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Lots of topics discussed in this panel at ICON in Cedar Rapids, IA, 2013, with Ellen Datlow, Gregory Frost and Nancy Kress.

Funny stories of what not to do when submitting stories

Blending Horror and Humor without losing either element’s effect

Self-editing

Scene breakdowns

When a story goes off the rails “Do not psyche yourself out of writing the start of the story because you don’t know the right place to start it, because trust me it won’t be the right place even if you think it is. You’ll get to the end of the story and you’ll find out, oh, this is what I needed to put in in order to aim the story at the ending I discovered. ” – Gregory Frost (39:40), who has a story in Supernatural Noir , edited by Ellen Datlow.

Strengthening your editing skills for others

A funny story of a Robert Silverberg rejection “letter”

Rewriting stories

How to get on an editor’s blacklist

How a writer should face rejection

Ellen Datlow just released a new anthology, Lovecraft’s Monsters : Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft’s Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous creations—Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more—appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature, and each is accompanied by a spectacular original illustration that captures the monsters’ unique visage.

Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas. The monsters are lovingly rendered in spectacular original art by World Fantasy Award–winning artist John Coulthart (The Steampunk Bible).

Legions of Lovecraft fans continue to visit his bizarre landscapes and encounter his unrelenting monsters. Now join them in their journey…if you dare.

Ellen Datlow’s bio: I’ve been an editor for over thirty years, first in book publishing, but mostly editing short stories for OMNI Magazine and webzine, EVENT HORIZON, a webzine, and SCIFICTION, the fiction area of SCIFI.COM. I currently acquire and edit short fiction for Tor.com and I edit original and reprint anthologies.

Episode 254’s Sponsor: Utopiates Audio Drama on Kickstarter

Sex, Drugs, and Biotech: Welcome to the future, where the only escape is at the tip of a dream needle.

In the near future, science is able to distill human personalities into a drug-form. Called utopiates—a merging of the words utopia and opiate—these drugs allow users to swap personalities with the “mental imprints” of other people. Every user has his or her own reasons for seeking chemical escape, but all soon learn the high price of “soul swapping.” At its core, Utopiates is an unflinching portrayal of human behavior at its most extreme. The first chapter of the Utopiates graphic novel can be read free online HERE.

Created in the spirit of William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick, Utopiates portrays a gene-spliced tomorrow that falls in a dark territory between Blade Runner and The Wire. Based on the hit graphic novel by Josh Finney and Kat Rocha, the Utopiates audio drama will be a full-cast adaptation of the book, produced by AudioComics and starring Denise Poirier, best known as the voice of MTV’s Æon Flux.

This project will be helmed by Audie Award-winning director Bill Dufris and performed by both veteran and emerging voice actors. This is not an audiobook, but rather an audio film with a full-cast, immersive sound design and an original score by BBC composer Jonathan Sharp. Choice songs from bands Bio-Tek, New Mind, and Slingshot Venus will appear in the production. Going above and beyond the classic radio plays of old, Utopiates will bring the art form into the 21st Century, applying the same level of detail, sound design, and effects we’ve come to expect from a high-budget film.



Help fund the Utopiates Audio Drama on Kickstarter.

www.utopiatescomic.com www.audiocomicscompany.com www.01publishing.com

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Timothy C. Ward

Executive Producer

Timothy C. Ward has been podcasting since 2010, first as AudioTim, and now with AISFP. His first publication, Cornhusker: Demon Gene (A Short Story) , is available on Kindle for $.99. His novel in progress, Order After Dark, is a Post-apocalyptic Fantasy set in the rift between Iowa and the Abyss. Sign up to his author newsletter for updates on new releases.

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