All posts by Paul Raven

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We have to eat them in order to save them

Sable antelopeNothing kick-starts my Monday like some over-the-top provocative contrarian thinking. So, how fortunate to come across this report on conservation scientist Paul Nabhan, who suggests that the best thing we could do to prevent rare species going extinct is to start eating them.

First thing to note is that he’s not talking about snow leopards or pandas or anything like that. He’s talking about what he calls “heritage foods” – animals and plants that were once staples of regional diets but which have fallen out of favour in the kitchen, and are near to extinction as a result. [image by Arno & Louise]

Second thing to note is that Nabhan has a new book on the market.

Now, while Nabhan’s point is interesting in its own right, I find myself more interested in the results of the rhetorical approach. Look at the MetaFilter comments thread about this article, and see how many of the commenters have simply extrapolated the worst possible scenario from the headline without bothering to read the article. Is it worth using contrarian tactics to stimulate debate, or is it just another way of making a noise about a new product?

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Where are the new fiction markets?

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Stacks of books and magazinesAs Futurismic‘s editor, my interest in this question should be obvious; but it’s also of great interest to the aspiring writer in me as well. I write because I want to write but – in common with a lot of other writers – I’d quite like to get paid for my fiction some day. [image by Thomas Hawk]

So who’s going to give me (or other more competent, imaginative and disciplined writers) money for stories? Well, fellow Flash Fictioneer Gareth D Jones tried something new and pitched a story to a magazine that doesn’t usually run short stories, and had it accepted – his second professional-grade sale, in fact. So perhaps the closest new markets are the markets no one has even tried yet.

Another market, already being tentatively explored, is the one that lies on the blurry boundary between fiction writing and sales copy. For example, the car company Lexus recently commissioned a collaboratively written novel focusing on a young couple taking a journey in their new vehicle – the brand of said vehicle should be easy enough for you to guess.

While that story has the queasy taste of naked commerce to it, I think younger writers will be less bothered by it. We live in an ad-saturated world, and most media-consumers have a certain degree of skill at tuning them out. Perhaps the challenge to write branded fiction that doesn’t smack the reader round the face with its brands will develop new stylistic forms and breed a new wave of great writers.

One thing is for certain, though, and that’s the migration of short fiction online. I’m not just saying that because Futurismic does it (although we do), but because it’s the only way to economically sustain the form in a world where the overheads of print media are heading skywards like pulp fiction rocketships.

Perhaps the web will be the richest source of Gareth’s new markets – remember when we mentioned Will Hindmarch selling a story to a games and media community website? I think the style and shape of short fiction will change as a result, too – but isn’t the continual evolution of art what keeps it interesting, both to consume and to create?

Where do you think you’ll be reading (or publishing) your short stories in twenty years time?

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Friday Free Fiction for 9th May

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Another seven days have passed in the magical land of Intarwub, and they have deposited the usual cargo of free fictional nuggets on their way through; consider this your menu, your guide, your pre-flight check-list …

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A single full book (and a very old one at that) from Manybooks.net:

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Unpublished Heinlein news from Subterranean Online:

“… we’re delighted to bring to light a teleplay co-written by Robert A. Heinlein more than 50 years ago. Delilah and the Space Rigger, is based, of course, on the classic short story. For insight into the practical way in which Heinlein approached writing for the screen, we’re also printing John Scalzi’s introduction.”

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From Cory Doctorow:

“I’ve just put up my site for Little Brother, my young adult novel about hacker kids who use technology to reclaim the Bill of Rights from the DHS after a terrorist attack on San Francisco.”

Being as it’s a Doctorow title, it comes in many flavours and there are many things you are legally allowed to do with it – pretty much anything except sell it for money.

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Eos are giving away the entirety of Sarah Douglass’s The Serpent Bride as an ebook:

Rescued from unspeakable horror, Ishbel Brunelle has devoted her life to a Serpent cult that reads the future in the entrails of its human sacrifices. But the Serpent has larger plans for Ishbel than merely being archpriestess, plans that call for a dangerous royal marriage balancing on the edge between treachery and devotion, and an eerie, eldritch warning: Prepare for the Lord of Elcho Falling . . .

A bit fantasy for Futurismic readers, perhaps, but an entire free book is not to be sniffed at.

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An email from John T Cullen:

Hi, Futurismic – please check out the free novels and other work at http://www.johntcullen.com/.

I’m the former editor of the late Far Sector SFFH, once the oldest professional webmag of SF/F/H. I’m also the second person in history to release serial chapters of whole novels (1996-7). I think we have a new pioneering effort going on, to be explained in a year or two if it works out. Please come visit.

I remain to be convinced of the validity of that serial-chapter-release business (wasn’t that the standard publishing business model of the Victorian era? Edit in light of clarification from Mr Cullen: serial chapters online), but Mr Cullen sure does have a whole lot of work there on his site. Go take a look.

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Yet more WTFBBQ action from Shadow Unit:

Esther Falkner spent twenty minutes wondering what to do with her hair.

At work, she wore it up, severe and businesslike. At home, she left it loose and long. It was another way to remind herself, Leave the job at the job. Leave home at home.

But compartmentalizing was a temporary coping strategy at best. It failed to account for a backyard potluck barbeque with her co-workers.

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A message from Nathan Lilly reminds us of yet more good shizzle at SpaceWesterns.com: “A Man Called Mister Brown: Mr. Green (part 3 of 8)” by A.R. Yngve, and “Octopus Tanks” by Max Gladstone. If the latter isn’t the best story title you’ve read all week, I want to know why!

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A message from Gary Ballard:

I saw that you write up free fiction on Fridays and wondered if you’d like to cover my blog novel. It’s called Under the Amoral Bridge and it’s being updated weekly with a new chapter and/or supplementary material.

Consider it covered, Gary! Least we can do for someone who bought some ad space is let the RSS readers know about it too.

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Here’s Memory #12 from Jayme Lynn Blaschke:

Thunder boiled up through Flavius’ arm, threatening to tear muscle from bone and split his skin. It roared through his shoulder and into his head.

His head! His head! His head! Lightning flashed behind his eyes, blinding bursts of fire that swelled within his skull as the terrible pressure built up. Were all the killer waves racing ahead of a storm to ram themselves into a teacup, it’d still be a faint whisper of the torrent pouring into him.

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And now it’s Friday Flash Fiction time! Let’s see what we have …

  • Shaun C Green channels Justin Pickard in “Binary Visions“
  • Justin Pickard (the real one) pitches one out from the depths of Dissertation Hell – it’s “Sublime“
  • Dan Pawley wants to tell you about “Alice“
  • Gareth D Jones wants to tell you about “Rosetta“
  • Neil Beynon is smoking “Quantum Cigars“
  • Sarah Ellender keeps it super-short with “Liquid Smoke“
  • Phred Serenissima is engaged in “The Great Debate“

Apologies this week from Gareth L Powell; he’s celebrating having topped the Interzone reader’s poll. Congratulations, Gareth – well deserved.

Added bonus: not exactly flash, and not exactly a story, but long-time web-buddy and all-round smart dude Sterling “Chip” Camden posted a speculative piece of writing entitled “Conversation with a neighbour” which you might find worth reading.

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What’s that? You want more free fiction? More than I manage to link to here every week?

Well, you’re in luck – I am reliably informed by the SF Signal crew that Free Speculative Fiction Online (the most accurately named website ever) has had a recent update with masses more titles, many of which haven’t been mentioned here. So if you find these weekly round-ups insufficient, that’s where you want to be clicking next.

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Oh, you want dead-tree reading material as well? Good grief, you’re a demanding lot!

Lucky for you, the Magazine of Fantasy And Science Fiction is offering you a free copy of the July 2008 issue; all you have to do in exchange is blog about it.

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And that’s about your lot, folks – until next week, at least! In the meantime, keep those plugs and tip-offs rolling in, and have a great weekend.

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Second Life not actually crawling with terrorists after all – who knew?

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'Desu' griefing attack in Second LifeYou may remember us linking to an arm-waving FUD-hype article from Australia last year claiming that OMFG Secund Life iz training ground for terr’ists!!1!

Just in case you were still worried about that (and I’m sure it’s been keeping you awake at night just as much as it has me) a report from Mercyhurst College concludes we can breathe easily:

“Communication for planning a terror attack is unlikely to be a threat due to the paranoia, suspicion of monitoring, and existing channels of communication such as web forums that are more efficient. Bomb making, weapons training, and other advanced training exercises are unlikely to take place in SL due to the need for in-person, hands-on experience.”

I wonder how much that simple exercise in examining the platform and applying a little common sense cost? It would have been easier to simply round up a hundred SL users and ask them the same question … although in recent times I think you’d be hard pressed to find a hundred SL users who’d been able to log in with any degree of regularity, but that’s an answer in and of itself. [image by believekevin]

And seriously, come on – Islamic jihadists in the metaverse? What were they supposed to be training themselves to do, bombard decadent capitalists with swarms of animated penises? That’s about as plausible as, oh, I dunno, Nazis on the frickin’ moon.

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Rock Port – wind town

Wind turbineCongratulations are in order for Rock Port, Missouri – it just became the first town to have its complete energy supply needs met by wind power. [via Slashdot]

Granted, Missouri is a windy region, and wind power wouldn’t suit every town. Plus Rock Port has a population of just 1,300 … but it’s encouraging to see ordinary people waking up to the economic realities of alternative energy sources. [image by Michael Tyas]