I never used to pay much attention to the sci-fi scene. I didn't get Star Trek and, though I liked C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy and L'Enge's Wrinkle in Time series, most novels I tried to read in that genre were either too crude or too far over my head. So I stuck to the classics, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Tolkien, the like.And then 1984 happened.
And even stranger than that, I began volunteering with a science-fiction publisher. Well, technically, sciene-fiction and fantasy, but the science-fiction factor is what I find the most random part of this entry.
EDGE Publishing is the only organization that exclusively prints works of science-fiction/ fantasy in North America. They've printed novels, anthologies, translated works of fiction, vampire stories, and even a book of science-fiction poetry called "i-ROBOT" by Jason Christie. I contacted them a while ago to inquire about summer employment; but since they are a relatively small publisher and the market for printed materials is slow at the moment (thanks to E-books and Amazon), nothing was available except -
They call it the slush pile: the stacks of manuscripts, maybe twenty new ones added daily, needing evaluation before they pass on to higher circles of editing. And that's where I come in: I get to read through some of these suckers and suggest they either move up, or move out. Checking the "reject" box is not easy - people put so much time and effort into their submissions, I wish I could just fix all their grammar and tell them that Harry Potter's been done already, think up something else!; but that's not my job unfortunately. There are good ones though, sometimes amazing ones! I can't wait to get the next batch of envelopes: honestly, I would not mind working a 9-5 gig if I could be doing something like this.
Which brings up something else that's been on my mind. I got my marks back from last semester.
Now, if I thought I was good at something, and loved it, but my marks didn't reflect this, and something else which I'm not sure if I'm good at but love anyways got a better grade, is this suggesting that I should perhaps consider what I want to do after University? Or maybe switch around some minor aspects of my degree? English is staying for sure, but aside from that, I really have no set aspirations.
Anyways, if you aspiring fantasy/ science-fiction writers out there are looking for a publisher, EDGE is a great place to submit - Brian Hades, the publisher, is super awesome and values new writers as well as seasoned literary giants. Though, I promise that if I'm given your manuscript to edit, I will not evaluate it - that way when it gets published, people can't accuse anybody of crazy robot conspiricies.
No comments:
Post a Comment