Christmas Reading List

The Adolescent - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Ulysses - James Joyce
Nineteen Eighty Four -George Orwell

Either I wanted to be really depressed over Christmas break, or this is a sign that I need more Terry Prachett in my life.  But really, when is good literature anything else but melancholy-inducing?

Once Upon A Time-Space Contineum

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. 

http://www.edgewebsite.com/aboutedge.html