Friday, March 5, 2010

Short Fiction about Superheroes (Part 4)

If you haven't read them yet, here are Part 1 and Part 2 as well as Part 3 of my posts on Superhero short fiction.

In my continuing search for short fiction anthologies about those heroes with superpowers or those without powers who are just super, I’ve come across Super-Human: An Anthology by Dan Membiela.

That’s right, it’s by Dan Membiela, not edited by Dan Membiela. Yes, if we want to get technical, it should’ve been called Super-Human: A Collection, because Membiela is the sole author of all eight stories collected.

That said, it’s probably a pretty clever naming strategy, since the author is more known for penning superhero comics. In addition, the name avoids the slightly odd yet popular collection naming convention that takes the form of ‘Story X and Other tales’ that to my mind limits the market to the author’s existing audience and pins all hope on Story X. In fact, putting aside the relative fame of the author within his or her genre for a moment, the success of the collection depends on Story X being the author’s most well-known or most award-winning or best story (in his or his publisher’s opinion). Another thing that the ‘Story X and Other tales’ titles have going against them is the product info aspect of names. For example, Story X may be a superhero story called The Cat in the Mad Hatter’s Hat, which doesn’t scream capes and cowls. That’s where multi-author themed anthologies have always had the upper hand on single-author collections – the former are “theme-explicitly” named or strongly allude to a specific (sub)genre or trope. The anthology version of The Cat in the Mad Hatter’s Hat would be The Purr to Action: A Feline Superhero Anthology or Cat versus Hat: A Feline Superhero Anthology or something better. You get the idea, though.

Nuts. I just thought of a pseudo-technicality that allows Mister Membiela to call his collection an anthology. Never mind, I’m not deleting the above paragraph. No, I...am...not.

Anyway, here’s a review from the Silver Soapbox.

As previously mentioned, in terms of prose fiction, I prefer short fiction over novels. In terms of short fiction, I prefer anthologies (books) over monthly magazines. So, for the last couple of years I’ve only kept up with anthos and have neglected the (monthly and quarterly) zines.

Subsequently, I’ve only recently discovered A Thousand Faces: The Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction, a magazine that is available both for sale in print or online for free on the interwebs. I’ve already read a pretty entertaining story online involving a Mister Brass.

Instructions to read A Thousand Faces webzine for free:

1. Click on the cover of A Thousand Faces (They should really have “Click Here to enter” on that cover – See, it’s not our fault.) This will take you to the Editor Frank Byrns’ column called “Thinking outside the longbox” (clever name) which gives little blurbs about each story contained in the current issue.
2. Click on "New Fiction" on your left.
3. Click on the Story you want to read and enjoy!

15 comments:

  1. "The Purr to Action: A Feline Superhero Anthology" Is this actually the name of an anthology? Because if not, someone needs to write this. I mean, that would rank right up there with Detective Mittens.

    I checked out the link for 1,000 Faces. It looks promising, but there are no samples of the writing, so I'm hesitant to purchase it becuase I'm so specific when it comes to fiction. I wish they'd put up some excerpts. I haven't been keeping up with the short fiction magazine market like I used to...but it seems like digital distribution is getting more popular.

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  2. You'll find quite a few more here :-

    http://superprose.blogspot.com

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  3. Liss: “The Purr to Action? No idea, but maybe a cat lover should be the editor or someone called Cat. Maybe writers like Cat Sparks or Cat Rambo. I’m not sure if they like superheroes, though...

    About A Thousand Faces: I think I made the same mistake you’ve probably made and it’s not OUR fault. I clicked on the story titles for 10 seconds and then gave up (Yeah, I know, not really displaying 1truegl willpower there). Then, a few minutes later, I thought, Hey, wait-a-minute, this is the interwebs. Images (meaning icons and scans) are the windows to the soul. Why not covers?

    Sorry, I should have put these instructions in my post (will edit):

    1. Click on the cover of A Thousand Faces (They should really have “Click Here to enter” on that cover – See, it’s not our fault.) This will take you to the Editor Frank Byrns’ column called “Thinking outside the longbox” (clever name) which gives little blurbs about each story contained in the current issue.
    2. Scroll down and click on Fiction.
    3. Click on the Story you want to read and enjoy!

    So, the free stuff is limited to the current issue, which makes sense from a sales perspective, I guess. Although, you can also get a free PDF of issue # 0 in the Archive.

    I’ve read a few and my faves so far are the Mister Brass story, Unity, and You can’t fool me. The latter two are dark, bu should be required reading for James Robinson (IMO). There’s also a Ragman inspired story, but it’s somewhat Magical realism (my least favourite fantasy subgenre).

    One thing that could actually entice me to buy the back issues in Print form is if Mister Byrns “reposted” the Thinking Outside the Longbox columns for each of the back issues on the website (since they contain blurbs). Then I could perhaps spot four or five stories in an issue I’d like.

    Blue Tyson: Cool blog. Are you the same Blue Tyson who ran Story-pilot? Hope I’m not confusing you with someone else.

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  4. I think it should be:

    2. Click on "New Fiction" on your left.

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  5. Ah-ha! Thank you. I had gotten as far as "Thinking Outside the Longbox" and didn't see the links over on the left.

    I've got to read these when I get a chance. Superhero short fiction is starting to really pique my interest.

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  6. I just read Mr. Brass. That is a very, very impressive story, not only style-wise, but with the use of established characters...it's the kind of short story I really appreciate. I'll have to keep an eye on A Thousand Faces now...

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  7. I shall do the same, Milady. Yes, it was a cool mash-up and a little "gaslight romancey" (Phantom and frankenstein and the Pinkerton [the agents who were after Jesse and Frank James in the old west, I think] aspect). I also like that there was the detection aspect.

    I am totally into superhero short fiction now...I may try my hand at writing some, but you need to come up with an interesting hero first...

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  8. I kinda sorta remember Pinkerton Cops from history class. It was a cool addition to the story. I love detective stories with a twist. I guess this is the first "steampunk" story I've ever read. I like how the author describes himself as having "moderate skill." That's modesty for you.

    You definitely should try writing some. Pish tosh, from what I've seen you've already got a number of interesting heroes to choose from. Like that Blue Beetle re-working, for example. Just change the name to avoid copyright infringement and you're all set.

    Or you could try using preset characters like in No More Heroes. I decided to throw my hat into the ring and try it.

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  9. Oh, one more thing about Brass: the red Martian weeds...that just hit me. It's a reference to the War of the Worlds. Very clever indeed.

    Verification word is "lesud," a French word meaning soap bubbles.

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  10. I guess Brass himself is STEAMPUNK (see, if you don't notice everything at once in a story like this, the writer has done his job). I think the multiple references without being jarring is part of what makes it work. It creates "unobtrusive world-building" without masses of description or exposition.

    I also like the naming strategy "Mr Brass and [INSERT adventure title here]" - makes it easier to find Mr Brass stories in future. I shall use that tactic.

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  11. Are you going to write anything for No More Heroes?

    It also means Mr. Brass will having continuing adventures, which is rather unusual to short stories but of course common to superheroics.

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  12. Yes, I shall use a pseudonymn if they don't mind...Maybe, I should query that, because one or two editors detest pseudonymns. Others just don't want writers using Princess Mushroom Cloud as their by line name.

    I don't know whether the story I have in mind will be a fit as I intend using 2 of their heroes, 1 of their villains, and a character of my own creation. The latter is the troubling part. If it doesn't get accepted, then at least I have another story to work on (after changing the names, etc.)

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  13. The guidelines say you can use a pen name, which I may or may not do, but you do have to provide your real name and contact information on your manuscript. I'm pretty sure they'll let you use a character of your own creation.

    Good luck!! Keep us updated.

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  14. Temporary amnesia...I mentioned the use of own character myself in that post.

    I'm just about done with 3000 words, but need to edit, etc. Still, 2 of their heroes, 1 of their villains, and a character of my own creation. However, now I've given 3 other heroes some cameos.

    What's the hero/villain ratio in your story? Or is it a civilian in hero-world type story?

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  15. So far I'm using three heroes, and no villains have yet to make an appearance (and I'm 3000 words in already and about halfway done) I haven't done much with civilians other than have them pester my main character. I've got to rewrite it, though, because it's pretty weak. I'm not sure exactly it's what they're looking for...the Cataclsym is more in the background of the story. Eh. I might have to redo it completely now that I think about it.

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