Go figure, I have some long items today. You would not believe how much information I did cut out to give you just the highlights. Let me know if I'm consistently leaving out things you want to know.

Baen and Subterranean have teamed up to create electronic editions of certain Subterranean titles that will then be sold on Baen's Webscription site. The Webscription model makes it easier to copy files by releasing ebooks without any digital rights management (DRM) software. We don't know yet which books from the backlist will go up, or in what order.

Industry News

For anyone who missed it, the NY Times has decided to expand its bestseller lists and break the fiction list in two. Reactions to the increased length of bestseller lists can be found here.

Contests

The Grub Street Book Prize in Fiction. This is an annual prize whose purpose is “to support writers who are publishing beyond their first or second, third, fourth (or beyond…) book, and who are living outside of New England." Books can be short story collections or novels. Winner receives a $1,000 honorarium and a Friday night reading/book party at Grub Street’s event space in downtown Boston. Saturday morning, winners lead a two-hour “craft class” on a topic of their choice for a small group of aspiring Grub Street writers. Grub Street provides accommodations for one night in Boston and covers all travel and meal expenses. Entries are judged by a guest judge and committee of readers drawn from the Grub Street staff. Entry fee is $10 and the deadline is October 15th. Entries should have been published in the last year or so. Self-published books do not qualify. All applicants must have at least one previously published novel or short story collection, and must not primarily reside in the following states: MA, VT, ME, CT, NH or RIs. "Though Grub Street’s top criterion is the overall literary merit of the work submitted, the award committee especially encourages writers publishing with small presses, writers of short story collections, and writers of color to apply. We also want the award to benefit writers for whom a trip to Boston will likely expand their readership in a meaningful way. Please give careful thought to your proposal for the craft class, and please plan it as a 3-hour class for a group of 15 adult writers of mixed experience."

Danahy Fiction Prize. Annual competition/award for short stories. Prize is $1,000 and publication in Tampa Review. All entries are considered for publication in Tampa Review, and all entrants receive a complimentary one-year subscription to Tampa Review. Entries are judged by the editors of Tampa Review. Entry fee is $15. Entries must be postmarked no later than Nov. 1st. Entries should be unpublished. Anyone may enter contest. Submissions between 500 and 5,000 words preferred; mss. slightly outside this range will also be considered. Cover letter should include name, address, phone, e-mail, word count, story title. All this information should also be on first page of ms. Writers may submit own work. Results announced March. Results made available to entrants with SASE.

Submissions

Dead. I got an email this week from Paul Fahey, editor of Mindprints, A Literary Journal. After 7 years and two top 30 awards from Writer's Digest they are closing their doors due to financial and other issues. I’m sorry to see them go.

Circle Magazine is also defunct.

Literary. Upstreet. "A literary annual containing the best new fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction available. First three issues feature interviews with Jim Shepard, Lydia Davis, and Wally Lamb. Independently owned and published, nationally distributed. Founded by Vivian Dorsel, who selected the members of the editorial staff for their love of the written word, their high standards of literary judgment, and their desire to offer a voice to prose writers and poets who might not find publication opportunities in more mainstream journals." They need ethnic/multicultural, experimental, humor/satire, literary, and mainstream fiction. They don’t want juvenile/YA, religious, or "any genre fiction that is not 'literary' (i.e., imaginative, sophisticated, innovative)." Does not read March-June. 5000 words (max). Publishes short shorts. Also publishes literary essays, poetry. Rarely comments on/critiques rejected mss. Writers receive 1 contributor's copy. Acquires first North American serial rights.

Literary. Oxford Magazine, now in its 22nd year, is accepting fiction, poetry, and new media work for its '08 issue. “We like short works of fiction so suggest sending less than 3,000 words. As for poems, please send no more than 10. We're also open to many forms of new-media work, which can be discussed with the media editors.” 

Horror. If your work is creepy or weird, it might find a home in The Willows. "Founded to give voice to a unique but neglected corner of horror literature, The Willows strives to publish only the best in true classic-style weird fiction. We pride ourselves on our gentlemanly aesthetic, and our love of mad science, strange monstrosities, and sodomic wonder. Our readers share our passion for this bygone age, and the scientific romances of its greatest literary minds." It’s a bimonthly that started earlier this year. They need horror (dark fantasy, supernatural) and classic-style weird fiction. They don’t want gory horror, slashers, splatterpunk, or "anything not fitting to be told over bandy in a gentleman's lounge in 1920s London." Length should be 1000 words (min)-5500 words (max). Average length is 3500 words. Publishes short shorts which average 500 words. Also publishes literary essays, literary criticism, poetry. Often comments on/critiques rejected mss. Accepts submissions by e-mail. Writers receive $25. Acquires first North American serial rights.

"We love work set in Victorian times, in the European countryside, in a twisted fairyland, in the underbelly of an enchanted city, or in the ruins of an undiscovered civilization. We want tales of cosmic fright; eerie fireside memories of nature's deadly mystery; adventures among the aether, the hemera, the spirit realm; tragedies of mad academics who take science too far; warnings of monstrosities that lurk in the sea, in the air, beneath the ground; stories of strange mechanical devices with unholy purposes; or anything else fitting the classic weird motifs. We do not accept stories set in postmodern times. This means nothing after the 1940s. In fact, we prefer stories that are timeless, or at least set in Victorian or Edwardian times. Weird fiction does not merely mean 'stories that are weird.' Weird Fiction refers to a specific genre, and if this genre is one with which you are unfamiliar, we ask that you not submit here until you have become sufficiently familiar."

Enjoy your weekend. This promises to be one of the last nice weekends this fall for Cincinnati, so I'm planning on spending a lot of time outside on my patio.

On this lovely Monday we're having a mismash of items. Up first, some writing tips and helps.

I was directed to two articles geared for SF/F writers, but which could be useful for other writers are well. First up are some brief tips on writing battle scenes. Much of this advice can be applied to a simple little fist fight, or a large scale gun war, as easily as the sword battle used in the article.

Then, from the same site, if you have problems building backstory for your characters, try using a gaming character sheet. It can be helpful to keep a list of your character's strengths and weaknesses, and why those exist, even if your character's traits are more prosaic than walking on air or talking to animals. (No, you don't have to take up Dungeons and Dragons to try it.)

Our second item is an update on who's working where and what they're up to:

Knopf: Senior editor Ashbel Green is retiring at the end of year.

The Nation: Adam Shatz is leaving to join the London Review of Books. John Palatella will take Shatz’s position as literary editor, responsible for books in particular and the arts in general.

Dutton: Congrats to Erika Imranyi for her promotion to associate editor. She has worked at Dutton since 2003.

Contests

Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize. Open from now until November 1 to any writer of English who is a citizen of the United States and who has not previously published with Fiction Collective Two. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel of any length. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously self-published collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, former or current students or close friends of the final judge for 2008, Michael Martone, are ineligible to win the contest. Employees and Board members of FC2 are not eligible to enter. Entries must be postmarked no later than 1 November 2007. Blind judging. $25 entry fee. The prize includes $1000 and publication by FC2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press.