New short fiction releases
Category: Writing and Poetry

Worlds of their Own, a reprint anthology from Planetside Books, edited by James Lowder, offers creator-owned short fiction by writers best known for their work in shared-world settings. Contributors include R.A. Salvatore, Michael Stackpole, Ed Greenwood, Monte Cook, and Gary Gygax.  My story, "The Lorelei," is fantasy-tinged historical fiction set on the banks of the Rhine river before the coming of the Romans.

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Book Cellar

Books are meant to be read, not stored in boxes under an author's pool table.  Recently I unpacked all the boxes of extra copies and posted an inventory on my website, www.elainecunningham.com  If you're interested in getting a signed, personalized copy for yourself or as a gift, check out the new Book Cellar page to see what's available. The list on this page is up to date; I've been changing it whenever a request goes through. 

If you're interested in ordering a book, please drop me an email at elainecunningham (at) cox (dot) net. 

Best,

ec

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Realms of War

The latest Forgotten Realms anthology officially goes on sale today.  This collection of tales spans nearly two thousand years of Realms history and includes such writers as R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, Richard Lee Byers, Paul Kemp, and Lisa Smedman.  My story, "Redemption," takes place during Tethyr's War of Reclamation, and it features the moon elf rogue Elaith Craulnober.  It's also a teaser for my upcoming novel, Reclamation, which will be out in November. 

Hope you enjoy the anthology. 

Best,
ec

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Lilith anthology, open call

I'm currently reading stories for Bound is the Bewitching Lilith,  an anthology of tales that include the Lilth mythology in some form.  This will be published by Popcorn Press, a small press house dedicated to the quirky storytelling. The deadline is August 1, 2007.  Electronic submissions only.  For more information, follow this link.

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Best of the Realms Book III: The Stories of Elaine Cunningham

That's the title of the collection of Forgotten Realms stories released on May 8.  It should be finding its way onto the shelves this week, and it's available at Amazon.com.  Here's a link to the product page.

This collection has most of the stories published in previous Forgotten Realms anthologies, four stories originally published in Dragon Magazine, and three new tales.  Each story is prefaced by a new, behind-the-scenes introduction. 

I've been wandering the streets and forests of Faerun for (yikes!) seventeen years now, and the stories in this volume visit most of my characters and range from the cities of the northlands to tropical Halruaa.  I'm delighted and grateful to have these diverse tales gathered into one volume. 

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On Tuesday, the elves take over

Or more specifically, Tuesday is Gwen's day to post on Magical Minxes, a blog shared by six paranormal/urban fantasy writers posting in character. In addition to the elf, we have two succubi, a werewolf, a vampire, and a human demon hunter.  In short, add a Libertarian and we'd have something for everyone.

Hope you'll stop by! 

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Gwen Gellman interviewed at CAT AND MUSE

I read a number of author blogs.  Some of them offer valuable advice and insight into the publishing industry.  Some posts are interesting essays about important issues. Some blogs I read for the same reason I might pick up the phone and call a friend--just to catch up, see how they're doing.  But every now and then, I come across a blog that I read simply because it's creative and different and fun.  Jackie Kessler's blog falls into that catagory.

It's entitled CAT AND MUSE, and it's the transcript of an imaginary radio talk show. The host is Jezebel, the central character of Jackie's recent book Hell's Belles, and her sidekick is Melopmene, the Muse of Tragedy, who can only speak in cliches and pop cultural references. (Heh. I've met people like that.)  Jez interviews characters from other paranormal/urban fantasy books.   I had a good time with the interview, and I think it gives a pretty good sense of the character. 

Here's a link to CAT AND MUSE.  Enjoy!  

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The Counselors & Kings trilogy

The Forgotten Realms has been around for over 25 years, and has provided the setting for well over 100 novels.  From time to time, some of these novels will go out of print.  Some will be reissued later, often with new covers, others will disappear. Since it's difficult to know what the future holds for any OOP novel, I thought I'd let readers know that the Counselors & Kings trilogy is now OOP.  There are still a few copies floating around, so if you've been thinking about adding this story to your Realms collection, now would be the time.

The Magehound:  Book 1

The Floodgate: Book 2

The Wizardwar:  Book 3

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For Forgotten Realms fans: Espruar 3.5 font

For years now, I've been signing Forgotten Realms books with an elven blessing, written in Espruar calligraphy.  Yeah, I know--fairly high geek factor there.  Because I've been around since shortly after the earth cooled, my default mode is second edition, and thus I've been using the original Espruar script.  Make that the OLD Espruar script.  For good or ill, the folks behind 3.5 created a New!  Improved! Espruar.

Not that the old script couldn't stand a bit of tweeking. The "o" looks like the back view of a seated, butt-neckid halfling who's reaching down to pick up a fallen eclair.  But the "g" is a lovely little stylized harp, and the "d" is extremely nifty, and I'm also very fond of  "a" and "h."   ::sigh:: 

The new script has a more unified, flowing look, and it has the benefit of "looking Elvish" to folks who are familiar with Tolkien's Qenyar scripts.  If you're interested in seeing, and perhaps using, this new script, here's a link to a free download of a Espruar 3.5 font.

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Dear Author: I have an idea for a book....

I suspect that most published writers get emails that contain some variation on that theme. There are lots of people out there who want to write a book and aren't sure how, so they ask an established writer to a) take the idea and run with it, or b) form a collaboration and write the book together, or c) become a teacher/mentor/editor who will walk the aspiring writer through every stage of writing, submitting, and publishing.

Most of the time a brief note serves to explain why I can't do any of these things. But every now and then, someone writes an email (or several emails) that seem to require additional explanation. This morning I sent this to an aspiring writer in a small eastern European country. My intention was to be both helpful and informative, because I believe that an understanding of the publishing industry is more valuable than vague dreams of easy success. Even so, it's difficult to dash someone's dreams, however unrealistic they may be.

If you were an aspiring writer, would you find this helpful? Too harsh? Your comments and observations would be most welcome.

*****************************

Dear Aspiring Writer:

Unfortunately, I am not able to read and critique the unpublished work of other writers, so I did not open the file you attached to your first email. There are freelance editors and book doctors who do this sort of thing, but it is not what I do. Writing is my job, and my writing time is committed to meeting deadlines on contracted projects.

Have you considered joining a writing group? It may be helpful to you to have others read and comment on your work. If you are unable to find something of this nature near your home, the Internet is a wonderful resource. With a little searching and some trial and error, you should be able to find a group that will be helpful and supportive. This may also help you to improve your English. But here's another thing to consider—have you considered writing in your native language?

The Star Wars editor at Del Rey is XXX, but to be very honest, I would not suggest that you contact her. Hundreds of professional writers would love to write books for the Star Wars series. You would be competing with people who have already published books, people for whom English is a first language. If your story is not ready for publication, it is too early to approach an editor. Editors work with people whose stories are ready to print, or that will be ready with a little bit of editing. It is not their job to teach people how to write.

If this seems harsh, consider another business, such as real estate. A real estate agent's job is to sell houses. Imagine that I approached a real estate agent and said, "I want you to sell a house for me. I haven't built it yet—in fact, I have never built a house and I'm not sure how. Maybe you could introduce me to one of your builders, and I could tell them what I have in mind so that they could build it for me." The real estate agent would stare at me for a moment, and then say, "But I already work with those builders, and they have their own ideas and they build their own houses." Similarly, the owner of a shoe store sells shoes. That is his job. He would probably be puzzled if someone came to him with leather and tacks and asked him to buy the shoes that could be made with these things. To publishers, ideas and half-written stories are leather and tacks. They want shoes that are ready to sell.

Every published writer had to learn the art and craft of writing somewhere along the way. It is not the job of publishers to teach it, any more than it is the job of art galleries to teach drawing, or fine restaurants to teach people how to make pastry, or the judges of the Winter Olympics to teach beginning skiing. The best advice I can give any aspiring writer is to stop worrying about publication and concentrate on learning how to write. The learning must come first.

I used to teach music before I began writing, and I firmly believe that music provides a good example for how to approach writing. Very few people expect to learn a Rachmaninoff concerto in their first week of piano study, nor do students believe that the first piece they learn will be something they'd want to perform on the concert stages of Prague and Vienna. Similarly, writers must also learn the art and craft of their trade. Start with the basics of language: grammar, syntax, vocabulary. A pianist will not be able to play a Mozart sonata unless he has mastered the ability to play scales. It is the same with writing. Learning to write is not a short or an easy process, but if it is something you truly want to do, it is worth the time and effort it will take to master.

CLOSING WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, signature....

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