Short Story: Kioku

Shukin Goldfish. From the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, 1904. US Public Domain.

Kazumi is suffocating.  Her mouth opens and closes as she gasps for breath.  What’s wrong?   She sits up in bed, clutching at her throat.  Across the room, in the darkness, she sees the gleam of the aquarium and the quick motion of the fish within.  Suddenly she can breathe again.

Three days ago, as a birthday surprise, her grandmother had the goldfish sent by courier to Kazumi’s apartment.  A plump red-gold creature with a growth on its head the color and shape of a cluster of pomegranate seeds.  He fills Kazumi with dread.  She knows enough about goldfish to guess that such a fish costs five or six hundred dollars.  Fish die so easily.  She is sure to kill him.  Why had her grandmother sent such a gift?  Kazumi had never displayed more than a cursory interest in her grandmother’s fish.

Her grandmother keeps rooms full of aquariums; through them swim goldfish the color of rubies, pearls, ebony, and–yes–gold.  Her grandmother’s goldfish live for decades, growing huge, their eyes wise, shining circles.  When one of the fish is too sick to swim, her grandmother will stand bent over the tank for days, cupping the sick creature in her narrow hands until it is able to wriggle out of her grasp and swim alone again, a technique that is not supposed to work, yet for her grandmother, it does.  Grandmother emerges from her small home in Japan less and less now that Grandfather has died.  Kazumi has not seen her for years.  Still, she remembers the dim rooms full of fish, the walls hung with ancient tapestries: the family’s heirlooms.

Short Story: The Burden of the Dead

Sketch of the Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, by Alfred Waud, 1863. Public domain.

Alexander Abraham was in the War.  The War ended, he survived, and he was sent home.  The North had won, and Alexander took the long trail back to Virginia.  He tried to forget what he had seen and heard, to wash the taste of army rations from his mouth.  The War was best forgotten.  Alexander rode home on the dun mare, over the black hills and through the green silence of spring forests.  He wondered what he would do for himself, having received the last of his soldier’s pay.

He found his house standing where he had left it, yet his mother and father were no longer there.  Where they were, he did not know.  Killed in the War?  Moved in with relatives, lodging in another town as refugees?  He had been gone for years, but he remembered his parents.

His mother had been small, and soft, and round, with burst bloodvessels in her cheeks.  She had worn a pale green dress with white checks and rough shoes on her feet.  Her chapped hands had smelt of flour and egg yolks.  In his memory, he saw a nimbus of light around her, but that was how one tended to think of mothers.  Around his father, he saw no such light.  His father: Alexander remembered the dark thick hair on his father’s head and forearms.  He remembered the blunt nose, the blunt chin, the blunt hands.  The vague corporeal odor of the man, a distant scent of cod liver oil.  A good man, his father.  As Alexander Abraham stood on the threshold of his home for the first time since the War, he was overcome by a rush of goodwill, and hoped that all people loved their parents, everywhere in the wide world.

Conversationally: An Interview With Author Meghan Bird

Conversationally is a series of interviews with writers at various points in their careers about the craft and business of writing.

Meghan Bird, who kindly agreed to be interviewed for Conversationally, is a creative writer who graduated from New Hampshire Institute of Art in December 2014. Last year, her work appeared in the second issue of M, the new horror and mystery magazine from Big Pulp.

Drowning In Reverse: Bird’s senior project, a novel she wrote and formatted

What experiences have you had with publishing or attempting to publish your work?

I sent one piece out for publication, to a small science fiction/horror magazine called Big Pulp. Imagine my surprise when it was accepted, and I was even paid for it. I think it’s uncommon for someone’s first submission to be accepted with such enthusiasm– the editor was really excited about the piece, which was infectious. I’ve been really self-conscious about sending things out since: it was a high bar to hit first!

It’s often said that the publishing industry is in a time of change. Would you agree with that? What changes have you seen or would you like to see?

I feel like online submissions are far more common than they were even a few years ago. The nice thing about online submissions is that it’s easier to keep track of what you send where and when, especially with tools like Submittable. I’ve always enjoyed the tactile experience of sending things out in paper form, but online submissions are just much more convenient. I’d like for things to keep moving in this direction, I think it creates less chance for error for both the employees of the publisher as well as the author.

What is it that inspires you in your work and keeps you going?

I find inspiration in a lot of things. I carry a notebook called a “sense journal,” a tool I used in a class that has been very helpful to me after school ended. Its purpose is simply to allow me a notepad to write down sensations, rather than thoughts; the visual of leaves shaking in a tree or the sound of someone coughing down a narrow alley. It’s more about details than it is about ideas, and details make for the base of a very good story, if one is willing to work from the tiniest details upward, rather than the other way around, which is how I tend to write things. I pick a detail and build my world and story from there, which is a bit backwards from what some authors do. Selfishly, at this point in my life, I’m writing mostly for myself. I spent the last three years writing for class, writing for professors, so at this point I’m writing things that I want to read without much care as to its greater literary value. It’s a fun way to write, though not necessarily a good way to make a living.

Can you describe a piece of yours that you feel strongly about and tell me why it means so much to you? 

The cover of the issue of Big Pulp in which Bird’s story appeared

The piece published in Big Pulp is very important to me. Not only because it got published (which still feels like a dream) but because it was the first piece of writing I’ve ever read in public. I was terrified. But Lance Olsen (who was giving a lecture I was opening for, and an amazing author) complimented two of my sentences; it was like being given a Pulitzer. For the sake of shameless self promotion, here are the sentences: “Walk naked, metaphorical bird spreading colorful plumage, unapologetic, out to where Bloodynose lies, eyes half-open, a trickle of red down the cradle of a moon-pale philtrum to curve around the bow of his lips. Pretty picture, pretty picture, and Golden wipes the blood across the mouth, grins.”

Do you have any advice for other writers looking to publish their work?

Keep submitting, keep writing. Always look to improve, take criticism and apply it to the best of your ability. One of my professors, a wonderful man with incredible talent, keeps all of his rejection slips in a folder. He has over three hundred. But some of those rejection slips have personal notes on them from editors, sincere and genuine encouragement. Everyone who looks over your pieces wants you to succeed. It’s like in acting: every person in the room, watching you at your audition, wants you to be the one to fill the role. It’s hard to stay positive after rejections, especially if it makes you feel like never writing again. If you really feel like you can’t write, read. Look at your cohorts and the masters, look at what you can steal from them and apply it to your work in a way that makes you stand out. Publishers are looking for new and interesting work: drive yourself towards that. Also, on the common sense side of things, pay attention to guidelines, follow instructions, don’t be the person that sends a story when the publisher isn’t holding open submissions. It makes you look like a jerk when you don’t follow the rules of submitting.

If you are an author, and you’d like to be interviewed for Conversationally, contact me at connemarajames at gmail.com.

Conversationally: An Interview With Author Pear Nuallak

Conversationally is a series of interviews with writers at various points in their careers about the craft and business of writing.

Pear Nuallak

Pear Nuallak is a London-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Toast. More of their writing will be published in the near future in Stone Telling, Lackington’s, and the forthcoming anthology The Sea Is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia.

As a writer, how would you describe your relationship with the publishing industry?

It depends on what’s meant by publishing industry, really, but in general I’d describe my relationship to the publishing industry as tenuous. This is because most of my energy as a writer is pretty focused on particular scenes, and I can just about keep up with names, figures, trends, and developments from that fairly small pool.

I roughly know the shape of but am largely mystified by traditional publishing houses, journals, and newspapers, but I’m mostly acquainted with, say, some major-yet-fairly-niche online publications (e.g. The Toast, various SFF zines) in the sense that I have submitted to them and am part of the readership/commentariat. I’m acquainted with editors of short story anthologies and have volunteered as an editor of a London-based online student magazine. All of those really seem worlds away from other corners of the industry.

It’s often said that the publishing industry is in a time of change. Would you agree with that? What changes have you seen or would you like to see?

Yes, I’d essentially agree with this, at least for SFF. There are two which stand out to me: changes in sources of funding and shifts in attitudes towards representation & diversity in fiction writing.

Nowadays, a bunch of individual writers, anthos, and zines engage in crowdfunding. This includes Patreon, Kickstarter, holding their own fund drives, and having a donation box/tip jar on their site. In principle, crowdfunding widens opportunities: if you have an idea, particularly an idea which is mild-to-moderately edgy, you could theoretically drum up the cash and launch it without having to jump through too many hoops. Occasionally, as in the case of Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland series, a crowdfunded online piece gets picked up by a traditional publisher and then becomes a more mainstream bestseller.

Since crowdfunding is largely the hustle of individual authors, relatively small presses, and individual editors of anthologies, I guess there’s an element of being the little guy: it seems noble but it’s pretty hard to get by without reliably deep pockets either side of you. It’s still mostly the major houses and their SFF imprints who’ve got money to throw about, who sell big and get read, but that’s really not indicative of quality.

There’s a similar underlying structure in issues of diverse representation. There are bursts of insight from individuals but the industry seems slow to understand that diverse books not only sell very well, they’re morally necessary. Some editors go through the motions of supporting diversity but will still only really buy pieces from white het cis American dudes where Generic Fantasy Westernlandia fights against barbaric, dark-skinned orcs from The East. When editors are questioned on a lack of diversity in their publications, their defence often comprises complaints that no diverse authors (or authors with knowledgeably written diverse stories) submit to them in the first place. I can definitely tell you we pick up on lots of clues about whether our work is welcome–I boarded the Nope Rocket when an editor referred to cultural appropriation as a mere “bugaboo,” for instance, and frown at the insistence that quality should trump diversity. It’s disheartening when editors pit them as opposites.

There have always been diverse authors saying all of the above. I guess now, where we’re able to relay and collate information much faster, ideas can gain traction far more quickly, becoming a movement. The change I’d like to see is for the industry as a whole to really listen to what’s been (and being!) said.

Do you have any advice for other writers looking to publish their work?

Keep doing and finishing stuff within some kind of structure, however loose (mine is to finish/submit a fiction piece at least

Cake made by Pear

once a month). Remember that writing is a separate act to submitting and getting published. Both take time.

Research your markets and read submissions guidelines carefully, formatting your cover letter and submission(s) accordingly. Don’t write self-pitying cover letters or argue with editors. You can have legitimate grievances, but airing them at editors won’t make them give you a platform and throw their money at you. You’d be surprised at how this escapes some writers…

Let people like or dislike your work as they please, and allow rejection to hit you hard. Have a good cry if you need to, then distract yourself. Surround yourself with supportive people, limiting contact (if possible) with those who gloat about rejection : acceptance ratios or sneer at other’s careers in comparison to their own–the business of writing is already competitive, your friends and colleagues are frequently your direct rivals, so you need people who can deal with it maturely.

Finally, remember your career isn’t a race. We can’t all be Helen Oyeyemi. The good thing about writing, unlike several other forms of art, is that words on a page can wait. You can always learn and improve. Persist.

If you are an author, and you’d like to be interviewed for Conversationally, contact me at connemarajames at gmail.com.

Imagination Dead Imagine: Beckett and the Ethics of Posthumous Publishing, or Books From the Undead

Samuel Beckett’s New Book, After a Brief Delay of 80 Years

Last year, a new book by one of my favorite authors was published. Nothing strange there. It happens all the time. That’s what authors do, ideally: they write books. This case was unusual, if not unprecedented. The author died 24 years ago.

Samuel Beckett in 1977.

Samuel Beckett, not content to rest on his laurels or his Nobel Prize, is back in the publishing game, with the appearance of a new short story. Echo’s Bones, written in 1933 and published in 2014 by Grove Press, is a sequel to Beckett’s first published fiction, More Pricks Than Kicks, which is itself an unfinished novel. Beckett’s editor asked him for an extra story to finish the collection off. When the story was submitted, the editor rejected it.

Echo’s Bones was all but lost. One typed manuscript and a carbon copy survived. Fittingly, the story is the tale of Belacqua, More Pricks Than Kicks‘ anti-hero, risen from the dead. It’s full of sly wit and linguistic playfulness.

But was publication of a work Beckett cast aside a good idea? Can posthumous publishing be compared to rummaging through a writer’s garbage? Such pieces were often discarded or left undone, not intended to be shown to the public as-is, if at all.

Is it grasping, to profit from the dead? Well-known names sell, so there is profit in it, and there are problems. Questions of veracity, of artistic vision.

The published version may diverge from what the author intended, especially with unfinished works. Hemingway’s Garden of Eden is said to have been as long as 200,000 words in manuscript form, at one point. The published version is closer to 70,000. Cuts were made that Hemingway may not have approved of, and the novel has remained controversial.

Franz Kafka in 1923.

Other writers abandon pieces. Kafka suddenly stopped working on his first novel, Amerika, and never returned to it. It was published years after his death. Did he want it to be read?

E. M. Forster had a different motive with Maurice, which dealt frankly with homosexuality and dared to give the main character and his love interest a happy ending. Forster deemed publication to much of a risk. He was determined to publish, after he perished.

Echo’s Bones was finished, if lost. It has been carefully curated in Grove Press’s edition, with Beckett’s edits to the surviving versions taken into account. The editors have made their work transparent.

Writers communicate. They inform, they entertain, they create connections with their readers. People want to hear more from the writers they love, even if it’s one last gasp. Letters, diaries, scrawled notes in margins—most of it ends up published, if the writer’s famous enough. There’s a fascination there, a desire to know more. To understand. It’s human.

It’s nice to see an old friend again.

The other Samuel Beckett that’s been in the news.

The news is still full of Beckett: reviews of his plays, conferences, responses to his works—the newest ship in the Irish Naval Service was named after him, oddly enough. So why not publish, give people something else to read? Beckett may have thought the ship the bigger blight.

With Belacqua, let Beckett rise from the dead, another anti-hero with one last word. As Echo’s Bones begins: “The dead die hard, they are trespassers on the beyond, they must take the place as they find it, the shafts and manholes back into the muck, till such time as the lord of the manor incurs through his long acquiescence a duty of care in respect of them.”

Opinion Poll: a Quiz about Writing and Publishing

I’m interested in researching all aspects of writing and publishing, including others’ opinions. If you wouldn’t mind filling out this brief quiz on the matter, I’d be very grateful. And if you have anything else to add, feel free to comment below. Thank you.

5 Websites to Help Aspiring Writers Publish, Not Perish

For aspiring writers, the internet is a vast and intimidating resource. We want to publish our work, but how? Breaking into the isn’t easy. It can take years, and countless hours of hard work. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of websites out there with advice. With so much information available, knowing where to start becomes part of the problem. Here are five sites I’ve used which I’ve found invaluable while researching how to submit my own fiction.

Poets & Writers

Poets & Writers has been around since 1970, and they know what they’re doing. They’re a fantastic, professional resource. They have listings for grants, contest, agents, and presses. There are regularly posted writing prompts, as well as interviews with industry professionals. You can subscribe to the magazine or download paid content, but there’s a lot of great information for free. Start with “tools for writers” and go to “top topics” to get some nice overviews of various publishing topics.

Duotrope

Duotrope is a wonderful resource for anyone looking for markets to submit to. Yes, it is a paid site. It’s five dollars a month, or fifty dollars a year if you splurge for the full year’s membership. The price might not be right for everyone, but Duotrope has a searchable database of publishers and literary magazines that can help you find the right place for your work. It lets you know who’s open for submissions, and for how long, and tells you the average response time for each publication, based on user feedback. You can organize your submissions and keep track of them, which is a useful tool for the disorganized among us, such as myself. If you’re curious, give the free trial a try to see if it works for you. Note: As Duotrope skews toward the literary, you might also want to try Writer’s Market: a similar and very reputable site, and see if that works better for you.

AgentQuery

If you have a finished novel and you’re looking to find an agent, the first step is to write a query letter. Then revise the query letter. Numerous times. Once you have one you can bear to look at, it’s time to find the right agent for your query. Both writing queries and querying agents can be confusing, frustrating, and just plain painful. AgentQuery can help, providing not only a comprehensive listing of agents, but also clear practical advice about how to contact them and what not to do.

AbsoluteWrite

What stands out most to me about AbsoluteWrite is the forums. They’re an excellent resource, and an excellent way to connect with other writers. Even for those who may be more on the shy side, viewing others’ discussions about a wealth of topics can be both interesting and educational. You can post your work for criticism, ask about that confusing agent response you received, find a freelance job, or chat about Monty Python. Everyone’s welcome to join: novice or pro, no matter your genre of choice.

Writer Beware

Publishing is an often confusing industry that involves a great deal of hope: writers hope to get published and are willing to put in a great deal of work and take risks to fulfill their dreams. Wherever you find desire like this, there’s going to be someone who wants to exploit it. Writer Beware is a good place to educate yourself about possible dangers and read up on anything that strikes you as fishy. There are going to be legitimate reasons to spend money: thatmagazine subscription, or entry fees for some contests, but for the most part, since what you’re doing is selling your work, the idea is that people will pay you for it. I’ve never paid to have a short story published. If any funds are involved, be sure to do your research, because no one’s dream should be taken advantage of.

There are many other sites, of course, but I wanted to start with a few basics. Do you have your own suggestions for essential sites? Let me know. I can always use more help.

An Introduction

My name (possibly not my real name) is Connemara James.

I am a writer of fiction and sometimes poetry who aspires to write more and to publish more. In seeking publication and inspiration, I intend to keep this blog as a record of my adventures, errors, and schemes. I’ll include information, advice, and commiseration that will hopefully help others who find themselves in this predicament.

As Samuel Beckett said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”