I have been informed that I was mistaken about when Digital Science Fiction will be accepting new submissions in a previous post. The submissions for Anthology #5, which will be published in January 2012, have all been selected and will be edited when #4 is complete. On the other hand, submissions for Anthology #6, which will be published in April 2012, have not been selected and will be open for new submissions as soon as #4 out and #5 have been edited.
I apologize for my misunderstanding. Apparently I am not as omnipotent as I always tell myself ;-)
Showing posts with label Digital Science Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Science Fiction. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Review: Coil Gun by Matthew Quinn
It is every would-be-writer's dream to see his work in print. I know it has been mine since I first took up the pen as a school boy, and though I am somewhat closer to achieving that goal as I write articles for an increasingly diverse number of websites, the end goal of seeing one of my fictional works published has remained constant through the tide of years. So when a friend of mine tells me that he recently made the first pro-level sale of his career, I take notice.
Known in various AH circles as MerryPrankster, Matthew Quinn is a writer, journalist and fellow blogger who has proven more than happy to give me both tips about my blog and advice on how to better my own writing career. In addition, he put in a good word for me at the Dudeletter which resulted in me getting my first writing job outside of my blog (with this site being my second). So imagine my surprise when Quinn tells me he just made his first professional level sale of his writing career.
Turns out his short story Coil Gun will be headlining the most recent issue of Digital Science Fiction, and even was the inspiration behind the cover. Knowing his work from his blog and various other projects, I knew that his story alone would be reason enough to pick up the recent copy of Digital Science Fiction. The question I'm sure many of you are asking, is it worth your money? Fear not dear readers, I, your humble narrator, am here to review it for you.
The story itself, though in a science fiction setting, is primarily an alternate history. You can find the entirety of that world's divergent past here, but the abridged version is a group of Dutch Calvinists settle on the Cape Coast in Africa around the late 1500s, and in the following centuries expand into becoming one of the world's preeminent superpowers, dominating much of the Indian Ocean rim, and is locked in a Cold War with the USA and its allies - a Cold War that over the course of the story, erupts into WWIII, with nuclear weapons and kinetic bombardment - the titular 'coil guns' - devastating both sides.
The story follows the folks inside two control centers - one Afrikaner, one American - as they coordinate the attack on the enemy and contemplate the effects the war will have on them and their homeland. Coil Gun depends a great deal on it's superbly done characterization, and makes you truly care about what happens to the folks on both sides of the conflict - no small feat when one side of the war is made up of Afrikaners bent on racial and religious superiority. The technology and tactics used are well described, as are passing events, yet not too overly detailed as a lot of writers fall weakness to. It's well-paced and tense, as any story about WWIII should be, and unlike a lot of short stories I've read, it felt wholly satisfying on its own, without need to go further in depth.
So in the end, I have to tip my hat to Quinn - if Coil Gun is any indication of his abilities as a writer, Quinn is someone we all will need to keep on our radar, and for the moment, Coil Gun is a superb little short story. With that, I can wholly say that Pressure Suite, as the latest issue if Digital Science Fiction is titled, is well worth picking a copy up. Having read the rest of the anthology, I can say its well worth a read, and Quinn and his Coil Gun are a big reason why.
Soldier, scholar, writer and web-voyeur, Sean CW Korsgaard has been active in the alternate history community since 2006, and was recently elected to succeed Mitro as President of the Alternate History Online Facebook group. In addition to his contributions at the Alternate History Weekly Update, he writes for several websites, including his own, which can be found here.
Known in various AH circles as MerryPrankster, Matthew Quinn is a writer, journalist and fellow blogger who has proven more than happy to give me both tips about my blog and advice on how to better my own writing career. In addition, he put in a good word for me at the Dudeletter which resulted in me getting my first writing job outside of my blog (with this site being my second). So imagine my surprise when Quinn tells me he just made his first professional level sale of his writing career.
Turns out his short story Coil Gun will be headlining the most recent issue of Digital Science Fiction, and even was the inspiration behind the cover. Knowing his work from his blog and various other projects, I knew that his story alone would be reason enough to pick up the recent copy of Digital Science Fiction. The question I'm sure many of you are asking, is it worth your money? Fear not dear readers, I, your humble narrator, am here to review it for you.
The story itself, though in a science fiction setting, is primarily an alternate history. You can find the entirety of that world's divergent past here, but the abridged version is a group of Dutch Calvinists settle on the Cape Coast in Africa around the late 1500s, and in the following centuries expand into becoming one of the world's preeminent superpowers, dominating much of the Indian Ocean rim, and is locked in a Cold War with the USA and its allies - a Cold War that over the course of the story, erupts into WWIII, with nuclear weapons and kinetic bombardment - the titular 'coil guns' - devastating both sides.The story follows the folks inside two control centers - one Afrikaner, one American - as they coordinate the attack on the enemy and contemplate the effects the war will have on them and their homeland. Coil Gun depends a great deal on it's superbly done characterization, and makes you truly care about what happens to the folks on both sides of the conflict - no small feat when one side of the war is made up of Afrikaners bent on racial and religious superiority. The technology and tactics used are well described, as are passing events, yet not too overly detailed as a lot of writers fall weakness to. It's well-paced and tense, as any story about WWIII should be, and unlike a lot of short stories I've read, it felt wholly satisfying on its own, without need to go further in depth.
So in the end, I have to tip my hat to Quinn - if Coil Gun is any indication of his abilities as a writer, Quinn is someone we all will need to keep on our radar, and for the moment, Coil Gun is a superb little short story. With that, I can wholly say that Pressure Suite, as the latest issue if Digital Science Fiction is titled, is well worth picking a copy up. Having read the rest of the anthology, I can say its well worth a read, and Quinn and his Coil Gun are a big reason why.
Soldier, scholar, writer and web-voyeur, Sean CW Korsgaard has been active in the alternate history community since 2006, and was recently elected to succeed Mitro as President of the Alternate History Online Facebook group. In addition to his contributions at the Alternate History Weekly Update, he writes for several websites, including his own, which can be found here.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Weekly Update #20
Editor's Note
No theme this week, but I do have some related posts coming up. You will have to scroll down to the next section in the post to find out more about that. I will be starting a new segment this week called "Meet a Sidewinder", which will feature stories about people from alternate timelines who inhabit our own reality! Sounds unbelievable, huh? Well you will just have to wait to find out more.
Korsgaard and Kier both promise more posts in the future and as you may have heard, War Blogger has promised to share some his novel reviews with this blog, which is awesome.
Remember that you still have time to enter The Oral History of Doomsday Contest. We have one entry so far and he is going to win by default unless you send in your submission. Send all entries to ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
Meanwhile, we got our first reader from Uruguay. Welcome!
And now the news...
Digital Science Fiction
Thanks to Korsgaard, I recently discovered a book series titled Digital Science Fiction. It is quarterly collection of original science fiction short stories from professional writers and storytellers. Every Digital Science Fiction Anthology is published electronically for Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. They are also available in regular print versions approximately three weeks after the digital publication date.
Pressure Suite, the third anthology in the series, is relevant to our blog because it will include an alternate history short story. That story is called "Coil Gun" and it is written by Matt Quinn. According to Digital Science Fiction's President Michael Wills, "Coil Gun" will be the series' first alternate history and has described Matt as "a great asset to our book series...both in terms of his story contribution and his efforts in promoting our label." Anyone looking for more information on "Coil Gun" can check out Matt's blog here.
Korsgaard and I will be providing more information to you about this story. I will be interviewing Matt and Korsgaard will be posting a review of the story this week. So stay tuned for more information. Also if anyone is interested in being the second person to publish an alternate history with Digital Science Fiction, Michael informs me that they are still accepting submissions for the fifth anthology.
More on a World Without 9/11
Thank you to Korsgaard and Henry Martin for their comments on my counterfactual essay on a world without 9/11. Yes I think it is safe to say that in a world where the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon never happened, the political career of Barack Obama would have been very different and he would likely never have been nominated over Hillary Clinton in the 2010 presidential elections.
It looks like, however, that I was not the only one inspired by the ten year anniversary of 9/11 to write an alternate history about it. Moeed Yusuf at the International Herald Tribune and Faheem Haider at the Foreign Policy Association both wrote intriguing articles about how the history of Afghanistan and Central Asia would progress without 9/11. This is in contrast to the slide show Alternate History No 9/11 that has the United States being invaded by China in the near future. Perhaps you should avoid watching that implausible piece of garbage and check out instead Osama by Israeli science fiction author Lavie Tidhar. You can see a review of it here.
If someone can help me figure out where I can purchase said book, that would be great.
Coming Soon: The Domination
Domination, the omnibus volume containing the first three books of the Draka series, will be released as an ebook by Baen Dec 2011. The Draka series is S. M. Stirling's controversial alternate history about the Loyalists from the American Revolution settling in South Africa instead of Canada. They go on to create the Domination of Draka, a slave owning superpower that makes Apartheid South Africa look like Care-a-lot. What is even more horrifying is that at one point you find yourself rooting for the Nazis to win!
Links to the Multiverse
Articles
The Complete History of Time Paradoxes by Charlie Jane Anders and Gordon Jackson, at io9.
Counterfactual States of America: On Parallel Worlds and Longing for the Law by
Interviews
Interview with Sidewise nominee Jay Lake at Locus.
Book
Review of 1632 by Eric Flint at Avallanath.
Review of The Big Switch by Harry Turtledove at lunarhunk.
Video Games
Review of Resistance 3 at Complex.
Media
Photos from the DragonCon 2011 Alternate History Track
No theme this week, but I do have some related posts coming up. You will have to scroll down to the next section in the post to find out more about that. I will be starting a new segment this week called "Meet a Sidewinder", which will feature stories about people from alternate timelines who inhabit our own reality! Sounds unbelievable, huh? Well you will just have to wait to find out more.
Korsgaard and Kier both promise more posts in the future and as you may have heard, War Blogger has promised to share some his novel reviews with this blog, which is awesome.
Remember that you still have time to enter The Oral History of Doomsday Contest. We have one entry so far and he is going to win by default unless you send in your submission. Send all entries to ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
Meanwhile, we got our first reader from Uruguay. Welcome!
And now the news...
Digital Science Fiction
Thanks to Korsgaard, I recently discovered a book series titled Digital Science Fiction. It is quarterly collection of original science fiction short stories from professional writers and storytellers. Every Digital Science Fiction Anthology is published electronically for Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. They are also available in regular print versions approximately three weeks after the digital publication date.
Pressure Suite, the third anthology in the series, is relevant to our blog because it will include an alternate history short story. That story is called "Coil Gun" and it is written by Matt Quinn. According to Digital Science Fiction's President Michael Wills, "Coil Gun" will be the series' first alternate history and has described Matt as "a great asset to our book series...both in terms of his story contribution and his efforts in promoting our label." Anyone looking for more information on "Coil Gun" can check out Matt's blog here.
Korsgaard and I will be providing more information to you about this story. I will be interviewing Matt and Korsgaard will be posting a review of the story this week. So stay tuned for more information. Also if anyone is interested in being the second person to publish an alternate history with Digital Science Fiction, Michael informs me that they are still accepting submissions for the fifth anthology.
More on a World Without 9/11
Thank you to Korsgaard and Henry Martin for their comments on my counterfactual essay on a world without 9/11. Yes I think it is safe to say that in a world where the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon never happened, the political career of Barack Obama would have been very different and he would likely never have been nominated over Hillary Clinton in the 2010 presidential elections.
It looks like, however, that I was not the only one inspired by the ten year anniversary of 9/11 to write an alternate history about it. Moeed Yusuf at the International Herald Tribune and Faheem Haider at the Foreign Policy Association both wrote intriguing articles about how the history of Afghanistan and Central Asia would progress without 9/11. This is in contrast to the slide show Alternate History No 9/11 that has the United States being invaded by China in the near future. Perhaps you should avoid watching that implausible piece of garbage and check out instead Osama by Israeli science fiction author Lavie Tidhar. You can see a review of it here.
If someone can help me figure out where I can purchase said book, that would be great.
Coming Soon: The Domination
Domination, the omnibus volume containing the first three books of the Draka series, will be released as an ebook by Baen Dec 2011. The Draka series is S. M. Stirling's controversial alternate history about the Loyalists from the American Revolution settling in South Africa instead of Canada. They go on to create the Domination of Draka, a slave owning superpower that makes Apartheid South Africa look like Care-a-lot. What is even more horrifying is that at one point you find yourself rooting for the Nazis to win!
Links to the Multiverse
Articles
The Complete History of Time Paradoxes by Charlie Jane Anders and Gordon Jackson, at io9.
Counterfactual States of America: On Parallel Worlds and Longing for the Law by
Interviews
Interview with Sidewise nominee Jay Lake at Locus.
Book
Review of 1632 by Eric Flint at Avallanath.
Review of The Big Switch by Harry Turtledove at lunarhunk.
Video Games
Review of Resistance 3 at Complex.
Media
Photos from the DragonCon 2011 Alternate History Track
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