What's New at Urania

What's New at Urania

Urania is Musa's speculative fiction imprint and in a way Penumbra's parental imprint. There are many great stories of all shapes and sizes coming out with Urania over the next few weeks, and today I'd like to tell you about a couple that have just been released. Last week, on December ninth, we had two new releases, Sunset and The New West 2: Deacon's Ark. Today Urania releases Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul.

Sunset, written by Jay Caselberg, is a short story of about 4, 000 words. 'In a far flung colony world, sometimes you have to survive any way you can. ' You can buy it for the lovely price of  $0.99 here.

Deacon's Ark is a 25, 000 word science fiction novella written by A. E. Stanton.

'The Green Goddess may be carrying the only normal people and animals left in the world -- good thing Josie and her Hero are on board.

Josie and Deacon have left Horsetown and are back in search of The City. Joined by Josie’s youngest sister, Sadie, they decide to travel on the riverboat The Green Goddess to save travel time.

But a plague from the Northern Wastes has been loosed on the river’s port towns. Instead of a relaxing cruise, Josie and Deacon have to protect all the people and animals on board -- because if they can’t stop the spread of the plague, they’ll be the only normal ones left in the world.'

You can buy Deacon's Ark for $2.99 here.

And finally, Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul is a short, 2, 500 word story written by Michael Merriam.

'It came to the diner looking for a soul to devour.

At a late-night diner, the manager finds himself faced with a nightmare from his past: The Nalusachita, a mythical-creature of his Choctaw ancestors.

Determined to protect his customers from the shape-changing soul-stealer but unsure how, the manager sets out to clear the restaurant at closing time.

What neither manager or monster counted on was the eccentric patrons of the diner, and how they would react to the mythical creature…'

You can buy Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul for $0.99 here.

Go ahead and treat yourself to some holiday reading this winter season. I know I will be.

On Writing, Whether You Like It Or Not by Sandra M. Odell

On Writing, Whether You Like It Or Not

Beginning, middle, and end, "Good-bye Hello" was the first story written after the death of my mother.  I don't know how it happened.  In a haze of confusion and doubts, I found myself stalked by Evanescence's "Hello" on the radio no matter where I went.  So, late one night, I cranked the song up as loud as my mother's old stereo could go, louder than I should have considering the children were asleep, and began to write about a young girl waiting for someone on the other side of death.  The story isn't based on the song, but the lyrics inspired images that insisted on making their way to paper.  Between protracted writing sessions, I met with the lawyer, slept, and cried.  A lot.  I finished the story three days later, let it sit for nearly two months before I could read it objectively, and gave it the blessing of wings to make the submission rounds.

I'm a writer.  What does that mean?  Well, Harlan Ellison said it best:  "The trick is not becoming a writer.  The trick is staying a writer."  I began writing when I was eight years old, long, albeit boring, stories that no one had time to listen to so they gave me a pad and pencil and suggested I write them out.  In the thirty-plus years since, I've learned, tightened, revised, tightened, and learned some more.  I've peeked under rocks, collected laughter at the circus, and held tears in my hands until I could get them home and pour them onto the page.  I write, that's what I do, even when I'd rather curl up in a dark corner until the sun burns out.  I can't not write.  I've struggled with it now and again, but in the end the words win out and I find myself in front of a keyboard, or with pencil and paper in hand, chasing the last word..

When someone tells me "I could write something like that" I say "Go for it!" and wish them the best of luck because, y'see, Harlan Ellison is right.  You may have what it takes to start writing, but do you have what it takes to keep writing?  Really?  Are you sure?  Being a writer is as much a job as being a carpenter, hairdresser, firefighter, or waitstaff.  A real writer doesn't sit around waiting for ideas to come along; he or she plants but in chair and writes even when life gets in the way.  Writes when everyone else goes to the beach, has a family picnic instead of a deadline, would rather watch TV, rakes the yard.  Dies.  That's it, the big secret of what it takes to be a writer.  Write, edit, rinse, repeat.  And maybe, just maybe if you're lucky, someone will like the piece enough to take a chance on sharing it with the public.

Are you positive?

Since my mother's death I've written sixty stories, and chaperoned over twenty of those into print.  In the end, what matters most isn't the words yet to come, but the words on the page.  Writers write.  That's all there is to it.

So, take your time, but not forever.  I'm working on a new story.

Sandra M. Odell

December 2011

Word-Need and the Power of Frustration by Catherine Warren

Word-Need and the Power of Frustration

Catherine Warren (aka Blue Stocking-Reads)

Writing comes from frustration, need, and desire. And if you feel a passionate urge to compose a comment arguing with my statement -- well, you just proved my point.

How many times have you retold a story the way it should have gone in real life? Or given a character in a story the power you wish you'd had yourself? Put the perfect words into someone's mouth to compensate for that time you were left without a word to say, or just written because something inside told you that you needed to?

Writing is the craft of eliciting emotion in others, using nothing greater, and nothing less, than our words. It is a burden and a challenge, and because it can be so difficult, it is a challenge we would not take up unless we were compelled to do so by some great need.

I've written because it was needed to pass a class, or because I wanted to imagine that I was understood, if only by someone imaginary.

I've written from frustrated love. If I can't have that person, at least I can write about what might have been, or write words passionate enough to melt through that icy wall of indifference. (Does it work? Sometimes.)

I've written from frustrated anger. The world is filled with injustice, cruelty, and caprice that is screamingly obvious to anyone paying any attention.

I've written from frustrated sadness, in an effort to make sense out of a senseless thing. After my grandfather fell while picking blackberries and lay undiscovered and alive for days before dying of pneumonia, I wrote of a Valkyrie that came to him and carried his spirit to the place where good Norwegian-American cattle ranchers go after they die. How I wished that were true.

The common thread for me has been frustration -- the sense that the world is not as it should be, that something is wrong. And my inner juno (as a woman, I have a "juno" instead of an inner "genius") tells me that writing something down isn't a luxury -- it's a need.

The word "frustration" comes from the Latin "frustratio," whose first definition is "a deception or trick." Naturally when we have been tricked -- when things are not the way they ought to be -- we feel frustrated and disappointed (the second definition).

Frustrated by the universe's tricks and deceptions, we perform a trick of our own: a sleight of hand, a deception practiced upon our willing readers. We take up the pen, or open a program, and we weave words into a spell to mend the cosmos.

The Old English "nēod" means "desire." A writer's fundamental need is for her stories to be heard, even if only by an imaginary reader. Even if your story doesn't have a happy ending, the act of putting it down can be the fulfillment of your need.

The next time you feel frustrated and uncomfortable with how-things-are, thank your inner genius (or juno!) that you are impelled to use words to create how-things-should-be. Thank your juno that you still have plenty of fuel for that internal bonfire that takes sadness, anger and fear and transforms them into something unimaginable.

Catherine is one of the authors who will be featured in our January issue of Penumbra.

The Dessert Tray by S.G. Rogers

The Dessert Tray

Whenever I concoct a short story, I approach it like an improvisation class.  That is to say, a couple of actors get on the stage with opposing goals in mind and then they duke it out.  Since the time on stage is limited, it’s best to get the goals established as soon as possible and have the conflict begin right away. 

Okay, improv class is over.  You watched maybe ten different scenes, and some of them were pretty good.  Perhaps one or two were really great.  Which ones stuck out in your mind…and why?  I’m guessing the standout actors had the ability to make you care about them and how they resolved their conflicts. 

That’s the secret to a great short story, the kind where your eyes are glued to the page as you read, and you sit back afterwards with a little gasp.  You think about the characters before you drift off to sleep, and into the next day, and you can’t wait to tell your buddies about the totally awesome golden nugget you discovered.  Your tail wags as you ponder how the story could be made into a movie…and you start casting actors in your mind.

Personally, I’m a proud graduate of Reject U.  You can learn a lot about yourself and writing from

rejection.  Even the form rejects tell you something important.  Assuming you submitted your literary genius to the correct forum and they reject you without comment…guess what?  The editors read at least enough of your story to know they didn’t care enough to publish it. 

So what makes readers care?  Flawed characters are inherently more interesting than the ones coated with Teflon.  Unexpected vulnerability is more memorable than clichéd weakness.  Cool settings are fabulous, but it’s the players who matter.  I wrote a story once about a guy so perfect my writing group wanted to kick him into a ditch and give him Murder on The Orient Express treatment.  Although I was shocked at the time, that blunt feedback was a gift that taught me a valuable lesson.

I want to read stories in which the author brings in the characters and then sets the stage.  I want to hear that line of dialogue that causes my eyes to widen.  I don’t want to witness the ambush; I want to see the blood pouring from the wound—and discover what the character is going to do about it. 

A speculative fiction short story should be like a small sliver of fantastic cheesecake.  From the first bite, you know you’ve got a special dessert.  It’s rich and satisfying the whole way through and goes well with a cup of coffee.  Afterwards, you crave more.  As an added bonus, it ends up in your imagination, not on your thighs.  ~S.G. Rogers

Being dedicated to the diabolical doesn’t seem to satisfy Jem anymore.  When the gorgeous demon poses for elderly artist Greer Richmond, the two form a connection.  Greer senses good in her, but Jem rebels against the idea by going on a Vegas bender.  After Jem gets word Greer is about to die, she inexplicably wants to make sure he gets to heaven—but her boss has other plans.  As penance for her interference, Jem is assigned to take one of Greer’s descendants instead.  Unfortunately handsome Dare Richmond awakens feelings in Jem a demon isn’t supposed to have.  Will Jem be able to complete her task, or has fate dealt the demon an impossible hand?

Download S.G. Rogers’ short story Apocrypha HERE, free as part of Musa Publishing’s Twelve Days of Christmas celebration.  Look for S.G. Rogers’ Asgard Adventure series (April 2012), beginning with The Druid.  Nordic mythology gets a modern twist in The Druid, in which an adventuresome woman meets an Immortal hero from the pages of a book—bigger than life and twice as Elvish.  To learn more about S.G. Rogers, visit her blog at www.childofyden.com.

December Art Contest

December Art: Vote for your favorite

Entry 1 ~ Rebecca Treadway

Entry 2 ~ Lisa Dovichi

Entry 3 ~ Deb Victoroff

Entry 4 ~ Steve Cartwright

Vote for your favorite, winner will be announced January 1, 2012

Closure in Short Stories By Stephanie Campbell

Closure in Short Stories

By Stephanie Campbell

            We've got the perfect short story. The words are flowing, our blood is pumping, and everything is coming out oh-so-perfectly. Until we reach the very end. Suddenly, it's blank. The story itself is fantastic: there are twists and turns and back-story. The main character is wonderful and desirable. Yet, how do we top such a fantastic story with an ending? How do we leave the readers feeling appeased by what they read instead of cheated? That is why I think that short story endings are one of the hardest things in the world to write. I'd take a 75,000 word novel any day.

            But there are ways to give a short story a good ending, one that leaves the reader feeling excited instead of cheated. We can even do this without killing the protagonist, which seems to be a common approach to running away from the “short story” slump. One good way to do this is to have a set objective before the story starts. Do you want the main character to get the girl? Okay, you make sure that it happens. Do you want your person to walk away from a bad situation? Well, that's really great.

            Some general rules of short story endings that I follow:
            A) Have an ending prepared. Sometimes I'll even write the ending first and then write the rest. This is my method, so it may not work with everyone, but I call it “setting the marker.”

            B) Drama, drama, drama! For some reason, dramatic endings work really well in short stories, as far as I've seen. I always feel more appeased when the main character walks away from a bad situation than at any other time.

            C)Remember you audience. Just because you know what's going to happen to your characters after the ending doesn't mean that they do. Remember to remember your reader, and they will remember your story.

            D) Practice. Write the endings for a few short stories that you have no intention to write. The more you write them, the better you get.

            Examples are a good thing too. Read as many short stories as possible to help you further navigate the story. Think of a good short story ending as an ending to a relationship. If you leave a relationship feeling cheated, then you will be bitter and hateful toward the person. If you leave a relationship with good closure and understanding of the situation, then you leave the relationship feeling appeased. Give your readers something to feel good about.

            While I don't think that writing the ending to a short story will ever be a pain-free ordeal, I hope that I have given you some ways to at make your life easier. Short story endings can be fun with the right weapons at your disposal. Don't forget, that's what short stories are for the reader and writer: fun.

Stephanie Campbell is the author of Dragon Night, published by Musa's Urania Imprint. You can buy her book here

Penumbra Issue Three & Subscription Challenge

Penumbra Issue Three & Subscription Challenge

Penumbra's third issue, the extra special December issue, has just been released. Inside you will find wonderful stories centered around the theme of travel, stories that take you beyond the usual definition of the word and explore all its possibilities. But that's not all; this issue is full of surprises and new content.

What makes this issue so special?

Well, this issue was organized by Musa's lovely team of interns(I happen to be one), with the supervision of our Editor-in-Chief and some help and input from cover artist Lisa Dovichi. Over the course of the month we looked for ways to make this issue shine, to stand out from what we've done before. Our need to distinguish ourselves as a team from the regular Penumbra team—who are, by the way, just as awesome as we are—led to the addition of two non-fiction features, an interview with Homer Eon Flint's granddaughter Vella Munn and an article on Krampus, the evil anti-Santa.

It's been both an honour and an excitement to work on this issue of Penumbra and to be part of such a wonderful team. I am proud to say that I am an intern with Musa Publishing, and on a whole other level, I'm proud to claim my part in creating this issue of Penumbra.

What is the Subscription Challenge?

You might have noticed that the title of this post is 'Penumbra Issue Three&Subscription Challenge', and you're probably wondering what the subscription challenge is.

Well, as a new eMagazine, Penumbra is just beginning to build its subscriber base. Our lovely editor-in-Chief came to us while we were working on the December issue of this magazine and gave us a challenge to get 500 subscribers for this wonderful eMagazine.

Why subscribe to Penumbra? Well, a one year subscription will feed you with great stories from the authors you love until this time next year, and at the low price of $36.00 for the whole year, that's a great thing. These stories will make you—or any speculative fiction reader on your Christmas list—a happier person for the whole year. You get to support the authors you love and read the stories you love, all for $36.00.

But that's not all. Until January first, we are offering the first two issues of the magazine free with your one year subscription. Consider it our way of saying thank you for having faith in our small new eMag.

You can get your subscription here: Penumbra Subscription.

Voting Ends Today

Don't forget to vote for your favorite art piece for Penumbra eMag. Voting ends at 12:00 am central.

November Art Contest ~ Death

November issue of Penumbra. Congratulations to all the finalists. Voting ends November 30 for this month's contest so vote today!

#1 - She is Hanging On submitted by Eleanor Bennett

#2 - Saying Goodbye submitted by Sarina Dorie

#3 - What Will Become of Us submitted by FJ Bergmann

#4 - Lying Dead submitted by Eleanor Bennett

#5 - Zombie submitted by Dave Wales

Good luck to all entries!

The December art contest submissions ends November 15 so get your art in soon!

Art Contest Winner!

Congratulations to October's Art Contest winner:

Butterfly ~ Lisa Dovichi

Congratulations Lisa!

November's art will be up shortly so watch for another poll and vote for your favorite!

Penumbra eMag and the Coffin Hop

Welcome to the Coffin Hop

Horror Author Blog Tour

October 24-31

Welcome to the Musa Publishing Penumbra eMag stop on the blog hop. We have thrilled to have you and hope you find something to your liking.

What is Penumbra?



November Issue on Sale 11/1



Penumbra is the speculative fiction eMag published monthly by Musa Publishing. At Penumbra, the Muses are clustered in the part of the psyche caught between the darkness and the light. Whether that results in hardcore science fiction or fantasy humor, psychological horror or a Steampunk poem with a twist is out of the Muses' control.

That control is in the hands of the author.

Penumbra publishes speculative fiction that always culminates in something unexpected - a flash of humor in the darkest tale or a fantasy piece that goes against the tropes - always something that hovers right on the periphery of the eclipse.

Octobers Issue of Penumbra is still on sale Click Here to get to the link.  To learn more about Penumbra please friend us on Facebook.

Also Coming Soon from Musa Publishing

From our Urania Spec Fic Imprint

Day Dreamer by Devin Hodgins publication date 10-28-11

To dream every night about the next day--Would a dreamer ever wish to fall asleep?

Steve is a "Day Dreamer:" every night he dreams about the next day. He reveals this strange power to the only person he can trust-- his ex-girlfriend, Dawn. He begs her to help him find a way to stop dreaming of the future, for all he wants is to dream a dream beyond tomorrow.

When Josie Comes Home by A.E. Stanton publication date 10/28/11

The future’s a lot like the past -- the West’s still hard on women and horses.
The future’s a wonderful place to be if you were considered worthy -- until a huge solar flare slagged the world computers. Now, over two hundred years later, the unworthies are all that’s left of humanity, and they’ve reverted back to the old, old ways.

Josie escapes from the forced sexual slavery of Horsetown, vowing to return with help to save her sisters. Ten years later, she’s not home -- but her youngest sister, Sadie, insists Josie will return, with her Hero along to help save the day.

The Gambler’s in Horsetown for reasons all his own. Who is he? What’s he really here for? And what will happen if he’s in town When Josie Comes Home?

 Deacon's Ark by A.E. Stanton publication date 11-18-11

The Green Goddess may be carrying the only normal people and animals left in the world -- good thing Josie and her Hero are on board.
Josie and Deacon have left Horsetown and are back in search of The City. Joined by Josie’s youngest sister, Sadie, they decide to travel on the riverboat The Green Goddess to save travel time.

But a plague from the Northern Wastes has been loosed on the river’s port towns. Instead of a relaxing cruise, Josie and Deacon have to protect all the people and animals on board -- because if they can’t stop the spread of the plague, they’ll be the only normal ones left in the world.

From our Thalia Paranormal/Horror Imprint

The Disciple by Jemma Chase publication date 11/04/11

*written by Gini Koch as Jemma Chase*

In the future vampires overrun the Earth, so a small cadre of vampire slayers are sent back to the pivotal moment when the vampire clans were contained to the European continent in hopes of destroying them in the past to save the future.
In the mid-24th century the vampire threat is so terrible that humanity is on the run and their numbers are dwindling. The only ones willing and able to fight the vampire plague are those in The Order.

In addition to creating specialized vampire-killing weapons, The Order has protected all the world’s leading scientists. They’re rewarded with the ultimate breakthrough: time travel. But there’s a catch -- if you return to your present time, your mind doesn’t come home with you.

Now a select team will be sent back to the Middle Ages, to stop the vampire threat before it can spread. They’re the best vampire slayers of their day and age, but once they go a thousand years into the past they’re strangers in a strange old land. Their perfect weapons aren’t working right, their numbers are too small, and the vampires seem to know who they are. It will take the ultimate leap of faith for the team to have a chance to complete their mission -- and survive.

 

Contest time,
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Penumbra eMAG What is Spec-Fic

SPOOK-A-LICIOUS:

WHERE BOO-KS DEVOUR YOU

BLOG HOP TOUR (OCT 17-24)

Believe it or not, the question I most often get from spec fic writers is, “What exactly is spec fic?” Someone sends me a manuscript, I accept it, and then a few weeks later they write me and say, in a cyber-whisper, “By the way, I was just wondering…” or “You know, a friend at work asked me the other day …” or “I’m really embarrassed to even ask this question …”




Don’t be embarrassed. Most of us grew up thinking in terms of two related genres—science-fiction and fantasy. I say related, but maybe what I mean is “inexplicably in the same section of the bookstore.” Fantasy and sci-fi tended to get lumped together, even though they were very different. Orson Scott Card once wrote that science fiction has rivets and fantasy has trees. That’s a fun over-simplification, and there’s some truth to it. Really though, most people who read traditional sci-fi fans steer clear of traditional fantasy, and vice versa. The thing that bound the two genres together—at least in the minds of booksellers—was that both were fantastical.
The question in recent years has become, what do you do with books about fantastical subjects that don’t qualify as either sci-fi or as fantasy? For example, there was a disastrous attempt several decades ago to market George Orwell’s 1984 as science fiction. It might have some science fiction elements, but it’s definitely not the sort of thing most traditional sci-fi fans recognize as sci-fi. It is dystopian fiction, similar to Orwell’s other masterpiece Animal Farm, and Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World.




And what about the works of Charles Williams? Difficult to classify. Tarot cards that come to life; Platonic forms that roam the earth; Hell as a plane of existence that co-exists alongside our own. Sometimes you find Williams in the fantasy section, but that’s too easy. His books are not genre fiction; they are meaty and philosophical and full of deep theological themes.




So, what do we do with all these other books that don’t fit traditional definitions of fantasy (wizards, elves, and dragons) or science fiction (robots, machines, and space ships)? The solution has been an umbrella term: speculative fiction, or spec fic for short. Spec fic encompasses fantasy and sci-fi, but it also includes horror, dystopian and utopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, alternate histories, supernatural tales, even superhero fiction … basically, anything that speculates on the apparently improbable or seemingly impossible.




The term “spec fic” isn’t an attempt to rename the old fantasy/sci-fi section. It is, rather, a way to gather all the loose clusters of related genres under one convenient term. And you’ll find all of the above-named genres published at Musa under the Urania imprint (with the exception of horror, which is handled by Thalia, our paranormal line).




So don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know what spec fic is. Writers still tend to think of themselves as working in a particular genre, and those genres still hold. It’s simply a more expansive, more inclusive term.

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Getting to Know Larry Ivkovich, author of The Turin Effect

Hello Everyone. My name is Larry Ivkovich and I write science fiction, fantasy and horror. My dark fantasy, "The Turin Effect," is the featured story in the debut issue of Penumbra, which is a great thrill in itself. In addition, this is my first pro-rate sale, and I want to thank Celina and the staff of Penumbra for taking a chance on my work. I still haven't descended from Cloud 9 yet!

I've published several short stories in various online and print markets and my debut novel, THE SIXTH PERCEPT, is being published this month by IFWG Publishing. It's an urban fantasy with science fiction and horror elements, part of it taking place in contemporary Pittsburgh and part in ancient Japan.

Writing has always been like an "alternate state" to me. It's like when you zone out while driving and wonder how you ended up where you did. Sometimes I'll read what I've just written and can't believe it came from me. I have no set rules for writing - for the most part, I just sit down with a germ of an idea and start and see where it takes me. It's a passion I hope to continue for a long time to come and to share with anyone who wants to tag along for the ride.

Tangrams And Storytelling by Daniel Ausema

I suspect it's no surprise to those who've read "The Square That Hides a Thousand Stories" that the story was inspired, in part, by tangram puzzles. Sometimes you'll see tangrams referred to as a storytelling device, and one fanciful history of the puzzle from a hundred years ago claimed (with no evidence) that the puzzle originated over 4000 years ago as a gift from the god Tan. Neither claim is reflective of the puzzle's actual history. Most reports I can find suggest that the puzzle was invented--as a puzzle, not a storytelling device--in China in the 18th century. It's possible that it predates those first references by some years, and it certainly has antecedents in a variety of sources in the preceding centuries, but it is vanishingly unlikely that it dates back thousands of years (and there is no evidence of the supposed god Tan).

Yet the idea of such an ancient origin entertained me, and the tangram is used today in school classrooms as a storytelling device as well as a mathematical manipulative. So I started with the idea that the puzzle (or something similar to it) truly was that old and that its original purpose was for telling stories. And if that old...then likely it would have spread to many other places in antiquity as well, and inspired local legends wherever it ended up. So that is how this story came about.

Editor's note--Daniel Ausema's story The Square That Hides A Thousand Stories, is in Penumbra's inaugural issue, available now at www.musapublishing.com.

Art Contest Voting

We had some really nice pieces sent for our first issue of Penumbra. Thank you all who entered the contest!

Top 5 Entries

Entry #1 ~ Butterfly

Created by Lisa Dovichi

Entry #2 ~ Portrait

Created by Audrey Blake

Entry #3 ~ 

Created by Kyra Maw

Entry #4 ~ Portrait Sketch

Created by Elspeth McClanahan

Entry #5 ~ Crosses

Create by Carol Lawson

Vote with the poll on the right. Winners will be announce November 1, 2011.

Thank you!

Now On Sale

Now On Sale

The October Issue of Penumbra

Penumbra Launches!

Penumbra has long been a dream of mine.

When I started submitting my own short fiction as a woefully ill-prepared college student, this wasn't something I would ever have thought possible.  Who could have known back in those days where that newfangled computer stuff was going to take us?  And then, about six years ago when I realized that short fiction wasn't something I could write but was darn tootin' good at editing, the jobs in speculative fiction editing seemed so out of reach. In my mind's eye I had an image of spec fic editors being bearded, venerable men wearing ascots and smoking pipes, flipping through a stack of submissions and applying a red-inked stamp that said REJECTED without even reading a word of each story.

Go on--admit it.  You have a similar version of that image in your head.

So when we started Musa, I was fairly insistent on going big or going home. Opening a pro-rate paying e-magazine was a huge risk. Let's be honest here: a fledgling press has no business starting out at the top with a periodical.  A smart publisher would have started much smaller...maybe two cents a word.  That doesn't sound like a huge difference; heck, what's three cents? When you start looking at three or four thousand word stories, those three cents add up fast.

But for my vision for Penumbra, I knew that pro-rates would lead to two very important things.  First off, authors of extremely high caliber would consider submitting to us. Second off, if we did everything right, we'd gain credibility with the writers' guilds--particularly SFWA.

I figured it would take a while to take off submissions-wise.  I was disabused of that notion immediately.  We posted our first submissions call at Duotrope and Ralan's to start out.  When I opened my email the next day, I had over fifty submissions.

Welcome to the big leagues, kid.

From that point on, it was like Christmas every day.  Every day, I woke up to wonderful, amazing stories.  There's something inherently satisfying about putting together an issue of a magazine.  You get to play with the stories, the layout--determining the best flow so the reader can derive the greatest enjoyment. In some ways, it's like a literary blackjack table. Will I stand? Will the bank hit me? Will I go bust? Or, will I get a natural blackjack and rake it all in?

Gods, I love my job.

Penumbra Vol. I, Iss 1 is now available for sale at an online store near you--including ours.  You can order your copy here.  Oh, and there's some other things that are really cool. You can write and leave your review of Issue 1 on the same page. Or drop me a line. Either way, I want to hear what you have to say.

Our featured Rising Talent of the month is Anatoly Belilovsky.  You can read his story "A Literary Offense" and his essay about writing the story for free on the Penumbra website.  Each month we'll feature a different new author from the slushpile for that issue of Penumbra.

And finally, there's the art contest.  I can't determine a kid's fingerpainted place mats from a legitimate Picasso, so thankfully the art is adjudicated by Kelly Shorten, the art director.  Every month, we'll put the best entries into Penumbra and you, the reader, can vote for your favorite.  That way, you'll see more work from that artist, because the winners will be commissioned to do more art for Penumbra.

Musa Publishing and Penumbra are dedicated to creating a fun, engaging speculative fiction eMag every month.  I am extremely proud to present to you our inaugural issue. 

What is Spec Fic?

What is Spec Fic?



Believe it or not, the question I most often get from spec fic writers is, “What exactly is spec fic?” Someone sends me a manuscript, I accept it, and then a few weeks later they write me and say, in a cyber-whisper, “By the way, I was just wondering…” or “You know, a friend at work asked me the other day …” or “I’m really embarrassed to even ask this question …”




Don’t be embarrassed. Most of us grew up thinking in terms of two related genres—science-fiction and fantasy. I say related, but maybe what I mean is “inexplicably in the same section of the bookstore.” Fantasy and sci-fi tended to get lumped together, even though they were very different. Orson Scott Card once wrote that science fiction has rivets and fantasy has trees. That’s a fun over-simplification, and there’s some truth to it. Really though, most people who read traditional sci-fi fans steer clear of traditional fantasy, and vice versa. The thing that bound the two genres together—at least in the minds of booksellers—was that both were fantastical.
The question in recent years has become, what do you do with books about fantastical subjects that don’t qualify as either sci-fi or as fantasy? For example, there was a disastrous attempt several decades ago to market George Orwell’s 1984 as science fiction. It might have some science fiction elements, but it’s definitely not the sort of thing most traditional sci-fi fans recognize as sci-fi. It is dystopian fiction, similar to Orwell’s other masterpiece Animal Farm, and Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World.




And what about the works of Charles Williams? Difficult to classify. Tarot cards that come to life; Platonic forms that roam the earth; Hell as a plane of existence that co-exists alongside our own. Sometimes you find Williams in the fantasy section, but that’s too easy. His books are not genre fiction; they are meaty and philosophical and full of deep theological themes.




So, what do we do with all these other books that don’t fit traditional definitions of fantasy (wizards, elves, and dragons) or science fiction (robots, machines, and space ships)? The solution has been an umbrella term: speculative fiction, or spec fic for short. Spec fic encompasses fantasy and sci-fi, but it also includes horror, dystopian and utopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, alternate histories, supernatural tales, even superhero fiction … basically, anything that speculates on the apparently improbable or seemingly impossible.




The term “spec fic” isn’t an attempt to rename the old fantasy/sci-fi section. It is, rather, a way to gather all the loose clusters of related genres under one convenient term. And you’ll find all of the above-named genres published at Musa under the Urania imprint (with the exception of horror, which is handled by Thalia, our paranormal line).




So don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know what spec fic is. Writers still tend to think of themselves as working in a particular genre, and those genres still hold. It’s simply a more expansive, more inclusive term.

Penumbra Issue 2 Line Up Announced

Moving right along in our periodical fervor, we are very proud to announce the selection of authors and stories for our death-themed November issue.

Why a death theme in November? Well, out of sympathy for the Thanksgiving turkey, of course! But this death theme isn't just your run of the mill death theme. Death in these stories follows a different path. The young, the old, the sick, the healthy--and sometimes death itself isn't the problem; what happens after death is. Or how death comes. Or even if it comes.

At any rate, we loved these stories to...pieces. (Thought I was going to say 'death' didn't you?) These fine tales from five amazing authors will be released on November 1, 2011 in Volume I Issue 2 of Penumbra.

Congratulations, authors!


Inappropriate Gifts bu DeAnna Knippling
Voices by Mario Milosevic
Cocklebur by Nathaniel Lee
Field Trip by J.C. Koch
Sand From A Broken Hourglass by Scott Overton

Welcome to Penumbra, by Issue 1 AuthorTom Brennan

It's always exciting to see something new and interesting - the latest book/story from your favorite author, a long-awaited film, practically anything on HBO. 

But it's especially exciting if you're an aspiring author and a new publication appears on the horizon.  I don't mean as a fresh market opportunity but as a sign and a symbol: a sign that there are enthusiastic people willing to put their heads over the parapet and produce something they love; a symbol of rude good health in the world of fiction generally and SpecFic in particular. In my opinion, there's one thing we need above almost all - optimism. 

Welcome, Penumbra.

Editor's Note:  Tom Brennan's dark vision of the future is the first story in the first issue in the first volume of Penumbra. "Butterfly" caught my attention in the middle of a long day in the slushpile because I thought his imagery was so evocative and gritty and just downright...well...horrific.

Tom Brennan is a British writer who lives by the sea in Liverpool, UK with a sadly diminishing number of elderly cats.  When not writing, he works as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, taking 911 calls 24/7 from the public, which is interesting and stressful but always surprising.  He loves all kinds of fiction, from Phil Dick to Stanislaw Lem, Conan Doyle to Frantzen, Tim Powers to Dashiell Hammett, and most points inbetween. He likes running and cycling and finding gluten-free food, especially cakes.

Penumbra Inaugural Issue Available For Pre-Order Now!

Penumbra's first issue is now available for pre-order!  If you go to our main website, you can go ahead and place your order for our inaugural issue.

We're very excited about Penumbra, and with the extraordinary and amazing stories we're offering for our readers.  We hope that our readers are as excited as we are.

Penumbra's inaugural issue is a collection of speculative fiction stories that encompass the arts--the arts we love and revere. Some of these stories deal with the arts we're familiar with. Some create arts we haven't thought of. And some resurrect arts buried in the depths of the past.  And yet, all of these offerings celebrate the creative process, which makes them a fitting theme to launch Penumbra.

When memory becomes art, a downloadable commodity, what happens to the artists?
--Butterfly by Tom Brennan

When an artist's greatest painting suddenly disappears, who--or what--is responsible?
--Vivid Rendering by David G. Blake

When a man chucks away his old life to become a painter in Venice, he purchases a tapestry with a woman so perfectly depicted that the image haunts him--in more ways than one.
--The Turin Effect by Larry Ivkovich

When a songwriter creates lyrics about his perfect woman, his song takes a surprising detour.
--Inked Upon Thee by Courtney Crites

When a temple worked is sent to retrieve a mythical artifact, he completes his mission--and the mission completes him.
--The Square that Hides a Thousand Stories by Daniel Ausema

So run and pre-order your copy of Penumbra today!

Progress Ongoing

This week, I acquired something at Penumbra that I never really thought I'd have--an assistant. Yep. You read that right. I, who can whip through stories at an astonishing rate of speed, needed a reader and assistant to help me keep our response times at the optimum level.

 

 

This, of course, is extremely helpful, particularly since her tastes in literature are pretty much the same as my own. Being a writer myself has made me very particular about response times. If you're rejected at Penumbra, it will be within a couple of weeks. If two weeks go by and you haven't heard from us, that means your story is still under consideration and has moved to a higher level of evaluation.

 

 

Yeah. Me.

 

 

At any rate, the quality of submissions we're getting at Penumbra right now has gobsmacked me beyond belief. Which makes some thing easier--like putting together a high quality selection of fiction for the e-mag--and some things a lot harder--like rejecting a story because I just don't have room for it, or because it doesn't quite fit in. Those stories, the ones we really hate to reject, are usually accompanied by an invitation to submit to Musa, our parent company, who is publishing short stories as standalone e-books. Musa is experimenting with this practice, hoping to develop a wider range of options for oustanding writers of short fiction.

 

 

Oh--one other thing I should tell you. The second and third issues of Penumbra will be finalized within the week. If you have a submission still out for those issues and haven't heard from me, you will in the next few days. Good luck!