EEKsclamations
The Official Newsletter of Karen L. Newman
Volume 2, Number 1


EEK OF THE WEEK

Not Doing Your Research

Along with my poem in the June/July 2006 issue of AlienSkin Magazine is my response to the question of how I come up with the titles I use. I answered that I googled potential titles to ensure that they haven’t already been taken. Yes, it’s that ugly four-letter word – work, research work, that is, and it’s easy to slack off and not do it, to rely only on your imagination. Imagination is great if you’re world building, but not if you refer to past eras and are wrong, or make assumptions on other cultures based on what you remembered you read or seen on TV.

This latter mistake happened to me recently. I made an assumption about in a flash fiction story I submitted. The editors called me on not doing my research (it was rejected). I then looked the topic up in an encyclopedia and found out I was way off.

What if that had happened on a much longer piece? That story was less than five hundred words. Imagine spending months, or even years, on a novel and finding out your whole premise is based on an incorrect assumption. Not only would that publisher probably not take you seriously in the future if you submitted something else, the premise itself might not even be salvageable. The whole novel could be trashed and the time lost. What an expensive lesson!

Don’t let that happen to you. Even if you think you know something about what you’re writing, look it up. It doesn’t take that long to google something.


RECENT SIGHTINGS

My work has appeared recently in several places, both online and in print. Please check me out at

AlienSkin Magazine where my poem “Cooking Clones” appears online at http://www.alienskinmag.com/flash3.htm

Girlphoria where my erotic short story “A View to a Screw” appears online at http://www.girlphoria.com You must be eighteen to read the story located in the fiction section.

Aphelion Webzine where my poem “Bridging the Galaxies” appears online at http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/poetry/2006/06/Bridging.htm

Ultraverse where two of my untitled tankas appear online at http://www.ultraverse.us/2006_07/v3i4_poetry_newman.shtml

Kuanta, the special edition CD of Scifaikuest, where my untitled scifaiku and my halibun “History Repeating” appear. You can buy a copy at The Genre Mall at http://www.genremall.com


INTERVIEW

I was interrogated by AlienSkin Magazine. Read what I have to say at http://www.alienskinmag.com/interrogation.htm


REVIEWS

My reviews of two Angel comic book series, based on the televisions series Angel, created by Josh Whedon and David Greenwalt and released by IDW Publishing, can be found at FireFox News. To read my review of Angel: The Curse, go to http://www.firefox.org/reviews/angel-the-curse To read my review of Angel: Old Friends, go to http://www.firefox.org/reviews/angel-old-friends

My poetry collection, EEKU (Sam’s Dot, August, 2005), was reviewed by Renfield on horror-web.com on July 23, 2006. Although not near as positive as that done by Donna Royston in Strange Horizons, he did say I have “definitely mastered the idea of minimalism”. Renfield’s main problems with the collection, in his opinion, were the illustrations and price, both beyond my control. In summary, he said that he didn’t “get the point of this type of writing”. This is a prime example of the subjectivity of writing and art. You can’t please everyone. However, I’m grateful he took the time to read my collection. You can check it out for yourself at projectpulp.com or genremall.com.


NEWS

I have finished judging the Speculative Poem category in the 2006 Kentucky State Poetry Society Contest. There were 32 entries. Since this was a double-blind contest (meaning I don’t see who writes the poems), the winners won’t be announced until September or October 2006.

I was recently accepted into Persephone Writers, a group of women authors of dark literature. I’m especially pleased because I had to make a stringent sales requirement to join.


MARKETS

Appalling Limericks has extended the submission deadline. You have until August 31, 2006 to send up to four limericks to appallingNOSPAMlimericks@yahoo.com. Make sure to put Limerick Submission in the subject line and to remove the NOSPAM from the email address.

Unfortunately, Afterburn SF had to become a nonpaying market. There is no cash payment but those accepted can still receive a free ad. Go to http://afterburnsf.com/Submit.htm to send in your story.

After five years Flesh and Blood Magazine has closed its doors. The irony is that in the last issue’s editorial, Jack Fisher bemoans the loss of the other horror magazines that paid professional rates and says that his magazine won’t shut down. If only it had been true. I wish him the best of luck in the future.


FINAL REACTION

Assumption + Ignorance yields Loss + Embarrassment