Tuesday, October 5, 2010

SFOO welcomes staff blogger, D. E. Helbling



Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys will be three years old next month! Being a toddler, it needs lots of attention, so it doesn't get into mischief. So, I've asked for reinforcements. Starting later this week, D. E. Helbling will bring you science fiction news with a sense of humor and style very similar to my own. I'm so excited to have him on board, bringing fresh content and energy.

D. E. Helbling is a writer and engineer living in the Pacific Northwest. His own fiction has appeared in legacy e-zines such as Quanta and Nocturnal Ooze and more recently with Under the Moon. His technical interests include virtual world A.I., 3D digital art and paranormal research. When he is not blogging for SFOO or working on his own creations, he can be found loitering around the d. e. helbling blog, swapping critiques with fellow writers, playing a lively retro game of Q2:LOX or banging out a melancholy tune on his Yamaha P-90.

As it happens, the first story that I actually got paid for was to Nanobison, an ezine that D. E. Helbling ran for a while.

And that's not all! Ugh! I sound like an infomercial! I have reviewers, too. What I want to know is who leaked it to the publishers? Already I have five shiny new books, mostly ARCs, that I didn't even request. Books seem to be falling out of the sky. And the best thing? They're not books on history, cooking and the Tao of Noodling (which has nothing whatsoever to do with pasta, btw)! They're actually science fiction and fantasy titles from ACE/ROC and DAW!

I'm taking the rest of the year off from reading books for review, and relying on my wonderful reviewers. I will introduce my reviewers properly next week. Please cross your fingers for me that all this help will mean I actually get my own fiction pumping out the door.

Speaking of which, if anyone knows a good paying market for a YA urban fantasy, let me know. I have a story that everyone likes, but just isn't quite right for the mainstream sci-fi market. It begins with a true Pacific Northwest tragedy in the 40s and gets quickly fantastical. Think swimming dragon, Native American legend and physical transformations.

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