Author: Erin

Breaking Market News: Audio Short Stories and Hopscotch

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Just a quickie post to share this market news:

Mind Wings:  “Mind Wings Audio is a newly established audio publishing company with a vision and strategy to provide short stories to the public in an audio format.”

And I’ve added Hopscotch to the Tween Markets links.

Ebook Winner and Leaving the Pagan Behind

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The winner of the ebook giveaway, Playthings of the Gods, is Halli from Alberta (visit her blog at: hallililburn.blogspot.com ). Thanks to everyone for entering the contest.

And leaving the pagan behind, I’ve added a few Christian short-story markets to the links column. I hope to have interviews with the editors sometime soon. In the meantime, since I obviously need some help with this one, please leave me a comment if you know of other Christian short-story markets for young adults.

Also be sure to read Writing for the Teen Religious Market from Writing-World.com. The article is a little dated but the advice is still excellent.

Book Giveaway and Markets for Myth-Lovers

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Win an ebook of Playthings of the Gods (Drollerie Press, 2011).

You can enter the ebook drawing in two ways: 1.) leave a comment, along with your email address, on this post by March 1 OR 2.) subscribe to Word Crushes by March 1. A winner will be chosen at random with the help of Random.org.

From the publisher: “Forget what you think you know about Greek Mythology. The Gods are back—if they ever left—and this time they’re using our modern world as their playground. Enjoy fourteen stories that take you from deity-inhabited skyscrapers to cobwebbed, gated manors atop a hill, and everywhere in between.”

And if you’d like to write your own story based on mythology, legends, or fairy tales, then check out these markets for older teens through adults:

Drollerie Press

Cabinet Des Fees: A journal of fairy tales

Dante’s Heart

Enchanted Conversation: A fairy tale magazine

Quail Bell Magazine

Wicked East Press (scroll down to Twisted Fairy Tales)

Know of any other markets for myth-lovers? Then leave me a comment with the publication’s name and URL and I’ll add it to the list.

Parties and Playthings

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Welcome to the launch party for Word Crushes!

Surrounding me are some of my favorite short story writers: Margo Rabb, whose prose can make you laugh and cry (practically at the same time), Ethan Canin, every bit as handsome as his writing, and  Flannery O’Connor,  for a dash of Southern Gothic.

WIN PLAYTHINGS OF THE GODS: check back in few days for contest details.

No party would be complete without a guest of honor or two. So amidst the confetti, I’d like to introduce the just-published Playthings of the Gods  (Amazon Kindle edition) (Drollerie Press,  2011), an e-book collection of young adult stories based on Greek mythology (and home to my story, Naiad). Drollerie Press–known for its transformative fiction–has taken myths and spun them around, updating them with modern themes and settings.

It’s perfect then that our second guest of honor–Word Crushes first interview–is Selena Green, Senior Editor of Kettlestich Press, the young adult division of Drollerie Press:

What do you hope readers will take from “Playthings of the Gods”? 

More than anything I hope readers will develop a love for the fantastic storytelling that exists within myths and legends. There is so much rich history, so much fantasy, and so much potential in those stories. Every culture has them and though they’re all a little different, they definitely share an air of the familiar. It’s often said that there are no more original ideas, that everything is some sort of recycling of something else. But this anthology shows the potential storytelling magic that still lies in these bits of mythology and the authors have created some beautiful new worlds using them as base. As you can see, I can get a little geeky when it comes to all this stuff. The reason Drollerie Press often works with elements of the mythical is because we have a passion for it. 
 
Who are some of your favorite authors and why?
 
I don’t have ‘favorite’ authors, as I find I’ll often give new authors a chance in hopes of feeling that spark. But I do have go-to authors who never disappoint me. For YA- Megan Whalen Turner, Anna Godbersen and Maggie Stiefvater are some of my current obsessions. For my adult reading, I’m still hopelessly obsessed with Karen Marie Moning’s Fever Series. She’s a fantastic writer.  
 
What do you look for in a story?
 
I look for that emotional connection, first and foremost. I like to be able to get gut wrenchingly involved. Whether it be in love, in angst, in fear- I want to feel it. I’m also a sucker for lyrical prose. That’s just the musician in me, I think. I’m also a fan of a well told love story. Make me cheer for your hero and heroine and I will fangirl you forever.
 
Why would you pass on a story?
 
I hate stories that don’t feel genuine. If the emotion conveyed isn’t coming from a real place, the story falls flat. I want to see living, breathing characters on the page. Not stereotypes or copies of other famous characters *cough, Edward, cough*. I’ll often forgive a slow or weak plot and be willing to work with the author if the characters really capture my attention. 
 
Does Drollerie Press have plans for more young adult anthologies?
 
At the moment there are no exclusive YA anthologies planned, but I can guarantee that there will be more in the near future! I had a great time reading and editing the fourteen stories found in “Playthings” and I’d be thrilled to put another anthology together for the sheer guilty pleasure of doing tons of fabulous reading.  
 

Edgar and me

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Edgar Allan Poe sits at the top of my short-story crushes. I met him in fourth grade when my teacher read The Tell-Tale Heart  and The Pit and the Pendulum aloud to my class. Her performance rivaled that of a Tony Award-winning actress. She paused at the right moments, making me jump, shudder, shiver, and, best of all, beg for more.

She stretched the readings out over several days, and I still remember how the room grew quiet. I thought I could hear a heart beating from beneath the floor—obviously my own as it slammed against my chest—while terror slithered up and down the aisles.

I was already an avid reader, having consumed Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins mysteries, as well as the entire Wizard of Oz series, but I sensed something new in these two stories  Perhaps it was their succinctness—so much power wrapped up in so few words. It was certainly my first awareness of the short story and how brevity can sometimes be preferred, how a small story can somehow be larger than a novel.

Now get out there and find your own crush. But remember… Edgar’s already taken.

A few places to look online:

YARN: Young Adult Review Network  (One of my favorite stories from 2010: In the Spotlight by Emily Deibel.)

Hunger Mountain

Tide Pool Fiction

Crow Toes Quarterly

Spaceports & Spidersilk

But don’t stop here… Check out all the listings in the Markets links.