Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Reading the Competitors

It is great being a writer, because when you are reading magazines and books you can call it work! I picked up the last issue of Albedo One today (Ireland's speculative fiction magazine) and read it over breakfast. There were some fine stories in it, and all of them were written to a high standard, even if they weren't to my taste. However, I noticed an interesting thing about the different authors in the magazine. They were ALL male and most of them worked in computer programming. It got me pondering on the whole division of the sexes in writing. Are there more men writing than women, and are there more men writing in genre literature (especially sci-fi and fantasy) and if so, what percentage of them are involved with computers (as in their day job)? It's time I got some stories published and evened up the balance of the sexes I think (of course, I know there are loads of good female fantasy and sci-fi writers out there, it just was strange having a male only edition of Albedo One).
On the Helium front, Gifts from the Sea has descended a staggering 24 places since yesterday and my essay on Why I Write has gone down a mere 5.
I submitted another story today. It is a sort of magical fairytale fantasy story and I am particularly proud of it. It is off to a market that is new for me, so please God I will have good news.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a really fantastic story, and deserves publication!

Good luck Inkpot!

Anonymous said...

sounds great - you are very productive! the computer nerd/sci fi connection is interesting- definitely worth more research