Life is not fair

I’ve just got an email (well, actually it was last night, but at the speed my brain moves, that counts as ‘just’) informing me that I’ve sold two stories to the estimable Shawna at Realms of Fantasy. Mmm. Stoooories . . .

The two are Leviathan’s Hooks, and Long is the Shadow. (Originally, this was Long is the Shadow of the Moonlit Hills) but I thought the shorter one was snappier. The title of the other comes from Cans’t thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? (it’s in the Bible, dumbass), and has nothing to do with the story at all. Except tangentially. Maybe. Kinda. Well . . . I don’t know, really. It’s that kind of story.

I wasn’t sure RoF would take Leviathan’s Hooks actually; it’s got some nasty horror in it. Not on-screen, but nasty anyway.

From Tangent Online (who are blasting through their ‘to do’ list):

Euan Harvey’s “Wreathed in Wisteria, Draped in Ivy” is a quasi-transcript of a historical document from Han dynasty China, which has been passed down and redacted and edited by at least two different individuals. This might appear to evoke Umberto Eco’s work, but Harvey eschews the metafictional route, instead using the narrative framework of the story-within-a-story simply to give his straight-up historical fantasy/horror story a few more layers for the reader to unwrap. The skill with which he crafts his tale ensures that you’ll enjoy unwrapping those extra layers, and revealing the pattern of the whole. The central story is that of Yu Kung, who, having been told by a sorcerer that he will die in three days, decides to defy death and ends up paying a hefty price for doing so. He tells a Baron his story, and the Baron tells someone else, who writes it all down for a reason that makes sense by the conclusion.

A well written fantasy that elegantly evokes its time and place, weaving mythology into a personal tale of men trying to direct their own fates in a world that asks that they not. The tyranny of their Emperor begins to reflect the tyranny of time and fate.

Could it be . . . ? Is it . . . ? The Tangent Online Seal of Approval? It is! Woot! Cheer! [Applause]!

This is the first review I’ve gotten from them which is positive all the way through. (Apart from possibly the bit about Umberto Eco, but as the reviewer used ‘eschew’, I’m willing to grant a generous degree of license.)

This at the end as well:

A solid issue with no standouts, though Bobet, Mock and Harvey’s offerings impress in their own quiet ways.

Mmm. I impress in quiet ways. Mmm. Shh!

Tangent Online is running a few months behind reality. They’ve just posted a review of the April 2011 Realms of Fantasy:

“By Shackle and Lash,” by Euan Harvey, tells the story of a mysterious prisoner with blue eyes like the warm harvest days of summer. Kemal and Wahid are men of the Mukhabarat, a sort of police organization that serves the Shah, but they abandon their duties and are sentenced to work in the dungeons. It is here that they come across the woman in cell Alef seven. She is weak and sick and has recently soiled herself, but she has her eyes and a mouth that tells the men things they cannot remember and cannot disobey. I am unfamiliar with folk traditions from the Middle East, so it very possible I am missing references; I do know, however, that the story stands on its own. It has a hypnotic quality that should not be denied.

Which is an okay review, I guess. I’m never entirely sure what to make of Tangent; they seem kind of out of step with other review sites. (And generally, they don’t seem too keen on my stuff.)

From Rich Horton in Locus, reprinted* in entirety by Doug Cohen at Realms of Fantasy. Here.

And the review of my story is below:

Euan Harvey’s ‘‘By Shackle and Lash’’ is a strong Persian-flavored story about a couple of soldiers whose cowardice gets them assigned to cleaning duty in a prison – and to dealing with a mysterious woman and, eventually, her hopes to escape to her city – a city long vanished.

Sounds good to me. Better go and buy a copy of the mag. (Follow the link above; you’ll see a link to buy an ecopy of the magazine.)

Wreathed in Wisteria, Draped in Ivy is going to be published in the 100th issue of Realms of Fantasy. Dave Leri has done the illustration, and it’s pretty awesome. In fact, it’s so awesome, I had to shrink it a little, because the first time I posted it,  its sheer power BROKE THE INTERNETS!

My story By Shackle and Lash is out in this month’s issue of Realms of Fantasy. It’s the third short story published in the city of Quysayrah–the first two were The Claw Unseen and The Hand of Afaz. So if you enjoyed those, then get yourself a copy of RoF. It has a cool-looking cover as well.

And . . . it’s already been reviewed by Lois Tilton at Locus. “A strong story of tyranny and freedom,” she says. I think that means she likes it. Which is good–I think it’s a good story. (But I would say that . . . )

One minor point: I’m second on the TOC. When will I make first place? When? When?

But then again, I think they put Harlan Ellison last when he appeared, so maybe second is okay.

Edited to add: Actually, I’ve just seen that cover again. Harlan Ellison got his own billing above every one else. Damn him.

Coming soon to Amazon and others:

I’ve written a lot of short stories and novels over the past five/six years. A lot of them were crap. But, for short stories at least, I’m now at the stage where I can be reasonably confident of selling each story I write. Part of this is writing better, but a lot more of it comes down to recognising problems and knowing how to fix them.

In the past year or so, I’ve realized that the main problem many stories have (and the most difficult thing to correct) is not sloppy prose. Many books for writers focus on this aspect of writing. But it’s both the easiest to fix and the least important. Just read the first chapter of ‘The Bourne Identity’ to understand what truly awful prose is, and how it has very little to do with the story.

Nor is the main problem character background or depth. I’ve read plenty of stories with rounded, fully believable characters . . . but the story didn’t work. Rounded believable characters are great–but so are cartoon sketch characters. R.E. Howard’s Conan is a caricature . . . but R.E. Howard’s stories are still being reprinted (again and again and again), more than 70 years after he shot himself.

No, the main problem with writing short fiction is part that’s least visible to the reader, the underlying structure of the narrative. There are as many ways of thinking about this underlying structure as there are critics/writing coaches. Not all of them work, and some are frankly ridiculously formulaic, but the best sketches of how structure works can explain like nothing else why one story works, while another very similar fails utterly. (I’m not going to write about the arrangement of structure here. If you’re interested in what worked for me, buy this book).

And when you finally get hold of the underlying structure of a story, its moral trajectory, then everything else falls into place.

Last night, I was working on an outline for a short story. I’d been wrestling with it for months–I’d drafted the whole story twice and it still wasn’t quite working. It was okay, but it just didn’t feel right. It felt clunky, contrived, a little clumsy. And I couldn’t work out what it was. It wasn’t until I ditched the entire draft and started again from the central moral conflict in the story that everything fell into place. And it was like fitting together a jigsaw; click, snick, and everything was together and locked tight.

A great feeling. Now all I’ve got to do is type it, but that’s the easy part.

Well, it’s been a looong time since I updated here. The reasons for that are manifold, but the main one is that I now post regular updates on Facebook. If i know you and we’re not linked on facebook, send me a friend request. The email address I’m using there is euan DOT harvey AT gmail.com. Replace the whatsits with the doodads, of course.

For people I don’t know personally, I’ll divide this update into bits. First is health. The cancer seems to be stable at the moment. I’m not getting any new symptoms, but it could start growing again at any time, so I’m not holding my breath or about to announce that I’ve beaten it. The last conversation I had with my oncologist went something like this:

Him: “No symptoms?”

Me: “No.”

Him: “Hm.” [Grins]. “Well, that’s unusual.”

Which I guess is good.

I’m running a lot, which helps my mood and (may) help with keeping the cancer at bay. I’m registered for the Watford Half-Marathon (at least, I’ve sent off my form and they’ve cashed my check, so I guess I am), and I think they still have places. So if you live around Watford, get in there!

For writing, I haven’t touched pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, for a long time, but I will be starting again now I have achieved some measure of mental stability. The impetus came from selling two stories to Realms of Fantasy. I’m going to start with revising a couple of shorts I’ve got hanging around, and then perhaps think about starting something longer.

The family’s all good. My wife is very slowly adjusting to living in the UK. She’s started work now, which gives her much more focus. She complains about being tired–but she’s never really happy unless she’s complaining about something. She’s smiling a lot more, which tells me how she really feels.

I do intend to post more on this blog. So be prepared for a deluge of posts about running, and writing (and cancer).

Best wishes to you all for 2011.

My short stories HALLOWEEN: COMPRISING A CAUTIONARY ACROSTIC OF NINE BEDTIME STORIES FOR READING TO THE TIRESOME OR DISOBEDIENT CHILD is going to be published in the October 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy. The cover for the issue is below:

Realms of fantasy october 2010 cover

Now I want to know why I’m at the bottom again. I’ve got the polar opposite of star billing. Why? Whhhhhhhhhyyyyy?