Anniversary

We're coming up on the tenth anniversary of the publication of my short story, "A Rocket for the Republic", in the Sept. 2005 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. Publication schedules being what they are, the story went out to mail subscribers in July 2005. It was pretty exciting to see my name in the prestigious magazine.

The story of how I submitted 16 stories to Gardner Dozois at Asimov's in a year and half, and how he finally bought "Rocket", is chronicled in my book "Letters from Gardner", which is a finalist for Best Related Work in the Hugo awards this year. That was a time.

Gardner retired after he accepted my story, making it the last one he bought. In the spring of 2005, there was a discussion on the Asimov's discussion board regarding the upcoming issues, as the last stories from Gardner's inventory were being published. I said that "A Rocket for the Republic" was the last one he bought.

Gardner confirmed that, posting on April 17, 2005, that "Yes, Lou's "A Rocket for the Republic" was the last story I bought--I figured, hey, after buying THIS, the ne plus ultra of stories, the story of stories, there was no point in going on, and so I hung it up."

Which gave as all a chuckle.

"Rocket" was well-received by Asimov readers and came in this the next year in the annual Readers' Poll in the Short Story category.

A Handful of Books

Saturday Patricia and I went browsing through antique shops in Gladewater (best known in spec fic circles as the birthplace of Joe Lansdale).

Gladewater has a used book store, and I left with a small armful of books for a little less than $20. My haul included:

"Golem 100" by Alfred Bester
"Absolute Magnitude" reprint anthology
"Aliens from Analog" anthology
"Two Crowns for America" by Katherine Kurtz
"The Star-Spangled Future" by Norman Spinrad
Asimov's Science Fiction No. 13, March 1979

But the prize in the bunch is the 1986 edition of Howard Waldrop's first collection, "Howard Who", published by Doubleday. It now joins the reprint published 20 years later by Small Beer Press on my bookshelf.

Press release for "Letters from Gardner"

Oct. 11, 2014 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Letters from Gardner’ chronicles breaking into the writing field

WEST WARWICK, R.I. – The Merry Blacksmith Press has released "Letters from Gardner - A Writer's Odyssey", a collection that features the short stories of an aspiring writer plus correspondence from Gardner Dozois, long-time editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

The book covers a year-and-a-half period when Lou Antonelli was trying to break into the science fiction field. He submitted 16 stories to Dozois, who had been editor of Asimov’s since 1985, before making his first sale.

Dozois retired after accepting “A Rocket for the Republic” in 2004. The book reproduces the correspondence between the editor and author.

“I was the last person who ever went through this process with Dozois at Asimov’s, which is why I thought it needed to be chronicled,” Antonelli said.

The book also covers how the stories were edited and revised after crossing Dozois’ desk as a result of his input, also making it a writer’s manual. All except one story were later published in other venues.

Lou Antonelli subsequently has had 85 short stories and three collections published across the globe.

"Letters from Gardner - A Writer's Odyssey" contains 16 stories and is 246 pages long. It is available through Amazon or directly from the publisher, Merry Blacksmith Press, at orders@merryblacksmith.com.

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For more information, contact John Teehan at Merry Blacksmith Press, 70 Lenox Ave., West Warwick, RI 02893; telephone (631) 903-3389.

Lou Antonelli may be contacted at www.louantonelli.blogspot.com, solacesdaddy@yahoo.com, or 903-257-6573.

Three Chapters wrapped up for "Letters from Gardner"

This weekend I polished off three more chapters of "Letters from Gardner", chapters 11-13 which cover the stories "Rome, If You Want To", "Berserker" and "The Queen of Guilty Pleasures". The manuscript  right now just under 70,000 words. I anticipate three more chapters, plus a prologue, since we're almost at an end of the stories I sent to Gardner, which rest of which are are "The Runner at Dawn", "Pen Pal" (which was a YBSF honorable mention) and then "A Rocket for the Republic".

Taking care of business

I finished the mailing for SASS yesterday evening and it's in the mailbox.  It includes a newsletter and membership roster. With the recent new members who have joined, it was time to update the roster, and this is the first time a membership roster with contact information has gone out to all members. The key thing we are looking for now are volunteers for open positions on the Board of Directors, which include President and the at-large members.

I also took the time to attend to submissions, and dropped stories into the slush pile at Asimov's, Analog, and Ideomancer - a nice trio,  I should say.

Ten tales

This weekend I spent some time getting caught up on my submissions, and I sent out a half dozen stories that had come back in the past few weeks. It is a pretty diverse selection of markets - Bourbon Penn, Buzzy Mag,, Leading Edge, Strange Horizons, Lakeside Circus, and the Fantasy for Good anthology. I already had stories in the slush pile at Asimov's, Analog, Apex and Dark Discoveries.

I already have three stories with contracts signed and ready to print later this year, in Stupefying Stories, the Lorelei Signal, and the Fifth Dimension.

Having 14 short stories published in 2014 really depleted my stockpile, but it also made the upcoming collection "The Clock Struck None" possible.

I've had four stories published so far this year.