I’m having a bit of a fun time doing historical research for this science fiction story, which starts out in 1899. I’ve found interviews with my protagonist in a couple of magazines from the era that, transcribed on random websites. I’d like to see if I can find copies of the actual magazine to photocopy for posterity and accuracy.

Where does one look to find a magazine published in 1899? The first one is Pearson’s Magazine from May 1899 and the second is Collier’s Weekly, dated February 19, 1901. I have vague memories of visiting the library as a teen and doing research via microfiche. I don’t know if going to a library is my best option, or if it matters what library I go to.

I’m a little late on the discussion, but I want to chime in on the topic of the slushmaster’s Subscription Drive. In a nutshell, it is a plea to all readers to support their favorite magazines by subscribing.

My thoughts on it are this: if you are a reader and enjoy short fiction, show your support for the form by subscribing to your favorite magazine. Have more than one favorite? Subscribe to as many as you can. A subscription to Fantasy and Science Fiction costs $32.97 a year. That’s only $2.75 a month for seven or so stories worth of entertainment. Many novelists, particularly in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, get their start writing short fiction. It’s how we (hopefully) make a name for ourselves and hone our writing skills in the process. If you’re unfamiliar with short fiction, stop by Borders or your local magazine rack and pick up a copy. If you like what you see, buy a subscription.

I’m lucky that I’m in a stable financial position. For my part, I’m going to subscribe to one magazine per month. Thirty bucks a month is a small price to pay for the entertainment value, not to mention better knowing the markets I’m submitting to.

Here are the markets on my list, in no particular order. Feel free to suggest more that I should consider.

• Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Asimov’s
• Analog
• Black Gate
• Realms of Fantasy
• Locus Magazine
• Subterranean Magazine
• Interzone

In each case, I’ve read at least one copy, either borrowed or bought. I like them enough to want to subscribe and in most cases plan to submit to them one day (except for Locus, which is more of a trade magazine for writers).

It all comes down to voting with your wallet.

Long story short, I’ve decided to switch back to Moveable Type running on stonetable.org. I’ll be cross-posting to my LiveJournal, so my friends who read me there will be able to continue uninterrupted.

The nitty-gritty boring stuff follows.

I used Moveable Type when I first registered stonetable.org sometime in the 90’s (whois will only show back to 2000, when I had to pay to recover it after letting the registration lapse). At the time, I only had a passing knowledge of perl so I couldn’t do much in the way of custom modifications. Eventually I just installed WordPress, since I knew PHP fairly well and everyone else I knew seemed to be using it.

That lasted for quite a number of years. It’s run well for me, but I decided it was time for a change for a number of reasons. I did switch to LiveJournal for a couple of months with the ultimate goal of combining the two. I was just struggling with the right way to do it. That’s when I came across Joseph John Adams solution. He had the exact type of setup I wanted, so I sent him and email and asked him how he did it. As it turns out, he’s just using Moveable Type on his website, and a now-defunct plugin called ljcrosspost that I managed to find a copy of. With it, I can keep posting to the domain that has really become my online identity and those posts will be automatically posted to my LiveJournal. I really like the community feel of LiveJournal and I’ll continue to be active there. This just gives me a way to utilize both channels.

Another reason for the switch is that I now breath, eat, and sleep perl at my day job. I prefer it over any of the programming languages I’ve used in my career. Since the core of Moveable Type is perl, I feel completely comfortable writing plugins and hacking in to it whatever I feel I need.

I’m using a stock theme right now, but fitting given my location. I’ll spend some time tweaking the theme and sidebar when I’m bored.

All three of my stories being workshopped are submitted to the group. phew.

I’m a little disappointed in myself. One of the story has issues that I know about but I just fell short time-wise trying to revise it. Stomach flu saw to that. The story is flawed, but that’s ok. That’s what the workshop is for, right?

There are seven people in this years workshop, myself included. With one submission from James Gunn himself, that brings the total number of stories to read to 19.
Dena flys to Alabama in four days. Dogs go to the kennel in five. I’ll drive down to Kansas in six. As I make my list of stuff to pack I realize how unprepared I am. I remembered to pick up an alarm clock and I have all of my toiletries but I have no idea what else I might need to survive living in a dorm for two weeks. I’ll have to play it by ear.

The deadline to turn in my three stories for the workshop is looming. Preferred date is Friday (today), absolutely no later than Monday. The clock is ticking.

The first story, Recycled Dreams, is as done as I can get it. The second story, Narang, is undergoing rewrites right now. I added near a thousand words of notes and rough changes tonight. With the infodumps I need to cut I’ll probably break even when it’s all finished. The third story, We Can Do It For Wholesale, is first-draft quality and probably as good as it’ll get before I have to submit. The weakest of three, I think, but it has potential.

Most of the arrangements for the trip are made now. Checks sent to pay for tuition and housing. Hotel for the Heinlein Centennial is booked. Arrangements made to board the dogs when Dena comes down for the convention. Despite all of the frantic work, both getting stories ready and preparing work to be without me for two weeks, I still feel good. I’m excited to get it all done so I can get these three stories finished and submitted and get going on the next.

Ham Radio

Last weekend, I finally went and took the test to upgrade my amateur radio license from Technician to General. That means I can now broadcast on a new range of frequencies that allow for longer-distance communication.

Grammar

I’ve been more aware lately that the current trend is to leave a single space after a period. This feels completely unnatural to me. I’m not that old, but I did learn to type on a typewriter where two spaces following a period was the status quo. Some even pointed out that web browsers only render a single space unless specifically told to do otherwise. It’s going to take me some getting used to this concept.

Writing

The current WIP is complete, coming in a few hundred words over where I wanted to be. Doing some chopping and revising before the workshop. I have another story in my head that I want to get started on, so the sooner I finish the current WIP the better.

CSSF SF Writers Workshop

Two weeks from today I’ll be loading the truck and driving down to Kansas for the workshop. I’m frantically finishing edits for the remaining two stories that I need to submit. Need to finish all the clerical details, plan my route, etc. I do plan on blogging regularly from the workshop. I don’t know if any of my classmates will be blogging but I will post links if I have them. So far I have only talked to one other attendee, who I will be sharing a room with.