ANNOUNCING: The Librarian Reshelved
Hello Funny People.
Cover of The Librarian Reshelved
So, if you've been following my social media, particularly on Twitter and IG, you might’ve noticed me flaunting and hyping a new anthology I've been lucky to be a part of: The Librarian Reshelved from Air and Nothingness Press.
Technically, this book was announce
d last month back on Twitter, but having just received my author's copy (another first for me), I'd like to dedicate a whole post about it and the story behind my inclusion in this beautiful, fun book.
The Story of the Submission
Round about March/April of 2022, Todd Sanders, the braintrust of AaN, put out an announcement for an anthology to be titled The Librarian. The book would consist of 17 stories tied together by the eponymous character. Having had the experience with anthologies and their unique guidelines in the last few years, this concept didn't surprise me, but the novelty of putting one together using a unifying character rather than a theme interested me.
So, as part of my self-imposed challenge to submit short stories 100 times last year, I decided to try and place a story with this anthology.
Despite the rough mental health patch I was going through at the time (this was mid-June, with the deadline looming on the 30th), I powered through to complete a draft of my story, "Urtext Redux." With no genre limitations and a word limit of only 3500 words (about 1500 less than what I'm comfortable with), I determined to finish and submit the story before deadline. With about a week and less than 86 words to spare on my word count ceiling, I did it.
After taking a day to polish the piece, having my computer read the story back to me, and smoothing out every sentence I could, I emailed it into to Todd. I'd had my first sale by that time to Wyngraf, but nothing but rejections since, so I didn't expect anything to come of it. When all you know is failure, that's all you expect.
I didn't anticipate hearing back from Todd for a long time, but then an email dropped into my inbox on July 15th, 2022. And it wasn't exactly a rejection.
Sanders explained (and emphasized), that he wanted my story, but that he couldn't afford to pay me for it as he'd run out of budget. So, he made me an offer: if I'd be willing to hold the story until he could secure further funding (via Kickstarter, I later discovered), and if it was amply successful, he planned to do a second volume of stories that my tale would be a part of.
It wasn't a yes; it wasn't a guarantee; it was nothing but a big fat maybe. A maybe I was just nutty enough to accept because I knew, if he pulled this off, I'd make my first pro-sale and be able to join the SFWA as an associate member. So, I agreed.
October 2022 rolled around. By that time, I'd made my sale to Cloaked Press for Fall Into Fantasy 2022, and that book came out, followed closely by In All Our Forms with many of my The New Normal cohorts. Sanders had announced the Kickstarter for The Librarian, and within a handful of days, the project was fully funded, and then some.
October 5th, 2022. I get another email from Todd, telling me the second volume was a-go, so I told him the story was still available, as I'd promised it would be. I can remember the day perfectly. I was sitting in the office of my day job; we'd just opened up for the day. I open my Gmail app, and there it is.
I was so overjoyed, I genuinely teared up.
After he got the money from the Kickstarter in November, he sent the contracts (which I framed), followed by the payments, but asked all of us involved to say nothing until he announced in January.
Now, the book is available for sale, and soon, fans of short stories will be able to read, not just my story, but 16 other fun tales featuring its eponymous hero.
The Story Behind the Story
Now that you know how this chance came to be, let me tell you about my story specifically.
I've gotten to be part of several anthologies the last few years, as this blog will show, and in that time I've learned a few things about my writing process.
1. If given strict guidelines—genre, length, ending type, other stipulations—I can follow them and produce a decent story
2. I produce my best stuff if I start with an idea I already have rather than beginning with a standing start with the guidelines
In the case of "Urtext Redux," the idea was simple: an expedition arrives, via spaceshuttle, at a long-abandoned Ark Vessel (otherwise known as a generation ship), seeking a copy of the complete works of William Shakespeare, which they believe to still be on the ship’s servers.
That's it; that's what I started with.
These are my favorite kinds ideas to begin with because the plot is apparent, but it also begs questions of me as a writer. Who are these investigators? Where are they from? Why are they looking for a copy of the works of William Shakespeare? If they're looking for one, then what happened to the rest? Suddenly, I'm learning about my characters and the world they're coming from as the story goes along.
Because this had to be a short story, I knew I had to keep my cast minimal. So, I opted for only three characters.
The first, of course, had to be the Librarian, the mysterious, Doctor Who-like character all the stories had to feature.
The second was my narrator, Professor Reyes, the aged individual seeking out the complete works for scholarly purposes.
Final, there was Ted, a man I named for several people I absolutely hate (so you can guess his role).
As I wrote the story, I learned that it took place in a future where humanity had at last spread among the stars, settling on many different worlds via these great ark vessels. However, 300 years prior to the story's beginning, an event occurred referred to as "The Purges" (nice generic name for a social catastrophe). During this time, across much of the galaxy, humanity "edited out" all of the offensive, profane, or downcast elements of human literature, leaving behind only bastardized editions of many of world literature's classics. And somewhere within this ark vessel's systems resides the only copies that remain untampered.
I can tell you exactly where the inspiration for that concept came from. About 12 years ago, a new edition of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn appeared, with every instance of the "n-word" removed and replaced with the word "slave". Now, as foul as that word is (and it is foul), it totally defeats the purpose of the book if it's removed. So, needless to say, despite the publisher's good intentions, this pissed me off.
The past is not supposed to live up to the standards of the present. We must study it so the present can cultivate a better future, but we can't do that without facing the past for what it was.
I'll say no more than that, but in the end I was able to craft a story that used a classic hard SF backdrop to tell a social SF story, which touches upon thematic material that one could describe as Bradburyian.
If you're a fan of short fiction and want some quality short stories to read, then by all means, click the pre-order link above and secure yourself a copy. AaN has been around for 25, going on 26, years now, and always puts out quality books. Lucky me, I got a chance to be part of one.
Until next time, Funny People, stay safe, stay healthy, and take care.
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