrote (and sold) professionally was the novelette “Spirit Dance.” In it, we first meet my shapeshifting species, the Heroka, as well as my hero, Gwyn Blaidd and many of the other characters of The Wolf. That story takes place five years before the events in The Wolf. “Spirit Dance” was my first professional sale. It appeared in the anthology, Tesseracts6 in 1997, was a finalist for the Aurora Award in 1998, and won the Aurora Award in 2001 when it was translated into French. It’s been republished seven times in English and translated another sixteen times. Yes, the story totally rocks, and you should check it out.

I always planned to revisit the world and characters of “Spirit Dance,” so when I finally decided to write my first novel, continuing Gwyn’s story was an obvious choice.

On Writing About Another Culture

Now to my fear about writing The Wolf at the End of the World. I’m a white male of European descent (English, Welsh, Irish) who is writing about Cree and Ojibwe culture, traditions, and beliefs. Any author who writes about a current culture other than their own risks being accused of cultural appropriation.

That risk is even greater if the writer belongs to the majority that has traditionally held power in their society and is writing about a minority group in that society. It becomes greater still when that majority has oppressed that minority for nearly a quarter of a millennium, as the First Nations people have been since the Europeans first arrived in this land. My ancestors stole their land, broke treaty after treaty, and introduced programs and policies consciously designed to destroy their rich and unique culture and way of life.

First, thanks to everyone who turned out at my launch for my new novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, at SFContario on November 30. Chris Szego of Bakka-Phoenix Books handled the book sales, and my good friend, George Hardy, was kind enough to not only show up but also to act as photographer for the event. (By the way, if anyone is interested in the services of a great photographer, you can contact George (George S K Hardy) at photos@gskh6.ca.)

Here are some of the photos.

A good start! People actually showed up!

Seriously, you're calling me now?

Ok, where was I?

Oh,yeah...trying to balance an invisible ball in each hand.

Enough of that. My arms are getting tired.

The signing line begins to form.

No, I didn't know you could spell "Bob" with a "Z"

Granddaughter Brighid, oldest son Mike, and youngest son Chris

More info on THE WOLF, including buying links and an excerpt, is available here.

If you're in the Toronto area, please join me on Saturday November 30 for the Toronto launch of my new novel THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD. The launch will take place at the SFContario convention, but you do not need to be attending the convention to attend my launch. 

Here are the details:

Saturday, November 30

6:00 - 7:00 pm

Courtyard Room

Ramada Plaza Hotel

300 Jarvis St, Toronto

The excellent young-adult literary magazine, Cicada, has just republished my Zelazny-esque urban fantasy story "The Boys are Back in Town" in their Nov / Dec 2013 issue (cover at the right). This is the sixth appearance for this story, which first appeared in...uh...Cicada way back in 2000. I think it was the seventh story I'd ever sold at that point.

And yes, it is unusual for a magazine to reprint a story that they'd originally published. It's never happened to me before.

But it makes sense from the magazine's perspective. First, it saves them money. They pay less for a reprint than for a first rights sale (but they still pay very well for reprints—more than most markets pay for first rights). And since Cicada is aimed at teens, their current readers are not going to be the same group who read the story when it first came out twelve years ago.

And finally, hey, it's a good story. If you're interested, you can read reviews of the story here and check out the ebook version. "The Boys are Back in Town" also appeared in my collection, Chimerascope.

Well, this is a nice start for my first novel. Kelly Jensen at SF Crowsnest has given The Wolf at the End of the World a five-star review over at SF Crowsnest. Here are some snippets from her review:

I don’t read a lot of paranormal stuff. … There are some interpretations of lore I like, though, and some authors I will read, almost regardless of what the story is. Douglas Smith and his debut novel, The Wolf At The End Of The World, fill both criteria.

… The last twenty pages were an emotional experience (read: messy), which is always what elevates a book from four to five stars for me. I love a story that hits all the emotional buttons from laughter to tears. When that happens, it goes without saying the writing is good and the story is engaging, the characters are deep enough to make me feel.

 

…  In his introduction, Charles de Lint touches on the same points and the same feeling. It’s the interweaving of lore and ideas that gives this novel so much substance. …

 

Given the number of awards Douglas has won for his short stories, it’s hardly surprising he’s written such a fabulous book and it’s lovely to be able to say so, unreservedly. I really enjoyed ‘The Wolf At The End Of The World’ and I’m happy to have a copy to put on my shelf. With adventure, intrigue, shape-shifters, family, a touch of romance and a lot of heart, this is a book I’d recommend for readers of all genres.

–Kelly Jensen, SF Crowsnest, October 2013

You can read Kelly's full review here.

Cool. Shortly after my Aurora Award win for "The Walker of the Shifting Borderland," I received a request from Luigi Petruzzelli, the editor of the relatively new Italian SF&F magazine, Quasar, to translate and publish the story in an upcoming issue. And they pay well, which is not always the case for foreign genre markets, many of which don't pay at all. This will be my fourth publication in Italy.

The story should appear in Quasar either in the next issue before the end of 2013 or in their March 2014 issue. I'll post the actual cover of the issue with "The Walker..." when it comes out.

If you want to read the story in English, it's available at all major retailers as an ebook.

Over two years ago, I'd posted about the sale of my story "Fiddleheads" to the anthology Chilling Tales 2: In Words, Alas, Drown I. Well, the book has finally been released and is now available.

This is only the second time I've sold to what I'd call a clear "horror" market, the other time being "By Her Hand, She Draws You Down." Horror is not a genre I generally aim at, but I write the stories that show up in my head, and this one came out that way.

Here's an excerpt from the back cover copy:

"Canada’s maestro of the macabre, Michael Kelly, brings you CHILLING TALES: In Words, Alas, Drown I, an all new collection of nightmares that will perturb and torment you. Tales that will leave a frisson of fear and raise a quiver of gooseflesh. A chill is in the air."

With an introduction by editor Michael Kelly, the book contains a fantastic representation of Canadian dark fantasy and horror writers. I'm proud to have a story in a book edited by Michael, and to be included in this amazing roster of authors. Here's the table of contents:

• In Libitina’s House by Camille Alexa
• Gingerbread People by Colleen Anderson
• Meteor Lake by Kevin Cockle
• Homebody by Gemma Files
• Snowglobes by Lisa L Hannett
• The Dog’s Paw by Derek Künsken
• The Flowers of Katrina by Claude Lalumière
• Goldmine by Daniel LeMoal
• The Salamander’s Waltz by Catherine MacLeod
• Weary, Bone Deep by Michael Matheson
• The Windemere by Susie Moloney
• Black Hen A La Ford by David Nickle
• Day Pass by Ian Rogers
• Fiddleheads by Douglas Smith
• Dwelling on the Past by Simon Strantzas
• Heart of Darkness by Edo van Belkom
• Fishfly Season by Halli Villegas
• Road Rage by Bev Vincent
• Crossroads Blues by Robert J. Wiersema
• Honesty by Rio Youers

Check it out here.