The Future is Already Seen
by Katherine Sparrow
Jamais Vu
Mr. Connell put me in a group with three total dweebs for the science competition. I was like no way, I don't want to be part of affirmative action for super-nerds. So unfair!
Then I thought about how I would get a really good grade in Physics, which would be good for college apps.
He put me in a group with Joshua, which felt awkward because we used to be best friends when we were little, which is hard to believe because we are so different now. He used to live next door to me, but his Dad got laid off when we were in 7th and they had to move. We probably wouldn't have stayed friends anyway - that was right around the time Maricela was teaching me how to wear makeup and clothes.
Joshua mumbled, "Hi Kamala," but he wouldn't even look at me when I pushed my desk over and we made a four desk square. I sat next to him and faced his two friends - Spence and Penny - who ignored me like I was the invisible woman. Thanks, hugs and teddy bears to you too. They each had a laptop open in front of them.
Spence chewed on his pen like it was a cigar, wiggled in his seat like a squirrel, and looked at Penny. Penny frowned at her computer screen and squinted at it behind big Velma glasses. Joshua laced his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Shiny 2008
Shiny is going quarterly from Issue 4, which will appear in April.
Subscriptions are now available to buy for 2008 - Issues 4 through 6.
There have been some changes at the editorial desk for Shiny. Ben and Alisa remain the co-editors of the ezine and Tansy will continue to write some non-fiction (introduced in Issue 2) for the magazine.
We are now reading for Issue 4 so please continue to send us your submissions.
Meanwhile.. Issue 3 has finally been released. Subscribers should have already received their copies. Expect some teasers from the stories over the next couple of days.
Subscriptions are now available to buy for 2008 - Issues 4 through 6.
There have been some changes at the editorial desk for Shiny. Ben and Alisa remain the co-editors of the ezine and Tansy will continue to write some non-fiction (introduced in Issue 2) for the magazine.
We are now reading for Issue 4 so please continue to send us your submissions.
Meanwhile.. Issue 3 has finally been released. Subscribers should have already received their copies. Expect some teasers from the stories over the next couple of days.
Shiny 2007 Issues 1 through 3
The first three issues of Shiny formed the 2007 Trio Series.
Issue 1 stories:
"Small Change" by Trent Jamieson
"Close to Death" by Eugie Foster
"The Sun People" by Sue Isle.
Issue 2 stories:
"The Goats are Going Places" by Tina Connolly
"Cracks" by Trent Jamieson
"Blurred Horizons" by Bren MacDibble
Issue 3 stories
"The Future is Already Seen" by Katherine Sparrow
"Light on Water" by Lisa A Koosis
"Some People's Kids" by Sarah Totton
Issue 1 stories:
"Small Change" by Trent Jamieson
"Close to Death" by Eugie Foster
"The Sun People" by Sue Isle.
Issue 2 stories:
"The Goats are Going Places" by Tina Connolly
"Cracks" by Trent Jamieson
"Blurred Horizons" by Bren MacDibble
Issue 3 stories
"The Future is Already Seen" by Katherine Sparrow
"Light on Water" by Lisa A Koosis
"Some People's Kids" by Sarah Totton
Monday, January 28, 2008
Shiny 2 review
Another review up at ASif. This time a more positive one, by Tehani Wessely.
She has plenty to say about the stories themselves, which you can read at the site. My favourite part though is the final line:
What I can say is that anyone who reads it - tween, teen or adult - will find three well-executed stories offering to grab the imagination of the reader and drag them along for the ride
Meanwhile, we're eagerly working on Issue 3, which should be out any day.
She has plenty to say about the stories themselves, which you can read at the site. My favourite part though is the final line:
What I can say is that anyone who reads it - tween, teen or adult - will find three well-executed stories offering to grab the imagination of the reader and drag them along for the ride
Meanwhile, we're eagerly working on Issue 3, which should be out any day.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Review of Shiny 2
Another review of Shiny 2, this time from Daniel Ausema over at The Fix.
Here's a brief snippet of what he has to say:
Based on this issue, Shiny is certainly a great ‘zine to point out to any teen and pre-teen reader you know if you want to get them interested in speculative short fiction
'swhat we like to hear!
He particularly liked Bren MacDibble's story but has some interesting things to say about all three.
You can read the whole review over here.
Here's a brief snippet of what he has to say:
Based on this issue, Shiny is certainly a great ‘zine to point out to any teen and pre-teen reader you know if you want to get them interested in speculative short fiction
'swhat we like to hear!
He particularly liked Bren MacDibble's story but has some interesting things to say about all three.
You can read the whole review over here.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Funny lil' Buffy riff
Check out this great GOP Presidential Candidates versus Buffy Demons riff from Cogitamus
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Shiny Review
Rich Horton has reviewed Shiny in his yearly roundup of the markets.
Shiny is a brand new Young Adult speculative fiction ezine edited by Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner-Roberts and Ben Payne, out of Australia. I think a YA short fiction outlet is a great idea. Two issues appeared in 2007, each with 3 short stories, so a total of 6 short stories, about 27,000 words. From the first issue my favorite was Eugie Foster’s "Close to Death", a lighthearted piece about a literal encounter with Death on an Atlanta freeway. From #2 I liked another lighter piece, Tina Connolly's "The Goats are Going Places", sort of a sendup of "Gossip Girl" type stories about ritzy prep schools, in this case with a heroine whose aunt, a witch, teaches her a lesson.
Four of the six stories were by women, and two of the stories were SF.
Shiny is a brand new Young Adult speculative fiction ezine edited by Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner-Roberts and Ben Payne, out of Australia. I think a YA short fiction outlet is a great idea. Two issues appeared in 2007, each with 3 short stories, so a total of 6 short stories, about 27,000 words. From the first issue my favorite was Eugie Foster’s "Close to Death", a lighthearted piece about a literal encounter with Death on an Atlanta freeway. From #2 I liked another lighter piece, Tina Connolly's "The Goats are Going Places", sort of a sendup of "Gossip Girl" type stories about ritzy prep schools, in this case with a heroine whose aunt, a witch, teaches her a lesson.
Four of the six stories were by women, and two of the stories were SF.
Buffy Retrospective
You know, it occurs to me that doing this retrospective is going to become a big deal to me - I have never, ever rewatched the episode The Body. Now, I know it's ages and ages away from now but ... I actually am going to have to kinda psyche myself up for it.
- Alisa
- Alisa
Sneak Peek From Shiny 2
"The Goats Are Going Places"
by Tina Connolly
Once in the most boring lunchroom of the most boring junior high school in the world, there sat a girl who refused to be bored for one more minute. Renee Ryder cut P.E. and found some interesting girls who liked to hang behind the shop building and get artistic with spray paint. She decided to be their leader. With Renee in charge, the girls got very good with spray paint. In the amount of time it took a red light to change, they could paint an entire ocean on a car, with goldfish and seahorses and two dolphins doing it. But then they got busted for tagging the vice-principal's minivan, and then Renee was snarky and got expelled, which was fine with her because she'd mastered both the graffiti and the girls by now and it was all so boring.
Renee's parents shrieked, which was also boring, but then Renee's aunt Simone stepped in and said Renee could come live with her and go to the very best junior high in the City. Renee's mother, who often called her sister something rhyming with witch, cackled. "Whatever happens to you, you'll deserve it," she said.
"Six bedrooms, a hot tub, my own flatscreen the size of a bed? You bet I deserve it," said Renee. She packed her ripped jeans and her cans of spray paint, her old teddy bear and her lighters, and went to live on 1313 Strega Place with her aunt.
by Tina Connolly
Once in the most boring lunchroom of the most boring junior high school in the world, there sat a girl who refused to be bored for one more minute. Renee Ryder cut P.E. and found some interesting girls who liked to hang behind the shop building and get artistic with spray paint. She decided to be their leader. With Renee in charge, the girls got very good with spray paint. In the amount of time it took a red light to change, they could paint an entire ocean on a car, with goldfish and seahorses and two dolphins doing it. But then they got busted for tagging the vice-principal's minivan, and then Renee was snarky and got expelled, which was fine with her because she'd mastered both the graffiti and the girls by now and it was all so boring.
Renee's parents shrieked, which was also boring, but then Renee's aunt Simone stepped in and said Renee could come live with her and go to the very best junior high in the City. Renee's mother, who often called her sister something rhyming with witch, cackled. "Whatever happens to you, you'll deserve it," she said.
"Six bedrooms, a hot tub, my own flatscreen the size of a bed? You bet I deserve it," said Renee. She packed her ripped jeans and her cans of spray paint, her old teddy bear and her lighters, and went to live on 1313 Strega Place with her aunt.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Buffy Retrospectives - Starting Mid January
For a while now I've been wondering how I can contribute to the meta discussion on YA works. Both Ben and Tansy wrote really interesting editorials for the first two issues of Shiny and I was kinda at a loss as to what I would say in mine, when it came round to my turn. They both are so much more well-read in recent YA novels than me. What could I possibly have to add to the discussion?
It then occurred to me that what I know about YA is television. I've been a big fan of YA TV series since, well, since I was a young adult myself and I've never really lost my love for it. And I thought what I could add to the discussion is the extra dimension of the celluloid medium.
I have just finished the final season of The Gilmore Girls. This has been a rather serious accomplishment, since in Australia, broadcasting of this show has had obstacles at every turn. It's sad because this show so heavily relies on the in jokes, often of current pop culture, and this is what I loved about this show. And the fast talking. And so much of the pop culture references get dated when you have to wait three years to view the show. As part of my protest to Channel 9, I started buying the series as they were released on Amazon.com and am happy to have finally seen the whole show all the way through.
Although the final season suffers from the change in writers, I noticed something that has kinda piqued my interest. Whilst the show started out deeply entrenched in YA territory - one of our lead characters is embarking on High School (Australian equivalent being Year 10) - by following one year of her life for every year of the show, by the seventh season, we are no longer in YA land anymore, Toto.
And really, isn't any YA ongoing series destined to this end point? Unless the characters stagnate with following instalments using a restart button, a la Star Trek, time must surely move on. And isn't that what we, as consumers of the material, want? I know I want to invest in a character and see them grow and learn and change. And to do that ... don't they have to grow up? Off the top of my head, I came up with some other examples: Harry Potter, Dawsons Creek, The OC, Anne of Green Gables, Roswell and on.
What's interesting to me is that the initial instalments are YA and appeal to a (mostly?) YA audience but as they progress, the characters must surely grow up and grow up along with the initially targeted audience. My question, though, is does that limit the material to the originally hooked audience or can a younger audience buy in? Does the later material still appeal to the younger (or original target demographic) audience even though it is no longer technically YA? And how do you categorise it? Are the final books of Harry Potter still YA? Are shows that finish set in College when they started in High School still considered YA? Would an older audience buy into such material had they not been there for the set up?
And this leads me to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where for me, all roads inevitably lead. Because, really, is it not the Queen of YA TV? Is it not the be all and end all of everything? (It is for me). And I find myself with a fair bit of time on my hands, suddenly. And in the mood for a bit of angst. And so I thought I might revisit my Mecca and see how the show stands up with this much distance and with this much extra life experience. And so ... over the coming year, Ben and I are aiming to feature two episodes a week here on this blog with some meta discussion and commentary.
And we would love for you to join us. The first episode should be covered here in the third week of January. So feel free to watch ahead or along with us and come past and join in the discussion!
It then occurred to me that what I know about YA is television. I've been a big fan of YA TV series since, well, since I was a young adult myself and I've never really lost my love for it. And I thought what I could add to the discussion is the extra dimension of the celluloid medium.
I have just finished the final season of The Gilmore Girls. This has been a rather serious accomplishment, since in Australia, broadcasting of this show has had obstacles at every turn. It's sad because this show so heavily relies on the in jokes, often of current pop culture, and this is what I loved about this show. And the fast talking. And so much of the pop culture references get dated when you have to wait three years to view the show. As part of my protest to Channel 9, I started buying the series as they were released on Amazon.com and am happy to have finally seen the whole show all the way through.
Although the final season suffers from the change in writers, I noticed something that has kinda piqued my interest. Whilst the show started out deeply entrenched in YA territory - one of our lead characters is embarking on High School (Australian equivalent being Year 10) - by following one year of her life for every year of the show, by the seventh season, we are no longer in YA land anymore, Toto.
And really, isn't any YA ongoing series destined to this end point? Unless the characters stagnate with following instalments using a restart button, a la Star Trek, time must surely move on. And isn't that what we, as consumers of the material, want? I know I want to invest in a character and see them grow and learn and change. And to do that ... don't they have to grow up? Off the top of my head, I came up with some other examples: Harry Potter, Dawsons Creek, The OC, Anne of Green Gables, Roswell and on.
What's interesting to me is that the initial instalments are YA and appeal to a (mostly?) YA audience but as they progress, the characters must surely grow up and grow up along with the initially targeted audience. My question, though, is does that limit the material to the originally hooked audience or can a younger audience buy in? Does the later material still appeal to the younger (or original target demographic) audience even though it is no longer technically YA? And how do you categorise it? Are the final books of Harry Potter still YA? Are shows that finish set in College when they started in High School still considered YA? Would an older audience buy into such material had they not been there for the set up?
And this leads me to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where for me, all roads inevitably lead. Because, really, is it not the Queen of YA TV? Is it not the be all and end all of everything? (It is for me). And I find myself with a fair bit of time on my hands, suddenly. And in the mood for a bit of angst. And so I thought I might revisit my Mecca and see how the show stands up with this much distance and with this much extra life experience. And so ... over the coming year, Ben and I are aiming to feature two episodes a week here on this blog with some meta discussion and commentary.
And we would love for you to join us. The first episode should be covered here in the third week of January. So feel free to watch ahead or along with us and come past and join in the discussion!
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