Short story sale: "Cinderella City.": seanan

Short story sale: "Cinderella City."

So there's this anthology coming out in March, called Tales from the Ur-Bar. Every story takes place in a different location and time period, and by the time I was invited to the anthology, my usual time periods had all been taken, leaving me with the early 1900s. Everyone assumed I would write steampunk. I wrote gaslamp instead, which is a subtle distinction. I did it out of annoyance, I'll admit, and then, I...I liked it. I had a good time. I enjoyed the setting, I enjoyed the characters, and I enjoyed writing about a cranky alchemist using cocktails as her magical weapon of choice.

Jennifer Brozek asked me whether I'd consider submitting a short story for her first DAW anthology, Human for a Day. I said "sure," and pitched a story involving the Fighting Pumpkins and the harvest queen and the Homecoming Game. And I tried to write it, I really did, but my heart kept drifting back to San Francisco in the early 1900s, when the fog was silver and the bridges were gold. And this is why Jenn got the sheepish "I appear to have written the wrong story," message. A story which she was gracious enough to let me submit anyway. And so...

"Cinderella City," being the second adventure of Mina Norton, James Holly, and Margaret Holly (although she's asleep for the entire story, so it's mostly just Mina and James) has been sold to Jennifer Brozek for her anthology Human for a Day. It involves the city of San Francisco, an evil plot, a potential earthquake, absinthe, and lots of pigeons.

Some of the pigeons are on fire. I'm pretty pleased.

It looks like I'm going to be writing a whole series of stories about Mina and company; I'm starting to see the overall shape of their story, and with me, that usually means I'm pretty much doomed. But I don't mind that much. I like it in the gaslight. It's all very pretty there. And besides, I get a discount at the bar.

priscellie

January 21 2011, 21:37:35 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Woohoo! Congrats on the sale!

seanan_mcguire

January 24 2011, 02:03:34 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks!

mneme

January 21 2011, 21:54:14 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats! You can't get away from long form, can you, even when you write short stories? (Not that I'm complaining, mind; one of my issues with stand alone short stories is that when they're good, I'm usually left wanting more).

January 24 2011, 02:03:50 UTC 6 years ago

No.

I can't.

trektone

January 21 2011, 21:55:20 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats -- Margaret is asleep again?

January 21 2011, 21:55:56 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, wait. Is that a spoiler?

6 years ago

ladymurmur

January 21 2011, 22:17:06 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations on the sale!
:-)

January 24 2011, 02:04:35 UTC 6 years ago

tigertoy

January 21 2011, 22:27:55 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats on the sale!

Would you mind explaining the difference between steampunk and gaslamp?

January 24 2011, 02:05:00 UTC 6 years ago

Thankfully, someone else beat me to it, as my response would have involved a lot of the word "um."

ladymondegreen

January 21 2011, 23:51:49 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, but it's beautiful, gas-lit doom.

January 24 2011, 21:20:33 UTC 6 years ago

I think so.

kirylyn

January 22 2011, 00:15:31 UTC 6 years ago

steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.

Gaslamp fantasy is a sub-genre, also called gaslight romance, of fantasy literature, having the Victorian/Edwardian era as background. It differs from contemporary steampunk, which has a much more super-science and uchronic[clarification needed] tone. It also differs from classical Victorian/Edwardian faerie or pure fantasy in the J.R.R. Tolkien or Lewis Carroll style or from historical crime-novels in the Anne Perry or June Thomson style by the supranatural elements, themes or subjects it features. The genre derives many of its tropes and themes/characters from the long established literary genre of Gothic, and could be described as an attempt to modernize that genre.

hmm, didn't realize that gas lamp term was coined by Kaja Folgio ...

and YEAH new stories to look forward to!!

January 24 2011, 21:20:42 UTC 6 years ago

Good answer!

biguglymandoll

January 22 2011, 00:34:18 UTC 6 years ago

Yay, shiny fog and gaslamp - looking forward to reading!

January 24 2011, 21:20:51 UTC 6 years ago

I'm glad. :)

mskauri

January 22 2011, 01:16:07 UTC 6 years ago

Some of the pigeons are on fire. I'm pretty pleased.

This is like the "Seanan Seal of Authenticity" on a story. Can't wait to read it!

Oh and thanks for the chuckle and the first real smile I've had all day (it has NOT been a particularly good one...read my journal if you want details). Thanks....I NEEDED THAT!!

January 24 2011, 21:21:08 UTC 6 years ago

It really sort of is. "Flaming pigeons means it must be good."

You're very welcome.

kitrinlu

January 22 2011, 02:41:48 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations again! Flaming pigeons ftw! XD

January 24 2011, 21:21:16 UTC 6 years ago

Totally!

fayanora

January 22 2011, 02:57:55 UTC 6 years ago

I like Steampunk. Never heard of gaslight til today. Closest I have to either is something I'm not sure what I'd call it... my Lord Ottoman Lichter stories take place in the 1920s, and he has invented things like a fusion engine and a time machine. Which doesn't go through time in the usual fashion. Linear time, as such, does not exist in that storyverse. He could go back in time and kill his grandfathers before his parents were conceived, return to his own time, and nothing will have changed.

I love my Lord Lichter character. He's loads of fun. He's a highly eccentric genius who occasionally cross-dresses, and in the first story he falls in love with his future self (who was cross-dressing at the time). I feel sorry for his poor friend, Sir Jonathan Holmes.

January 24 2011, 21:21:47 UTC 6 years ago

Gaslamp is a lot less focused on the mad science. Sometimes it's basically steampunk with magic, instead of heavy technology.

dr_zrfq

January 22 2011, 03:09:18 UTC 6 years ago

Pigeons. On. Fire.

We loves it.

Waiting with *great* anticipation for this anthology!

January 24 2011, 21:21:54 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

dormouse_in_tea

January 22 2011, 04:31:50 UTC 6 years ago

Because I think it might amuse you, I'll share what I said to my buddy in AIM after I read this.

"*blissed* Seanan is committing another short-story-sequence. She tripped."

I can't WAIT.

January 24 2011, 21:22:09 UTC 6 years ago

...yeah, that's pretty much what happened.

I tripped.

groblek

January 22 2011, 05:13:08 UTC 6 years ago

Shiny! Congrats on the sale!

January 24 2011, 21:22:15 UTC 6 years ago

Deleted comment

January 24 2011, 21:22:27 UTC 6 years ago

I really love this setting.

paul_carlson

January 22 2011, 22:47:38 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations, Seanan.

Gaslamp, eh?

I'm still expanding the Literary Fiction Genres list, snd have encountered at least a dozen named spinoffs and sub-subgenres of Steampunk.
Have to filter this melange for the 'lasting' ones.

January 22 2011, 22:51:39 UTC 6 years ago

PS: Upon further research, and if I'm not misunderstanding, some authors refer to this subgenre as 'gaslight' instead.

Then there's 'clockpunk,' etc. (???)