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 (just the) "ABNA" Entries "After he got his wish to become a real boy, Pinocchio wanted what every real boy wanted: to be trained by ninjas." Ah, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, where my little novelette Pinocchio is Punching You is currently a semifinalist. Here's the story so far. ABNA: Pinocchio Punched in That Dirty Liar Nose of His February 20, 2008  As suspected, my little novelette that could did not make it to the finals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award thing. But I'm quite pleased with how well it did. Instead of collecting digital dust on my hard drive for the last few months (setting it aside while I worked on other stuff, so I could come back to it fresh for revisions), it collected a quite generous Publishers Weekly review.And I think the good the PW review will do in my cover letter outweighs the negative of telling agents or editors that they aren't the first place I've sent a work. Besides, that damage is pretty much already done with the title of the work so easily available online (try "Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award" in Google; I'm like number 4, after Amazon, Penguin, and The New York Times. Had no idea my blog was that popular, though I don't suspect that search placement'll last as they gear up the publicity machine/the contest reaches its climax, and as I start shutting up about it). I knew that'd be a risk, and that's why it's the only unsold work (I think) I've ever named in my Submission Log. Congrats and good luck to the three finalists I kinda know: online friends Ruth Nestvold and Tom Pendergrass, and fellow Carrborian (Carrboro-ite? Carrborean?) Erica Eisdorfer. Of course I'm incredibly grateful to everyone thoughtful enough to give the excerpt a read and/or to write up comments (though I'm quite glad I erred on the side of minimal publicity this time and didn't beg friends and family for reviews or anything, thus saving most of my Annoying Publicity Tokens for another day/project). You'll hear about Pinocchio again, and more annoyingly, when I place it with a publisher. Hmm. Carrborean, definitely. Carr-BOAR-ee-uhn. It ain't no "Cimmeria, Land of Darkness and the Night," but Alexander the Carrborean coulda been one of Robert E Howard's unpublished tales, dontcha think?
 ABNA: Love Theme from Pinocchio is Punching You (MP3) January 31, 2008
Am I the only person who thinks every book should have a theme song? I've almost changed my own mind after hearing the results of this one. Love Theme from Pinocchio is Punching You MP3. Other formats (Ogg Vorbis, AAC) here. (It so wants to be "You are the last dragon/you possess the power of the glow..." Let's not let the novelette get any further or else I'll be forced to create a music video.)Okay, last blog about Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for a while, likely until ABNA announces the next cut. Obligatory links to Pinocchio is Punching You (free excerpt at Amazon) and all my PIPY/ABNA journal entries.
ABNA: Publishers Weekly Reviews Pinocchio is Punching You January 24, 2008 "In this funny sendup of the classic fairy tale, Pinocchio, having been made a boy, wants one more thing: to be made a ninja. Pinocchio hangs out at the mall, where a bully convinces him that ninja mastery can be had-at a price. The story sharply outlines the oddity of pre-pubescent boys' fixations (ninjas, zombies, petty theft and bra straps), and its playful blend of realism and fantasy is just right. The author has a sharp ear for dialogue and for the unusual highways and byways that adolescent conversations take. It's a clever idea executed ably; lots of laugh-out-loud moments and off-beat humor pepper this fun, inventive romp." --Publishers Weekly Pinocchio is Punching You! Cool, I might be able to sell this. (The above review is based on the entire novelette, not just the posted excerpt.)
ABNA: Carolina Semi-Finalists Unite! January 22, 2008 (Press Release by entrant Matt Musson. Thanks, Matt! And congrats to friend and fellow entrant Mike Jasper, whose novel The Wannoshay Cycle comes out today!)Several Carolina authors have been chosen among the contestants moving on to the semi-final round for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Amazon.com's first writing competition in search of the next great novel. Each semi-finalist has a dedicated web page for their submission on Amazon.com, where customers can now download a 5000 word excerpt of the entry to rate and review. The Carolina semi-finalists are: Mike Jasper of Wake Forest Alex Wilson of Carrboro Erica Eisdorfer of Carrboro Betty Cloer Wallace of Asheville Lockie Hunter of Asheville Douglas A. Sanburn of Asheville Matt Musson of Charlotte K.F. Jones of Charlotte Mai Christy Thao of Charlotte Lena Joy Rose of Matthews Nicole R. Dickson of Greensboro Lou Dischler of Spartanburg, SC Katherine Guckenberger of Charleston, SC Susan Sloate of Mt. Pleasant, SC These Carolina writers are hoping to survive to the next round when the 100 Top Semi-Finalists will be chosen from the regular semi-finalists. The top 100 will be selected by Penguin Publishing taking into consideration Publishers Weekly's ratings of the author’s works along with customer evalutions and ratings of their excerpts posted online. Additionally, customers who rate and review at least 25 semi-finalist excerpts will be entered in the ABNA Customer Review Contest for the chance to win an Amazon Kindle. The three Customer Review Contest winners will each receive an Amazon Kindle, a $2,000 Amazon gift certificate and a Hewlett-Packard. From these top 100 Semi-Finalists – 10 finalists will be selected by Penguin. Excerpts from the 10 finalists will be posted online and Amazon.Com customers will vote to select the Grand Prize winner who will receive a publishing contract and a $25,000 royalty advance.
Continue reading "ABNA: Carolina Semi-Finalists Unite!" Filed Under: ABNA, Journal, Peers & Peerless, Prose and Poetry Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award: Semifinalist January 18, 2008 My novelette Pinocchio is Punching You is a current semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, which puts it in the top 17% or so, and in the running for the next step: Top 100, to be chosen about four weeks from now.You can read and review the first 5,000 words of Pinocchio, and your comments/rating (along with a to-be-posted, likely-weighted review from Publisher's Weekly!) will determine whether it makes it any further in the contest. ABNA is offering some reviewer incentives, and has posted general guidelines about "what makes a good review." To these I'll just add: Don't assume negative reviews are all from shills for other entrants who want their competition to look bad, nor that all positive reviews were written by members of the author's cult. Both will happen, neither are worth anybody's time. Let Amazon sort it out. Much obliged for any reading and/or reviewing you feel like doing, and I think these fine friends o'mine would be, too: Ruth Nestvold, Michael Jasper, Bradley P Beaulieu, Tom Pendergrass, and Laurel Amberdine (whose note on a forum tipped me off to the contest in the first place). 
2008 Submission Log Weeks 1 and 2 January 15, 2008 Submissions 476-481 Fantasy (my 3rd sub there) Helix (1st) Mythic Delirium (4th) Polyphony (2nd) Strange Horizons (16th) Talebones (6th) Rejections 335-339 Fantasy Magazine (33 days) Interzone (74 days) LCRW (35 days on an illustration) The Sun (110 days) Talebones (93 days) Acceptance 72 "Contents" to The Rambler (70 days) Of Interest Finally learning how to do Track Changes in Word for the Shimmer story copy-edit. I'm such a luddite! The no from Fantasy included editor Cat Rambo's note: "mainly because I've got something that's a little too similar in the pipeline," which tells me I'm getting closer there. Should find out today or so whether my entry into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (ABNA for the Google-watchers) made the first cut. Odds are in my favor (taking up to 20% of the entries) compared with most slush piles I end up in, but I've got no expectations. As mentioned here, I mainly submitted it because I needed to set it aside for a few months before the next revision... and always better to let something wait in a slush pile than on my hard drive. Still dealing with the head injury so I'm still happy to let it sit. A few weeks back, during my Christmas convalescence, Amazon.com uploaded a handful of excerpts including mine.... and then took them down quickly. It's as likely that these were used as test entries as it is an indicator that they've made it on some preliminary list, but I wouldn't put money behind either guess.
2007 Submission Log: Weeks 45-46 November 23, 2007 Practically nothing to report. Submissions 456-458 Poetry submissions to Space and Time and the M&SF Haiku contest. An RPG resoure (magical item) to a Paizo promotional contest. First submissions, all. Rejection 320 Strange Horizons (23 days on a poem) Pulled/No Reply 59 Grave Tales, after about a year. Of Interest I have some issues with the copyright policies of the Paizo thing, but I'm looking at this as my last try-and-see in the RPG-writing department, which for a while was a dream of mine. A lot of strikes against me here: I haven't been an active gamer since D&D 2nd edition, and my entry to this first round may not qualify as a "wondrous item" since it has the form (but not function) of an item in another category. I'll talk more about this if I don't qualify (and talk a lot more about it if I do). Got a qualification letter from the Amazon Breakthough Novel Award (ABNA) thing, but that doesn't mean they've made a judgment whether or not my wordcount meets their definition for novel: "if it becomes clear in the future that your entry violates our eligibility requirements..." So a good chance I won't know for sure until mid-January when the semifinalists are announced, and even then I might not know whether a failure to move on is because of quality or ineligibility. The contest is a longshot, especially for a story like this one, but it's not like I've got an endless number of places to send it next. Happy to let it sit, though I can't say that for every submission out there. Things are happening "behind the scenes." Should be back online at full speed with a site revamp, that promised Clarion podcast, and more fun by the end of the year. Got just over a month to make 2007 a net-positive experience.
2007 Submission Log: Weeks 38-40 October 16, 2007 Submissions 428-439 2000 AD (comic script - my 7th sub there) Adbusters (fiction - 2nd) Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (fiction - 1st) McSweeney's (fiction - 5th) Murky Depths (comic script and story-poem - 1st and 2nd) Pulp Planet (comic script - 1st) Shimmer (fiction - 4th) Strange Horizons (fiction - 13th) Talebones (poetry - 5th) Tin House (fiction - 6th) Zoetrope (fiction - 2nd) Rejections 305-309 A Public Space (41 days - my 1st rejection there) Asimov's (24 and 18 days - 17th and 18th) Hardboiled Horror (10 days - 1st) Strange Horizons (38 days - 12th Acceptance 69! Wouldn't you like to know? Of Interest: Can't talk about the acceptance yet, but it could be my biggest sale yet. Not saying it is, just saying it could be. The Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award/contest has surprisingly few red flags (I say "surprisingly;" it's so sad that I have to say that), so I entered something. They say "no short stories" yet they have no minimum wordcount. My submission is a very short novel in the equally-loosely-defined novella/novelette range. I'll find out in November whether it's disqualified. It was quite impulsive of me, and in the throes of sleep deprivation, I'll plead. I think the cap of 5,000 entrants works entirely in the writer's favor, but the main reason I entered was because I needed to set the piece aside for a few months, let it stew while I work on other things. And if my ChiZine sale taught me anything: better to let it wait in a slushpile than on my hard drive. Recent comments from science fiction editors indicate that my attempts at absurdism (in a few of my favorite submission stories) read like realism. Terrible, tedious realism. "If by Godot I had meant God, I would have said God, and not Godot," quoth the Beckett. I'll work on that, or target only tedious realism markets in the future.
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, Shimmer, ChiZine, FutureQuake, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate. Blog Archives 2008 - Clever Label TBA 2007 - BadYearNoCookie 2006 - Clarion! 1st Pro Sale! 2005 - Peers and Peerless 2004 - Telltale Launch 2003 - Dog bites, acting out 2002 - In my mind, I'm going... 2001 - Marriage, Macs, 1st Cons 2000 - Setback, Milestones 1999 - Engaged, Graduated 1998 - Creative Independence     Powered by MT 3.35 MySpace Profile Technorati Profile |
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