Better Fiction: The Blog

Part Three: Though these postings are a three-day series, I am predicting four to six posts total dedicated to this book.

It will come as a great relief to you all that the book, Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, did not keep me up last night. Or, rather, it did not keep my reader, Tanya Furgway, awake, which was surprising, since she had to read the book through a tiny peephole while otherwise covering herself with her robe. Apparently, bad guys can't get you through the protection of a robe. "A robe is like a cover, you know," Tanya explains. "When you're young you feel safe under the covers."

Yes, Tanya needs protection to feel safe while reading this christian novel for young adults. Last night, as I tucked her in to bed, she started to explain that the Christian aspect of the book centered on a character called "The Author". I told her it was late and she could it explain it to me tomorrow. It is now tomorrow, and as she is sitting next to me, I'll let her explain.

"It is never tomorrow, Daddy. You should know that by now."

Stay on topic.

"The book speaks of the bad guys as parasites and that made me want to wash my hands."

(Seriously, folks. I'm not making this up.)

"They made the parasites sound very scary, and I like how they use that as a bad guy. It surprised me, but it was interesting."

But what about "The Author"?

"Oh, yeah. I like how they make the 'Author' sound like God because in the book they say He wrote the world into place, and that was really cool. I'm worried about the name of the next chapter, though..."

Speaking of which, it's time to let Tanya read a little more.

Before we go, however, Tanya makes one more comment. "They talk in the book about the need to find the Author's son. I suspect the son will sacrifice himself to save the kids." With a smile, she adds, "And maybe rise again three days later."

Tanya now retreats to read more. Read the book for yourself, for free, at the Miller Brothers' website. Or see what our other bloggers have to say:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

In the discussion of the book, Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, I have enlisted some expert help. Her code name is Tanya Furgway, and I left her with the book while the Mrs. and I sat down to enjoy a Hercule Peroit DVD. As the night drew to a close, Tanya knelt beside my wife's chair and whispered in her ear.

My wife looked at me in alarm. "You let her read a scary story?"

"It's terrifying!" Tanya confirmed. "Unfortunately, I'll have to finish the book, 'cause I'll die if I don't know what happens to Hunter Brown. The writers are very creative. I mean extremely creative. They write as if you're inside the book and can see what's really happening to the character. Some stories are scary because they're out of this world. This is scary because you can imagine it happening, and that makes it even more frightening."

Interested, I asked for some insight into the plot. Frankly, it sounds out of this world to me.

In the other room, as I write this, they are talking about the book even now. "Is this a children's story?" My wife asks.

Tanya repeats the question to me. Perhaps the truer answer would be "Young Adult", but I say, "Yes."

Tanya passes on my answer and adds that it's a Christian book. "Christian?" My wife calls out. "Why would they want to scare you? What makes it Christian?"

I hear Tanya repeating one of the plot points about the "Dispirits" not being able to enter the church.

Tanya enters my study, she says that, yesterday, when I first showed her the book, she read a few sentences and didn't want to stop reading. For tonight, she will have to stop. My wife says that if Tanya can't sleep and crawls into our bed...I'm getting kicked out.

These are the risks we run on the CSFF Blog Tour. Will I get to sleep in my own bed? Found out tomorrow as we continue our look into the first in the "Codebearers" series.

In the meantime find out more at the Miller Brothers' website. Or see what our other bloggers have to say:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Over the next few days, we'll be talking about the first book in the new "Codebearers" Series: Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow.

The authors, the Miller Brothers, are trained in animation, so they were able to put together some great trailers for the book. Check it out at their website. There, they also make the audacious claim that if you don't love the book, they'll buy it back!

Pretty bold claim for a YA (young adult) book. Can they back it up?

Stay tuned for more...

Find out more at these CSFF Blogs:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Guest Editors: Chris Schmitz and J. Dean Casey

Submission Guidelines: Better Fiction is a non-paying publication. We are open to both members and nonmembers of the betterfiction.com fiction critique forum. (Membership in the forum is free.)

The theme for 2009 is Apocalypse. My dictionary defines "apocalypse" as:

1 violent or destructive event
2 (the Apocalypse) Revelation, the last book of the New Testament
3 revelation, esp. about the end of the world

But don't despair if you want to submit a story that doesn't exactly fit the classic definition. The good news is we'll be using a broad interpretation of the word. For example, stories set in a dystopian society or that have lawless characters -- arguably harbingers of cataclysm or Armageddon -- would be fine. If you want to think in terms of movies for settings, here is a gauge: Waterworld, The Postmaster, Soldier, 28 Weeks Later, Hellboy.

Fiction and Poetry: We prefer reprints, and will only read previously unpublished pieces that have been critiqued in the Better Fiction forum. We will read reprints, however, from anyone.

For 2009, our preference is speculative fiction. Typically this means science fiction, fantasy, or horror. More generally, it's fiction that includes a fantastic element such as magic realism, the supernatural or paranormal. Although spec fic naturally lends itself to our chosen theme, we would be open to stories in other genres that otherwise fit our requirements. We don't print erotica or fan fiction, none at all. We also do not like overly used passive tense verbs (“telling” stories—make us participate in them) and we have an aversion to gratuitous/exaggerated sexual descriptions and violence. Especially when it comes to sex: if it’s in there, a good reason must exist. Overt violence to children is frowned upon and snuff/rape/child-abuse isn’t tolerated at all.

We're looking for quality, substance, and clean entertainment.

Summary:
If your story fits our needs and you want to see it printed in the annual BetterFiction Anthology 2009, please email your story to us at betterfiction AT gmail.com. (Note, in the email, there are no spaces, and you must replace the AT with the @ symbol. Printing it like this is a spam prevention and avoidance maneuver.) Deadline for submissions is July 31.

Your story should be in standard format according to SFWA (http://www.sfwa.org/writing/). Otherwise, submissions may be single-spaced, as long as a blank line separates every paragraph. We're open to any word length up to a maximum of 10,000 words, reprints preferred (exceptions will only come from our active forum members).

Submissions should be attached to the body of an email as either a .doc or a .rtf file. We accept email submissions ONLY. The main body of your email should be your cover page, include all important information including contact info, a brief story synopsis, any previously published works and credits, a short bio, and where/when this story was originally published.

Submit the story as it will be published; italics should be italics, not underlined. (Though that is the proper format.)

In general, never mess around with fonts. Editors hate that. Also, it makes life easier if your indentations are set universally instead of hitting the tab button each time. If you don't understand how to do that, or just didn't do it, don't worry.

Put your title, name, email address, and word count at the top of the story. At the end of the story, write the word "END". For reprints, at the end of your story (as well as in your cover letter) please include the information on where and when it was first published. This information will appear in the magazine if your story or poem is selected.

Nonfiction: We're looking for articles about writing, about writers, about the writing life, about classic works, and the like. We'll consider reprints and original works. Otherwise, follow the guidelines for fiction submissions. I am also interested in articles for the blog and may request to publish articles in both locations.

Artwork: We are also interested in your artwork. Submit your work as no greater that 360 dpi, if you can. We accept both color and black and white works, but do not submit anything in a "grayscale" format as it does not look right the way lulu processes it. Also keep in mind that though the PDF is full color, the paperback has a color cover only. All interior art will be black and white.

Rights: We want one-time print rights for both our PDF and print versions and occasionally will request the right to publish online in our blog. We have no interest in restricting your use of your story elsewhere in any way, at any time.

It can be a risky thing talking about a movie you haven't seen in over a decade. Still, the subject of film is still on my mind, and that brings me to today's topic: John Carpenter's _The Thing_.

You'll know the basic story if you read the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, saw the original 1951 version with James Arness, or read _The Blind Assassin_ by Margaret Atwood. OK. Maybe you won't know what I'm talking about even if you did read the Atwood novel, but one of the sci-fi stories invented by the lover is an unimaginative knockoff of _The Thing_. I don't know what Atwood was thinking. It was an awesome book, otherwise.

Anyway, though I should be writing about Atwood, I'm not. This is about John Carpenter. The man will have his fans for directing films like _Ghosts of Mars, Big Trouble in Little China, Starman, Christine, Escape From New York, The Fog, and Halloween_. In all honesty, though, we, as a viewing public, ruined Carpenter as a director. It's all our fault, and it's all about a movie called _The Thing_.

At the time he made _The Thing_, Carpenter was huge. His low budget _Halloween_ was the highest grossing independantly produced movie in history at the time. (1) Then came _The Thing_.

"Critics slighted it, audiences, for the most part, ignored it. And in a summer where audiences fell for fantasy, John Carpenter's THE THING definitely was marching to a different drummer. Instead of lovable aliens and high adventure, Carpenter dished up a saga of bone weary men fighting off an uninvited extraterrestrial creature that looked God-awful and ate everything in sight - humans included." (2)

Forgettable film, right? Today, there is a prequal in the works of the film that some now call "a classic". (3)

"Critics have been known to denigrate talented filmmakers to the point of obscurity, thereby flushing some of their greatest films down the public toilet. These artists are merely victims of circumstance -- charged with crimes that exist only to protect the sensibilities of cowardly men. No, I'm not talking about the defendants of the Army-McCarthy Hearings. I'm talking about horror directors, man. John Carpenter's masterpiece, The Thing, came out in 1982, around the same time E.T. and Annie jerked millions of law-abiding citizens into a flood of tears. But the competition wasn't the only reason The Thing sank at the box office. It's also a hard-edged film that never tried to appease its audience. The film exists on its own merit, a great piece of art that never worried about how it would be received." (4)

"On a scene-by-scene level Carpenter's mastery cannot be denied. Every monster attack is a jolting surprise. Unlike the characters in a thousand "haunted house" movies, nobody acts entirely stupidly; quite the opposite. MacReady [played by Kurl Russell] makes good snap decisions, not hesitating to kill when necessary. We appreciate the commonsense approach when MacReady first hears the howling dogs. In a movie like Ridley Scott's Alien MacReady would trace the ungodly howling alone to its source, and be attacked in the dark. He instead plays it smart and hits a fire alarm. The whole camp is alerted." (5)

This is a smart, scary, original film, and today lists among the favorites of horror fans. I recall reading that our dismissal of the film hit the director hard at the time, and, in my opinion, he never recovered. _The Thing_ is tough, dark, and pessimistic. True, it's not the kind of movie I would run off to see today, and I haven't seen it in many years, but for the horror-film lover I used to be, this was one of the best. Afterward, Carpenter's films became cheap and silly and often outright bad. I shudder now to think of how I once looked forward to the release of _They Live_.

He's not the first artist to be ruined by a classic being ignored. Herman Melville was so unpopular, he eventually quit writing. If Van Gough had ever sold a painting in his own lifetime, maybe he wouldn't have devolved into the kind of person who cuts off his own ear.

I think of this and ask my fellow writers, are you a Carpenter, Melville, or Van Gough? Is your classic being ignored? _The Thing_ did eventually find the following it deserved. Perhaps time will be as kind to you. Either way, be strong. Don't let the tastes of today ruin your creativity tomorrow.

Of course, I suppose I'm preaching this to myself. My "I Quit" post was the byproduct of frustration with editors who either didn't understand my work or aren't doing a good enough job of convincing me I just plain stink. Like Carpenter at the time, I have some measure of success to look back on (though mine is humble indeed), but somehow that only increases the frustration. I am not, cannot, and will not produce something that tries to fit into the mold. I don't have a heart for the mold. The stories would be born dead on the page.

Fine, I'll try to take my own advice. You take it, too. Be strong. Plug on.

Wade Ogletree