Deck The Halls. Again.

Due for international launch next Thursday, 6th December, the eMergent anthology Deck the Halls includes my story, Softly Sing The Stars.  (Edited by Jodi Cleghorn with fabulous art by Andrew McKiernan).

Some of you might recognise this from a previous post about six months ago, and claim the anthology has already been released. That's true - it was released in July but only in Australia. This time it's available beyond our Summer shores.

Each of the thirty-two writers riffed off a line from the carol, Deck The Halls. The second last line, Sing this joyous, all together, was the basis for my SF story. My good friend and fellow traveller David McDonald, wrote his story, Through Wind and Weather, from the final line, Heedless of the wind and weather.

Not only is this a fabulous collection of stories, but with its Christmas theme it's ideal as a gift. It's available here.

 Table of Contents:

Touched - Rowena Specht-Whyte
Drench the School - Benjamin Solah
Coming Home - Rebecca Dobbie
While You Were Out - Sam Adamson
Twenty-Five - Rebecca Emin
A Jolly Pair - Christopher Chartrand
Gays and Commies - Graham Storrs
A Better Fit - Jen Brubacher
Salvation - Nicole R Murphy
A Troll for Christmas - Jo Hart
Modraniht - Kate Sherrod
Bosch’s Book of Trolls - Susan May James
‘Til Death Do Us Part - Emma Kerry
High Holidays - Dale Challener Roe
The Headless Shadow - Jonathan Crossfield
End of a Tradition - Paul Servini
Weatherboy - Nik Perring
Not a Whisper - Lily Mulholland
Lords of the Dance - Janette Dalgliesh
Through Frosted Glass - Laura Meyer
Midsummer’s Eve - Stacey Larner
Yuletide Treasure - Rob Diaz II
Broken Angel - Jodi Cleghorn
A Golden Treasure - Chia Evers
Fast Away - Jim Bronyaur
Apprentices to Time - Icy Sedgwick
Unfolding - Alison Wells
Egg-Ceptional - PJ Kaiser
Hail the New - Trevor Belshaw
Perfect Light - Dan Powell
Softly Sing the Stars - Steve Cameron
Through Wind and Weather - David McDonald

Interesting Times.

This week has been mixed.

Deck The Halls has been released by eMergent, and it looks great. My contributor copy arrived this morning. It includes my story, Softly Sing The Stars, as well as Through Wind And Weather by my fellow traveller, David McDonald.

I withdrew a story from a market after it had been sitting there for well over four months without a response to my queries. Sigh. Four months is ridiculous when Duotrope is showing responses from the same market after only two weeks.

I had a personal rejection from a market that continues to elude me. The comments were encouraging though. Still, a rejection is a rejection is a rejection.

I'm over it now and feel better. It took about two minutes.

And the other stories are still out in the wildwoods awaiting their fates.

I wish I had midi-chlorians when I say stuff like: Get on with it, editors. You know you want these!

Deck The Halls Is Launched.

Deck the Halls, the Christmas themed anthology from eMergent Publishing is now available for purchase as an e-book and print publication. (Australia only) International orders will be taken from November. Meanwhile, stories from the collection are now live online!

You can read a new story every hour as they are posted on the Literary Mix Tapes blog.

Each story will be up for 24 hours. Follow the links for more details, and the schedule is below (Mine will be available from 7 a.m. tomorrow).

Times are Australian Eastern Standard.

Tuesday 17^th July
9am Touched Rowena Specht-Whyte
10am Drench the School Benjamin Solah
11am Coming Home Rebecca L Dobbie
12pm While You Were Out Sam Adamson
1pm Twenty Five Rebecca Emin
2pm A Jolly Pair Christopher Chartrand
3pm Gays and Commies Graham Storrs
4pm A Better Fit Jen Brubacher
5pm Salvation Nicole Murphy
6pm A Troll For Christmas Jo Hart
7pm Modraniht Kate Sherrod
8pm ‘Til Death Do Us Part Emma Kerry
9pm High Holidays Dale Challener Roe
10pm The Headless Shadow Jonathan Crossfield
11pm Not A Whisper Lily Mulholland

Wednesday 18^th July
12am Through The Frosted Window Laura Meyer
1am Lords of the Dance Janette Dalgliesh
2am Midsummer’s Eve S.G. Larner
3am Yuletide Treasure Rob Diaz II
4am Broken Angel Jodi Cleghorn
5am Unfolding Alison Wells
6am Hail The New Trevor Belshaw
7am Softly Sing The Stars Steve Cameron
8am Through Wind and Weather David McDonald

Deck The Halls.

I have a story, Softly Sing The Stars, in the eMergent anthology Deck the Halls.  (Edited by Jodi Cleghorn with fabulous art by Andrew McKiernan).

Due for release in July, the collection is now available for pre-order at the ridiculously low special price of $15.99 plus shipping (Australia only). The book will be made available to overseas readers a little later.

Table of Contents:

Touched - Rowena Specht-Whyte
Drench the School - Benjamin Solah
Coming Home - Rebecca Dobbie
While You Were Out - Sam Adamson
Twenty-Five - Rebecca Emin
A Jolly Pair - Christopher Chartrand
Gays and Commies - Graham Storrs
A Better Fit - Jen Brubacher
Salvation - Nicole R Murphy
A Troll for Christmas - Jo Hart
Modraniht - Kate Sherrod
Bosch’s Book of Trolls - Susan May James
‘Til Death Do Us Part - Emma Kerry
High Holidays - Dale Challener Roe
The Headless Shadow - Jonathan Crossfield
End of a Tradition - Paul Servini
Weatherboy - Nik Perring
Not a Whisper - Lily Mulholland
Lords of the Dance - Janette Dalgliesh
Through Frosted Glass - Laura Meyer
Midsummer’s Eve - Stacey Larner
Yuletide Treasure - Rob Diaz II
Broken Angel - Jodi Cleghorn
A Golden Treasure - Chia Evers
Fast Away - Jim Bronyaur
Apprentices to Time - Icy Sedgwick
Unfolding - Alison Wells
Egg-Ceptional - PJ Kaiser
Hail the New - Trevor Belshaw
Perfect Light - Dan Powell
Softly Sing the Stars - Steve Cameron
Through Wind and Weather - David McDonald

What Is The Measure?

Anyone who reads these posts regularly would be well aware that I am a strong supporter of small press, particularly here in Australia. I truly believe they are publishing some of the most interesting pieces around at the moment. And, importantly, they provide opportunities to emerging writers like myself.

I'm fortunate enough to have sold my work to Tasmaniac, FableCroft, eMergent and Coeur de Lion, amongst others, and I have other publishers, such as Ticonderoga and Twelfth Planet on my hit list.

It's an amazing experience when you see a TOC with your name listed among name writers. I'm thrilled to have work sitting alongside Kim Westwood, Robert N Stephenson, Richard Harland, Thoraiya Dyer, Alan Baxter, Margo Lanagan, Sean McMullen, Jason Nahrung, Lee Battersby, Brendan Duffy, Cat Sparks, Robert Hood, Simon Petrie, Brendan Duffy, Jason Fischer, Patty Jansen, Lyn Battersby, Nicole R. Murphy, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Dirk Flinthart - and those are only the writers whose work I previously had sitting on my bookshelf. Many are names I'd only heard of until a year or two ago, yet now I've met some of them and am starting to build a friendship.

So why is it so difficult to get anthologies reviewed when they contain names like this?

Keith Stevenson, publisher and editor at Coeur de Lion, recently posted lamenting the lack of recognition his fabulous anthology, Anywhere But Earth, has achieved. With the quality and reputation of many of the writers on the TOC, and the international critical, award and commercial success afforded his previous publications, such as X6, it's incredible that the book seems to have disappeared with little more than a blip on the awards and review landscape.

The Australian Spec Fic community is healthy. There is no doubt of that. There are many emerging writers, an 'old-guard' that continues to be produce fantastic work and is supportive of us 'newbies', and a number of small presses pushing boundaries, taking risks and being inventive.

Stevenson (and others I've spoken to) don't do it for profit. From my understanding most of these presses lose money with every publication. It would be a shame for us all if it became so untenable that they were to either reduce or stop production all together.

Post a review on GoodReads, Amazon, anywhere else you can. Promote and support the community.  It needs us all.