Science Fiction
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1, 1907-1948: Learning Curve, by William H. Patterson Jr., $29.99
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Starship Troopers [VHS] $1.94 In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire–not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that…

Destination Moon [VHS] $19.89 When production on Destination Moon began in 1949, everything about the project was state of the art. The great science fiction author Robert Heinlein cowrote the script (based on his novel Rocketship Galileo) and served as technical advisor. The film’s astronomical visions were realized by Chesley Bonestell, whose artwork virtually defined the look of space travel at the dawn of the rocket era. …

Tom Corbett-Space Cadet – Vol. 2 [VHS] $19.95 …

Starship Troopers $2.87 In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire–not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that…

Destination Moon $3.24 When production on Destination Moon began in 1949, everything about the project was state of the art. The great science fiction author Robert Heinlein cowrote the script (based on his novel Rocketship Galileo) and served as technical advisor. The film’s astronomical visions were realized by Chesley Bonestell, whose artwork virtually defined the look of space travel at the dawn of the rocket era. …

Starship Troopers $4.98 In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire–not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that…

English Hymn 3 $15.01 …

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of short story pulishers?

I will soon be finished with a short story I am writing. It’s about 4000 words.
My story falls into the mystery and suspense genre. I would like to put together a list of potential publishers/magazines. I would appreciate any advice from other people that have submitted their short fiction work.
Thanks,
Rachel

With all due respect have you even bothered to do the research for yourself? You come in asking for a short story publishers with no indication you’ve done some of the work yourself.

Check out “The Writer’s Market” for information on short story and full-length manuscript publishing. This is the writer’s bible and it will benefit you greatly to do your homework thoroughly.

How to Publish Your Short Story

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Row 22, Seats A & B CD Set (Canfield & Mackenzie Publishers) $29.95 Seventeen short stories from the “Row 22, Seats A & B” series that appears in “Hemispheres,” United Airlines’ in-flight magazine. Read by Scott Brick, these stories include thrillers, spy stories, and love stories. “Best Man Wins,” was chosen for by Nelson DeMille for Houghton-Mifflin’s “Best American Mystery Stories — 2004″; the Chicago Sun-Times described “A Schedule to Keep” as “A deeply movin…

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Outdoors calendar: Published Aug. 15
- Niagara River Anglers Association has canceled its regularly scheduled meeting for the third Monday in August. The next NRAA meeting will be in October.
Star Trek: Frontier episode 1 Intro

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The Long And The Short Of The Short Story

Congratulations! You’ve spotted a great short story competition and decided to enter. You’ve had a go at a few short stories in the past and you’ve been wanting to tackle a novel for ages, but the idea was way too daunting so you’ve just shoved that to the bottom of your life’s “To Do” list. A short story is a much better idea, isn’t it? It’s just like writing a novel only shorter. Right?

Not exactly!

It’s been said that it’s not that a short story is long, it’s that it takes a long time to make it short. The idea that a short story is just a mini novel is an idea that will mean certain death to the success of your short story, before you’ve even written the first sentence.

There is an art, and a process to writing a short story, just like there’s an art and a process to writing a novel, a non-fiction book or an essay. Success is a matter of knowing the basic principles, and then applying these to write the best short story you’re capable of.

The question is, do you have the stamina to make your story short?

That question is easily answered by walking step by step through the writing process.

1. Planning

No matter what you are writing, you need to have a plan. Would you attempt to build a house without plans? Or would you set sail on the high seas without a map and compass? Writing stories is exactly the same. Set out without a plan and you will undoubtedly become lost in a forest of your own words.

Some simple questions to ask yourself at this early stage include:

* Who is your main character and what is their predicament?
* What do they want? How can they get out of their predicament?
* Who or what is stopping them getting what they want?
* How can you apply pressure to your character to force them into making tough choices in pursuit of their goal?
* What will your character learn over the course of the story?

Beginning by answering these few questions will help you know who your character is, what they want, and how they are going to go about getting it.

2. Writing

Once you have a plan for your story you are ready to write it. When you are writing, you are just writing. You are not editing and you are not planning, You are writing. This specifically means that you don’t stop to wonder if “this way sounds better than that way”. When you are writing you are capturing the essence of the action in your story. You are writing a draft, not a finished product. At this stage don’t even think about your word limit. Just write the entire story as you have planned it. We’ll take care of the word limit in the editing and rewriting stages.

The writing stage is similar to mining a diamond. When a diamond is mined it is a chunk of rock, with a few glittering pieces to show it is actually a diamond. You don’t mine a beautifully cut and polished diamond from the side of a mountain, do you? No, you have an amazing piece of raw material, which you then take to a jeweler who will cut and polish it to show its beauty to its greatest advantage. In the writing process, the jeweler is the editor.

3. Rewriting

Once you have completed the first draft, the very best thing you can do is walk away. It can be difficult to get any distance from your own work, but it is virtually impossible if you try to plan, write, rewrite and edit your story in one sitting. If possible don’t look at it again for at least another day. This allows your story time to rest and “breathe”, and when you return to it you will see it in a fresh light.

When you are ready, re-read it straight through once without stopping, and without making any changes or marks in the margins. Once you’ve finished the first read, ask yourself one question: did I write the story that I set out to write? If the answer is no, don’t panic. It’s amazing how the real story you are meant to write comes out in the writing. At this stage your main focus is to ensure that the intention of the story equals the result. In other words, the story has to make sense, and must flow from beginning to end, with all questions raised at the beginning being answered by the end. It is quite common to do comprehensive rewrites of the first few scenes, as the story you really wanted to write didn’t surface until after you’d really got cracking. That’s ok. Just go back and rewrite any scenes you need to, to make the story flow from beginning to end.

Some other important questions to ask at this stage are:

* Are there any great leaps in time or place? It is generally best to keep these leaps to a minimum in a short story.

* How many characters do you have? It’s never a great idea to have more than three major characters at the most, and I’ve read great short stories where there is only one. Save the huge cast for your novel.

* Does the story continually move forward? It’s very easy to have two or maybe even three scenes showing the same thing about your character. A scene is a unit of change – if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it needs to be cut or rewritten.

So rewriting is re-seeing and re-sculpting. The main purpose of this stage of the process is to make sure the story makes sense. There is a logic to story, and if there are any great leaps in time or place, you may need to add some small linking phrases. Once you are happy that the story flows in sequence you are ready to move to the final phase: editing.

4. Editing

You now need to step entirely out of your creative right brain and into your logical and analytical left brain, to refine and polish your story.

Firstly, look at your word count. Are you way over, way under, or pretty close to the mark? Never submit a story that is over the word limit. Respect the requirements of the competition and keep within the word limit.

Now read your story again, this time with your red marker in hand and a critical eye on the page. Some questions you need to ask at this stage are:

* When does the action begin? This is where your story begins. It’s tempting to “set the scene” and “show character” but the reality is, you don’t need to. The story always begins where the action begins. If there is anything that needs to be explained you haven’t written your action properly.

* Is all the action on the “spine” of the story? Edit out any superfluous material. Again, save it for your novel.

* Show don’t tell. This means, don’t tell us about someone, show us their character by putting them into difficult situations and let us discern their character by the choices they make.

* Edit out all explanation. As a general rule, ask yourself, “is it an image?” If it’s not it’s probably explanation and needs to be cut.

* Is there a “solution” to the story? Does the story deliver what it promised?

* Now is the time to ask, “is this the best way to say this?” If not, write it again, and say it better.

You may find yourself rewriting, editing, rewriting, editing over and over. This is completely normal! Most good short story authors do at least 15 drafts of their short stories before they are happy with the result.

So, you’ve made it through the process and you’re ready to send your story off to the competition. Make sure you double space it, that the font size is big enough to read easily and that you’ve put enough postage on the envelope!

And good luck!

About the Author

Suzanne Harrison is the Director of Writers Central, which offers online creative writing, short story, novel and screenplay courses, plus a vibrant community forum where members share news, reviews and tips, enter competitions and receive 24/7 feedback on their work.
http://www.writercentral.com.au

7 Short Stories

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Precious Tribes, Vicious Lies: Short Stories, Essays an $37.91

SHORT STORIES AND ESSAYS by W J ALEXANDER 1937 HC $1.99

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35 Classic Beyond the Fringe Old Time Radio Broadcasts on DVD (over 2 Hours 43 Minutes running time) $11.99 This unique old time radio DVD collectible features 35 digitized reels of classic Beyond the Fringe radio broadcasts and over 2 Hours 43 Minutes of total running time on 1 DVD. Take a journey back through radio broadcasting history with this large audio library of OTR memorabilia. The golden age of old time radio has been rescued, digitized, and packaged into a gift set that any classic radio love…

38 Classic Jack London American Author Old Time Radio Broadcasts on DVD (over 15 hours 40 minutes running time) $11.99 This unique old time radio DVD collectible features 38 digitized reels of classic Jack London radio broadcasts and over 15 hours 40 minutes of total running time on 1 DVD. Take a journey back through radio broadcasting history with this large audio library of OTR memorabilia. The golden age of old time radio has been rescued, digitized, and packaged into a gift set that any classic radio lover can…

7 Classic The Max Ferguson Show Old Time Radio Broadcasts on DVD (over 92 Minutes running time) $11.99 This unique old time radio DVD collectible features 7 digitized reels of classic The Max Ferguson Show radio broadcasts and over 92 Minutes of total running time on 1 DVD. Take a journey back through radio broadcasting history with this large audio library of OTR memorabilia. The golden age of old time radio has been rescued, digitized, and packaged into a gift set that any classic radio lover can…

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary $11.87 Featuring David Sedaris’s unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life. In “The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck,” three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. I…

Cane $6.64 “[Cane] has been reverberating in me to an astonishing degree. I love it passionately; could not possibly exist without it.” —Alice Walker A literary masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance, Cane is a powerful work of innovative fiction evoking black life in the South. The sketches, poems, and stories of black rural and urban life that make up Cane are rich in imagery. Visions of smoke, su…

The Seagull Reader: Stories (Second Edition) $22.16 Less than half the price of full-length anthologies and more economical than most value editions, The Seagull Readers are a portable and inexpensive alternative to bulky anthologies. Each volume offers an inviting mix of classics and less familiar pieces, complemented by concise genre introductions, short headnotes and annotations, brief author biographies, and a glossary of terms. The Read…

There Are A Variety Of Benefits Of Free Url Shortening Services

Today URL shortening is becoming popular in internet marketing like affiliate and social network marketing. URL must always be shot to avoid the errors while typing and remembering.

If URL is short then it is easy for you and especially for others to remember it and write it too. If URL is longer then there may be possibilities of making mistakes while writing the URL and it will land you in a huge trouble

To overcome this problem the best option is to use a link shortening services. There is lot of URL shortening services which converts yours longer ugly URLs into a short and sweet URL. TinyUrl, BudUrl and Bit.ly are just 3 out of hundreds of free URL shortening services available at your disposal. However, StumbleUpon’s latest invention. Thus, URL shortner service has greatly helped many web browsers to shorten their longer URLs to simple, short and sweet URLs. You save ample of time as now there is no spelling error or confusion while typing a tiny URL.

Tiny URL is resultant from TinyURL.com, which is the first famous URL shortening service Most URL shorteners convert long webpage address into short URL consisting of a random of letters and numbers. Other URL shorteners allow you to customize your desired URL in such a way that you retain your keyword for that specific webpage. By retaining your keywords in your URL, you can make people to visit your site and make them to remember your Webpage address for their further visit.

One of the general concerns about using a URL shortener is that it affects google ranking and search engine optimization. Your site page rank is greatly improved as you promote them more often with the aid of URL shorteners. Moreover, using URL shortener like urlCRUNCHER which allows you to customize your link and retain your keywords, your Google page rank is further enhanced and optimized your site among search engines.

Everybody should use five or six competing link shortening services dividing sites fairly evenly between them. This will help mitigate the problems should one of them crash. I hope you realize the difference this could make; you could be giving someone else all of your sales already. Instead of making money from your sales funnel you might be just handing it off to someone else.

I have heard horror stories of people who used redirection services such as TinyURL and Bit.ly – apparently they are notorious for often screwing up affiliate links and not giving you credit for any sales. Most other link shortening services will have these problems as well.

I think you can fairly easily create your own URL shortener. I haven’t confirmed how easily this can be done, but I do know if you “make your own URL shortener” it seems as though it can indeed be done.

About the Author

Gu.ma link shortening service has really proved to be useful to a lot of people who frequently faced a great problem while typing long URLs. Your site page rank is greatly improved as you promote them more often with the aid of URL shorteners.

Masters of Horror – Incident On and Off a Mountain Road

Steampunk Tales Free-#1 $0.99 “Steampunk Tales Free-1″ is a free issue and contains content not found in any other issue of “Steampunk Tales.”$0.99 is the closest we could get on Kindle to release the issue for free. It is available for free in .pdf format on http://www.steampunktales.comEmulating the style of the pulp adventure magazines of the 1920s and ’30s, Steampunk Tales delivers first-run, original fiction written by an…

There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch $0.99 “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch” is a Sci/Fi Soap Opera Short with a touch of horror thrown in. An intergalactic waitress gripes and kripes about her job and the customers until she is faced with the customer from hell. Will she be able to pass with flying colors or fail miserably as she had once before? Find out if the customer walks away satisfied when all is said and done….

Free SF Reader genre and rating guide for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (Blue Tyson’s SF Guides) $0.99 A genre and rating guide by author for over 3200 novels, 20000 short stories, 500 magazines, 600 anthologies and 700 collections of science fiction, fantasy and horror. This is sorted by author and indicates if the work was available for free online.Update June 17, 2010….