The Science of Fiction

The Gondolier in French

2012-01-10T18:39:00.000+07:00

I sent this translation to various French magazines, and had an encouraging personal rejection from Canadian magazine Solaris (it was too short for them). In the end I've decided to post it here.

Le Gondolier
Par Gareth D. Jones

L'étrave noire de ma gondole tranchait doucement les eaux calmes des canaux. L'élégante embarcation me servait avec constance depuis des années. Dirigée par les mains de mes devanciers et elle avait conduit des générations de voyageurs à travers les canaux de la cité.

Le soleil se couchait sur la vieille cité. L'eau semblait changée en un ruban d'encre étalé entre les élégants immeubles aux façades de pierre. Je pris une profonde inspiration dans l'air frais du soir.

Existait-il où que ce soit un lieu plus beau que cette merveilleuse cité de canaux? Alors que le balancement du bateau s'atténuait dans son amarrage, je m'arrêtai quelques instants pour admirer les cieux assombris de Mars.

Fin.

Translated by Emilie Harry

Proofread by Aliette De Bodard

Danish Story Sale

2012-01-06T20:28:00.001+07:00

My short story World Wire Web, first published in Nature magazine, has been accepted by Danish magazine Proxima. It's scheduled to appear in the spring issue in May. Danish will be the 21st language I've been published in.

I'm hoping to have news soon on three other translations too.

Favourite Stories of 2011

2012-01-04T20:26:00.002+07:00

I read much less short fiction in 2011 than in previous years, but enjoyed a huge amount of it. My favourite stories of 2011 were:

Teamwork by Jonathan Pinnock – Murky Depths #16
The Orchid Hunters by Priya Sharma – AltHist #2
The Ceiling is Sky by Suzanne Palmer – Interzone #234
The Bitter End by Simon Kewin & Dominic de Mattos – Jupiter XXXIV
Digital Rights by Jim Hawkins - Interzone #237

First Review of the Year

2012-01-03T19:04:00.000+07:00

I've seen a few positive comments and ratings for The Immersion Book of Steampunk in places such as Amazon and Goodreads, but the first full review has now appeared, on the Abyss and Apex website. Altogether it's pretty positive:

I love steampunk, but so rarely find one that will fit my magazine’s needs. So it was a pleasure to shuck off my editorial hat and just dive in and enjoy this collection of “everything steampunk could be.” Most of it went down well.

You can read the full review here.

The Spreadsheet of Ideas

2011-12-29T18:21:00.002+07:00

Writing and editing Gap Years has kept me busy for ages. I've also recently done some work editing my novelette for the Ancient New anthology, written a flash fiction story and completed work on a collaboration with Ken Schneyer. I'm currently working on a collaboration with several other authors, but at the moment I have nothing to write until I hear back from them.

So, with time available, I sat down to do some writing and shockingly discovered that for the first time in several years I have nothing ready to write at the moment. My great spreadsheet of ideas lists 4 short stories and 2 novels, but even the short stories are not well-enough developed to start writing yet.

So I'm doing some plotting, working on synopses of the novels, biding my time...

Gap Years Edited

2011-12-28T20:42:00.001+07:00

Several months after finishing the first draft, the final edit of Gap Years is complete. It's also now 10,000 words shorter.

Conveniently, during a break only pages from the end, I formulated the broad plot for a sequel. Not sure when I'll start work on that...

2011 Writing Review

2011-12-19T16:11:00.003+07:00

At the begining of the year, I had several plans for what I was hoping to accomplish in terms of writing this year. We're approaching the finale now, so how have I done?

The main accomplishment has been finishing my second novel Gap Years. After some initial editing it was read by my beta readers, then I kind of ignored it for a while, but now I'm almost done with the final edit. Definitely by the end of December...

I wrote 2 of the short stories that had been waiting for ages, plus another 2 flash fiction stories that I thought up along the way. I wrote my first complete TV screenplay and plenty of suppporting material for a potential TV series. I've also collaborated on a short story with Kenneth Schneyer and recently started on another experimental collaboration with several authors. Details on both of these will be forthcoming.

What shall I do next...

Book Review: Phases of Gravity by Dan Simmons

2011-12-05T04:01:00.003+07:00

This was the last review I wrote, several months ago now, and the book is published this month.

Unusually for me, I’m reviewing a non-SF book. This is purely by accident of course. The title, the fact that it’s about an astronaut and is being published by Subterranean Press fooled me into thinking that Dan Simmons’ Phases Of Gravity was going to be science fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier in Cornish

2011-11-30T15:55:00.001+07:00

This Cornish translation of The Gondolier is due to appear in a newsletter for learners of Cornish at some point. It's already been posted here as part of the Celtic polyglot version, but this is the first time it's appeared on its own.

An Gondoler

Gen Gareth D. Jones

Pedn dirag du ow gondola a droghas leven der dhowr kosel an gwerdhowrow. An lester smoth re servyas dhebm lies bledhen ha degi trethyji dre dhowrhensyow an cyta 'ter dornow sur ow hendasow, henath war henath.

Th era an howl ow sedha dres an cyta goth, ow treylya an dowr maga tewal vel funen dhu 'ter treven fin derhevys a grag. Me 'anellas down ayr yeyn an gwyns gorthuher.

Era teller y'n bys o tekka 'vel an cyta varthys-ma a werdhowrow ? Ha'n skath ow tos es dh'y theller yn porth, me a sevis malja'ma miras der vaner lowen ort an ebren a vis Meurth yn tewlwolow.

An Diwedh

Translated by Neil Kennedy

Retro Roadmaker

2011-11-24T20:50:00.000+07:00

I came across this article about a 1960s concept nuclear roadmaking machine. Similar idea, though far more colourful than the machine from my Roadmaker stories.

Steampunk Novelette Sale

2011-11-21T20:48:00.000+07:00

My steampunk novelette The Journey Within has been accepted for publication in the anthology Ancient New. The book has a wider remit than just steampunk and looks to be rather interesting.

The story had been accepted for another anthology last year that has since been cancelled.

It should be out towards the end of next year.

One Hundred Fiction Publications

2011-11-12T19:18:00.001+07:00

Filling in my fiction tracking spreadsheet, I came to the startling realisation that Remember Yugoslavia? is my 100th fiction publication. 101st too if I count the podcast seperately.

This total includes:

44 translations in 20 languages
19 reprints
1 comic
3 podcasts

I'm quite astonished!

Steampunk Podcast

2011-11-11T18:30:00.001+07:00

News from Anatoly Belilovsky that his story Kulturkampf is being produced as a podcast by Cast of Wonders.

Kulturkampf appears in The Immersion Book of Steampunk and was Anatoly's first story sale, though he's done rather well since and other stories were published ahead of my anthology in the end.

I'm looking forward to hearing how the story will sound.

Remember Yugoslavia?

2011-11-10T18:08:00.003+07:00

My short story Remember Yugoslavia? is out today in Nature magazine. You can read it online, or listen to the podcast too. This will be my first podcast in an English accent!

The Future is Murky

2011-11-05T18:21:00.000+07:00

Terry Martin of Murky Depths has given his first post-MD interview, in which he discusses the future of The House of Murky Depths now that the magazine itself has come to an end. The long-planned Best of Murky Depths is still on the cards along with several other projects. In fact, I have another possible project I discussed with Terry a while back; must give that some thought...

BSFA Award Nominations

2011-11-03T18:31:00.003+07:00

Nominations for the BSFA awards have started making their way to the BSFA and the nominations so far have been posted. As I thought inevitable, the fabulous artwork for The Immersion Book of Steampunk has been nominated, along with one of the stories from the anthology. It will be another couple of months before the shortlist is anounced.

Demise of Murky Depths

2011-10-30T02:14:00.003+07:00

As reported at the blog of editor Terry Martin. Depressing, but unsurprising I guess.

I've appeared twice in Murky Depths: Looking In, Looking Out in issue #1 and my first ever comic Frozen in #15. I'd since had another comic and a non-prose story accepted and another comic under submission. It's going to be tough finding another market anything like Murky Depths.

The Future is Soon

2011-10-25T01:40:00.003+07:00

My story Remember Yugoslavia? is due to appear in the November 20th issue of Nature magazine. Plus something else exciting I'm not sure whether to anounce yet...

The Gondolier in Norwegian

2011-10-23T02:52:00.003+07:00

I thought I'd found somewhere for this to be published, but sadly it never happened. So here's The Gondolier in Norwegian - the thirtieth langauge for it to appear in.

Gondolføreren

Min gondols sorte stamn gled fram gjennom de stille kanalene. Det forseggjorte stykket håndverk hadde gjort jobben godt i mange år, fraktet passasjerer gjennom byens vannveier etter veiledning fra hendene til generasjonene før meg.

Sola gikk ned over den gamle byen, gjorde vannet til et rosa bånd som la seg mellom elegante sandsteinsbygninger. Jeg tok et dypt åndedrag av den svale kveldsbrisen.

Fantes det noe vakrere sted enn denne utrolige kanalbyen? Mens båten roet seg i fortøyningen, stoppet jeg og stirret med tilfredshet inn i Mars mørke himler.

Slutt

Translated by Sigurd Koran

Science Fiction Encyclopedia

2011-10-12T16:44:00.003+07:00

The third edition of the Science Fiction Encyclopedia is now on-line. It includes an article about Jupiter magazine that mentions my Roadmaker series, much to my excitement.

Yugoslavian Proofs

2011-10-08T01:31:00.003+07:00

The proofs of my story Remember Yugoslavia? arrived today. That usually means that it will only be a few weeks until it will appear in Nature magazine.

Immersion Steampunk Imminent

2011-09-28T21:57:00.004+07:00

This weekend you'll be able to get your hands on The Immersion Book of Steampunk at FantasyCon in Brighton. Look out for the Immersion Press stall in the dealer hall.

Meanwhile, you can check out cover artist Charlie Harbour's work at his new website, including a much bigger version of this glorious cover.

You Can't Please All the People

2011-09-14T18:21:00.000+07:00

Suffering rejections, harsh critiques and bad reviews is part of the life of the writer. I've come to realise that the old saying that you can only please some of the people some of the time can be a writer's greatest comfort.

One story I recently submitted for critiquing is a good example. The critiques I received are split down the middle between 'this is great, just needs a couple of tweaks' and 'what is it about? I don't get it, needs completely rewriting'. It's the clearest split I've seen yet in critiques. Now I need to find a magazine editor who shares the opinion of the first group.

Comic Markets

2011-09-12T23:45:00.003+07:00

Since reading Murky Depths I've become quite keen on comics. My first, a one-pager, was published in Murky Depths #15, a second has been accepted for publication, this time a 5 page script, and another 2 pager is under submission there. Murky Depths accepts completed comics and also scripts which they will match up with an artist.

Of course, not all comic scripts I write will necessarily be suitable for Murky Depths, so where else might I submit them? I had a quick scout around the internet, and this is what I came up with so far:

Future Quake accepts completed comics of 5 pages or less.

2000 AD (which even I had heard of in my pre-comic days) accepts 5 page scripts for their Future Shocks section

OrangUtan Comics wants completed comics of 6-8 pages

Panini Comics publish a wide variety of well-known comics and are looking for sample scripts

Engine Comics wants scripts of 8 pages or 3x8 page serials

Markosia are looking for completecomics or graphic novels

There are more details on each of their websites.

There are probably others - I didn't spend a huge amount of time searching. The usual market listings like Duotropes and Ralans don't seem to include comic markets. Maybe I'll drop a hint.

Slow Editing Progress

2011-09-02T19:12:00.001+07:00

I've finished work on editing one short story this week and, I think, my screenplay. Editing is such slow work compared to writing.