Various & Sundry
A few bits and pieces before normal service resumes
Near the end of my holiday in Torino, Italy, a short various & sundry post about the shape of things to come. It’s why I have been quiet this week—I wanted to enjoy a holiday feeling without pressure to post on Substack. I return home this weekend, so next week normal service will resume.
Even though I am serialising two novels at the same time here on Substack, I do still write short pieces, as well. I even have quite a few still to sell—the submission process is ongoing—and sometimes, indeed, I do sell the odd one. Here are the latest acceptances:
My essay “Time, Life, Consciousness—An Emergent Symbiotic Interaction” will appear in Time and Propinquity, edited by
and David Mathew, published by Montag Press. The final proofs have arrived and I’ve sent my corrections. Final day for alterations is September 30, so I’m hoping for an October release. This anthology is a mix of essays, fiction and poetry.Thanks to David Mathew for inviting me, and this essay embodies what I’m trying to do on this very Substack—the Divergent Panorama—that is, it starts from a small perspective, a very local point of view and then gradually expands to the bigger picture, hoping to capture a holistic snapshot of reality.
My story “Zen and the Art of Gaia Maintenance” is slated to appear in Android Press’s 2022 Best of Utopian Speculative Fiction anthology. Last I heared was a release in September, but since they’re busy with Mothersound, the Sauútiverse anthology (42 days and $2250 to go on the crowdfunder), I suspect that will slip to October, at least. Well, hopefully this year (it would be somewhat awkward to release a “Year’s Best” of 2022 in 2024).
Update: according to this Tweet, pre-orders will start October 10, and release is planned for December. I live in hope.
My story “The Oracle at Tau Ceti” is slated to appear in Tomorrow’s Hope edited by Bart Kemper and William Joseph Roberts from Three Ravens Publishing. It’s announced as ‘Coming Soon . . .”, so here’s to hoping it’ll be out before Christmas. It also contains essays, so maybe mixed anthologies are becoming a thing?
I have a trio of essays about the Simulation Hypothesis ready, but they tie in very tightly to a story that I’m tring to sell, so I’m withholding them until the story is published. It came close to acceptance in a major anthology, but you know how it is, close means rejected. It’s already off to the next one.
Finally, as short (non-)fiction goes, I’ve had a story accepted in a major anthology that is still in the process of making the final acceptances, so I can’t say much more right now. It’s slated to be released next year, when I will announce it and my story. Excited for this one.
Typically, during my holidays, I work on my longer fiction projects (novels or novellas). In Torino, I managed to put the last words into a novella called “The Cryptomancers at the Heart of the Galaxy”, whose final—unpolished rough draft—word count is 33K words (this novella is set in the same Universe as my ‘Consensual Reality’ trilogy). In a flash of inspiration I also wrote a 1,000 word short story, that’s now doing the rounds. Then I continued with the third novel in my ‘Consensual Reality’ trilogy called “The Constructors of Consensual Reality”, of which I’ve now written 38K words (I expect the novel to be about 100-120K words, depending on how it goes).
Thus, an update on the state of things with regards to my novels:
‘Forever’ duology:
Forever Curious: now being serialised on this Substack: 20 parts posted, 5 more to go;
Forever Thrilled: writing finished, first two chapters proofread, five more chapters to proofread;
‘Replicant’ duology:
“The Replicant in the Refugee Camp”: now being serialised on this Substack: 33 parts posted, 17 more to go;
“The Replicant, the Mole & the Impostor”: writing finished, proof copy received from copyeditor;
‘Consensual Reality’ trilogy:
“The Three Reflectors of Consensual Reality”: writing finished, checking out suitable copy editor;
“The Transcendence of Consensual Reality”: writing finished;
“The Constructors of Consensual Reality”: about 36K words written;
Which leads to the following planning (as always, subject to change, like an enormously unexpected novel deal with a publisher):
2023:
“Forever Curious” released and serialised on Substack;
“The Replicant in the Refugee Camp” released and serialised on Substack;
2024:
“Forever Thrilled” released and serialised on Substack;
“The Replicant, the Mole & the Impostor” released and serialised on Substack;
2025:
“The Three Reflectors of Consensual Reality” released and serialised on Substack;
2026:
“The Transcendence of Consensual Reality” released and serialised on Substack;
2027:
“The Constructors of Consensual Reality” released and serialised on Substack;
I will add novella serialisations in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Most probably “The Kalinda Principle” (43K words, stand-alone, not in any of the novel settings) in 2025; two shorter novellas plus “Black Swan Hacks” (see below) in 2026 and “The Cryptomancers at the Heart of the Galaxy” (33K words, set in the ‘Consensual Reality’ Universe). Or maybe push “The Cryptomancers at the Heart of the Galaxy” to 2028 because it is set well after the last novel of the trilogy.
For clarity, timeline of the ‘Consensual reality’ Universe:
2100—2115 AD: “The Three Reflectors of Consensual Reality” (novel @ 114K words);
+/- 2133 AD: “Black Swan Hacks” (novelette @ 15K words);
2135—2280 AD: “The Transcendence of Consensual Reality” (novel @ 111K words);
2300—2800(?) AD: “The Constructors of Consensual Reality” (novel TBC1);
+/- 65,000 AD “The Cryptomancers at the Heart of the Galaxy” (novella @ 33K words);
Aren’t you submitting your novels to agents and publishers?
I submitted 100 queries to agents and 6 submissions directly to publishers for “The Replicant in the Refugee Camp” about two years ago. This delivered 3 personal rejections and one partial query (and otherwise standard form rejections or no reply at all). Querying takes a lot of time, as you need to find which agent to query to and if—or when—they’re open to queries. Then each query is expected to be ‘personal’; that is, while each agent will send out a standard rejection, they expect you—the author looking for representation—to go the extra mile, check the agent’s website and social media and provide a query letter with a personal touch.
At a low estimate, I think I spent about 4 hours for each query. So that means I spent 400 hours or 10 working weeks just for querying agents, with nothing to show for it. If I spend the same amount of time on writing, at 500 words per hour I would have finished about two novels2.
So you’ve stopped querying?
I’m giving it one last try with “The Three Reflectors of Consensual Reality”. I’ve sent 63 queries to agents and 10 direct submissions to publishers, so far. I’m gonna call it quits by December 31, 2023 or 100 queries to agents, whichever comes first. Then I’ve wasted about 800 hours (probably more) or 20 work weeks on querying. At current Dutch minimum wage (€12.79) that means 800 hours of hamburger flipping at McDonalds would have landed me somewhat over €10,0003. From January 1, 2024 onwards those hours will go into either writing or self-promotion. I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
Keep in mind that more time for writing also means more time for writing Substack pieces. Many thanks for reading!
To Be Completed;
And I’m not going to mention how much money my day job pays for that time, only that it’s much more than the average advance for a debut novel;
Again, much more than the current average advance for a debut novel;