Who keeps leaving all these doors open?

Hard on the heels of Angry Robot's Open Door period (well, six months down the line, perhaps) comes another opportunity from one of the big names in publishing. This time it's Harper Voyager, who publish stuff by the likes of George R. R. Martin, Kim Harrison, Raymond E. Feist, Robin Hobb, Richard Kadrey, Sara Douglass, Peter V. Brett and Kylie Chan - amongst many others.

Harper Voyager will be opening their doors to unagented, novel-length works of all subgenres (what they actually say is: "all kinds of adult and young adult speculative fiction for digital publication, but particularly epic fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, dystopia and supernatural") for two weeks only from 1st to 14th October. Interestingly, given the seismic shifts in publishing over the last few years, they aim to publish the selected fruits of this window primarily through digital platforms, as "digital originals", though they are at pains to stress that all projects thus selected will receive exactly the same attention and treatment (editing, marketing etc) as standard print book projects.

They also state that they will consider novels that have already been self-published.

For more details, see the link below.

http://harpervoyagerbooks.com/harper-voyager-guidelines-for-digital-submission/

Sharpen those red pens, folks....

Robot Invasion!

Saturday 17th November 2012 is a date to mark into your diaries, folks, as Sheffield Libraries have picked that for their first ever SF & F Readers' Day. In a sort of extended "Meet the Author"-stylee affair, Adam Christopher, David Tallerman, and Gav Thorpe will all (subject to the usual caveats) be present - as will their publisher, Nottingham's very own Angry Robot Books, for a "Breaking into the industry" workshop.

The event runs from 1pm to 4pm at Sheffield Central Library; tickets can be obtained free in advance at the library itself. Beware, however, demand for this event is likely to be high, so you'll have to get in early.

Sheffield SFF Writers will, of course, be representin'. We'll see you there...

Hey nice one Steve, blog going again!

Here's some sensible tips on writing: http://litreactor.com/columns/some-practical-writing-advice-from-douglas-coupland

I especially like:
'Don’t write for magazines you don’t actually read. People can tell you’re not 100 percent into it.'

See you in 2 weeks
Dave Lee

Great novels of the 50s:

http://asknicola.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/indefatigable-weirdness-of-50s-american.html

Science In My Fiction short story competition

Crossed Genres has announced a short story competition focusing on the science in science fiction. They want people to "write a science fiction or fantasy short story which is inspired by a scientific discovery or innovation made or announced within the past year". Further, "the science must be integral to the story". A links to the relevant article or study must also be provided.

A panel of six judges will pick the finalists. There is $400 worth of prizes to be won. The top three stories will be published on the Crossed Genres web site. The competition runs from 1 April 2010 to 30 June 2010. Results will be announced on 21 July 2010.

Stories of 2,500 to 10,000 words, submitted via the online entry form only - see here.

See here for full details.

Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest 2010

Baen Books and the National Space Society are sponsoring a short story contest in memory of Jim Baen.

They are looking for short stories "of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration". They want stories which feature "Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, realistic spacecraft, heroics, sacrifice, adventure"...

First prize is publication on the Baen Books main website, paid at the pro rates. Plus a specially designed award, free entry into the 2010 International Space Development Conference, a year's membership in the National Space Society ($45 level) and a prize package containing various Baen Books, Jim Baen's Universe and National Space Society merchandise.

Second and third prizes are a year's membership in the National Space Society ($45 level), and a prize package containing various Baen Books, Jim Baen's Universe and National Space Society merchandise.

Deadline is 1 April 2010. Submissions should be sent as .rtf attachments to baen.nss.contest@gmail.com. Please put the word SUBMISSION in the subject line. Note that manuscripts should not include the author's name.

See here for full details.

NextRead Magazine now open for submissions

A new magazine, due to be launched on 1 May 2010, is now open for submissions. NextRead Magazine is "a themed bi-monthly short story magazine". Each issue will contain six to eight short stories on a given theme. It will be published in both PDF and epub formats, and will cost £1.50 an issue.

Issue #0's theme is "Science Fiction combined with Myth". Deadline for submissions is 14 April 2010.

Word limit is 5,000 words. Submit as attached document - doc, rtf, txt. Submissions are only accepted from people who have pre-bought the issue of the magazine. Token payment for stories published in the magazine, and each issue a story chosen by the editor will receive a book "that fits the theme that edition of the magazine".

See here for more details.