Science fiction, fantasy, and hyperfiction writer; sales to Asimov's, Strange Horizons, NFG, Realms of Fantasy, ASIM, and Marsdust, a.o.. Shortlisted for the Tiptree Award, nominated for the Sturgeon Award.
www.ruthnestvold.com
| Hi Di! Nice to see you. You returning to the specfic world?
Realize that I also have not announced the most recent sales here yet (all anthologies): "Return to Nowhere" (with Jay Lake) to Jigsaw Nation "Scraps of Eutopia" to Nine Muses "Revenge in the Funhouse" to TEL : Stories |
| Hi, Ruth!! ::waves madly:: |
| Thanks, Amy! I'm glad you liked it. :-)
Ruth |
| Ruth, I finally read "Looking Through Lace" -- not because I was organized enough to unearth my copy of that Asimov's issue, but because I bought the Tiptree anthology -- I wanted your story, which I hadn't read, and Sanrda McDonald's "The Ghost Girls of Rumney Mill", which I had read. Money well spent. Enjoyed your story! |
| Merry Christmas! |
| Merry Christmas, everyone! |
| Finally have another sale to report: "Happily Ever Awhile" to Strange Horizons. Jed said it would probably appear around June.
Nice Christmas present. :-) |
| Cool, Amy! That's a great way to do it, back to back. Learning is wonderful when it's painless. :-) |
| Hi Ruth! I am currently listening to the first Harry Potter book on audio CD in German (ordered it from Amazon.de), and thought of you due to our conversation at Worldcon. I was disappointed at first -- felt I was only getting about a third of it. I think it's because so many of the words are not concrete nouns, but rather general language (if that makes sense -- I don't know much about linguistics).
Then I started reading a chapter in English at night before listening to the same chapter in German the next morning, and it's helped a lot. I've noticed that while I'm reading in English, I'm mentally trying to predict how they will say it in German. Plus I think I'm gradually getting my ear for German back. Anyhow, it's fun! Hope you are well! |
| And now I have something resembling a con report:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/specficrider/ |
| I put some con pictures up, for anyone who's interested:
http://www.nestvold.de/Noreascon/ |
| That summed it up pretty well. |
| Abbreviated Con report:
Oh. My. God. |
| Congrats on the sale, Ruth. I read Teresias. Well done! |
| Thanks, Terry! And congratulations on your recent novella sale too. :-) |
| You're on a roll, kid! |
| Another sale to announce: Troy and the Aliens to NFG. :-) |
| Thanks for the congrats, folks. :-) Ruthie's post reminded me that I never announced the latest ezine story, "The Tiresias Project."
http://www.futurismic.com/fiction/tiresias.html I'm well aware that the Sturgeon nomination is a HUGE success. I had not looked for that kind of attention at all. Looking Through Lace was only my fourth published story, after all. The disappointment at not getting it was completely within reason as well. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a twinge when I found out who'd won, but I was not expecting to win, and it really was only a twinge. :-) The power of positive pesimism! And thanks too for posting again, Terry -- we don't want to scare the ruthless ones away ... too much ... |
| Nope.
Congrats on the sale, Ruth--and as ruthie said, just getting nominated is a HUGE triumph! You'll get 'em next time. |
| Do you have to be named Ruth to post here?!?!
Ruth-less |
| Congratulations! I saw the announcement at Julie's sff.net newsgroup. It looks to be a wonderful volume. |
| Congratulations, Ruth! Don't forget to post links for the new stories when they're ready. Nominations are good. I'd be glad to just get out of the red pen phase of my writing. I may as well just write it all in red pen:( |
| So I didn't win the Sturgeon (no surprise there, given the competition!), but I do have another story sale to report: "Dragon Time" to the YA anthology FANTASTIC COMPANIONS edited by Julie Czerneda. :-) |
| Yeah, Charlie, after the first couple of reviews, I thought my own sense of what I'd managed to pull of with this story was *totally* off. Now I'm finally getting back to a place where I trust my own instincts a bit more. *g*
By the by, I've finally gone and started a live journal, for anyone who's curious: http://www.livejournal.com/users/specficrider/ |
| Congratulations, Ruth! I'm glad I got to be the source (indirectly) of your finding out.
I'm very happy for all the attention this story as brought you. How cool is that? Charlie |
| Thanks folks. It's interesting -- I still haven't gotten any news of the nomination from the organizers. If it weren't for digital word-of-mouth, I wouldn't even know. |
| Kewl! Congrats! |
| yay! go ruth! |
| Wow.
You guys knew before I did. I'm so stunned I can't even scream and dance. Here's the links for the curious: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/News/06_SturgeonFinalists.html Wow. |
| Woo hoo! Way to go, Ruth! |
| Ruth!
Just saw the news on Locus Online that "Looking Through Lace" is a Sturgeon Award finalist! Congratulations! |
| I love you too, Temp. :-) |
| I'm very late on this, but...
RUTH ROCKS! That is all. |
| You're welcome. Hope you get some nice feedback on it. Going back over it while doing the edits, I recalled how much I liked the characterization and enjoyed the story.
Sort of reminded me of Vinge a bit but with your own sensibilities and viewpoint. |
| Thanks, Steve! Looks good. And I like the illustration. |
| Ruth,
Your story "Shadow Memory" is posted and live at MarsDust. The issue is going live this week. |
| And *now* they want to put the short-listed works in an anthology! |
| Ruth RAWKS!!!
m/ |
| Thanks everyone. This really *is* cool -- I've got a researcher in Australian now wanting to include me in her book. :-) |
| Checked it out and you've got some nice company there. Double congratulations. :-) |
| Very nice, Ruth!
I'll have to make sure we update your bio when we run your story on MarsDust later this month. :-) |
| Wow, Ruth, what awesome news!!! You star! SarahP |
| But when does your sixth story come out...? ;-)
Congratulations, Ruth. It's very very cool. Charlie Finlay |
| Thanks, gals. It's kinda cool. I made the secondary list with my second puslished story and the short list with my fourth ... oops, better dampen that optimism, right now! |
| Yay!!!!
(I'm so excited. Having my friends nominated for awards is just like being nominated myself. Well, except for the part where I wasn't. ;) But yay! anyway! |
| Congratulations! |
| Good news -- just found out that "Looking Through Lace" made the short list for the Tiptree award:
http://www.tiptree.org/2003/index.html |
| Hi Jim. Thanks again for the great plot workshop. |
| That's a pretty funny article, Ruth. Thanks for pointing it out. Jim Van Pelt |
| Exactly, Amy. While she may have a point about editors dropping writers with potential faster nowadays than they used to, the article really was a bit whiney.
And now for something completely different, some funny, bad-tempered writing advice from John Scalzi: http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/archives/000701.html |
| I found the article interesting and informative, but confusing in the way it was structured. It seemed to jump all over the place. I hesitate to say this, but I also thought it would have been more effective if it was less emotional. Amy Sisson |
| Right, ruthie.
But the more I think about that article, the more I think the author had the great misfortune to be horrendously successful with her first book. (150,000 advance??? who the hell gets that anyway? certainly not many in our corner of the ghetto.) So you see, it can be a very good thing to not be too successful too fast -- your expectations don't include the moon, just the chance to keep doing what you love and maybe get a little recognition for it on occasion. :-) There you have my own personal philosophy of writing. |
| Ruth,
I just read the article in message # 106 and I have to say it's given me some hope. Just when I was thinking I really rot at this science fiction writing the expert in the article doesn't understand why some trash are such bestsellers. I can only hope and pray that my stories are bad enough to sell well. Yippee...!;) ruthie |
| Thanks for posting the link to that article, Ruth. It was very insightful. Fredrick Obermeyer |
| Fascinating, depressing article on midlist writers here:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/03/22/midlist/index.html I like to think that we here in our little ghetto might not have it quite that bad -- we never expect as much to start with, and advances like this author is talking about are pretty rare. But I've heard the story of careers dying before, specfic authors publishing under a pseudonym because their earlier work had sales that were too average. Maybe I should just stick with short stories ... |
| I'll try to remember, ruthie! :-) |
| Ruth has got all her ducks in a row. I hope you compile them or post links when they're published. ruthie |
| Wow! Go Ruth!
You're a machiiiiine. *g* Elizabeth Bear |
| Another sale, this one to the new Webzine that's starting up this spring, Futurismic. This one is gender-bender SF entitled "The Tiresias Project."
It's so weird to be selling so much. Like some kind of fairy tale. :-) |
| Well on the bleak/dystopian front there's this report from the Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1153513,00.html Basically it says in twenty years we'll live in Hell with mass migrations from poor nations, sever droughts, no water, etc. As nothing I've read on climate change before is this apocalyptic, I'm skeptical. Still for the bleakness in the world today there's the slaughter of 100 in the Eastern Congo, the Iranian election, and the rebellion in Haiti. That's just for today. Thomas R |
| True enough, Thomas. But hey, I'm an Asimov's author, so this is a lot closer to home!
And it just fits in too well with all the depressing things going on these days. :-/ Guess we must be living in interesting times. |
| There are many depressing things in the world at present. My optimism about the future is pretty darn low. However this Asimov's thing I think is the kind of sensationalistic hysteria they've had since I was very small. I remember in the early 1980s we'd hear of schools banning Twain or Steinbeck. Compared to that this is almost mild. Thomas R |
| I'm more and more inclined to believe we are living in the middle of a dystopia these days. Depressing, but true. I don't know why people do this to themselves. Jae |
| Good suggestions, Bear. :-)
I don't know if anyone is following the whole Asimov's as porn discussion. If you haven't heard what's going on yet, check these links out: http://woodtv.triton.net/video/realbox.php?ontv=Target8_Magazine_Fundraiser&cat;=news http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1645394&nav;=0RclKpQF http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0403/response.shtml http://www.asimovs.com/discus/messages/2/1347.html?1077165316 I find all of this incredibly scary. Unbelievable. Like we're living in the middle of a dystopia. |
| The droughts are an opportunity to regain one's Zen of Rejection?
Or possibly Still A Misunderstood Genius. Perhaps we should have t-shirts made. |
| Addendum: hard copy submissions to U.S. markets from Germany are $5 - $20 a pop, depending on the length of the story and the strength of the Euro at the time. The last one I sent out cost 8 Euros (6,000 words) -- at the present rate of exchange, over ten bucks.
Needless to say, I don't run to the post office with stacks of sotires, even if I could. :-/ |
| It's pretty new, Jae. I sent the story out shortly after I heard about the new market -- I was playing in a submit or die contest and Arabella Romances took e-mail submissions (important for me here in the boonies of Europe), and I had a story that had just bounced with a strong romance sub-plot, so I figured, what the hey ... :-)
I didn't win anything in the contest, but I've sold three stories I sent out during that period. |
| Congrats Ruth! I didn't even know there were short fiction markets for romance. :-) Jae |
| I didn't know *I* wrote romance, Bear. :-)
Which reminds me, must be about time to officially thank all my critters -- and you are herewith officially thanked. Everyone else for the kind words too. This is so weird -- I'm starting to feel like a real writer. I'm afraid all these sales are going to spoil me. What happens when the next big long drought comes along? You can tell I'm an optimist, can't you? |
| Wow! What a Valentine present. Congratulations! |
| Yay! Hey, I critted that one. *g*
*dances* Darn, I wish I wrote romance. |
| Thanks, Kat!
My husband just asked me, "What made you submit to a romance market?" And I said, "Ten cents a word." :-) I think he thinks it's like becoming a Jehovah's Witness or something ... here's hoping it's not grounds for divorce ... |
| Go Ruth!!! Kat Allen |
| Another sale to report: just sold a little fantasy tale entitled "Feather and Ring" to Arabella Romances. :-) |
| Hi Sarah,
Yeah that one's cute too. Looks like a take off of Babes Against Bush. :-) |
| Ruth, the website in *83 is a lot of fun. Have a look at this one:
http://www.dogshatebush.com Woof! And congrats on the review! SarahP |
| Was updating my web page today, and I stumbled across a very postive review of "Looking Through Lace":
http://www.tangentonline.com/reviews/magazine.php3?review=919 But be careful if you haven't read the story yet and want to -- it has some definite spoilers. |
| Hey, folks, check this out:
http://www.foulds2000.freeserve.co.uk/bushv6.htm It's fun. :-) |
| Oh. Congratulations! I'll keep an eye out. Melissa Mead |
| No news about the issue yet -- I only got the acceptance yesterday. :-) |
| Yay Ruth!
Kat Allen |
| Do you know which issue it will be in? Melissa Mead |
| yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Also, your "Looking Through Lace" Asimov's cover is up as one of the randomosities on the front page of the Orkshop. *g* I just hit it. |
| Charlie, you brat! I was just going to announce it in my topic, and here you are already congratulating me!!!
What The Man is referring to is another sale to Asimov's, a story set in the same universe as "Looking Through Lace" (although not on the same world) entitled "Rainmakers." What a wonderful way to start the new year. :-) Ruth (dancing) |
| Happy New Year's, Ruth, and congratulations on the latest sale. You rock. Charlie Finlay |
| Hi Bear, hi Ben,
Hope y'all are recovered from the New festivities by now. The couch is yours, Bear, and I have some aspirin if you'd like. :-) Yeah, Ben, it took me a while to appreciate that review, since it does come to the conclusion that my story is a failure, but now I've come around to knowing what I got. Hey, when it comes right down to it, I've always wanted to be one of Le Guin's natural successors, so my purpose in life is basically fulfilled .... |
| "Ursula K. Le Guin's natural successors" !?!?!
That's awesome! I'd kill to be a Le Guin Successor! :-> Happy New Year, Ruth! |
| *staggers in, clutching a crumpled party hat*
Whew. 2003: thank god that's over. Any space on the sofa, Ruth? |
| Happy 2004!!!
I want to wish everyone who stops by here occasionally a wonderful year full of success and happiness. :-) |
| Hi Frank,
Nice to meet you! I'm looking forward to the ASIM. :-) |
| Hi, Ruth Nestvold!
I'm Frank Tuttle (FrankT around here). I just browsed the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine webpage and saw we'll be sharing a TOC in the December 03 issue! Glad to be featured in the same magazine as you. FrankT |
| Okay, reviews ...
The really nice thing in the more positive Locus review is that I am referred to as one of "Ursula K. Le Guin's natural successors." But it comes to the conclusion: "In the end, "Looking" is an agreeable and effective feminist parable, if insufficiently clued to the complexities of life after Margaret Mead." The other review: "Nestvold is venturing into the territory opened by the likes of Le Guin and Eleanor Arnason -- heady company, and if she doesn't quite measure up yet, she shows plenty of potential. A promising story, if not fully successful." There are also several online reviews which are similar -- you just have to google "Looking Through Lace." So anyway, it seems to me I was setting myself up by being too ambitious. I'm a little irked, though, that the reviews all emphasize the "feminist message," when what I really wanted to do was write a story about cultural misunderstanding with an emphasis on language. Back to the drawing board ... :-) |
| I feel your pain, Ruth.
My favourite review of anything of mine own so far is "not entirely unsuccessful," which was the Baker Street Irregulars on "Tiger! Tiger!" They liked it much, much more than they did Gaiman's story in the same anthology. *g* |
| Not a success? Why not? It was good! Melissa Mead |
| Thanks, Bear! I'm still very proud of it, even if the critics tend to think it wasn't a success. Hey, at least it got me compared to the goddess of SF, Ursula Le Guin. :-) |
| Darn, Ruth. That's nice work, ma'am. |
| Amy,
Looking Through Lace was in the September issue. The Asimov's site has an excerpt of the first part: www.asimovs.com/_issue_0310/Looking.shtml I hope you enjoy it! Ruth |
| okay Amy. You're welcome. ruthie |
| Ruthie,
Thanks for the offer -- however, I do sub to Asimov's; must have just missed that story. I'll go back and look. Thanks again!--Amy Amy Sisson |
| Amy,
I have a copy of the issue with "Looking through Lace" but I haven't read Jim Van Pelt's piece yet. Would you like me to send it to you when I'm done? If you want it e-mail me your snail mail address and I'll mail it to you. ~ruthie~ (another ruth) ruthie |