A Milestone

Something I thought I might add here: it isn't writing or art related but it is language related. I have been a member of Lingq for a while now and have just passed a milestone. I have learned 10,000 words in Spanish. I can hold a halfway competent conversation at this point.

A Free Market Database For Your Submissions

A few years ago I made a post about different websites for your submissions (post can be found here). One of the websites is no longer free, Duotrope.

Duotrope was (and presumably still is) a wonderful website for writers. Not only was it searchable for open markets, it had a wonderful search engine for putting in specifics such as pay rate or whether or not said markets accept reprints, it was also a database where you could store your submissions. Sadly Duotrope became a pay service, I believe early this year (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

There is nothing wrong with Duotrope charging for their service. They have almost 5,000 markets listed and help you keep track of where you are sending your stuff. Besides it doesn't actually cost that much, $50 a year. If you are on staff somewhere or are regularly selling stuff to pro and semi-pro markets, bite the bullet and get a membership. Or you can always ask an understanding family member for a birthday/Christmas present in that amount. For the service they offer it is a really good deal.

However, if your writing income makes up less than 5% of your yearly income (like mine does) you'll want to know where else to go to submit your stuff. I've used Ralan's for years.

I check it every day I'm submitting. You can join his Facebook that he updates frequently. Ralan's is nice. It has led to quite a few acceptances for me over the years (and I've paid back the favor by donating some money to him). But it doesn't have the nifty search engine or tracking abilities of Duotrope.

Recently I kind of bumbled along and found The Submission Grinder.

The Submission Grinder is a free alternative to Duotrope. Not only does it work in a very similar manner, you can actually import your information from Duotrope into The Submission Grinder. The Submission Grinder only has about 2,500 markets listed at the moment but you can help by dropping emails to them about markets you've found and if you have a magazine get it listed.

Is it perfect? No. But it is free and it is pretty cool. And it is one more tool to help you get your stuff out into the world.

Another review is published

Perihelion Science Fiction has just published another review I wrote. It is the first review on the page:

http://www.perihelionsf.com/reviews.htm

A review is up at Buzzy Mag

I enjoyed reading this book and writing the review. The first bit is below leading to the link:

Take one part Moby-Dick, mix it with one part Kidnapped and one part Treasure Island, and sprinkle in just a bit of The Odyssey. Now blend these up nicely, dump them on a train, and try to push it under a PG-13 rating and you’ll have an idea of whatRailsea is like. Miéville knows the rules but throws them all to the wind in his latest work and somehow still manages to pull off an amazing novel. From using an odd vocabulary and slang, to the use of an ampersand (&) in place of the word “and” throughout the book, to the strange story of how the world changed, Miéville never comes right out and fully explains these things but makes the reader learn on the go. He also presents something to young adults that is not about wizards or something that seems like a bad knock-off of The Running Man with bows and arrows, or some weak tale about boring vampires that are anything but scary.

Our hero, Shamus Yes ap Soorap (Sham for short), is exceptional only in the sense that there is nothing exceptional about him. He is a bumbling, awkward doctor’s assistant on the train, Medes. He longs to be a salvor (one who finds and deals with salvage from crashed trains) but is held back by his own inhibition. Like most of us, he hesitates when opportunity knocks and ends up playing catch up to the real action...

http://buzzymag.com/railsea-book-review/