Sunday, June 1, 2008

Short stories

As the main project is drawing to a close, I'm electing to write a few short stories based around the timeline and backstory of 'First flights' to see how well they will be received. Completed a 3,580 word tale yesterday and am submitting it to a Sci-Fi magazine based in Victoria of all places. I'll go for the small stuff first off rather than join the immense queue for submissions to the more mainstream publications like Analog, Azimov's and Fantasy & Sci-fi. At least this way the feedback / rejections should be fairly quick. To be honest I'll be totally gobsmacked if they take anything from a relative sci-fi unknown like me.

As a (very minor) sci-fi fan since my mid teens (I'm a geek, bite me), it's often pissed me off that stuff I refer to as 'space opera' or fantasy has taken precedence over what I call 'hard' science fiction, that at least has some connection with the real physical laws of the Universe and real people, with real motivation. No, I'm not a Trekkie, and thought Babylon 5 (At first) had better characters and overall story arc. What the hell, those are my prejudices. Wife is a fan of Farscape, and we both thought Firefly was cool (Overtones of American West post civil war).

Science Fiction as a genre is rather looked down upon by mainstream literature as something for the immature, yet I would beg to differ. Good writing is good writing. Dialogue that fits the characters is good characterisation (I always try to write a characters dialogue with their voice in my head). Oh, what the hell, time for a well deserved cup of tea and a cookie.

If all goes well, I may even carve a little niche for my own stuff, or it will sink into obscurity. Who knows?

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