politics in fiction

I read an interesting book recently, Flashback by Dan Simmons. Set in the future, it's essentially a murder mystery with a disgraced ex-detective being forced to solved the murder of a powerful man's son. The title refers to flashback, a drug that most Americans are addicted to, in which you flash back to memories from your past. As you can imagine, this doesn't bode too well for the U.S. economy, etc. In Flashback the U.S. and most of the rest of the world's civilizations have been destroyed.

This future world Simmons created is extreme. Evil Muslims have been waging a holy war on the whole world. Clever sneaky Japanese still have advanced technology but also have a brutal feudal style culture of ritual suicide and worse. (If this sounds racist to you, I agree.)

Furthermore, in this world, Simmons writes the U.S. was totally bankrupted/destroyed by its entitlement programs. Europe was destroyed by its socialist policies. In addition, Simmons states multiple times that anthropogenic climate change is a "hoax". He mentions one lab repeatedly where this nefarious research took place and which is the site of horrific research in the novel. (Never mind the hundreds of other universities and labs that do research in this area which are never mentioned.)
To make a long story short, Tea Partiers would love this book.
Before reading this novel I had no idea what Mr. Simmons' personal political views were...but I have a pretty strong feeling I do now.

Should you include strong political views in your novel? In my opinion: caveat scriptor. I'll put it another way. Has Electric Spec ever published a story with such blatant political propaganda? No.

Stay tuned next week for an update on the Awesome August issue and our production meeting!

ambiguity

I read an interesting book recently, The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman. It tells the story of a disadvantaged mother in 1831 England and what she does to protect her baby in the midst of a cholera epidemic. "Dress lodging" refers to a whore renting a fancy dress so she can attract fancier johns. It's a very dramatic story and well-written. Moreover, it has an interesting point-of-view, with the author often addressing the reader. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to reveal some people do die of cholera.

However, the ending is ambiguous. A positive life for the dress lodger is suggested for the audience, but we have no way of knowing if it will come to pass. When a novel or story has an ambiguous ending, it's up to the reader to decide what will happen. Even more than usual the reader plays an integral part in an ambiguous-ending story.

What do you think will happen to the dress lodger? A happy ending? Death via cholera?
Whatever you decide it says a lot about you. :)

Does Electric Spec publish a lot of ambiguous-ending stories? Savvy readers know the answer to that question, but I'll give you a hint: No.

similes and metaphors

First a little business. We've passed the submission deadline for the August 2013 issue of Electric Spec. If you got your story in: Hurray for you. If not: we're now accepting submissions for the November 2013 issue. Good luck! In general: thank you authors! We wouldn't exist without you. :)
Please don't email us and ask us what the status of your story is. It clogs up our email and makes it that much slower for us to read the actual story submissions.
We're having the next production meeting at the beginning of August, so all submitters--including those in hold-for-votting--will hear back from us by about August 7.

Now, on to some fun stuff: similes and metaphors. Similes and metaphors are an important part of your writing arsenal. Every single author should be using them; they make stories richer. Similes and metaphors are easy to get mixed up (I know I do). A simile is when an author directly compares two things using a word like "like", "as", "than", or a verb such as "resembles". :) A metaphor is when an author describes a subject by asserting that it is the same as an unrelated object. So, notice a simile differs from a metaphor in that the latter compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing.

The important point for writers to remember--especially speculative fiction writers--is your similes and metaphors need to be consistent and compatible with the character and the world. Moreover, they can be used to create those characters and world. Think about it. A rural character in a macabre tale will use much different similes and metaphors than an alien in a science fiction tale. Ooh! I just got an image of a hillbilly on an alien world... :)

In terms of tips, it's rarely a good idea to have more than one simile and/or metaphor in one sentence. It's rarely a good idea to use a mixed metaphor or simile (unless you're going for humor).
Does anyone have any favorite similes or metaphors they care to share?

Now your homework assignment: look at your most recent work and make sure you have some similes and metaphors. Then, make sure they are unique to that story, to that character, to that world. Good luck!

get in the groove

The submission deadline for our Awesome August 2013 issue is coming up: July 15. Get those stories in!

One of my writing friends made some very inspiring comments the other day, so I asked her to summarize them for your reading pleasure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guest post from Jamie Ferguson:

A while back I finally got back in the groove and started focusing on my writing again. I wanted to finish my book, but I also gave myself the okay to take it slow because I didn't want to get burnt out and stop. I was moving at a glacial pace, but I was moving!

I started to pick up steam last fall. My editor had given me exactly the kind of feedback I needed, I was making progress on editing my book, and I took a writing class from Dean Wesley Smith. But this wasn't enough. I wanted to make real changes in my life. I didn't want to work on my manuscript for a day or two, then do nothing for 3 weeks. I like to compare writing to exercise - when you're in shape, you can't not exercise...but when you're trying to get in shape, you'll use even the most ridiculous excuses to avoid doing anything. I wanted to be in writing shape.

The plan I came up with was to incorporate a variety of writing-related activities into my life on a weekly, preferably daily, basis.

I signed up for two classes: one on book cover design, and one on interior book design. I eventually took another three writing classes. I tried out a few writing podcasts, finally settling on Writing Excuses as my favorite. I started reading writing blogs. I joined a small critique group. I worked on my manuscript whenever I had free time. And I started having writing happy hours with a few other writers. You can discount the latter, but I do not - talking with other writers helps keep you motivated. And combining it with wine doesn't hurt...

My idea was that if I involved myself in many different writing-related activities that I would be more likely to be able to stay focused. So if I took a little time off from my manuscript, but was taking classes, listening to podcasts, and going to a critique group, that I was still focused on writing. Kind of like if you take a few weeks off from running, but you're hiking and lifting weights, you're still used to the idea that exercise is a part of your life.

Incorporating all of this into my life was a challenge in the beginning, but I achieved what I wanted - seven months later I'm still writing diligently on a regular basis. My book was published in April, I'm about to publish a small short story collection, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through my second novel. My plan was a success!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations and thanks, Jamie!

Sookie rocks!

As every self-respecting speculative fiction fan knows, Charlaine Harris released the final Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series book this spring, Dead Ever After That makes book number thirteen for those of you who are counting. In honor of the ending of the series I decided to read them all again from beginning to end, and I'm having a ball. Harris is an amazing author. Her plotting keeps the reader entranced. Moreover, she's created a whole cast of characters that are engaging and realistic--and that's with vampires, shifters, werewolves, and fae running around!

Sookie, in particular, is a tour de force character. Harris has done a masterful job showing naive Sookie change and grow into a self-sufficient, wise woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. While Sookie isn't exactly a typical woman, she's not superwoman. She's flawed in the beginning of the series and flawed in the end, although less so. She has a lot of setbacks but always manages to pick herself up again and keep trying. She also wrestles with big picture ideas of good versus evil and what it means to be a good Christian. Kudos, Ms. Harris!

What's that? You don't like Sookie as much as I do? That's totally fine. The bottom line here is Harris has created the type of multidimensional character every author should strive for.
Another important take-away is: read, read, read. Not only is it great fun, but writers learn a lot from other writers.

Who's your favorite fictional character?

Critique Groups

The publishing industry has undergone a lot of growing pains in the last few years. One result of this, IMHO, is critique groups are more important than ever for writers. Why? Because writers need another set of eyes on their work, so they can discover what's really on the page--as opposed to what they think is on the page.

I freely admit getting critique is tough. It's difficult to hear that one's writing, one's baby, is not perfect. And sometimes, feedback isn't helpful. In general, critique should be about how something is written, not what is written.

Here are some critique group tips from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers:

• Offering Critique:
  • Begin with positive comments.
  • Comments should be specific and about things like viewpoint, structure, characters, word choice, etc.
  • Note any confusion you had as a reader and/or questions that were raised.
  • Be sure you separate the character/narrator from the author. Don't assume the author is the character/narrator.
  • Comment on the work itself, and not the subject matter or related philosophies, etc.
  • End with something positive.
• Receiving Critique:
  • Just listen and/or take notes. Do not argue, explain or defend.
  • Don't be intimidated or depressed by the feedback. Honest feedback is a valuable tool for improving one's writing.
  • Don't take everyone's critique as gospel. You are the boss of your writing. Don't make changes before careful consideration.
  • If a critique group isn't working for you, by all means, quit and look for another group.

How do you find a group? Local writers groups have critique groups. Many public libraries have writer's critique groups. There are also a lot of online groups. See, for example, the compilation at: "Online Writing Groups, Writing Communities and Critique Groups".

Good luck!

writing advice

I've been doing a lot of research into writing advice from writers for a workshop I'm teaching with a friend later in the summer. There is a lot of advice out there! I've blogged about this before, see for example Quotes from Writers. Some of the most obvious--and helpful--pieces of advice include:

• To be a writer you must write.
• Finish things.
• Read, read, read.

In an effort to winnow down the massive amount of info, I decided to focus on some of the most successful writers of recent years and see if they have anything in common. And, IMHO, they do.

• George R.R. Martin said recently in an interview that his characters are more real to him than some real-world people.
• Regarding her missing her characters, J.K. Rowling said, "I really miss all of them, but I suppose I'm going to have to say Harry because he is my hero and there is a lot of me in Harry."
  and "What you write becomes who you are…so make sure you love what you write!"
  and "Sometimes I actually hated the book, even while I loved it."
• Stephenie Meyer said "My focus is the characters--that's the part of the story that is most important to me. I feel the best way to write believable characters is to really believe in them yourself."
  and "try not to focus on the publishing part while you write—tell yourself a story that you really love."

Thus the gist of this advice is: write the story and characters that you, the author, love.
Good luck!

we need art

For some reason, in recent weeks our cover art submissions have fallen off. Why is this? Beats me.
The bottom line is, if you are an artist or an aspiring artist think about creating some speculative art and sending it to us.

Some highlights from the Art Submissions Guidelines page include:

• We are currently accepting art submissions for our 2013 and 2014 issues.
• Please do not submit the same artwork more than once.
• Please submit artwork separately from stories.
• We will consider any picture with a speculative fiction element for issue cover art.
  No over-the-top sex or violence, or fan fiction characters or settings, please.
• We pay $20 for each piece of artwork we publish. We buy first-printing world exclusive rights for four months and non-exclusive rights thereafter. Please note this means we want art that has not been published elsewhere. Payment will be made shortly after publication using PayPal.
• To submit your art to Electric Spec, e-mail it as an attachment to submissions at electricspec (dot) com. Use the following subject line: ART SUBMISSION: Title by Artist's Name. We prefer standard electronic formats such as jpeg or gif files.

Artists: start your paintbrushes, or pencils, or computers, or other favorite medium.
What's that? You've never created art? Now's your chance...

nouveau issue

Hopefully, you all have already gleaned we have a merveilleux nouveau Mai issue of Electric Spec! Thank you to all the contributors: Aaron Ritchey, Sarah Pinsker, Maigen Turner, Charlotte Nash, Jarod K. Anderson, Kenny Soward, Marty Mapes. You guys rock. Thank you to all the behind-the-scenes folks: Betsy Dornbush, David E. Hughes, moi, Nikki Baird, Chris Devlin, our web guys. You guys rock.

What's your favorite story? Mine is "The Disconnected", or "A Beastly Game", or "The City of Tears." Oh, wait, what about "Tartarus," "Bulls and Magic," and "The Art of Persuasion"? They're great, too. I can't decide. What do you think?

We enjoy comments. :)

Marvelous May Issue!

Hurray! It's almost here, folks! The Marvelous May 31 2013 issue of Electric Spec! I know I've said this before, but I think our next issue is our best yet! :) The fiction is outstanding--and I'm totally objective, of course! We've got "The Disconnected" by Aaron Ritchey, which really packs an emotional punch. We've got "A Beastly Game" by Sarah Pinsker which is a very unusual combo of South African football (rugby, for Americans) and supernatural creatures. Yes, you have to read it to find out what kind of creatures! We've got the beautifully-written "The City of Tears" by Maigen Turner. Charlotte Nash's "Tartarus" is an action-packed mind-bending thrill ride set on another planet. Finally, we've got the literary-style "Bulls and Magic" by Jarod K. Anderson. As a bonus, Editor David E. Hughes contributed "The Art of Persuasion" for Editor's Corner; Dave is a master at creating legal stories with speculative elements. We have a very interesting fairy-tale movie column from our regular contributor, Marty Mapes. And, as if all that isn't enough, Editor Betsy Dornbusch interviews author Kenny Soward! Phew! That's an impressive amount of issue.

As we finish up behind-the-scenes, a big shout-out to all the authors who submitted their stories for consideration for this issue. Thank you! Electric Spec wouldn't exist without you! Thank you to our columnists! Special thanks to our behind-the-scenes folks including Chris Devlin, Nikki Baird, and our website administrator (you know who you are!)!
Apparently, I need to go cold-turkey on exclamation marks! (!)

Check it all out May 31, 2013!

The Importance of Records

Creative writing is art, but there are some pesky business aspects to it as well. Probably the most important business thing is to keep a record of where you submit your stories and novels. It makes you a more efficient, more likely-to-be-published writer if you submit to probable markets in a timely fashion. Let's look at both parts of this statement, because they're both important.

A probable market is a market that accepts your type of work. This means you must do your background research. For short stories, a great speculative fiction resource is www.ralan.com. (Does anyone have a great general short fiction resource?) For literary agents, a great resource is www.agentquery.com. I've blogged about market before.

A timely fashion is a bit trickier. The industry convention for novels is you may query agents simultaneously for the same work. However, if you get asked for a partial or full manuscript, generally, the agent prefers an exclusive. The industry convention for short stories is NOT to submit the same story simultaneously. This means you can only submit to one market at a time. If you are submitting to a SFWA-approved professional market, for example, I would definitely abide by this rule. If you don't follow industry conventions, you run the risk of offending an editor or agent. That can have a negative impact on your career. Yikes!

Another fly in the ointment is publication. What exactly constitutes publication? If you post part or all of your story on your webpage, is this publication? What about a novel excerpt? What if it's posted on someone else's website or ezine? What if you get compensated? What if you don't? What about rewrites? How much do you have change to make a 'new' story? Regarding this stuff, just be honest and don't try to mislead anyone.
Of course, when the money starts rolling in you have to keep records of it for the tax man. :) I hope you have that problem!

I've tried quite a few things in pursuit of writing records including spreadsheets and databases and, I must admit, none of them work great. Do you have any good tips? If so, please let us know!

The bottom line is: it is important for writers to keep records. Good luck!

Stay tuned as next week we start bragging about the next marvelous issue of Electric Spec!

Conference Season

Ah, springtime! Leaves are budding, flowers blooming, birds singing, and writers conference season is starting. If you're a writer, consider rubbing elbows with other writers in person. Conferences have a lot to offer: you can meet and get to know other authors, you can go to craft workshops. Some even have writing contests and pitch opportunities with agents and editors. Before you sign up, think carefully about what you might want to get out of a conference. Do you need inspiration to give your writing a new shot in the arm? Do you want to meet a particular agent or editor? Do you want to connect with other local authors? Do you want to find some new critique partners? How much does the conference cost, including travel expenses? Do your research.

Some conferencs coming up include: Clarksville Writers Conference (June 6-7, 2013), the Carnegie Center’s “Books in Progress” Conference (June 7-8, 2013). Personally, one of my favorites is Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers annual conference (Sept. 20-22, 2013). I go every year. The deadline for their prestigious commercial novel contest "Colorado Gold" is approaching: June 1, 2013.

In general, a great place to find out about writers conferences is Poets & Writers: Writers Conferences, Colonies, and Workshops. Another excellent resource is the Shaw Guide to Writers Conferences & Writing Workshops.
Does anyone have a favorite resource to share? Or a favorite conference to recommend?

Maybe I'll see you at a conference this summer!

emotion

At the production meeting last week we had an intriguing discussion about what makes a story good. One thing that came up was endings. Since we blogged about Story Endings last fall, I won't repeat myself. Another important component of a good story is emotion. I did touch on aspects of this in Story Layers earlier this year. But it can't be emphasized enough...

A good story affects readers' emotions by putting the protagonist through emotional situations. If I, as a reader, am not emotionally affected by a story, it hasn't done enough to grab me. The writer hasn't taken advantage of all the tools at his/her disposal. Emotion is one of the metrics we used to chose the final stories for the marvelous May issue of Electric Spec.
Check it out May 31, 2013 and see if your emotions are engaged! Feel free to let us know one way or another.
Thanks!

production meeting

Hi, gang. The Electric Spec editors had the production meeting for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue. All went surprisingly smoothly as we mostly agreed on which stories would be a good fit for the issue. Editors are in the process of emailing authors the good or bad news. Authors who made it into hold-for-voting should hear back soon with a "Yay" or "Nay." And they should pat themselves on the back for a job well-done since all the hold-for-voting stories were publishable.
In more behind-the-scenes news, each editor got assigned their stories to edit. We also shuffled some of the other administrative duties around. It's been over 7 years after all!

We also had a long discussion about the differences between horror and macabre and what kind of stories we've been getting in this genre. To make a long discussion short, we're tired of getting stories where some kind of monster (literal or metaphorical) murders someone. We're more interested in spooky, creepy, and/or paradigm-shifting stories. Thus, we're going to update our submission guidelines to reflect this. Stay tuned for this, and recall the fiction submission guidelines are here.

I guess that's it for production meeting info.
Keep sending us your stories!

stay tuned

We're having the Electric Spec production meeting soon for our marvelous May issue. Stay tuned for an update at the end of the week. Thanks!

grab me

I don't think it's a secret that all the Electric Spec editors are also writers. I write a lot of short stories and submit them to various venues. It's annoying when an editor writes back, "I liked this story, but it just didn't grab me enough. Sorry." Ugh! As we finish up slush for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue, such comments do resonate with my inner editor. I've been reading a lot of nice stories, but not a lot of stories that grab me. (Feel free to think: Ugh!).

One how-to writing book I read recently emphasized manipulating readers' emotions. I hate to say it, but emotions grab readers.
How's a poor author supposed to manipulate a reader's emotions? By making the characters feel emotions. When people read fiction they become the characters they read about. If the protagonist is emotional, the reader will be more likely to be emotional and will be more likely to be grabbed by the story.
Unfortunately, you can't have emotions for no reason; they need to be integral into the story. This is done by having high stakes. The situation the protagonist is in needs to be important.

The good news is we all know at least one person very, very well and we can mine that knowledge for our fiction. What's the worst thing that could happen to you? What would rock you to your core? How would that make you feel? Why? What would be the consequences? What would you do to resolve or fix that? The deeper you delve into your psyche, the more writing seems like therapy--but maybe that's a good thing. Ultimately, readers want truth and understanding about the human condition.

Good luck!

editorial relationships

Savvy Electric Spec authors know the deadline for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue has passed. But, fear not! We're now accepting submissions for the awesome August 31, 2013 issue.

Recently, one of my favorite magazines changed editors. I had exchanged some emails with the old editor over the years, and seen him talk at cons. Of course, I always read his editorials, as well. I felt like I had a relationship with him. Similarly, I've already exchanged a couple emails with the new editor and read his first editorial. So, I feel like I've got a relationship with the new guy. However, I realize these feelings are incorrect. I do not actually have a relationship with either of these editors. If I were to call one of them on the phone, they would not be happy. If I were to email them on their personal email, rather than the magazine email, they would not be happy. We have a professional relationship and that is it.

You may know where I'm going with this. One of the Electric Spec editors is having a little trouble with a prospective author thinking they have a personal relationship. I know relationships can be tricky in the Facebook era, but editors and authors have editorial relationships, not personal relationships. We may greatly enjoy your fiction (or not), and/or enjoy working with you through the editorial process (or not), but that's it. Please do not call editors or use their personal email, unless explicitly invited to do so.
Thank you in advance for being professional! :)

I greatly enjoy your submissions! Keep 'em coming! ( submissions@electricspec.com )

writing tips

Reminder: the deadline for the May 31 2013 issue of Electric Spec is coming up: April 15, 2013. Get those stories in!

I recently came across Joss Whedon's Top 10 Writing Tips. Check them out here. Whedon is one of the most talented and successful people of our time, so when he gives tips, I listen! His tips include: Finish It, Structure, Have Something to Say, Everybody has a Reason to Live, Cut What You Love, Listen, Track the Audience Mood, Write Like a Movie, Don't Listen, Don't Sell Out. Seriously, check them out.

All this prompted me to wonder what my writing tips would be. So, without further ado, here are my off-the-cuff writing tips:

1. Keep writing. This is, of course, closely related to 'Finish It' but with good reason. Are you really a writer if you don't finish anything? Are you a writer if you don't write?
2. Find joy in writing. I hate to say it, but I know many writers at various stages of their careers and money doesn't seem to be plentiful for anyone. Authors need to find their fulfillment elsewhere: in creating new characters/stories/worlds, or maybe in meeting and getting to know other like-minded souls, aka writers.
3. Get feedback on your writing and listen to it. I don't know anyone who can write a perfect first draft. I know some aspiring writers who think their first drafts are perfect... And I'm not optimistic about their publication success. Note, however, you shouldn't change your work willy-nilly based on what random people say. Only you know in your heart what your story is and what it needs.
4. Develop your writer's voice. Voice is invaluable. Voice is the combination of subject matter, vocabulary, sentence structure, tone, theme, and all other aspects of writing. Of course everyone has a voice, but you want your voice to be distinctive and unique. Think of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, or Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. You'd know those voices anywhere. How do you develop your voice? You write with your inner editor turned off. Incidently, NaNoWriMo is great for this.
5. Keep trying to improve. Read writing books. Study novels and stories: what worked, what didn't work? Go to writing conferences. Talk to other writers. Read writing blogs about writing tips. :)

How about you? What are your writing tips?

intuition: a writer's tool

We are hard at work behind the scenes on the marvelous May 2013 issue of Electric Spec.
I've been a good editor, going through slush, but I've been a bad writer. I haven't written any brand-new words for weeks. Ugh. :(
Sure, I did revisions and submissions and critiques and all manner of other writerly- and editorly-related tasks, but I didn't WRITE.
Why so much procrastination, you ask? Every time I tried to work on a particular WIP it felt like pulling teeth. I couldn't make myself put the words on the screen. I was hating the WIP. I considered abandoning the WIP.

But then I took a step back. Rather than try to force the WIP to go where I thought it should go, where else could it go? I brainstormed. What could happen, rather than what should happen? I thought of some new fresh ideas. I decided to abandon the old stale ideas, and, Huzzah! suddenly, I could write new stuff again. I wrote two chapters this week and have lots of ideas for additional chapters.

Yes, apparently, it is difficult to teach old writers new tricks. I should have listened to my intuition weeks ago. Don't be like me. If something doesn't feel right, it's probably not right.
Intuition is there for a reason! Follow it!

How about you? Have you ever tried to ignore your intuition? What happened?

Keep sending us your intuitive stories! :)

unrealistic dialogue

We hope you've been enjoying the fabulous February 28, 2013 issue of Electric Spec! In the meantime, we've started in on the slush pile for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue. :) One story reminded me of a writing secret, namely, dialogue should be unrealistic.

What's that? You don't believe me? I challenge you to eavesdrop on any conversing humans. You'll hear something like:
"Hey."
"Hey."
"How's it going, dude?"
"Good. How's it going with you?"
"It's going good. How's it going with you?"
"Good. Did you catch that game?"
"Whoa. Yeah. Did I? Whoa."
"Can you believe it?"
"Crazy, dude."
"Yeah."

Okay, I can't take any more! And that's not even including the "um's", "so's" and "like's" people throw in all over the place. No one wants to read that. I actually read a story from the slush pile that had at least a page of that type of dialogue. Suffice it to say, I didn't make it to page two. (Sorry, dude!)

Keep sending us your stories with unrealistic dialogue. :)

Unconscious Revelations

Once upon a time, a writer got a critique in which her well-written protagonist was praised for being unique. This uniqueness took the form of being narcissistic and racist. The writer in question was surprised that readers perceived the character this way.
Another time, a writer created a protagonist who was brave and smart and deboniar--think a scientist version of James Bond. Basically, he could do anything from run a mass spectrometer to shoot a sniper rifle--and the women swooned over him.
In yet another example, a writer created an evil antagonist who ended up being the protagonist's father. And--wait for it--the next book the author wrote also had an evil father antagonist.

What do all these examples have in common? I believe the authors unconsciously revealed some aspects of their personality or paradigm. The 2nd author thinks he is like a scientist/James Bond. The 3rd author has a bad relationship with her father.

Is unconscious revelation bad? I'd say: no. As authors we have to use all the tools at our disposal, including our unconscious and our subconsious. In fact, in my experience, first novels often involve a lot of unconscious revelation.
I think this is another reason it's great to get feedback on your writing. If the reader thinks the protagonist has qualities the author didn't want him to have ==> change him! That's one of the beauties of being The Author, Great and Powerful. :)

Good luck with your conscious and unconscious revelations!
Hhm... Maybe I should go reread my first novel.

Story Layers

I recently read an excellent novella, "Act One" by Nancy Kress. (You can read the beginning in Asimov's Science Fiction). I believe it was a 2009 Nebula Nominee. The beauty of this story is it works on multiple layers.
One layer is the external plot: An aging actress named Jane Snow is researching her role in a controversial film about a recently discovered genetic modification. The real-life procedure is proliferated by a mysterious organization known as The Group whose long-term plans are to reshape humanity. Some see them as benefactors while others see them as biological terrorists. When Jane and her manager, Barry Tenler (the point-of-view character), meet with members of The Group they are the catalyst of a global conspiracy. Can Jane and Barry stop it? Deal with it? Survive it?

One layer is the fascinating issues of genetic engineering. The story raises the important and topical questions of the ethics of genetic modification. Should humans be genetically modified? When would it be all right? To save a life? To avert war? As you can imagine, there's a lot of thought-provoking content here.

One layer, perhaps the most important layer, is the character arc of the protagonist Barry. Barry is the perfect character to tell this story because he has to deal with his own genetic challenges. And, because of this challenge, he attempted genetic modification of his son. Suffice it to say, this didn't go well, and Barry's life totally fell apart. At the end of the story, through the events of the story, Barry learns to accept and deal with his personal demons and the effects his actions have had on the people who love him.
I believe it is this layer that elevates the story from good to outstanding.

As writers, we should always strive to show our characters changing, learning, growing as a result of the story. A nice (and free) example of this is "Heart of a Magpie" by Kathryn Yelinek in the current issue of Electric Spec. In this story the protagonist, Marion, has to deal with a supernatural menace, and she eventually utilizes the help of another supernatural creature to defeat it. What makes this story better than the average story is the internal layer, the character arc, of the protagonist. In the beginning, Marion is reeling from some unfortunate events, and blames some people in her life for them. By the end of the story, because of the story events, she comes to realize these people aren't irredeemable. She deals with her life in a more positive way, and starts on the road to forgiveness.
Now, that's what I'm talking about!

How about you? Have you read any good stories lately?
Do you have any tips for creating story layers?

Live, we are!

The fabulous February 28, 2013 issue of Electric Spec is live! Huzzah!

Thank you to our artist and all our authors! Thank you to all the behind-the-scenes folks, especially Chris Devlin, Nikki Baird, and Marty Mapes! You all rock! W00t!

I think I'll go read everything again...

two more days

Wow! We're only two days away from an exciting new issue of Electric Spec! Can you believe we're starting our eighth year? Huzzah!

This time we have a nice variety of stories from rock n' roll to spooky to touching to surprising. Mark Rigney's "Empathy Rocks" involves intense rock n' roll, lots of action, and aliens (of course!). Jennifer Crow's "Strange Notes from Underground" is a disturbing story set in historical St. Petersburg. "Heart of a Magpie" by Kathryn Yelinek involves a creature from Polish mythology enabling a woman to come to terms with her life. Epic fantasy gets a unique treatment in Rebecca Schwarz's "The Count is the Kingdom." And, finally, David Barber's "The Secret Life of Princes" has a twist you'll never see coming. Thank you, authors, for submitting such good stories!

In addition, there's been a lot of talk about Betsy Dornbush's new novel, EXILE, from Night Shade Books. You all will actually get to read the entire first chapter in our new issue, as well as an in-depth interview of Betsy.
Our old buddy, movie critique Marty Mapes, even returns to our pages with his article on narrowcasting.
We also have some very nice art work from Ron Sanders. Thank you, contributors, for such interesting features!

Be sure to check it out February 28, 2013!

new issue coming

We're still working behind the scenes on the exciting new issue of Electric Spec, coming February 28, 2013! We have five fabulous stories by authors: Mark Rigney, Kathryn Yelinek, Jennifer Crow, Rebecca Schwarz, and David Barber. I'll give more info about them next week. :) We have some neat cover art lined up. I think we even have a movie column.

We have an intriguing excerpt from Editor/Author Betsy's new novel out from Night Shade Books which starts with: "Cut her throat. His own wife." Ooh. I have shivers. One of the really creepy cool things about this book is the necromancy/magic system.
We also have a fun and informative interview with Editor/Author Betsy. Among other provocative topics, Betsy discusses differences and similarities in how men and women think, bi-sexuality, how writing short stories benefits writers, and how partying leads to writerly success.

Check it out February 28, 2013! And check back here next week for more teasers. :)

editing

We, the Editors, are hard at work behind the scenes on the upcoming fabulous February 28, 2013 Issue of Electric Spec. We're all deep in the editing process. We each get assigned two stories. How, you ask? It's usually the stories in the issue we like the best. Let me explain. To make things more quantitative, before the production meeting each editor gives each story in hold-for-voting a numerical score and I compile them before the meeting. Then, at the meeting we have our knock-down drag-out fight, er, I mean, discussion. When the dust clears, we have our final stories and each editor usually ends up editing the ones he/she gave the most favorable rankings.

Which brings me to the editing itself. Correcting grammar and spelling issues is a no-brainer. The tricky part is paring out all the non-essential bits of the story to leave a perfect story jewel. Editor Dave is awesome at this. We actually call him The Hacker behind his back. Oops, did I just let the cat out of the bag? Gremlin Editor made me do it. :)

Personally, I find editing to be very challenging. A story is work of art and I don't want to do anything to change or compromise that art. But what if that art contains adverbs? We all have our personal editing styles. I'm more likely to tell an author a particular section isn't working or needs to be streamlined and ask them to do it. So far, this has worked pretty well.

Ultimately, a story is the author's work of art. If the author doesn't want to make the changes an editor recommends, they're free to withdraw the story. That has happened a couple times. I can't help thinking this was a mistake on the part of the author. Editors never change the essence of a story, we just try to make it even clearer and more wonderful.

I'll start telling you more about the exciting new issue next week. Stay tuned!
And keep sending us stories for the next fabulous issue. Thanks!

show me the story

I'm still recovering, er reeling, from our production meeting last week. As we argued, er discussed, the stories in hold-for-voting, it struck me that Electric Spec does have certain things we want in a story. This surprises me a bit since we have three different editors. (I guess that's where the fisticuffs, etc. come into play.) So, at the risk of repeating what I've said in months past, here are some of the things we look for in an Electric Spec story:

• a speculative element. If your story doesn't have something macabre/fantastic/science fictional it's out. I'm sorry to say a very nice story made it to the Feb 2013 issue's hold-for-voting, but it had nothing speculative, so we couldn't publish it.
• a character who acts. The character can be animal, vegetable, mineral, supernatural creature, machine, insert-your-idea-here, but it must at least try to do something because he/she/it has...
• a problem. This is part 1 of your plot.
• a conflict. This is part 2 of your plot. Something must happen that opposes the character's efforts to solve his/her/its problem. In very short stories (~1500 words or less) you might not have space for this. That's okay.
• a resolution. This is where the reader finds out if the character succeeded (Yeah!) or failed (Aw!).
• active scenes with dialogue. Note this is showing, not telling the story. Other markets may prefer telling. We do not.
• something unique. We want to see something we haven't seen before. This could be a unique problem, a mash-up of speculative fiction tropes, unique magic, unusual technology, a new world, etc. The sky's the limit here. A great example of this is In the Belly of the Beast by Larry Hodges in which the character slays the dragon in an entirely new way. :)

Keep sending us your stories, and good luck!

behind the scenes

Yes, we did have our Electric Spec production meeting this week. And, yes, I did promise to tell you about it, so here we go...

First of all, super-duper thanks to all the authors who submitted stories for the Fabulous Feb 28 2013 issue of Electric Spec. We had an unusually large number of excellent stories in the hold-for-voting pile--which made things extra difficult for us! An oddity: we had a lot of horror/macabre stuff this time. I'm not sure why since the submissions period was after Halloween. Perhaps Thanksgiving, Chanukah and/or Christmas put you all in the mood for spooky gruesomeness? I'm not judging...
So, anyway, this did make issue balance a little more challenging this time. Fantasy and Science Fiction stories that made it into the finals had a little bit easier time of it than the macabre/horror.

I sent out my good-news emails and contracts first thing this morning, but the last time I checked the other good-news emails and the bad-news emails hadn't been sent out. Oops. This will happen soon if it hasn't already. I promise.

What else? Thank you to our awesome associate editor Nikki Baird.
This reminds me, it doesn't really make sense to address your cover letters to one editor or another. They get assigned to us randomly. Thanks in advance to our other new associate(?) editor Chris Devlin--you rock!

At the meeting, the usual hijinks were enjoyed by all (although I can't speak for our poor waiter). I, personally, had four kinds of beer and some red meat. Some other editors I won't mention by name (but their appellations rhyme with 'Dave' and 'Betsy') consumed salads. Good grief. That doesn't give you the energy boost you need for caber tossing and our other 'conflict resolution' techniques. Ooh, we got some free food, too. I guess the restauranteurs thought we looked hungry. Or scary. (That may have been the broadswords.) Or both.

It looks like we will have neat artwork, five excellent short stories, a movie column, an interview of Author Betsy, as well as an excerpt from her new novel in the next issue. Huzzah! I'm looking forward to it. :)
Check it out February 28, 2013!

Exile release!

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes, but our own Betsy Dornbusch is having a book launch for her new hardback fantasy Exile: The First Book of the Seven Eyes on Tuesday February 5, 2013, 7:30pm, at the Tattered Cover LoDo in Denver. W00t! Go, Betsy! Read more about it here: http://www.tatteredcover.com/event/2013/02/05/day. So, if you're in the Denver area Feb 5, I hope you'll consider coming over. I heard a rumor that she'll be doing a reading...
Betsy, feel free to chime in if you have anything to add. :)

In other news, we are working furiously behind the scenes on the fabulous new February 28 2013 issue of Electric Spec. The stories in hold-for-voting are very, very good. We have our work cut out for us to winnow them down. :( Which brings me to my next point: we're having our production meeting this week. I'll try to post an update on Friday with some behind-the-scenes treats.

For the next Electric Spec issue I'm interviewing Author Betsy Dornbusch about her new novel Exile: The First Book of the Seven Eyes and her path to publication. It should be informative and exciting! We may even be posting an excerpt from Exile in Editor's Corner. Stay tuned!

ghetto or gangnam?

Here's an interesting question that's been wending it's way around cyberspace lately: 21st Century Science Fiction and Fantasy: Ghetto, or Gangnam Style?: Science fiction and fantasy creators and fans were originally outsiders… misfits who got no respect from the mainstream… who stood on the outside looking in. How much has changed in today’s world… a world in which popular culture oozes SF and fantasy elements?

IMHO, Science Fiction and Fantasy are mainstream now. We live in a SF/F world with our cell phones, aka mini super-computers in the palms of our hands, quantum dot televisions, privatized space travel and all the rest. Almost all the highest worldwide movie grosses have been in the SF/F ouvre, e.g. Avatar, Marvel's The Avengers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, etc. Conferences like Comic Con and their imitators are rampant. Many of the most popular TV shows are in the SF/F genre, such as Big Bang Theory, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time, Person of Interest, Revolution, Beauty and the Beast, Arrow, depending on which list you consult.

Even if we just focus on fiction, what do we see?
What were the best-selling books in 2012? Yep, you guessed it, many science fiction and fantasy titles, including The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena, The Hobbit, A Game of Thrones, The kane Chronicales: The Serpent's Shadow, A Dance With Dragons, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords and a lot more. And that doesn't even include the whole Twilight vampire series which was super hot in 2010 and before, and the whole Harry Potter series which was white-hot in 2007 and before.

Here's another indication SF/F has become prevalent: Doris Lessing won the Novel Prize in Literature in 2007, partly for her "space fiction"--as she put it.
So that's my 2 cents, SF/F is as popular as Gangnam Style. :)

What do you think? Ghetto, or Gangnam Style?

No Death Star

Today's the last day of submissions for the February 2013 issue. Good luck!

I don't know if you all ever participate in We the People: Your Voice in our Government, but there was an interesting petition lately "Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016." I can only assume this was a joke? Since it garnered over 25,000 signatures it got an official response from the white house. Check it out on the We the People website, or below:

Official White House Response to Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.
This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

By Paul Shawcross

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.

Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.

We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.

If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget

Excellent response, Mr. Shawcross!

Market Tips

Don't forget: we close to submissions for the Fabulous February Electric Spec Issue on January 15.

We've started working hard behind the scenes on the new issue. I've been going through a lot of slush and it occurs to me that you all might be interested in some tips about what we like or don't like or what we're looking for at our 'zine.
Of course, every fiction market is different. So, my comments will apply to Electric Spec. First things first. We publish science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre--also known as speculative fiction. Hence, the name "Electric Spec." :)

What are we looking for? We want a fresh take on any of these genres. For example, "Lest They Drink and Forget the Law" by Malon Edwards is a fantasy with an environmental twist. In a water-starved world, the protagonist has a special power to control water. Neat! Personally, any story dealing with climate change issues will get my attention.

Combinations of genres can work great. For example, "10,000 Bones" by Joe Ollinger is a spooky science fiction detective story. Neat!

Humor can work great. "In the Belly of the Beast" by Larry Hodges is a fantasy in which the dragon is killed in a unique anti-hero way. I'm smiling just thinking about it.
So, the bottom line is: we want unique stories.

What do we like? We like well-written stories of any type. In this day and age every story has to have a well-developed character. Electric Spec stories have to have a plot, by which I mean: the protagonist has some kind of problem and act to try to solve it. This almost always means some action and some dialogue.

As far as more specific likes and dislikes, these do depend on the editor.
I think Editor Dave most enjoys a good epic fantasy.
I think Editor Betsy most enjoys something dark and twisted.
I enjoy everything. :) But, if I had to narrow it down, I enjoy stories involving time travel and/or quantum mechanics.
I do have to say I dislike stories in which men torture and/or kill their wives or girlfriends. Gratuitous violence is not interesting. You'd be surprised how many of these we get under the guise of macabre.

So, anyway, there are some tips. Good luck with your writing and submitting in 2013! I'm rooting for you!

Dealing with rejection

Happy New Year!

Loyal Electric Spec readers and writers know January 15, 2013 will be our deadline for submissions for the next issue (February 28, 2013), so get those stories in!

I've been trying to come up with a more upbeat post than 'dealing with rejection', but what can I say? It's been on my mind. Here are some thoughts about rejection:

• As writers, dealing with rejection is part of our job. Let me say that again: if you aren't submitting your work and getting responses you aren't doing your job. Getting rejected is literally your job. Obviously, the ideal is to write and publish and then repeat--but I don't know any writer whose career goes like that!
• Learn from rejection. Often rejection is accompanied by constructive criticism. If so, seriously consider it. Notice I'm not saying change your work every time you get a rejection. Sometimes work just isn't right for a particular market.
• Grouse with your writer friends about rejection; this is a bonding activity. :) If you don't have any writer friends: get some! Making friends with other writers is one of the great joys of being a writer. Many public libraries sponsor writers groups and there are tons of them on the web. See for example, www.writers.com/groups.html.
• Remind yourself why you write. Everyone has different reasons to write. You need to have reasons beyond getting published. Do you have a story inside that you just can't ignore? Do you enjoy the creative outlet? Do you lose yourself in imaginary worlds? Have you made friends with your fictional characters? Why do you write?
• Consider the road not taken. Now, more than ever, there are a lot of outlets for creative work. Maybe your muse would be better served via a truly interactive story? Or a prose/music/interpretive dance project? Maybe you should pod-cast your story? Self-publish? What about trying crowd-sourcing? The only limit is your imagination.
• Keep trying! The most important thing to realize about rejection is it doesn't mean your project is over. Who knows, the next submission may lead to success! I hope so.
• What do you think is the best way to deal with rejection?

Happy Holidays!

rejections

I hope you all are enjoying the holidays!
As the year draws to a close, I usually take stock: How did I do with my goals for the year, in particular with my writing goals? Some of these goals included polishing my query and synopsis for my MFA novel and querying it; finishing up my time-travel novel, writing a query letter and synopsis, and querying; writing/polishing various short stories and submitting them; querying my favorite novel as opportunities arise, keep writing the three new novels I'm working on. So, the good news is: I achieved all my goals! I actually even had one pro sale, a short story. W00t!

However, I received at least 100 rejections this year. Ugh. Intellectually, I know querying and being rejected is part of the authors job but... Ugh. So, in case you received some rejections in 2012 here are some tales of woe that should make you feel better at the awesome website: http://www.literaryrejections.com/best-sellers-initially-rejected/

Keep on trying! Good luck to all of us in 2013!

lab lit?

There's been some hubbub around cyberspace lately about a new genre of fiction called "lab lit", short for laboratory literature. For example, last week Katherine Bouton discussed it in The New York Times: "In Lab Lit, Fiction Meets Science of the Real World". Bouton says Lab lit is not science fiction, and in my opinion it’s not historical fiction about actual scientists.... Bouton also refers to LabLit.com, 'the culture of science in fiction & fact,' and quotes, lab lit "depicts realistic scientists as central characters and portrays fairly realistic scientific practice or concepts, typically taking place in a realistic — as opposed to speculative or future — world."

There's even a wikipedia entry: Lab lit, which states Lab lit is a genre of fiction that centres on realistic portrayals of scientists, and science as a profession.

Let's take a step back. What exactly is science fiction? I interviewed one of the world's foremost experts on this in 2007. James E. Gunn said, Science fiction is the literature of change; science fiction is the literature of the human species; science fiction is a (note not "the") literature of ideas. If I had to choose one, slightly longer, it would be: Science fiction is the literature of the human condition experiencing meaningful change.
So, does lab lit fit into this definition? Yes?

As a speculative fiction editor, the question of a story's genre does come up from time to time. I must admit if a story could all be true, I reject it as not speculative fiction. Of course, truth in science is a moving target. Faster-than-light neutrinos would be science fiction. Higgs bosons would not be science fiction.

So, what do you think? Is lab lit a genre? Is it separate from science fiction? I'm undecided...

music?

I hope everyone's been enjoying the brand-new issue of Electric Spec. I know I have.

In fact, I've been procrastinating horribly for the last few days and not doing my writing. Today, I decided enough is enough, put on my ipod, and forced myself to get busy. Suffice it to say, I got some stuff done I needed to get done. W00t! As a reward, I goofed around cyberspace a bit and came across: "The Complete American Gods Mix Tape" by Bridget McGovern over at tor.com . W00t! This combines a plethora of neat things including Gaiman, American Gods, TOR, music, and HBO. Check it out. :)

McGovern begins with If you’re familiar with Neil Gaiman’s work, then you know that music tends to play an important part in his writing, both on and off the page. This raises the question, does music play an important part in your writing?
I believe music makes me more productive. It shuts out the world's distractions and enables my creative juices to flow more easily.

We've published quite a few music-centric stories over the years, for example, "The Boogie-Woogie, Time-Traveling Cyborg Blues" by Barton Paul Levenson and "Me and the Devil Blues" by Stuart Neville.
What are your favorites?

We're live!

Hopefully everyone's noticed already but the fabulous new November 30, 2012 issue of Electric Spec is live! W00t! Thank you very much to everyone who helped us with this issue, especially Chris Devlin who pitched in with some copy-editing and associate editor Nikki Baird! W00t!
Thanks a lot to our authors Malon Edwards, L. Young, Jesse Knifley, and D.L. Young, and to our artist Ron Sanders. Thank you to YA author Rebecca Taylor who let us interview her. W00t!
Finally, thank you, too, to all the authors and artists who submitted but didn't make this particular issue. We appreciate you, too. W00t!

So, what's your favorite story this time? :)

new issue soon

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Our brand new November 30, 2012 issue of Electric Spec is almost here! What fun stuff does this issue have? Well, I'll tell you...

• Lest they Drink and Forget the Law by Malon Edwards A story of a unique character on a unique world who gets herself into a sticky situation.
• Wolfshead by L. Young A new twist on the werewolf story.
• Ximena by D.L. Young (no relation to the above author). A foreward-looking business woman tries to fulfill one of her dreams.
• A Magician's Silver by Jesse Knifley Epic fantasy at its best, as magicians compete for a prize but find something even more valuable.
• Special Feature: Author Interview of Rebecca Taylor A supernatural YA author tells us about her work and her journey.
• Editors Corner: The Last Car in Town by Lesley L. Smith When our society transforms, some things will remain the same.

Check it out at the end of this week!

Story Endings

We had an interesting discussion at the production meeting at the beginning of the month about story endings. Alas, some of the stories we get in our slush pile don't really have endings. IMHO,the most crucial part of a story is the ending. It's the payoff. Readers read until the end to get this payoff. What happens if your story doesn't have this payoff? I'll tell you: trouble. Readers are not satisfied and editors are not buying. Please make sure your story has a payoff. I concede for every rule there's an exception. A few authors make a good living not including endings (Kelly Link comes to mind).
Here are some tips for satisfying story payoffs:

• allude to, and resolve--one way or another--the story's major conflict. Notice this means your story must have a major conflict. Actually, this also means your protagonist must have a goal and motivation (and the reader needs to know these). The conflict is what stops him/her from achieving this goal.
• are a consequence of the protagonist's actions. Notice this means your protagonist must act. Note, too, the protag can succeed or fail, but it must be because of what he/she does.
• are integrated with the story elements. All the parts of the story should be intertwined, should mesh together. Even surprise endings should utilize story elements--they're a surprise because they alter our perception of existing elements.
• evoke an emotional reaction in the reader. I admit this is tricky. The idea here is readers become the characters when reading fiction. Authors want the reader to empathize with the characters, to feel what they feel, and to understand them.
• speaks to the beginning. I like to look at my first page and my last page, and make sure they have some theme, phrase, or other element in common. Some people call this circularity. Some people call it bookending. This works great with novels, too.
• Your tip here. What do you think?

Review: The Signal

I recently had the opportunity to read The Signal by Rebecca S.W. Bates, a short speculative fiction novel published in 2012. The blurb says, A warning signal or an offer of peace? The signal arrives from deepest space. Landon Walker--Earth's radical expert in communication--refuses to believe it's a warning. Called back to headquarters in Brazil, he reluctantly teams up with other top scientists to decode the message. At the same time, shamans in primitive societies around the world seem to know what the signal means. But they are all dying for their effort. Decoding the signal may lead Landon to the same fate. Then the signal targets Landon's baby daughter, and suddenly its message becomes crystal clear. He must act to save her--and all of Earth

This was a rip-roaring adventure in the classic science fiction style. There are space ships and a mysterious signal, neat tech, colorful characters, disasters, and even possibly...aliens.

The future world Bates creates is familiar and yet very different from our present, with a myriad of environmental and cultural changes. What differentiates this story from classic science fiction, however, is the inclusion of Brazilian culture and mythology. Bates clearly has a good understanding of what, to many Americans, is an exotic culture in itself, Brazil. In addition, one of the pivotal characters is the daughter/niece of two of the main characters--which is also unusual.

While the main plot lines of the book are resolved, I suspect most reader will be left asking for more. Luckily, this is the first book of a trilogy, so readers will get more. I can't wait!

Get more info about the book, including the free first chapter, at the publisher's website: DM Kreg Publishing.

literary tension

The story discussion at production meetings is always rather spirited. We often veer into questions of what makes a story good, in general.
One thing you need is literary tension. What the heck is this, anyway? Recall, in general, tension is mental, emotional, or nervous strain. I think the thing to keep in mind, however, is we want to evoke tension in the reader. Tension is the mechanism we employ to make the reader want to keep reading. We want the reader to wonder, "What happens next?"

Often in critique groups, it seems like tension gets a bit mixed up with conflict. Literary conflict is something different. Conflict is when something or someone stops a character in a story from reaching his/her goal; it can be an external or internal obstacle. The reader has to know what the goal is for this to work. I would say tension, then, is a result of conflict. The reader wonders, "Will the character overcome this conflict?"

How, then, do writers create tension? In a nutshell, the author has to evoke questions for the reader and not answer them right away.
how-to-evoke-tension suggestions from around cyberspace include utilizing:

• a mystery or puzzle--The classic here is, of course, a dead body or other committed crime that must be solved. But an author could also have a secret, a magic ring, locked treasure chest, etc. that the reader wants to find the answer to.
• a solution--The author tells the reader the end of the story and the reader wants to find out how the story gets there. A lot of thrillers utilize this, e.g. bad guys are going to blow up the world unless... Come to think of it, romances use this method as well: the reader knows the boy and girl (or whatever) will get together at the end, but how does it happen?
• Related to the solution is the author actually telling the reader things. I see this a lot in the beginning of (successful) books and stories.
• present hints and possibilities--Savvy readers know when an author spends time on a character or object it's important, e.g. gun on the mantle, suspicious janitor, etc. Readers wonder, "What's up with that? What's up with him?" This method could also encompass multiple plot lines or protagonists. Readers want to know how they all fit together. Plus, as an added bonus, when you change point-of-view it evokes tension in the reader: "Wait. What happens next with this first guy?" This can be tough to pull off in a short story, however--you don't want to get too complicated.
• knowledgable reader--Here, the reader knows more than the characters, often because of multiple points-of-view. The reader gets to see them all, but the characters do not. "Oh, no! That guy she's dating is the guy that killed her sister." :) Horror stories often utilize this. Readers know the characters should not go into the basement. Alone. At night. Bare foot. In her negligee. With a killer on the loose. In the house...

What do you think? What's a good way to evoke tension?

from behind the curtain

I know you all have been waiting with bated breath for news from behind the curtain, so here it is...

Yes! We did have our Electric Spec production meeting. We, once again, achieved the impossible. We winnowed down all the publishable stories in the hold-for-voting pile to a few select few which will be appearing in the next issue. It was a tough job, as usual. We had to imbibe some adult beverages to get through it. Personally, I had a seasonal Harvest Pumpkin Ale (crafted with pumpkin and spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice) by Blue Moon Brewing Company, and I have to say it was yummy. Was that too much detail about our meeting? :)
Then, suffice it to say, we utilized all our standard conflict resolution techniques such as arm- and thumb-wrestling, fencing with Parisers, caber tossing, etc. This time, to shake things up, we also had a spelling bee. (Sorry, Editor Dave!)

Anyway, to get to the info you might actually be interested in, all the authors in hold-for-voting should have heard back from us by now. Either we sent a congrats and a contract, or a sorry and please-try-again. If you did get a contract, please send it back as soon as possible, so we can get to work editing your masterpiece.

Once we get the contract back, we edit. Then, we go back to the authors and get their feedback on the edits. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. You get the picture. Notice, we do edit stories. Once in awhile authors don't like this. Too bad. You've been warned.

Then, we post the stories using our content-management-system (Thanks, Stuart!). And then, we go live! W00t! :) Be sure to read the new issue on November 30 2012

And now, for your reading pleasure, here's a literary trivia question: Where does "behind the curtain" come from?

If you guessed it's from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz you would be correct. Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner! :)

dialogue tips from a master

Never fear, we are working behind the scenes on the next issue of Electric Spec. I'll keep you posted with more info later.

In the meantime, I went to a conference this past weekend: MileHiCon, the annual Denver science fiction conference. Suffice it to say, the only place I actually talked to Editor Betsy was in the bar. :) We were both pretty busy with panels. Consider this conference for October 2013; it is really a lot of fun.

This year a highlight of the con was the dialogue workshop taught by Grand Master Connie Willis. Here are some of her tips (in no particular order):

• Dialogue is not like real-life conversation. It's more concise. Omit all those 'hellos' and 'goodbyes' and 'ums.'
• Don't use too many dialogue tags. Use as few tags as possible, without confusing the reader.
• Authors shouldn't write more than about four lines of uninterrupted dialogue. No soliloquies unless your name happens to end in Shakespeare.
• Characters should never talk about things they both already know. For example, a character should never say, "As you know, Bob, we've been married forty years."
• The exception to the above rule is: unless it's in a fight. For example, in an argument you could say something like, "Bob! We've been married forty years and you've never once picked up your socks!"
• Dialogue should serve a purpose such as moving the story forward, giving information, and/or contributing to characterization. The more it accomplishes, the better!
• Create subtext in your dialogue. How? Use non-verbal communication to suggest something different from what the characters are actually saying. Willis used some movie clips as examples. In the 1966 film Walk, Don't Run a couple sits in the back of a cab. The woman talks about how wonderful her fiancee is, all the while gazing in infatuation at the man sitting next to her (not her fiancee). The man starts kissing her and she kisses back and talks about wonderful fiancee "Mr." Haversack. It's a fun and effective scene.

That's all I remember for now.
What are your dialogue tips?

notes from behind the scenes

Greetings from behind-the-scenes! Savvy writers know we closed for submissions for the November 30, 2012 issue on October 15. We are furiously reading through all the submissions and will let writers know by the end of the month of they are rejected (sorry!) or being held-for-voting (hurray!). Then, by the beginning of November we will let folks know if they're in the issue (yeah!). Really savvy writers will have deduced that means we have our production meeting at the end of October/beginning of November. They would be right. :)

On behalf of all the editors, I'd like to say "Thank you very much." to everyone who submitted.

Since I've been reading through so many stories, I do have some tips... I apologize to faithful readers of the blog: you've seen most of these tips before.

• Only use 'said/say' or 'asked/ask' in your dialogue tags. I'm not kidding here. Why? Because 'said/say' and 'asked/ask' are invisible, while 'grunted', 'sighed', etc. takes the reader out of the story. Can you grunt words? Sigh words? We want the reader to stay in the story.
• Use specific and unique descriptions. Descriptions should always be from the point-of-view of the protagonist. For example, don't say 'She was pretty.' Be specific. How is she pretty? Maybe 'She had the most luscious lips John had ever seen and he couldn't wait to kiss them.'
  A laundry list of descriptive words often has the vagueness problem. For example, 'He was wearing a blue suit, wing-tipped shoes, an expensive watch, a red power-tie.' It doesn't really paint a picture. But 'Sally gasped when she saw his diamond-encrusted Rolex.' does paint a picture.
• Subject your work to the 'Huh?' test. After reading your story, does a person say, 'Huh?' This is not a good thing. After reading the first page of your story, does a person say, 'Huh?' Again, not a good thing. If an editor can't tell what's going on in your story, he/she is not going to buy it. IMHO, 100% of writers need to let someone else read their story, and ask them, 'What happened?' If it's not what the author intended: rewrite.
• Think carefully about writing a story about vampires or werewolves or zombies. It is particularly difficult to pull of something fresh in this arena.
• Please submit to us in rtf format, as we request.
• Please write at least a sentence or two in the cover letter. Please do not write 100 sentences in the cover letter. (Your time is valuable!)
• Please read the excellent new issue of Electric Spec when it comes out at the end of November. :)

quantum fiction

I have a confession: I love quantum physics. So, as you might imagine I'm pretty jazzed that a scientist from one of my alma maters just won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems". Read all about it on The Novel Prize in Physics site.

So, of course, I also love quantum fiction and often write it and read it. In case you aren't familiar with the term, Wikipedia says Quantum fiction is a literary genre that reflects modern experience of the material world and reality as influenced by quantum theory and new principles in quantum physics.

Last week I discovered author Paul Melko. His novel The Walls of the universe is quintessential quantum fiction and so good. John Rayburn, an Ohio farmboy, is tricked by his own doppelganger into using a broken universe-hopping device, sending him on a one-way trip to a dozen other, bizarre universes. He must use his wits to find his way back to his home universe, without running afoul of the mysterious forces afoot in the multiverse.

His novel Broken Universe is also very good. John and his friends have been trapped in a parallel universe while they try to build dimension-hopping transfer device, and when they finally get back to their home universe, they find that the Alarians have exploited the homemade transfer device john left behind. John and his team have got to stop them before they use the transfer device to unleash themselves upon the multiverse. Along the way, John and friends recruit an army of their doppelgangers to help them build a transdimensional company.

Besides the awesome plotting and really cool quantum physics ideas, these novels work because the protagonist John is extremely likeable. The novels also address the whole nature versus nurture paradigm. Do we all contain good and evil? Exactly what would it take for evil to win out?

What good books have you read recently?

invisible intentions

I had a funny thing happen recently. I finished the first draft of a story and followed my own advice: I asked several critique partners what happened in the story. I got several totally different interpretations!
You either have to laugh or cry. I choose to laugh. :)
A couple people did interpret the story the way I intended it. A lot of people went off on weird tangents, taking small story details and running with them. So, yes, I will be working on that story today and I will be removing all those apparently intriguing details.

This experience relates to Verlyn Klinkenborg's blog at The New York Times from earlier this week: The Trouble With Intentions. Among other things he says,
Your opinion of what your sentence means is always overruled by what your sentence literally says. and This means you’ll need to write, and revise, as if your intentions were invisible and your sentences will be doing all the talking, all on their own. This may be the hardest thing a writer has to learn.

I agree. This is one of the hardest thing a writer has to learn. The hardest thing for me, however, is divorcing my intentions from the literal sentences, seeing what is really on the page. Klinkenborg also says,
Seeing what your sentences actually say is never easy, but it gets easier with practice.

Good luck to all of us!

notes from the slush pile

I guess by now the heart-pounding thrills and chills of the August 31, 2012 issue of Electric Spec has started to wear off. Time marches on, so, we've started working on the new November 30, 2012 issue. We have a lead on a neat interview! Stay tuned for more info in November.
As a heads-up, we will close to submissions for that issue on October 15, 2012.

Anyway, I've been going through my slush pile...
I did come across a couple of head-scratchers. By this I mean I read the whole story and I couldn't figure out what happened. I strongly suggest every author get another set of eyes on their work before submission. This can be your significant other, Mom, BFF, or whatever. But, after they read it, ask them what they think happened. If all they can say is: "It was good." or "I liked it." They are a true friend BUT you probably need to work on the story some more.

I also came across a couple stories where the protagonist didn't do anything. I'm not saying they tried to do something and failed--that would be fine. I'm saying they didn't even try to do anything. I'm sorry, but this editor doesn't think that's a story. Authors should always investigate their market before submitting.

There were some stories with totally unrealistic dialogue. An easy way to spot this is to read the story out loud, by yourself, or with a friend.

There were some stories with major info-dumping. Bummer. This kind of thing went out in like the 1950s. Characters should never discuss something they all already know, e.g.

"As you know, Bob, my new warp drive bends space-time in front of and behind a vessel rather than attempting to propel the vessel itself at light-speeds."

"Yes, Joe. That was a good idea."

No. Generally, authors don't want to give the reader info in paragraphs of narrative either. The bottom line on info is: less is more. Instead, show us. For example, what happens when the Alcubierre Drive fails?

Of course, there were also some very good stories in my slush pile that made it into hold for voting. Hopefully, you'll get to read them too.

I look forward to reading your story! Keep sending them in.

optimism or pessimism in fiction

I just finished an awesome book This Shared Dream by Kathleen Ann Goonan in which the characters tried to eliminate war and suffering on Earth.

It reminded me of fascinating comments made by Robert J. Sawyer in reference to his WWW Trilogy in an interview. I asked about the idea of a moral arrow through time: "the same force-complexity-that produces consciousness also naturally generates morality, and that as interdependence increases, both intelligence and morality will increase."

He said, You may say I'm a dreamer-but I'm not the only one. My own thinking on these issues has been informed by many other people, including the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and nonfiction author Robert Wright, who wrote Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny and more recently The Evolution of God. Bob and I were recently both speaking at a public-policy conference in Washington, DC., sponsored by the New America Foundation; it was the first time we'd met, and we've become friends. But, yes, I'm a dreamer, and an optimist, but I'm also a realist, I think-and I don't think those are contradictory things to be.
This fiction is uplifting and optimistic! Optimism in fiction can be very effective.

At the other extreme, I just started reading The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. This book is very dark and dramatic. The teaser copy says Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.

This reminds me of fascinating comments made by Warren Hammond in reference to his KOP Trilogy in an interview. I asked: SF academic Edward James has said "the ability of the writer to imagine a better place in which to live died in the course of the twentieth century, extinguished by the horrors of total war, of genocide and of totalitarianism." Do you agree? Disagree?

He said, I've never heard that before, but I have to agree. I don't think it's true for all writers, but it is for me. I've seen the ovens of Auchwitz and toured S-21, the Khmer Rouge's infamous prison that held an estimated 17,000 prisoners between 1975 and 1979. Of the 17,000 prisoners who went in, there were only seven survivors. Seven.

The truly horrifying thing is knowing these atrocities were committed by regular people. Not all Nazis were monsters. And not all Khmer Rouge were monsters. Many were patriots. Many were idealists. Many were just scared to stand up to authority.

Knowing how easy it is for humans to kill each other, I find it impossible to imagine a future where our problems will all be solved.
Very dramatic! Clearly, pessimism can also be very effective in fiction.

What's your preference in reading and writing? Optimism or pessimism?

keep learning

We hope you continue to enjoy the latest edition of Electric Spec. What's your favorite story or feature? I know, it is a tough choice! :)

This week is also a big one for the Electric Spec Editors. Starting Friday Sept. 7, we'll all be at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's annual conference: Colorado Gold. I can't recommend this conference enough. There will be lots of special speakers and guests including Jodi Thomas, Debra Dixon, Beth Miller, Jennifer Unter, Katharine Sands, Anita Mumm, Carlie Webber, Nephele Tempest, James Minz, Erika Imranyl, Peter Senftleben, Liz Pelletier, Libby Murphy, and Terri Bischoff.
There will tons of panels and workshops besides the totally awesome "Short Story Workshop" with the Electric Spec Editors. In short there will be many, many opportunities for learning about writing. If you've signed up already: Great! See you there! If not, there are a few spots still available, or consider it for next year.

The point I'm trying to make, however is, writers need to keep learning and improving their craft. How? Well, I'll tell you. :)

• Write! This is the most important thing. Your writing can't evolve if you don't write.
• Get feedback and consider it. This can be a critique group or beta reader or whatever, but it needs to be honest feedback. As a writer, then, you need to consider this. I'm absolutely not saying you need to do what readers or critiquers tell you to do.
• Read and study fiction. Try to decipher what works and what doesn't work. Think about it. Write it down. Talk it over with your significant other or writer friend.
• Read and study writing about writing. There are a lot of good books, articles, and blog entries out there about writing. What are my favorites? That's a tough choice, but some good books include: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon, On Writing by Stephen King, Story by Robert McKee, and Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I'm sure you have your own favorites. If not, find some. :)
• Your learning suggestion here.

Happy learning!

We're Live!

The awesome new issue of Electric Spec is live! Go check it out!
Thank you very much to everyone who helped us put this one out including authors Andy Goldman, James Bizzel, Joe Ollinger, Simon Kewin, Linda Hilburn, and this time Nikki Baird! Woo hoo! Thanks to our cover artist, Laura Givens. Thanks to all the editorial and technical staff.

And for those of you who submitted stories and didn't make it into the issue: Thank you to you, too!

Especially, thank you, Readers!

Get Ready!

Readers, get ready! Start your, uh, spectacles? E-readers? I guess start whatever you want to start. This week we will release our new issue of Electric Spec! Some highlights include:

As Dave recently alluded to, there's lots of awesome fiction! In the fantasy sub-genre, we have "My One and Only" by James Bizzell, which uses an unique story structure to explore the question of just what is a soul mate. Also in fantasy, Simon Kewin brings us "The Chronicles of Zer" which emphasizes the importance of books being read. In the cyberpunk department, we have "False Negative" by Andy Goldman, which reminds us the spam in our inbox isn't nearly as bad as it could get. Another late summer thriller for sci-fi readers is Joe Ollinger's "10,000 Bones", an extraterrestrial noir tale that will shake you to your . . . er, bones.

And as if all that wasn't enough, in Special Features, we offer an interview with vampire writer Lynda Hillburn, of Kismet Knight fame. And finally, we're excited to present a new addition our Editor's Corner: our awesome associate editor Nikki Baird shares with us the unique romantic fantasy, "The Hundred Year Storm." Combine that with dramatic cover art and you have a super-fantastic ezine issue! W00t! :)
I admit I may not be totally objective.

Check it out this week!

New Issue Almost Here!

We're putting the final touches on our August issue, which comes out one week from today. To whet your appetite, I'll mention that one of the stories I edited was unique not just in its plot, but also in its structure. Really cool how the events in the story mirror the structure of the story itself. (Okay--I won't keep you guessing. It's James Bizzell's "My one and Only.") I'm also excited because we have a great story from one our favorite E-spec authors, Simon Kewin. I believe this is Simon's forth story with Electric Spec!

writing tips from writers

Many of you may have seen this already but BuzzFeed has a nice collection of "30 Indispensable Writing Tips From Famous Authors". For our writers, here's a nice sampling:

• If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.--Elmore Leonard
• Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.--Anton Chekhov
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.--George Orwell
• Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings.--Stephen King
• Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.--Neil Gaiman
• A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.--Edgar Allan Poe
• Start as close to the end as possible.--Kurt Vonnegut

Read all the tips here.

In other news, our fabulous new August 31, 2012 issue of Electric Spec is coming along swimmingly! Be sure to check it out next week!

a couple good links

We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast for two neat links.

On Writers in The Storm Blog, Kristen Lamb explains What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Great Writing--the 2009 J.J.Abrams movie. Electric Spec readers and writers should enjoy topics such as

• Star Trek proved that imperfect characters resonate with audiences.
• Star Trek perfected showing, not telling.
• Star Trek employed parsimony.
• Star Trek showed character via relativity.
• Star Trek relied on character and story.
• World-building is something a writer must employ to assist or accentuate the core conflict.

There's lot of good advice here!

The president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW), Mark Stevens, talks about Tall Tales: Rocky Mt. Fiction Writers Conference in Denver. I agree with Mark. The RMFW conference is awesome! Check it out Sept. 7,8,9 2012 in Denver if you can.

behind-the-scenes update

We, The Editors, are in the thick of things, getting ready for the new issue of Electric Spec. Personally, I finished my initial edits of my two assigned stories, and passed things off to the authors for their feedback.
What the heck? I'll tell you about them (because they're both really good). "False Negative" by Andy Goldman is a disturbing extrapolation of what could happen if human beings have to deal with their selves being spammed. "10,000 Bones" by Joe Ollinger is a tale of disillusionment and human greed--set on another planet, of course. Yes, these are both science fiction. I do tend to edit the most science-fiction-y of our stories because I'm a scientist. :) Read the new issue on August 31, 2012!

We also have something new in the upcoming issue: a story by our Associate Editor, Nikki Baird, in Editor's Corner. For those of you who don't troll the obscure webpages of Electric Spec,
Nikki Baird writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her short horror story, "Devastation Mine" was published as part of the anthology Broken Links, Mended Lives, which was nominated for a Colorado Book Award. She has been a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold contest for the last two years in the Speculative Fiction category, and is a regular contributor to writersonthebrink.com. Read more about Nikki here. So, be sure to check out her story, too!

In other news...we have been neglecting the slush pile. :(
Sorry. We'll get back to it soon. If you've submitted: hold on!

partnership

Once in a while we get an author who doesn't want us to edit their story or they don't want to sign the contract or they want us to edit their story before they sign the contract or similar. What happens when this occurs? The author doesn't get published. Personally, I find such situations quite sad. The author has gone to the trouble to write a good story but hasn't gone to the trouble to learn about the publishing business. Editors never work with content without a contract.

It's particularly sad with regard to Electric Spec because we created the 'zine with the sole purpose of helping authors. All the editors are writers and love fiction and we all know how tough the publishing market is. We want to help you get your best work out there for the reading public! When we edit a story we always work with the author in partnership to create the best story possible.

We're now accepting submissions for our November 2012 issue. Check out our Fiction Submission Guidelines where it says before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story.

Good luck! :)

production meeting

My head has finally stopped pounding enough to give you all an update. We, The Editors of Electric Spec, had our production meeting this week. We had a super-duper special guest: our associate editor Nikki Baird. Thanks for all your help, Nikki! Plenty of fun and excitement and refreshments and arguments were had by all. I admit the caber toss was probably a mistake. One of us (okay, it was me) had 8 different kinds of beer! Possibly writing the blog post about the production meeting isn't quite the high honor my fellow editors and the beer goggles may have led me to believe...

Anyway, we are smack dab in the middle of the process of emailing the authors in hold-for-voting to tell them the big news. Stay close to your inbox if you're waiting for 'yeah' or 'nay'. If you didn't make it in the issue: thank you for submitting--we appreciate it. If you did make it in: Congratulations! We will start editing the stories as soon as we get the contracts back. What else? We plan on five neat stories in this issue. We have a neat story planned for Editors Corner. Editor Betsy will do a neat author interview. We have neat cover art. Apparently, I use the word 'neat' too often. :)

There were some spirited discussions about which stories to include. What was the tie-breaker? Originality. If there was a story that included a plot idea or a world or a story structure we hadn't seen before, it had a better chance. If we couldn't predict where the story was going, it had a better chance. We also did have to address the question of issue balance: we could not have 5 stories about love triangles involving a mopey human, a vampire, and a werewolf. Darn!

Please check out the new issue of Electric Spec on August 31, 2012!