Proposed New Community

[coalescent]

I mentioned this the other day, and I think I'm going to go ahead with it. I know Geneva's interested, but I thought I'd just outline my plan in case anyone else was ...

Working name: short_story_log (better suggestions gratefully accepted)

Purpose: a home for thoughts and notes on short stories.

Scope: any author, any genre; stories from yesterday or ten years ago.

Rationale: I want to (a) write at least briefly about most of the short stories that I read and (b) put those writings somewhere other than here. I want to write about the stories as I read them, one at a time, so somewhere like instant_fanzine also seems inappropriate.

Why a community rather than a normal journal: Other people may wish to do the same, unlikely as that seems. I have this vague notion of getting half-a-dozen people posting regularly, and managing to cover a good chunk of the new short fiction as it is published. I suspect, however, that this is fantasy.

How it would work: I'd make one post per story (be it a 5,000 word essay or a 5-line summary), then possibly a summary/overview post every time I finish a book/magazine. This is pretty much what I'm currently doing for Trujillo, although I suspect most of the posts I make will be much less detailed--As much as anything, this will be somewhere for me to put rough notes on stories. I see reviews of complete collections/anthologies going elsewhere, I think, although I'm willing to be convinced they should go here as well.

Unless anyone knows of and can suggest a better home for this sort of writing, I'll probably create the community in a couple of days.

Comments

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

? Shortform, or short_form, or some variant thereof. There used to be a short-story review/crit mag of the same name, some years back, which went down in flames (something to do with the tiresomely litigious nature of one H. Ellison, I believe). Short form takes into account novellas, novelettes, etc. And count me in for it ... I've been enjoying your postings on the content of Trujillo.

short_form

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like that name (though frankly anything's better than short_story_log). I don't read a massive of short fiction but I would like to comment on the stuff put out by Interzone and PS Publishing and the few mainstream collections that I read.

Re: short_form

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, ok. I had a mental blank when it came to thinking up names. :-p

(All the variants I came up with shortened 'fiction' to 'fic', which might have given the wrong impression...)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I think I prefer the version without the underscore. Either is better than my attempt, though, thanks. :)

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Aw, I like the underscore.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm keen, and I've been writing short fiction reviews for the last year, ostensibly for a review site which hasn't yet materialised. It'll be nice to give them a home, and it'll encourage me to review all the Australian short fiction that comes out.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Oh!

And I just worked out that Coalescent = Niall from rasfw. Sweet!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

And here I was thinking I didn't make enough posts to be noticed in amongst all the chatter ... good to see you here, though!

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I feel you definitely don't post about lesbian sheep enough.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Is there really more to say on the lesbian sheep issue? I think the rasffians had it pretty much covered, to be honest...

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Now that would be very helpful ... I'm interested in Australian short fiction but it's not exactly easy to fathom out what's going on from a different hemisphere so I'd welcome some pointers.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Short summary:

Active publications:

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine - 14 issues thus far, 6 times yearly, alarmingly regular publication schedule, "light" in tone (disclaimer, I edited issue 14, so I'm biased)
Borderlands - 3 issues thus far, dark fantasy and horror
Orb - 7 issues thus far, broad mix of literary sf/f/h
Aurealis - the longest running (since 1990), mostly literary sf/f - new editor advertised for, but not yet announced.
Antipodean SF - online only, 500 word short-shorts.
Agog! - yearly antho, 3 thus far. A very good backgrounder on the state of Aus SF. Next Agog! is a giant monster antho, though.
Canberra Science Fiction Group also publish an anthology each year, themed. This years, released last month, was entitled "Encounters"

Others...
Fables and Reflections - 5 issues, high quality literary fiction fanzine now paying. Editor moved house, and hasn;t yet settled back into publishing.
Ticonderoga Online - new venture online only .. schedule has slipped after two issues.
Potato Monkey - occasional fiction fanzine.

Also, last year several standalone anthos came out. Glimpses, Wonder Years and Forever Shores were the ones I can recall off the top of my head.

I'm going to do a longer summary in my fanzine, Vile Temptress! which is in production at the moment. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

Phew!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Oh, that'd be cool--I don't know enough about Australian sf. :)

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

sfshorts?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

It's an option, but I'm reluctant because I'd like to be able to put any short stories I read in there. And yeah, 99% of them will probably be sf, but 1% of them might not be. :)

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Makes me think of films, or underwear, and I agree about the 'sf' rather limiting the scope (and I'm not just saying that because I rather like shortform).

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

I have this vague notion of getting half-a-dozen people posting regularly, and managing to cover a good chunk of the new short fiction as it is published.

I'm all for covering new short fiction as it's published, but I'd quite like it to be somewhere I can rave about some of my favourite short stories too. I have comments I'd like to make about quite a few of the excellent short stories I've read over the years, but there's not really been anywhere for me to put them.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I don't think the two functions are exclusive, so that's fine by me. Indeed, I suspect that most people are more likely to use it your way than my way. :)

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea, because there is way too much short fiction for any one person to keep up with. This way I might be able to hunt out ones that sound enjoyable to me, rather than trying to wade through everything for the occasional gems.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

rather than trying to wade through everything for the occasional gems.

Yes. You're going to leave that bit to me. :-p

*grumblegrumble*peoplewithnobloodysubscriptions*grumble*

;-)

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

*grumblegrumble*haveneitherjobnormoneyyet*grumblegrumble*

Once I have either of the above things, I promise I'll subscribe to something. You'll have to tell me how the new improved Interzone shapes up.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Liz! etc.

I think I've used too many emoticons in the comments on this post.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

The cover's a lot nicer, I remember that ... but I've already lost it in the paper maelstrom that is the sitting room; I don't doubt it will resurface this weekend.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

*must* resubscribe. But I already have so many subscriptions. Waaah!

[wild thoughts]If I let my New Scientist sub lapse, I could sub to four more sf mags.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

In one of the panels I sat in on at Worldcon, the various magazine editors (GvG, SW, etc) asked how many in the room subscribed to sf mags. A lot of hands went up. Magazine editors looked fairly pleased.

They asked how many had two subs. Hands came down.

There were two hands still up when they were up to 6 subscriptions...and I'm really glad they didn't keep going, because my addiction would have been on show for everyone to see [g]

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I currently have subs to ... Asimov's, F&SF, The Third Alternative, Interzone, Postscripts. And I read SCIFICTION pretty much religiously. So that almost counts as six.

I'm going to have to start letting things lapse, though, because I can't afford the renewals at the minute. TTA will be first to go, I think. :-/

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Late I know, but I was poking through the shortform info and saw this.

I'm going to get a subscription to something, since I let my SFX sub lapse - I'd had as many pointless interviews with James Marsters as I could cope with, really. I was considering TTA, since I quite liked the one you lent me, and I like the dark horror stuff as well. So if I got a sub to that, how about a deal - every few months I'll lend you my TTA's, and you can lend me your Interzones or Asimovs, and that way we get to read the lot.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fine plan to me. :)