Hello, dreamers. As we pass the midpoint of October, I have a busy week ahead of me. The inaugural #SFPit event will take place tomorrow, and I’ll be participating. I’m also now waiting on two short fiction contracts. And as if that wasn’t enough, I’m forging ahead with a new short fiction project with three submissions still outstanding. There’s a lot to do, so here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

Short Fiction

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I have yet to receive my contract from Galaxy Press for my appearance in the upcoming Writers of the Future anthology. Though disappointing, this isn’t overly surprising, or cause for serious concern; the anthology isn’t due out until next year. The winners of the fourth quarter won’t even be announced until mid-December. Nonetheless, I plan to nudge the manager I’ve been in touch with. If nothing else, I’ve completed my bio for the anthology, which she had asked for.

However, as I mentioned earlier, I am now waiting on a second contract. Last week I was contacted by Trevor Quarchi, editor-in-chief of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, who informed me that they’re buying my short story “Casual Brutality”. This represents another turning point for me: from the beginning, my goal in short fiction has been to break into one of the top markets in the genre.

Analog is one of the oldest continually-running science fiction literary magazines. They were responsible for launching the careers of such legendary sci-fi writers as Frank Herbert (Dune) and Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game). Over the past year, Analog has been in the process of changing ownership, and Trevor was very up front with this, noting it has produced a significant backlog for them. I will likely have to wait until the middle of next month before I see a contract and can begin negotiating. But the privilege of appearing in such a venerable publication will be worth the wait.

Regardless, the work continues. Midway through last week, I abandoned the outstanding project I’d been working on. I could have completed it, and I do think it shows promise. However, as I worked on it, I found it too similar to several other pieces I’d written over the past year. Instead, I began work on something totally new: my first dual-POV short fiction piece. It’s been challenging so far, but deeply rewarding. And I’m looking forward to sharing it with the world.

However, that will have to wait until early next year. Recent activity in the literary market suggests the latest short story submission window has closed; rapid rejections suggest the magazines have already met their needs for their final issues of the year. I still have two outstanding submissions, and would be thrilled if just one of them resulted in another acceptance. And I did fire off one additional submission. Though the window is likely closed, it felt good to submit a story while mentioning both my first-place finish in Writers of the Future and my upcoming appearance in Analog.

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

Late last week, I received my fifth query rejection. The letter was very kind, and mentioned that my work simply didn’t fit with the list the agent is currently building. Buttressed somewhat by that news, I did fire off one additional query. An agent looking for science fiction opened to submissions on Friday, and I wanted to send out at least one query letter mentioning my recent accomplishments.

Regardless, I now turn my full attention to #SFPit. For those unfamiliar, #SFPit is a new pitch event on Twitter geared specifically to science fiction. Historically, sci-fi has been an underrepresented genre, taking a back seat to fantasy in the genre fic space. The goal of this event is to focus a spotlight on sci-fi, and hopefully attract industry attention. I’ll be scheduling my posts tonight, and will likely spend most of my writing time tomorrow helping to boost fellow sci-fi writers. If you’re active on Twitter, do drop by, say hello, and take a look at some of the posts. Who knows? You might just find your next favorite book.

However the event turns out, I regard this as the effective end to my querying efforts this year. I still hope to hear back from the remaining six agents I’ve queried, but I currently have no plans to send out any more before January. Until then, I’ll be giving my current work-in-progress, Aquarius 1, my full attention.

Upcoming Content

As I’m currently taking a short fiction break, I won’t be making another of my “WIP Wednesday” posts until November 5. I may make supplemental posts on Wednesdays to maintain my usual schedule, but it depends on everything else I’m juggling. I do, for better or worse, have a life outside of writing.

That said, here’s what you can expect on this site through the week ahead:

Tuesday: “#SFPit”

In place of my customary “WIP Wednesday” post, this week I’ll be making a special post on Tuesday for SFPit. In it, I’ll be giving readers a closer look at Seven Days on Samarkand, focusing on the various sci-fi properties that inspired it and many of my other works.

Friday: “Science in Fiction: Sailing on Starlight”

In this month’s “Science in Fiction”, I’ll be taking a closer look at solar sails: how they work, the pros and cons, and how the modern sci-fi writer can faithfully depict this emerging technology.

Sunday: “Dear Sir or Madam: Not Giving Up”

In my final “Dear Sir or Madam” post of the year, I’ll be focusing on the one tried-and-true secret to succeeding as a querying author: determination.

It’s going to be a big week. So read on, and dare to dream. – MK