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Newsletter
Vol 6, Issue 4 -
October 2003
Masthead
CONTENTS
FROM THE EDITOR'S PEN
Hello, new subscribers and loyal readers!
We have some good news this issue of our
newsletter. The rose & Thorn is the proud recipient of a
Lynx Gold Award. We also were named the Lynx Gold Site of
the Month for September. In addition, we received the Useful
Site Award for 2003 from Preditors & Editors. Someday,
take a peek at our awards page and see how far this effort has
come in a few years. Since July we've also won The Golden
Web, Neovizion Bronze, and AdSoft awards. Many thanks to
Jackie Cornwell for all her hard work in getting us recognized
this way. I'm proud of the efforts of all the staffers
here. They dedicate themselves to excellence and I'm glad to
see their efforts validated by outside sources, such as the groups
giving these awards.
Speaking of staff, we have another person who has
joined our venture. Liam Wilkinson, an accomplished poet,
singer and songwriter, is our first staffer from the U.K.
Liam is assisting in the Poetry department as an Assistant Poetry
Editor. We have staffers from Canada and from many different
parts of the States. Welcome, Liam!
Once again, I'd like to encourage you to spread
the word about The Rose & Thorn. Send this newsletter
out to friends and family, to readers and writers, so that we can
keep growing and keep bringing you the best of the web.
Submissions are staying open for the time
being. Our next issue should be out in December. Do
encourage poets and writers to submit their best in accordance
with our guidelines at the site. Literary/Mainstream are
especially needed, but we're also open to all genres, as well as
articles on the craft of writing. We'd love to see YOUR
work!
If you would like to take an ad in this
newsletter, our rates are quite reasonable! It costs $20 for
a one-time simple ad (more for a sponsor spot). You can find
full details at the site's ad page.
Until the next issue, happy reading!
Barbara
HELP WANTED - POETRY & PROSE EDITORS
If you have writing'editing experience, and a few
hours to spare, The Rose & Thorn is in need of YOUR
help! We have need for one more prose editor to join our
group of dedicated volunteers. If you'd like to be
considered for a spot of Assistant Prose Editor, drop me a line at
B. A. Quinn
telling me a little bout your writing background. We're
an award winning site, but we're also a group of talented writers
who support each other and enjoy helping to showcase new and
established voices. We hope to hear from YOU!
SUBMISSIONS OPEN
The Rose & Thorn is now open to submissions in
all categories. We publish literary, mainstream and genre fiction
of up to 2,000 words. We're also seeking creative essays, poetry,
opinion, and author interviews for our next issue. We're open to
literary and mainstream fiction submissions but we could still use
some quality genre submissions in the categories of: Science
Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Horror and Humor as well as poetry of
all types (limit 3 per submission please). Soon we will be closing
for a bit, but will reopen once our new issue is up around Labor
Day. We urge anyone planning to submit to please visit the website
and read the content in both our current issue and past issues.
You'll get a better feel for the kind of stories our editors seek
and accept. You can view submissions guidelines at: http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/Submissions.html
OF LITERARY NOTE
The listings here are a service provided to, and
for, subscribers. Always check sources carefully and ask for
references when appropriate. The Rose & Thorn cannot assume
responsibility for the sites and services mentioned below.
BURNING WORD
A 'literary art" e-zine. Published well
written poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and novel excerpts up to 2500
words of any subject matter. Welcomes new talent. All
work subject to editing.
URL: http://www.burningword.com/
GUIDELINES: http://www.burningword.com/node/view/427
FELINE
A women's e-zine. Wants "strange,
bizarre, funny, dark, thrilling, and exotic" fiction, and
strongly written non-fiction on subjects such as career success
stories, bad date horror stories, and stories about women with
mega-together lives. Also features a "male artist"
in every issue.
URL: http://www.felinemagazine.com/home.html
GUIDELINES: http://www.felinemagazine.com/guidelines.html
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Come play with Gumball Poetry's newest experiment
in publishing. Each issue Gumball Poetry sends out thousands
of poetry-filled capsules to be placed in our machines. We
send them to New Orleans, Seattle, Missoula, and so on.
Now you have the chance to put a message in one of
those capsules, just as if you were sending a message out to sea
in its bottle boat. Send someone a wish, a request, a
greeting. And do it slowly. By complete
chance. When -- 6 days from now or 6 months from now -- they
receive your message, they'll have a chance to write back.
URL: http://www.gumballpoetry.com/miab
COLUMN
by Janet Miller
WOULD YOU LIKE A LITTLE ROMANCE WITH THAT?
At the last the RWA convention I noticed two
interesting friends. A couple of publishing houses were
announcing lines that were different from the traditional romance,
where the book might include a love story, but it wasn't what
drove the action. For example, one had kick-ass heroines
saving the world, either with or without the help of a hero, and
maybe they had a fling, and maybe they wound up together, but that
wasn't necessarily the point of the story.
In other words, stories that weren't truly
relationship-based fiction with the expected happy-ever-after
ending.
At the same time there were several speakers who
made a point of telling us not to be ashamed of writing classic
love stories where two people experience attraction, occasionally
touch ecstasy, and work through adversity to reach
commitment. Stories that describe the journey to love
everlasting, and where we can be assured that no matter what
happens in the future, this couple will face it together and will
never be alone again.
I can't see any reason to be ashamed for writing
such a story.
So what's going on here? Obviously there is a
shift in the publishing community to provide books with goals
different from the traditional romance. They're looking for
a bigger audience, beyond the fifty-one percent we're told romance
already possesses, breaking into new markets where the audience is
younger and presumably too hip for love stories. Paranormal
and science fiction romance authors are told to write stories with
more outside conflict, where the hero/heroine relationship doesn't
drive the plot. Stories with just a little romance. If
what they want is a science fiction story, why have any romance at
all? Again, it's the bigger audience.
Have you ever noticed that whenever an action
movie gets made from a classic science fiction story one of the
first things modified about the plot is that a love story gets
inserted? If you go back and read the original book for THE
WAR OF THE WORLDS by H. G. Wells at no time does the hero kiss the
girl. I don't think H. G. was against kissing girls, but
romance wasn't really the focus when writing his books and he
wrote to an audience not looking for a love story.
Would it be possible to do The War of the Worlds
as a straight science fiction story? Sure...but think about
how much was added by having the hero search the churches of
downtown Lois Angeles for his missing lover at the climax of the
movie. Adding that little bit to the story allowed the
audience to immediately identify with the plight of our hero about
to die under Martian fire, no longer able to fight, but still
struggling to find his lady so he wouldn't die alone.
He does find her, they embrace, they steel
themselves for the end...which doesn't come because the Martians
have come down with an illness and are dying in their machines.
Why add a love story to straight science fiction?
Answer: it makes the story more acceptable to a larger
audience Viewers want to care about the characters in a
story and the more the characters have to lose the more we will be
sympathetic to them. It's possible to do that without making
a love story, through the potential loss of a child for example,
but the fact is that it isn't enough for just the hero or
heroine's life to be in jeopardy. If you threaten to take
love away and put their future happiness at risk then that really
ups the tension.
Hollywood knows what the "bigger
audience" wants and it's a story that, at its heart, is a
relationship-based story, whether the movie is about aliens,
robots from the future, or time travel.
I hope the publishing houses don't forget that in
their search for the "bigger audience." Maybe the
action drives the plot in these stories, but it's the romance that
makes us care about what happens. If they dilute it too far
we won't care no matter how good the plot is.
So, no, I don't want "a little romance"
with that...I want a whole lot!
Janet
Miller writes novels, short fiction and reviews for a variety
of publishers. Her alter ego, Cricket Starr, writs for
Ellora's Cave. Find out more at: http://www.cricketstarr.com
Submit an article on reading, writing or media
related issues for the newsletter, E-mail Sandra
Merz
Articles should be no longer than 600 words,
although longer articles, if well written and informative, will be
considered.
BOOK REVIEWS
by Sandra Merz and Meredith Morgenstern
Read new books, but reread the old...one is
silver and the other is gold!
BED OF NAILS by Michael Slade
Reviewed by Sandra Merz
Cool, crisp autumn evenings. Wood smoke in
the air and a hint of Halloween just around the corner.
Summer's beach novels are over and now for something you sink your
teeth into. Jay Clarke and his daughter write under the name
of Michael Slade. This dynamic teams takes horror to a new
level.
Your constant companions during this read will be:
Ripper, who is incarcerated in an asylum for the criminally
insane. In his delusional state he believes he can time
travel back to London and become Jack the Ripper. Goth, who
visits Ripper and is instructed by him in the ways of the
occult. Their objective is to murder Zink Chandler, the
Special X investigator for the Mounted Police.
This tale takes us to: Vancouver, B.C., Seattle
for a horror writer's convention, a bus tour past Ted Bundy's
House, a visit to a haunted Satanist cemetery, and to the Cook
Islands. Woven throughout the book are detailed histories
of: cannibalism, (graphic scenes), Captain Cook and the Cook
Islands, the Colony Farm (the asylum for the criminally insane),
and a Hollywood North hotel where anything goes, even
murder. There are grisly murders, sexy women and kinky
sex. This one is destined for the best sellers list.
BED OF NAILS by Michael Slade
Classic Book Review:
DRACULA by Bram Stoker
Reviewed by Meredith Morgenstern
Forget the dozens or so movie versions of Dracula
-- Irish author Bram Stoker's gothic thriller has enough blood,
suspense, and terror to keep anyone up at night. Written
during the English Victorian period in 1897, the novel still
manges to hold 21st century audiences in thrall with its tale of a
pale and mysterious count from Transylvania, Romania who
terrorizes English society. The book is written in the form
of diary entries, personal letters, and newspaper clippings, and
unfolds in a series of first-person narratives. From the
Count's isolated castle in the Carpathian Mountains to the English
country side and into an insane asylum, the characters in Dracula
tell their tales of the monster that stalks them all. Unlike
the movie versions, in the book Count Dracula is hardly seen at
all. Rather he is felt and feared as the characters
variously hide from him and then, finally, chase him to his home
in Transylvania for one final showdown. Full of old
fashioned Victorian sensibilities and morals, but with plenty of
modern thrills and action, Dracula remains a horror novel
in a classic sense with a real monster and real heroes, and a
story that remains timeless.
DRACULA
by Bram Stoker is available at Amazon.com
~
SANDRA MERZ is an Editor at The Rose & Thorn,
and a Staff Editor at The Rose & Thorn Newsletter.
MEREDITH MORGENSTERN is a Prose Editor at The Rose
& Thorn, and a Senior Editor at The Rose & Thorn
Newsletter.
MARKETS AND CONTESTS
Readers should make sure to check sources
carefully and inquire about references when appropriate. The Rose
& Thorn cannot assume responsibility for the sites and
services mentioned below.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE
Every type of mystery fiction is represented, from
the classic whodunit and the hard boiled tale to suspense -- and
everything in between. For a taste of what's inside the print
issue, see our story excerpts, author interviews, profiles of
mystery bookstores, and a mystery puzzle.
Currently look for stories up to 14,000 words in
length. Stories must fall into the mystery genre in some way
or another. They are interested in nearly every kind of
mystery; however: stories of detection of the classic kind, police
procedurals, private eye tales, suspense, courtroom dramas,
stories of espionage, and so on. The story should be about a
crime (or the threat or fear of one). Ghost stories or
supernatural tales are occasionally accepted, but those also
should involve a crime. Manuscripts should be addressed
to: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, 475 Park Avenue
South, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10016.
URL: http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/
GUIDELINES: http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/guidelines/
THE COMFORT & POWER OF STORY
CALL FOR INSPIRING TRUE STORIES
A Cup of Comfort is an acclaimed book
series compiled and edited by Colleen Sell and published by Adams
Media, a Division of F+W Publications. Each volume of A
Cup of Comfort is filled to the brim with inspiring true
stories about the relationships and experiences that comfort,
inspire, and enrich our lives. These engaging slice-of-life
stories are written by people from all walks of life and are
carefully selected for inclusion in A Cup of Comfort based
on originality, creativity, and substance.
Now, we are actively seeking submissions for the
following anthologies:
A CUP OF COMFORT FOR SPIRITUALITY
Submission Deadline: 10/31/2003
Selection Deadline: 2/28/2004
A CUP OF COMFORT FOR MOTHERS AND SONS
Submission Deadline: 11/30/2003
Selection Deadline: 3/31/2004
NOTE: Submission and selection deadlines are
sometimes extended. Semi-finalists are selected throughout
the submission period, so early entry is encouraged.
For guidelines mail a SASE to:
A Cup of Comfort Editor
P.O. Box 863
Eugene OR 97440
USA
URL: http://www.cupofcomfort.com
GUIDELINES: wordsinger@aol.com
DOG FANCY
A magazine for lovers of all dogs, both purebreds
and mixed breeds. Articles should help readers be more
responsible, loving dog owners. Mostly freelance written;
welcomes new contributors. No poetry, fiction, or articles
in which dogs speak like people. No tributes to dead dogs or
beloved family pets. Queries only: no unsolicited
manuscripts. Buys First North American serial rights on an
exclusive basis, non-exclusive electronic rights, and
non-exclusive right to use the article, author's name, image, and
biographical data for advertising and promotions. Payment
varies with quality and length of article, and quality and number
of author-supplied photographs.
URL: http://www.dogfancy.com/dogfancy/
GUIDELINES: http://www.dogfancy.com/dogfancy/detail.aspx?aid=3530&cid=3506
SPECFICWORLD.COM
Founded in 1999, SpecFicWorld.com has become one
of the top websites for speculative fiction fans and
writers. The detailed website offers thousands of helpful
links to several publications and resources from around the
globe. SpecFicWorld.com also publishes Rogue Worlds Magazine
and the SpecFicMe! Market Newsletter, which pays 1
cent/word. In addition, SpecFicWorld publishes a variety of
fiction and poetry collections as well.
URL: http://www.specficworld.com/
GUIDELINES: http://6.4.410.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=b751448838e83f9f83ca3d6cbdc1f113&lat=1063663174&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2especficworld%2ecom%2f
GLIMMER TRAIN VERY SHORT FICTION AWARD
November 1st - January 31st. Results on May
1st.
Reading fee: $10 per story.
Stories not to exceed 2,000 words.
original, unpublished very short stories
URL: http://www.glimmertrain.com
GUIDELINES: http://www.glimmertrain.com/vershorficaw1.html
THE WRITER'S DIGEST 4TH ANNUAL SHORT SHORT
STORY COMPETITION
We're looking for fiction that's bold,
brilliant...but brief.
Send us your best in 1,500 words or less.
But don't be too long about it--the deadline is Monday,
December 01, 2003
URL: http://www.writersdigest.com
GUIDELINES: http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/short_story.asp
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Literary accomplishments by our very own readers
~
THE GOLDEN ASHTRAY by Joan Banks
Joan Banks announces that her first
novel, The Golden Ashtray, has been receiving excellent reviews
since its release. A story of one woman's journey through
life and love -- make that loves (many of the events are taken
from real life) - with a substantial amount of literary license,
of course. Numerous comments from readers indicate the
reason they liked the book so well is that they can relate to the
story at some point in their own lives. Covering only twenty
years of her protagonist's life, a sequel is already being
written.
The
Golden Ashtray by Joan Banks is available from Amazon.com
or your local bookstore.
CARLOS LOPEZ will be chronicling his
transition from college life in Orlando, Florida to the Big Apple
as part of Gotham Gazette's Newcomer Weblogs. His adventures
will be published once a month until he moves in December, and
then every Friday.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/weblogs/lopez
CHRISTINA T. LOPEZ'S first book, Finding
Francis, is now available on Amazon.com. The
true story of a young woman's adventures through post-collegiate
adulthood, Finding Francis is at turns witty, touching, and
easy to read.
KEEPING AHEAD OF WINTER
4100 Nautical Miles Inside America
by Ruth Silnes
Ruth Silnes is a lifelong artist who took a
boating journey in 1965 when she was fifty. Ruth remembers
the yachting journey in her recently completed book KEEPING AHEAD
of WINTER - 4100 Nautical Miles Inside America. As a novice
to boating, she crewed inland waters with her new husband from
Illinois to Florida. She tells her tale with humor, romance
and of their near death experiences.
KEEPING AHEAD OF WINTER can be purchased at:
http://www.ruthsilnes.com
or by calling 1-888-795-4274.
The book is also available at www.amazon.com,
www.BN.com, www.borders.com
and your local bookstore.
To read excerpts of the book, please visit: http://www.ruthsilnes.com
The book is 249 pages long.
ISBN: Hardback - 1-4010-3510-89
Soft cover - 1-4010-3509-4
THE READER'S MAILBAG
Your feedback is welcome! Letters to the
editor should be sent to any of the following email addresses:
BAQuinn@aol.com
or otterpoet@yahoo.com
THE BUZZ
Keep up-to-date on the writing profession
with news and workshops.
~
GREEN TENTACLES
Green Tentacles provides business resources
for authors in the speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy,
horror) industries. Their goal is to offer genre
professionals and businesses the additional tools, resources, and
information that they can use to succeed in their endeavors.
The service offers website design, business information, and
graphic design.
URL: http//www.greententacles.com/
WHAT WE ARE UP TO
When the staff at The Rose & Thorn aren't busy
hunched over a corner desk gleefully searching and editing through
piles of prose and poetry, you'll sometimes encounter them having
their merry way with words.
Check out the following:
THE ROSE & THORN LITERARY E-ZINE is
the winner of the Lynx Gold Award and Golden Site of the Month for
September 2003! Thank you to our Web Mistress, Jackie, for
all her hard work, and to the entire R&T staff for their
contributions to a wonderful site!
URL: http://www.lynxawards.com
~
THE ROSE & THORN LITERARY E-ZINE is
also the winner of Preditors & Editors September 2003 Useful
Site Award! We are also listed as a P & E Site of
Distinction. It is an honor to us all to be given this
distinction by such a prestigious site.
URL: http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubaw.htm
~
SANDRA MERZ's memoir, "Who's Aunt
Ruby?" was published in the summer issue of the muse
apprentice guild. Her story can be read at :
http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/summer_2003/1flash_memoirist/sandra_merz/home.html
~
JERRY MCCARTY's new book, "George, A
Dog to Treasure," is now available at Treasured-dog.com.
Jerry says:
Five years ago I was handed divorce papers.
My wife got the house, the money and the dog. For three
years I really missed that dog. Two years ago I saw a notice
on the wall of the St. George, Utah library about an Australian
Shepherd at the Humane Society, a purebred, but too active for the
lady who'd left him at the pound on her way through town.
The dog and I loved each other at first glance. I named him
George and took him home. He was so entertaining I started
writing stories about his antics and the stories became
"George, A Dog to Treasure." It is written to
entertain youngsters 12 to 80 and is available at http://www.treasured-dog.com/
~
For the past few years, as LDRSNOVLPapa, I've
served as poetry board manager of The Writers Block of AOL's
Amazing Instant Writers site. The Writers Block is an
interactive site where poetry, stories, essays, and even novel
ideas can be critiqued or simply tweaked to make them more
accessible to other readers. However, this service was
available only to AOL subscribers. Nobody else could even
get in to see what was being offered, let alone contribute.
FINALLY, NOVL Papa, known around these parts as
the heretic coyote, has broken out of the AOL box to provide
poetic insight here at The Rose & Thorn Ezine. As one of
the R&T poetry editors, I have often wished I could express
why some poems are accepted and others rejected for
p9ublication. While some poems require major body work, many
contain minor flaws that make a difference in the final cut.
So, drive your poetry into our new Poetry Pit-stop for a final
tune-up before submitting it or just to share it.
A few such poems have gone on to win national
contests after a visit to the Writers Block. Who knows what
kind of difference our shared commentary might make for
yours? Certainly, nobody ever created perfect art while
working in a vacuum. The greatest authors have all made
judicious use of interactive input from their compatriots.
Here is the kind of potential help others pay big bucks for.
Here we ask nothing other than that you offer the same
consideration to others. The help others gave me got me
started. Now I'm returning the favor. This is your
chance to share in the same interactive community.
Wil Hough
Editor
hereticcoyote@aol.com
~
The Rose & Thorn's Webmistress and prose
editor, J. M. Cornwell, has a book reviewed published at The
Celebrity Cafe. Read her review of R. J. Kaiser's BLACK
SHEEP.
URL: http://thecelebritycafe.com/books/full_review/109.html
She also has two pieces published at the Muse
Apprentice Guild, "Prejudice" and "Memories of
Light", as well as the serialization of her upcoming novel,
http://www.S, which can be read at:
URL: http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/summer_2003/1prefatory/home.html
URL: http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/summer_2003/1serializations/jm_cornwell/home.html
ADVERTISEMENTS
The Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l
This free site hosts thousands of free writing
resource links in an online database. It offers education,
daily news, a writer's store, creativity advice and writing
forums, to name but a few of the free resources here. Sign
up today and receive the complete written works of Mark
Twain. FREE!
URL: http/www.fwointl.com
~
40 FREE POETRY CONTESTS: FREE ONLINE GUIDE
http://www.winningwriters.com/?rt
Get access to Winning Writers' online guide, The
Best Free Poetry Contests, when you subscribe to our monthly email
newsletter. The guide is free and the newsletter is,
too. We've found over 40 quality poetry contests that cost
nothing to enter. We'll keep your email address
confidential. Subscribe today.
URL: http://www.winningwriters'com/?rt
CONTACT
INFORMATION
If you like the e-zine and its contents, feel free
to forward the link to your associates and friends who might enjoy
the same.
As always, thanks!
Comments or questions? Email
us! We
love to hear your feedback so drop us a line.
Until next time! Happy
Reading!
The Staff Of The Rose & Thorn
If this message was forwarded to you, then please
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Comments or suggestions? Email: B.
A. Quinn
STAFF
B.
A. Quinn -- Managing Editor and Publisher
Jason Fryer
-- Content Producer and Newsletter Senior Editor
Meredith
Morgenstern -- Editor and Newsletter Senior Editor
Sandra
Merz -- Editor
and Newsletter Editor
J. M.
Cornwell -- Chief Webmistress and Prose Editor
S. Schafer --
Editor and Board Coordinator
L.
Longstreet -- Editor and Webmistress
C. Garza
-- Senior Editor - Poetry
W. Hough
-- Editor and Newsletter Coordinator
Dianna Heinz
-- Webmistress
Jerry McCarty
-- Editor
Dave Murray --
Prose Editor
Kathleen
Allen -- Prose Editor
Pat. St. Pierre --
Poetry Editor
Liam Wilkinson
-- Poetry Editor
Tell a friend about The Rose & Thorn
Newsletter! It's FREE to all readers, writers and media
professionals. You're encouraged to re-circulate the
newsletter in its entirety. E-mail
B. A. Quinn
for related questions.
SPONSOR/ADVERTISING INFORMATION
E-mail J.
M. Cornwell or send a blank Email
SUBMISSIONS
Contributions are encouraged! We welcome article
submissions related to reading and writing to feature in our next
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A. Quinn
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