May 2020 Electric Spec live!

The marvelous May 31, 2020 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much to all the authors!

Thanks so much to all the Electric Spec staff.

And, especially, thanks so much to all the readers!

Woo hoo!

from Author Barnett

In the marvelous May 31, 2020 Electric Spec issue we feature an interview of author Barbara Barnett. Here, she'd like to share how to ground fantasy:

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Grounding Fantasy in History and Science

Nothing takes a reader out of a story faster than screwing up the setting or the history--even, or perhaps, especially--in a fantasy. Fantasy is fantasy, but as a writer you have to ground it something real, authentic to make the fantastical elements work and not seem absurd. And that’s where the research comes in. Pick and choose what you want to include in the story (and don’t overload your reader with unnecessary detail and exposition), but as the author--you have to know of what (and whom) you speak.

In writing The Apothecary’s Curse and its sequel Alchemy of Glass, I took great pains to research every assertion, setting, the science, and, yes, even, word I used. Was the word “hooligan” in common use in 1837 London? What did an apothecary do in London? What was King James’s VI take on the supernatural back at the very end of the sixteenth century? (Not very favorable, which helped me set up the execution of my hero’s father for magical healing after he’d cured the entire court of a disease).

Quite a bit of Alchemy of Glass is set in the bowels of ruined monastery in the Borders region of Scotland. I came across an article about medical archeologist working in the area had unearthed healing potions and medicines that would have likely been completely beyond the technology and skills of medieval monks that worked and dwelled there. The “how” and “why” of that became a fictional pivot point for the entire novel.

There’s a pivotal scene in The Apothecary’s Curse where my main character has a motorcycle accident north of Chicago along the Lake Michigan coast. People who do not live in Chicago (or perhaps some that do) are often unaware that to the far north of the City, along the lake, the terrain is far from the flatland with which Chicago is often associated. There are high bluffs, deep ravines, plunging eighty, one hundred, even one hundred fifty feet to the rocky shore. Who’d have thought? I used the idea because I knew people would find it strange, and maybe a bit fantastical (after all The Apothecary’s Curse is a fantasy), but before I put a number on the height of the cliff, I researched everything I knew (and didn’t know about the shoreline and the quite mystical ravines that line the shore from Wilmette to the Wisconsin border).

Although I know the Chicago setting quite well, and felt comfortable playing with it, the same is not true of the early Victorian setting of 1837-1842 London. I chose Smithfield Market as the location for Gaelan Erceldoune’s Apothecary Shop for some very specific reasons. Smithfield is a place where the immortal Gaelan could be more or less anonymous. Having moved locations after ten years in the posher environs of Hay Hill, he needs to reboot his life, and Smithfield is perfect. He’s also needed there. Few physicians (mostly gentlemen) would dare not dirty their hands in the “vile zoology” that is Smithfield (and by the way, that is exactly how accounts for the time describe place, so I copped the description and put into the story).

Also, Gaelan’s heritage comes into play, especially in Alchemy of Glass which looks back on when Gaelan first moved to Smithfield in 1826 (11 years before events in The Apothecary’s Curse)--and his youth. My research uncovered the fact that William Wallace (AKA, The Wallace, a Scottish hero) was executed in Smithfield, perhaps even right on the very same corner that Gaelan’s shop sits. Hmm. So the locale was very carefully chosen.

William Wallace was a contemporary and confederate of Lord Thomas Learmont de Ercildoune, Gaelan’s ancestor–a figure that is steeped in supernatural legend, but who also existed in medieval Scotland! History, meet mythology, meet fantasy!

So, by placing the fantasy in a real location with a real history related to the ancestor of a historical figure, I hope that grounds the story in history as well as the legend that so pervades the story. It’s a device often used by H.G. Wells--putting a single impossible thing set into an otherwise quite realistic scenario.

I also underlaid the story with real people in cameos who lived during the times in which the story takes place (or in its back story): Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his medical mentor Joseph Bell (who is related to Gaelan’s frenemy Simon Bell), Leonardo of Pisa, Michael Scot, and Nicola Tesla (who’ll you’ll meet in Chapter One of Alchemy of Glass.

All of this is to say that no matter whether you’re writing historical fiction (for which accuracy is an imperative when dealing in the “actual” factual world) or speculative fiction, everything has to make sense (at least within the world you’ve built. And if the world you’ve built is fantastical, but set (even partially) in the real world, attention to detail, gentle use of tropes, diction, setting--and fact, can give your fantastical creation an air of authenticity.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Barbara! Be sure to check out her interview and all the awesome stories on May 31!

from Author Everett

We're excited to feature Kate Everett's spooky story "Gabriel Vane's Carnival Extraordinaire" in our May 31, 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Here's what she had to say about the story:

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While raiding a Halloween shop many years ago, my husband and I picked up an album called Carnival Arcane by Midnight Syndicate. The group, in their own words, creates scores for imaginary films by blending orchestral horror music and sound effects. This album plunged me into the rich atmosphere of a traveling carnival that promised thrills and wonder…but also something sinister and possibly supernatural. Questions popped up in my mind whenever I listened to it: what did this carnival want? Who ran it? Did everyone have the same experience there, and did everyone (or anyone) get out unscathed?

Eventually, I needed to invent my own answers to these questions. I decided to explore the story through the eyes of kids, mostly because I’ve never stopped feeling like a kid myself, but also because I thought a kid’s spirit complimented this setting better than anything else.

I didn’t quite unravel the carnival’s every secret, but that’s okay—some things should stay a mystery. It’s more fun that way.

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Thanks, Kate! Very interesting! Be sure to check out all the stories on May 31!

from Author White

We're excited to publish the fantasy "Rona of the Els" by Desmond White in the May 2020 issues of Electric Spec. Here's what the author had to say about it:

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With "Rona of the Els," I wanted to create an interesting knight, or specifically, a knight's interesting origin. I decided my protagonist would be a peasant girl knowledgeable about the druidic arts and wearing a brave but coarse persona—what the colorless call a "tomboy." Rona's counterpart (Aeradia) would represent everything she was not—affluence, wealth, untouchable beauty. (With characters, the fiercer the clash the better.) As the story came along, it became a meet-cute; the beginning of a great romance. By the time I was finished, I hoped to inspire my reader with dreamlike visions of adventure—a brilliant woman in plate armor, hair wild in the wind, saddled on a dragon—without ever providing the image. I owe a debt to Tamora Pierce's Alanna and Christopher Paolini's Eragon. I am indebted also to Electric Spec, who saw the story's potential.

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Thanks, Desmond! Very interesting! Be sure to check out this story and all the others on May 31, 2020!

Notes from the Production Meeting

Greetings, Speculative Fiction Fans! We hope you and your families are safe and well. The Electric Spec Editors are doing okay.
We had our first virtual production meeting recently. Everything went pretty well. We had a spirited discussion of the stories in our hold-for-voting folder. One editor said they thought we'd get a bunch of apocalypse stories (we didn't). One editor said they didn't want to publish a bunch of gloomy, grim stories. The good news is we had a great selection of publishable speculative fiction tales to choose from. We were able to select a balanced group of stories with a variety of sub-genres and tones. Yay!

So, all authors in hold-for-voting should get an email from an editor very soon, if they haven't received one already. When we hear back from those 'yes' authors, we'll start bragging on them. Hopefully, we'll have some blog entries from them right here in this exact spot very soon.

The next step is the editors will edit the stories. Yes! Seriously! Go figure. :)
We'll start working on the webpage and new issue, and all the rest.

If you were in hold-for-voting but your story didn't get selected, take heart. Your story is 'publishable.' You will find a market.
Those who submitted: Thank You! Those who are still writing speculative fiction: Thank You! And Congratulations for following your dreams even in these difficult times. You rock!

Take care.