Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: Emilie Autumn, "Shalott."

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.
Tags: jennifer, publishing news, short fiction
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  • 40 comments

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!!

seanan_mcguire

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

Good answer!