DOUGLAS SMITH | Writing the Fantastic

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviewed me back in September prior to the release of my novel, THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD, for a Kobo Writing Life podcast. Outside of his day job, Mark is a talented writer himself, writing horror and other speculative fiction under the pen name of Mark Leslie. And as if all of that wasn't enough to keep Mark busy, he's also edited several anthologies, some of which I've been lucky enough to be in (Campus Chills, North of Infinity II) as well as writing a couple of non-fiction titles, Haunted Hamilton and the recent co-authored Haunted Sudbury.

Mark and I talked about a lot of things in a wide-ranging interview that you can check out here. Topics included:

• How I started writing
• My new novel The Wolf at the End of the World and how it grew out of my very first short story "Spirit Dance"
• My career as a short-fiction writer and the importance of taking advantage of reprint rights
• My foreign language sales in 25 languages in 30 countries
• Ebook publishing my backlist
• The adaptation of “By Her Hand She Draws You Down” into a short film
• My penchant for writing fiction that references Bruce Springsteen’s music

Here's the link to the interview. Enjoy!

As I explain in my afterword to my story "A Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by Van Gogh," I am a huge fan of the works of the Dutch artist, Vincent van Gogh. In that particular story, I tell the tale of an ex-CIA agent and a talented young remote viewer who use remote viewing to time travel and "locate" an undiscovered van Gogh. You'll have to read the story to understand the quotes around "locate."

Is my story coming true? Well, probably not. But a few weeks ago, experts at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam (which I visited, by the way, in May this year – absolutely wonderful) verified Sunset at Montmajour  as an authentic van Gogh. The painting had actually been discovered in the 1990's, moldering in an attic in Norway. At that time, the museum had rejected the work, but more modern testing over the last two years resulted in its recent authentication. Very cool. Click the article above to read more about the discovery and to see the painting. There's a neat little magnification viewer in the article so you can really examine the painting (okay, technically, so you can examine the image of the painting).

And if the correlation to "Bouquet of Flowers..." and time travel isn't science fiction-y enough for you, then while you're checking out the painting, focus on the top left area. See that little blue building in the distance? Look familiar? Some people noticed its strange resemblance to another blue structure. Personally, I think if Vincent was going to paint the TARDIS, he'd put it in the foreground. But it kind of cries out for a story called "Vincent and the Doctor," doesn't it? Oh, wait. They already did that episode.

Just came across this blog post about an end-cap display in The World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto, showcasing books by Ontario-based science fiction and fantasy writers. Nice to see Chimerascope included in this impressive group of works (bottom left).

The winners of the 2013 Aurora Awards have just been announced at CanCon in Ottawa, and I am thrilled that my story "The Walker of the Shifting Borderland" won for Best Short Fiction! "The Walker..." first appeared in the wonderful Canadian speculative fiction magazine, On Spec, in their "Apocalypse" issue (cover at the right).

It's great to see so many of my friends on the winners list, too.The full list of winners is as follows:

• Novel: The Silvered – Tanya Huff
• YA Fiction: Under my Skin, The Wildlimgs – Charles de Lint
• Short Fiction: The Walker of the Shifting Borderland – Douglas Smith
• Poem / Song: A Sea Monster Tells His Story – David Clink
• Graphic Novel: Weregeek – Alina Pete
• Related Work: Hayden Trenholm – Blood and Water
• Artist: Erik Mohr – Cover Art for ChiZine Publications
• Fan Publication: Speculating Canada Blog – Derek Newman-Stille
• Fan Filk: Kari Maaren – Body of Work
• Fan Organizational: Randy McCharles – When Worlds Collide
• Fan Related Work: Ron Friedman – Aurora Awards Voter Package

Unfortunately, I missed this convention for family reasons. Derek Newman-Stille kindly accepted on my behalf. My acceptance speech that I'd sent Derek went as follows:

Thank you for this unexpected honour! My apologies for not being here in person, but my youngest son's birthday falls on this weekend and it's one of those ending in a zero, so I didn't want to miss that. First, thanks to Cliff Samuels and everyone involved with the Auroras this year for all of their dedication and hard work in making these awards happen. A nod to my fellow nominees--it was an honour just being on the ballot with each of you (but I'm glad I won). Thanks to everyone who voted for the story, and special thanks to Diane Walton and the editorial board at On Spec for publishing "The Walker...,"and to Susan MacGregor for her great editing job. And finally, thanks to Derek for accepting on my behalf.

"The Walker..." is available as an ebook if anyone is interested in reading it. Thanks to all of you who voted for the story! This is my third Aurora win, and I couldn't have won any of those without your interest in my writing and your support.

The final post (Part 32) in my now-completed "Playing the Short Game" series on marketing and selling short fiction at the Amazing Stories site is up. In this post, I finish off the series by completing last week's discussion on how the expanding options for indie publishing can be leveraged by the short fiction writer--and whether they should be.

That's it for the series. If you're a writer, I hope that you've been following along each week. If not, you can still check out all the posts in the series at this link on the Amazing Stories site.

I'll be taking a break for a bit to focus on my writing, but plan to be back at Amazing Stories with another series.

Part 31 in my continuing "Playing the Short Game" series on marketing and selling short fiction at the Amazing Stories site is now up. In this post, I discuss how the expanding options for indie publishing can be leveraged by the short fiction writer--and whether they should be.

I only have one more post in this series, which goes up next Saturday, before I wrap it up. You can check out all the posts in the series at this link on the Amazing Stories site.

Part 30 in my continuing "Playing the Short Game" series marketing and selling short fiction at the Amazing Stories site is now up. In this post, I discuss how to put together a collection of your short fiction and how to market a collection. I only have two more posts before I wrap up this series. You can check out all the posts in the series at this link on the Amazing Stories site.

My second collection, Chimerascope, is still generating interest and reviews. Writer Kristene Perron (Warpworld series) recently posted a review of the collection, and a short interview with me on story structure and plotting.  Here are some extracts:

Chimerascope, a collection of speculative fiction short stories, enchants, horrifies, enlightens, and mesmerizes. Through each tale, no matter the tone or subject, Smith connects the reader instantly with his characters and they are as unforgettable as they are diverse. From the broken and twisted (Jason Trelayne of “Scream Angel”, John Bishop of “Memories of the Dead Man”) to the ethereal and innocent (Asai of “The Red Bird, Big G of “Going Harvey in the Big House”), these characters step off the pages and become real.

Another of Smith’s strengths is structure. I’m in awe of his ability to choose just the right voice, POV, and timelines for his stories. He includes enough details to show the reader the depth of each world without bogging down the story in description. No matter how short the story, their worlds feel fully formed. ...

If you love speculative fiction, short stories, and masterful storytelling, Chimerascope needs to be on your bookshelf.

Thanks, Kristene!

The next post in my continuing "Playing the Short Game" series marketing and selling short fiction at the Amazing Stories site is now up. This week, in part 29, I look at some of the paths a writer might choose for their short fiction career (or paths that your career might pick all by itself). And special bonus points for anyone who leaves a comment correctly identifying the inspiration for the title of this week’s post. You can check out the earlier posts in the series at this link on the Amazing Stories site.

I'm a tad behind posting updates about the blog series that I'm writing at Amazing Stories on how to market and sell your short fiction--and more. I'm now dealing with a another set of topics on what can happen (and what you can make happen) after you've started to sell your stories.  Here's an update on the latest posts over the recent weeks:

• Part 24 – Let the Band Ring Out and the Banners Fly: To promote or not to promote
• Part 25 – A Writer’s Magic Bakery: Selling your stories again (and again, and again…)
• Part 26 – Bonjour / Hola / Ciao: Selling foreign language rights
• Part 27 – Bonjour / Hola / Ciao: Selling foreign language rights (conclusion)
• Part 28 – Cool Stuff That Might Happen (or Not): Awards, Best of Anthologies, Movies

Check them out and please feel free to leave comments or questions.