2009 Submission Guidlines

Better Fiction is a writers' group for both secular and Christian writers. Wade Ogletree writes secular and Christian literary, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction stories (and anything else that suits his fancy) and created Better Fiction as a clean, friendly alternative where serious writers could polish their craft.

Better Fiction Anthology, 2008

Free Download

Fiction by: J.P. Dellova, Gary Beck, Karina Kantas, Christopher Schmitz, Melinda Reynolds, and Jonathan Schlosser

Cover art by Melinda Reynolds

Edited by Wade Ogletree and Melinda Reynolds

Suggested Resources
for Writers:

Agent Query: A search engine for literary agents.

Duotrope: A search engine for fiction markets.

You know that fiction, prose rather, is possibly the roughest trade of all in writing. You do not have the reference, the old important reference. You have the sheet of blank paper, the pencil, and the obligation to invent truer than things can be true.
-- Hemingway, Ernest

Wade Ogletree

Honorable Mention:
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 2007
"The Sphinx and Ernest Hemingway"

.Reviews Stories Interviews

short story author
Wade Ogletree

The author of one of my all-time favorite short stories..."
--Sarah Wagner (author of Hardwired Humanity)

Magazines

Big Pulp, Mind Flights,
Abyss & Apex, Fantasy Magazine, Allegory Ezine,
The Sword Review (3x), Dragons Knights & Angels,
Haruah: Breath of Heaven, Surprising Stories,
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature,
and Sage of Consciousness (2x),

Anthologies

Distant Passages, volume 1

News: Creative Brother's SF Magazine, which was set to run a story of mine, has closed its doors. Can you imagine? My foot was in that door. CBSF focused on science fiction featuring black characters. It will be missed but not much--and not enough by half. Had it the readers to mourn it now, it'd still be in business. Don't blame yourself, though. I can do that well enough without your help. Big Pulp will run "Daddy's Will" in August. Why don't you stop by their site now, and maybe they'll still be running come the fall. How anyone runs after a fall is beyond me.

Reviews

From Tangentonline.com's review of Dragons, Knights, & Angels Aug. 2006, part 2.

Wade Ogletree struck a chord of authenticity with “Tyler McHenry, Middle-Aged Lover of Books.” At a mere four hundred and sixty words, the story hauls you in, makes its point, and finishes.

... the prose glides along, stopping only long enough to harvest the details, leaving the chaff by the roadside. The outcome was an auspicious nonpareil that caught me off guard. Mr. Ogletree’s text incorporates just enough science fiction technology to spur the reader forward and enough common sense language to make the story easy to read. It's the type of work I like seeing in Dragons, Knights, & Angels: spiritual, yet not preachy. This gets a high recommendation from me.

From Tangentonline.com's review of Fantasy Magazine issue #2.

In "The Sphinx and Ernest Hemingway," Wade Ogletree pays eloquent homage to the Hemingway story "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber." On safari, Hemingway shoots a female sphinx that he has mistaken for a lion. When he comes to claim his kill, the sphinx has concealed enough of herself that he again mistakes her for something she is not —this time a wounded woman.

Ogletree paints an interesting portrait of Hemingway that rings startlingly true. He is not the myth portrayed as a parallel to the sphinx. Just as she is neither lion nor human, Hemingway is not a monster or a god. The central message seems to be that it could only end badly for either one to embrace and transform into one half of who they are, while abandoning the other half completely.

From Tangentonline.com's review of The Sword Review issue #11.

“Aleskei’s Revolution” by Wade Ogletree ... The CEO of Concupi Science, Inc., Aleskei Volchenkov, is a frail and sickly old man. Using his company’s time machine, he wishes to relive an affair from long ago. But Aleskei’s greedy desires put stress on both his health and his relationship with his wife, and might be the end of him.

Aleskei is an interesting character, having both virtues and flaws. Traveling back with him made for strong reading.

Stories

Coming Soon: Stories in Big Pulp

Window Blind July, 2008: Mind Flights
Christian Sci-Fi

The Station Dec, 2007: Haruah: Breath of Heaven
Literary

The Lion of Lucerne Dec, 2007: The Sword Review
Christian Sci-Fi

And Saturn Below May, 2007: Abyss & Apex
Hard Sci-Fi

And Saturn Below
artwork by Melinda Reynolds

And Saturn Below

by Wade Ogletree

With its dragonfly array, the tubular vessel rotated before me. Its name came into view, looking almost as crisp as when it arrived: "Kronos III, Polar Explorer". The crystalline plastic tether pointed needle-like at the gaseous planet below, and nothing I saw told me why the ship was dropping orbit. I reported my all clear and prepared to dock.

From halfway around the planet, Roberta cautioned, "She's a second-hand piece of junk, Miguel. If she's not worth saving, write her off and get out."

"Be careful what you say. I hear your heart, but the company would hear only your words."

"You hear my heart? I don’t think so. You don’t even speak the language."

Read the rest of the story.

Tyler McHenry, Middle Aged Lover of Books Aug, 2006: Dragons, Knights, & Angels
Christian Sci-Fi Flash

Aleskei's Revolution Feb, 2006: The Sword Review
Sci-Fi / Time Travel

The Sphinx and Ernest Hemingway Feb, 2006: Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy

Reprinted: Allegory Ezine

The House Where Angela Died Sept, 2005: Surprising Stories
Literary

Shape Shifters in Love October, 2005: The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
Fantasy

Reprinted: Better Fiction, 2:2

A Picture's Worth May 9, 2005: The Sword Review
Literary Thriller

    Reprinted: Distant Passages, the Best of Double-Edged Publishing, 2005
                    Better Fiction, Year in Review: 2005
                    Sage of Consciousness, 2:3

A Picture's Worth
artwork by Melinda Reynolds

A Picture’s Worth

by Wade Ogletree

(Twenty-two by seven inches, sepia-toned silver gelatin print, 1992) Woman with Butterfly. Cindy poses in Lan Kwai Fong, the cobble-stoned street narrow, sloped, and crowded with the bars and nightclubs that have made the area so popular with expatriates. I shot this early in the morning, so the street is empty. In her palm, Cindy holds a butterfly; it looks alive, feeding off of Cindy’s overflowing vitality.

She wears only a gauzy dress and looks ethereal against this stark background. I saw that contrast as the metaphor for the exhibit: open-air, above the street in Lan Kwai Fong, the beautiful on display in a barfly’s alley.

Read the rest of the story

Haunted May, 2005: Sage of Consciousness
Literary

Interviews

Interview by Sarah Wagner Interviewed Dec 2008: shade53.blogspot.com

The Writing Mind: Interviewed Jan 2006: The Sword Review, by Rochita Roenen-Lopez

Wade Ogletree is a Christian who is also a writer. This site is friendly to and promotes Christian fiction and Christian writers as much as possible, but the writing forum, blogs and the site in general are open to everyone. This is a writers' group, not a writing monastery.

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