Two more stories and the fun is over

Way back when I started writing in 2006-2007 (can't remember which) I made a pact with myself: I wouldn't attempt to write a novel until I had written and published ten stories in professional markets. The idea was that by then I'd be a good enough writer not to be wasting my time and energy trying to make a novel work. I did try to write a novel after my fifth published pro story. Hubris! I said, and resolved to wait until I'd completed my goal.

Of course, it works both ways. My total pro stories now number 8 (some of them have been accepted but not actually published yet). I can hear the clock tick, if you know what I mean. The day of Novelizing is 'night, and I hate it.

But, but... (you're saying)... isn't this what you wanted? To write stories to learn the ropes and then write that fantastic novel you've had in your head all along?

Yes, and no. I do love writing stories and seeing them into print, and I have learned a lot since I started, but I'm nowhere near ready for the novel. Plotting is still a stranger to me. I still feel my way around a 5000 word story, spilling it out without logic or reason and then relying on my poor critiquers (sorry Mom, sorry Villa Diodati) to make suggestions. Then I apply their common sense and and think about the plot a bit and collage the stupid thing into some sort of shape. I am occasionally successful with this approach, but the most frequent critique leveled at my stories is still that "they just don't make any sense".

The thought of having to go this route with a novel makes me shudder. I have a monstrous case of cold feet. It's already hard enough to figure out why people do things in a 2000-5000 word story, my current project is aiming at 20000 words and I'm totally and irreversibly lost (or so it seems). How can I even think of spending a whole year (or more) drafting out a 90000 word monster to then have to reassemble it bit by bit?

So, am I happy I've almost achieved my goal? Sure! Will I be terribly sad if my next submissions come back rejected?

Eh--I'll go get some ice-cream now.

The Clockwork Jungle Book (Shimmer #11) is out!!!

Fans of the minute, delicate and strange, here's the return of your favorite magazine.
My very own "The Story in Which Dog Dies" is in this issue, along with stuff by Jay Lake, Susannah Mandel, Alethea Kontis, Amal El-Mohtar and others.

Purchase a print issue for 8 bucks plus shipping or, if you prefer, download the electronic version for 4$.

I can't wait to get my copies.

Sweet!

Share my Happy

Things are weird lately at the Hospital (remodeling, shuffling of people around other Hospitals of Madrid, random bureaucratic crazy etc) but I knew this was my day.

I got most of my to do list done for today and went shopping...


And found this. Silly cheap and gorgeous.

Chopped onion and garlic, olive oil, white wine and some 10 minutes later...


The world has been good to me today.

And with a little luck, tomorrow I'll write.

"As Women Fight" Asimov's Dec 09

The December issue of Asimov's is hitting stores and mailboxes as we speak and, along with stories by some very cool authors, is my own humble offering. "As Women Fight" is another gender story (no, I'm not bored with that yet) set in a pretty alien culture.
I can't wait to see how people like it.

Cool little gremlin story

Sean Markey's "Shatter Shatter" is up on Brain Harvest.

What a chilling cute little story. Reminds me of gremlins.

"Clapping for the Fairies" in Greek

Universe Pathways has accepted to reprint "Clapping for the Fairies" in the Greek version of the mag (they also have an English version).

This will be my third story published in Greek. I'm thrilled. Since I'm not doing much writing now, I'm putting more emphasis in the foreign reprints. So far, so good.

Reviews for Shoes-To-Run

Despite the demise of The Fix, there are still a couple review sites and blogs out there. Whenever I have time (which these days seems to be every two leap years) I like to find out what people have to say about my stories.

Overall, I think Shoes-to-Run (Asimov's, July 09) is being well received.

Suite 101 gives the story a "Recommended" and has this to say:

'Shoes-to-Run' by Sara Genge marks her third appearance in Asimovs. This time its the story of a girl who feels like a boy trapped in the wrong body, living outside a domed Paris of the semi-distant future. When Shai-Shai sees her first menstrual blood she makes a desperate gamble and asks to join the men in a hunt, for it is hunting that defines a man. Recommended.

NotfreeSFreader is rarely thrilled with my work but gives me a 3 out of 5.

Over at Garbled Signals, Matt highlights Shoes-to-Run as well as R. Garcia y Robertson and Ian McHugh's stories (yes, I love being in this bunch) and says this:

Sara Genge’s “Shoes to Run” presents another well-developed alien society, this time here on Earth, in the shadow of a future Paris, in fact. Here, environmental disaster has made it impossible for European natives to survive in the open, and even the ethnic Africans who lived in the Paris suburbs required genetic modification for protection from the elements and radiation. Among the descendents of these former immigrants, we meet Shai-Shai, a boy on the brink of manhood, but born in a girl’s body. From this, Genge develops a strong human story about Shai-Shai’s struggle to be accepted as a hunter, and of the survival of humanity by a return to its earliest customs.

Lois Tilton rarely likes my writing, but always has insightful comments on what didn't work for her, find them here:

The world has changed drastically. A dome covers Paris to protect it from the radiation, but the tribes, probably nano-engineered, survive outside as hunters. But such matters as radiation don't concern Shai-Shai today, when she has discovered that, despite all her efforts, she seems to have become a woman.

No, she couldn't be a woman. Not after all she'd gone through, not after all she'd prayed. Girl she could live with—it was temporary anyway. Woman was permanent.

The story of Shai-Shai's hunt could have been told of just about any tribal hunter in Earth's history. The well-told tale of the hunter's bond with the prey may or may not have been the product of nano-engineering, but I could easily accept it without. This leaves Shai-Shai's story only tenuously connected to the SFnal matters of dome and nano and the fact that there are kudu herds just outside Paris. I wonder where the tribes are going to find their shoes, now.

So far, that's all I've been able to find out there. I can't wait to read the other stories (in particular, I've liked Kit Reed's stuff in the past and "Sleepless in the House of Ye" sounds good) but I haven't received my complimentary issues yet which is in no way unusual thanks to the average workings of the Spanish Postal System (aka: submission nemesis). Ah, well, I guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer.