Suggestion, Rationale, Encouragement

Writers coming to AeA go through an interesting process of discovery.

At first, it's hard to get.  Then, it seems cool, but still ambiguous.  As they write their story and become co-creators of the world, the interesting thing happens (as one writer commented): love.

The hard part is that this comes just as they are finishing their story and submitting it.

Here's our humble suggestion.  Don't stop.

Somewhere between the typical short story collection and the novel exists a shared world project such as this.  Knowing what we know now, we'd have suggested all submitters write two stories, one at either end of the Helios time-frame, or covering different groups or locales.

And to encourage you: We are accepting the best stories, period.

If that means we publish two stories by the same author, so be it.

Another bonus is that you are probably more likely to get feedback on your AeA story than you are with most other markets.

Last, following the publication date of The Aether Age Helios anthology, there will be more than one market open to Aether Age fiction.  You will hear more about this soon.

So keep writing.

More to come...

Submissions deadline extended to February 15

We've decided to extend the submissions period for a couple of weeks. We very much hope that writers who have been aiming for the original 1/30 deadline will still go ahead and send in their stories by then, but we decided we wanted to give a little extra time for people who have an idea but haven't quite finished a story yet. As we've said on this page and in response to queries from writers about their ideas, we want people to go ahead and be as daring and inventive as they want. The "rules" of this universe are still very much in development and will ultimately be the result of everyone's visions coming together.

Some more tips for writers

As the submissions grow in volume, we have some input that might help you see your story rise to the the top. 

And note, nothing is set in stone: we'd love to see someone break all  the 'rules' and have it work. For most of us (ourselves included: we  are writers too) utilizing narrative structure and avoiding known  pitfalls is a good tactic for success. 

  

* Length: Much as the guidelines for M-Brane SF are lax in regards to  length, so is that of AeA. That said, a story that ventures very far beyond 5k should be a tour de force. It should be greatness. We are  not sticklers. If your story has 5203 words, it's not an issue to us.  But as you edge a few thousand words beyond 5k, we are attentive to how  you use your first sentence, paragraph, page, scene. Which leads to the next thought... 

  

 * Structure & Hook: There is no need for exploding heads in the first sentence. The first paragraph should compel the reader to want more, and this can be achieved a number of ways. In a 5k story, the first 2-3 pages of your manuscript will accomplish some pretty specific goals, and then the bulk of the story will lead to a moment within the last 5 pages that somehow addresses those first few pages and their contents. Last is an ending that feels right but perhaps holds some unexpected reward. Surprise endings are hard and unnecessary. The greatest endings often surprise even the author in that they write themselves, regardless of our plans. The best endings are succinct. 

  

* Window dressings & research: Don't bog your story down with constant references to Greek poets and philosophers (or whatever your research  included). Most research never comes through, it is just understood by  the writer. For AeA, the easiest stories to write will be those taking  place in the full-on "Aether Age," when the societies are aetherfaring and thus you can work with characters whom have much more modern  attitudes than those earlier in the time frame. This is not a  preference in terms  of what time frame we'd like to see addressed, but rather just a tip for those who are not super-familiar with the ancient societies. Researching this stuff could be a full time job! 

  
Wikipedia will go a long way. One of us picked up the Metro Books  "Traveler's Guide to the Ancient World" series entries "Ancient Greece" and "Ancient Egypt". These are not deep, scholarly tomes, but great for the sort of everyday life details your story is likely to benefit from. 

  
* Subject Matter: There are no active alien intelligences in the  current (Helios) anthology. Hold your horses: Tartaros will get here  eventually. For now, if alien life is your thing, its gonna be plants, animals, ruins, and artifacts. We are unlikely to publish stories dealing with the very start of the timeline when the alien intervention occurred. Also... note that we are pretty much basing this whole  alternate tech timeline on the idea that the printing press changes the rate of all innovation. Ya know, like we have some crazy faith in the power of the written word. This concept has not been addressed in any way so far, so just something to think about. 

  

Another specific detail:  all but one of the "Titans" orbiting the earth were blown up by a joint force of Kimet/Greek flyers. These are huge tumbling  "mountains," aka asteroids, riddles with ruins. The remaining Titan is called Themis (some thematic fuel there) and becomes the major port  leading outward from earth to the aether. 

Aether Age: Helios, Tartaros, Cline

Image via Wikipedia

In the interest of maintaining internal consistency amongst the AeA
stories, we want to propose this over-arching timeline and a rule for
defining those stories that we accept as canon.

--Helios (current anthology)

Aether Age has three eras, and the first, that the initial anthology
covers, will be called Helios.

Helios is briefly described by the current guidelines, with no overt
alien sophonts and no definite explanation of the aether.

Only Helios stories are being accepted at this time.  Only stories that
follow the guidelines for the anthology are canon.  And though we'd
hope you would send your story in to the anthology, once it is published
if a story that fits these guidelines is published in zine XYZ, then it
would be canon if it abided by the guidelines, gave attribution, and
underwent an editorial acceptance process.  Note the last is our
requirement to recognize stories as canon, though someone could write
stories, give attribution, and just post themselves, essentially writing
fanfiction.  Which is fine, but would not be recognized as canon.

Writer Prompts:

This link has a nice illustrations of the earth Lagrange points (not to scale).  Consider the Lagrange points and the Hill Spheres around l4 and l5 as vacuums (in the sense that they are stable places for life to remain) for flora and fauna of the aether.

Consider what expeditions to travel along earth's orbit would encounter.
Someone made this journey first.

Toward the end of the Helios era, greater understanding of the extent of
the aether exists and some decent theories.  Expeditions have been sent
out toward that region where the aether stretches into the darkness of
deep space, but none have returned.  Are there hints at something out
there, in the dark?  Maybe some of the outer planets are on the
aether-side of the solar system and colonies there are slowly
disappearing.  Such would fit with the Tartaros era the latter Helios
stories would presage.

The preceding paragraph reminds us, the aether is taking greater shape
in our understanding.  The aether engulfs the entire solar system
'coreward' but on the 'outward' side, mars orbit passes from the aether
for a time.  We suspect mars gravity enough to hold onto atmosphere for those months and plant life helps maintain it as well.  Where the outer planets lie in their orbits has not yet been determined.

Mining the asteroids of the belt within the aether might be a common
thing eventually.

--Tartaros

Note this does not represent guidelines, only a glimpse at the next time
period.  The scenario itself is not set in stone until such time as
guidelines are posted for AeA project 2.  So if you have ideas,
suggestions, details, don't hold back.  On the other hand,
this is not happening now whereas Helios is... so send us your Helios
story!

Tartaros is described... the aliens arrive, many species, all 
vying for earth... why?  Because they've been caught in the aether 
off in the dark between the stars, knowing that soon it would 
engulf, for a time, this star and they have legends of such a place: 
where one could live in the light and leave the aether behind.

Still much to work out: how does the aether stay warm in the darkness
out there, how do the aliens live?  We're thinking the aether is either
moving through the galactic arm or it is spinning in place, or 
both.  in the end, some aliens with remain in system as will humans, 
but many humans will get stuck out in the aether as Helios system 
passes from the aether.

--Cline (ecoclines have to do with speciation)--

A long time passes  (to be determined) and Helios system passes back into the aether, encountering  not just the aliens still out there but the
divergent-evolved  humanity.  Cline speaks to how species can remain
capable of  interbreeding except the two at the very end of the ring of
evolutionary gradients  between them... the wikipedia article explains
this well... Aliens and Humans of Helios system unite against the aliens
and humans of the aether.

Chameleon Chamber Group Official AeA Announcement

The Chameleon Chamber Group has made an official announcement on their blog regarding their involvement with Aether Age, creating a soundtrack for the book.  See our original post here, and go check out their site.  Fun, cool stuff to come.

If you don't get a chance to check back before the holiday, be safe, have fun, and we'll see you on the other side.

Queue the mysterious music...

Reminder: AETHER AGE fund drive (and cheap M-BRANE subscriptions)

Just rerunning this announcement from a few days ago. We know that hitting up people for donations this time of year (or this year at all) is not ideal, which is why we are offering the M-Brane SF subscriptions as a thank you gift. Money raised during this campaign is intended to ensure that we have sufficient funding for certain up-front costs in acquiring content for The Aether Age anthology. 

We would like to add a thousand dollars to the content budget for the Aether Ageanthology by year's end so that we can assure that nothing stands in the way of making this book outstanding. Sounds like a big goal for one month, right? Let's try an experiment in micro-finance: 200 donors each giving $5.00 would make the goal. Each donor will get receive, as a thank you gift, a full year's subscription to the PDF edition of M-Brane SF. This is a tremendous deal. That subscription is normally $12, and even at that price, it's a great deal. There's a Pay Pal donation button over at the top of the right-hand column. Smaller donations are welcome as well, but any at $5.00 or above received by 12/31/09 will be rewarded with the M-Brane subscription.

AeA Universe Notes

As the story selection process continues and we receive input from
writers, we will occasionally post Errata entries.  Consider these posts
as addenda to the guidelines.

The intent is not to make writing your story more complicated, but help
you become a member of the group that builds this world.  It's a team
effort, and we want you along for the ride.

That said, it is a lot to keep track of.  If your story is 'right' but
conflicts with one of these details, we'll work with you.

Some details suggested by Rick Novy, one of the original AeA
brain-stormers:

Planets would not be named after Roman gods.  For the Greeks--

Sun = Helios

Mercury = Hermes

Venus = Aphrodite

Moon (Luna) = Selene

Mars = Ares

Ceres = Demeter

Jupiter = Zeus

Saturn = Cronus

Uranus = Ouranos

Neptune = Poseidon

Pluto = Hades

NOTE: "for the Greeks" is a significant detail.  Other societies would
use other names, though some names might become common across societies
depending on who runs the show in a given location.

--Pressure from the solar wind would probably leave the inner solar
system (inside the orbit of venus, say) as a vacuum.

--Another suggestion is that wooden ships could fly up and into the
aether, and that rotating decks could provide 'artificial gravity',
where crew would walk on the inner surface of the rotating deck.  All
reasonable assumptions, but we suggest that these would be later-model
ships.  Early ventures into the aether will probably make due with no
gravity.

More details:

--Though Egypt in circa 400BCE (in AeA) a slightly more powerful nation
than the Greek city states, the Athenian silver owl emerges as an
initial currency standard as these societies begin to form more
intertwined economic lives.  "Owl" is used through the Mediterranean
basin in much the same way that we might use "dollar" or "buck."

--One of the earliest penetrations of the Aether is made by a
Kimet-Greek joint force to explore and destroy 13 "titans" that entered
low-earth orbit and destroyed Karnak/Luxor, Skyros, and some other
cities from orbit, leaving the blasted cityscapes seeded and eventually
growing over with strange flora.

Note, as per the guidelines, no actual sentient aliens appear in these
scenarios, though artifacts in the aether are fair game and a nice
writing prompt to consider.  Aether animal life is fine.

The joint force's story is already being worked on but those changed
cities represent fair game.

--Note that the AeA stories do not need to be high-adventure tales.  We
are dealing with patriarchal societies emerging into an age of increased
understanding.  There is plenty of space here for stories that explore
social issues presented by the growth of these societies.  And we are
eager for a wide range of story types.

TC Parmelee to Create Aether Age Audiobook/Podcasts

TC believes in the Aether Age project, and we, in turn, are blown away by her work.  So, we are all happy and excited to announce she is onboard to create an audio version of the anthology.

Will this be a single audio book?  Will there be individual postcasts of the stories?  Will the music and the voice-work intersect in any way?  We just don't know yet, but we are excited to see how this facet of the project developes.

TC is a professional voice narrator/performer/actress (which is to say, this is what she does for a living), so we are honored to have such talent supporting the project. 

You can check out a general sample toward the bottom of her Livejournal (and we also see a snippet there of Mists of Avalon that she is working on), as well as her recording of one of the stories from M-Brane #11 here.

More to come!  Please share the news with everyone!

Eric S. Raymond to pen Aether Age Anthology Introduction

Eric S. Raymond, aka ESR, Open Source advocate, computer programmer, author (oh, and SF enthusiast) has agreed to write the introduction for the Aether Age anthology from M-Brane SF and Hadley Rille.

ESR wrote the seminal book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, about Open Source methodology and hacker culture (meaning, ppl who do nifty stuff with code, not script kiddies or black hats), and more recently, The Art of Unix Programming.  He's the guy that coined the phrase "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" which he termed Linus' Law, giving credit to Linus Torvalds for inspiring the saying.  He was the maintainer for Fetchmail for a time, and has contributed to other projects including Emacs and (I didn't realize) The Battle For Wesnoth, one of the coolest games on my Linux desktop (I think it is available on Windows too).

And lest you think his interest in Aether Age is only in regard to the licensing scheme, he has a ton of SF reviews here, and at least these two extensive essays on the Political History of SF and SF Words and Prototype Worlds.

We are happy about the attention Mr. Raymond brings to what we are trying to do with our Open Source-Inspired Anthology.  And that he is genuinely enthused about SF rocks our world. 

And we know he'll expect us to stay true to our word in creating what our guidelines describe.  We'll not let him, us, or you down.

More to come!

image of ESR courtesy of wikimedia,  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eric_S_Raymond.jpg 

M.S. Corley to do Aether Age Cover Art

 This image showcases the Harry Potter Redesigns Corley created to resemble classic Penguin books.  Below you will find similar redesignes of Northern Lights and The Vile Village, and a self portrait.


As always, there are details to work out, nonetheless... M.S. Corley has agreed to create the cover for Aether Age!  We are excited to announce this news.  If you are unfamiliar with Corley's work, be sure to check out his blog here.  We've linked to some of those images for this post to give you a feel for why we've decided Corley is perfect for Aether Age.

His work contains not just striking art and design, but oozes a sense of classic genre enthusiasm, where the iconic meets a neo-pulp sensibility that we anticipate will jive perfectly with your *antediluvian futurism.

And though we've already made clear, we reiterate here that we are commissioning the cover art from Corley, though all interior art will be accepted on a 'pay by exposure' basis.  This, unfortunately, is the financial compromise reality demands.

That said, if you want to do something for the sheer idealism of it... please consider making a contribution to the interior artwork.  Check out the art guidelines here.

Oh, and we don't want to make any assumptions, but Corley has hinted that he may have something to contribute to the interior art on this same basis.   Not bad company at all.

The Aether awaits...








*NO, there is no flood... just using that word to mean 'really old'.

Aether Age Fund Drive and cheap M-Brane subscriptions

We would like to add a thousand dollars to the content budget for the Aether Age anthology by year's end so that we can assure that nothing stands in the way of making this book outstanding. Sounds like a big goal for one month, right? Let's try an experiment in micro-finance: 200 donors each giving $5.00 would make the goal. Each donor will get receive, as a thank you gift, a full year's subscription to the PDF edition of M-Brane SF. This is a tremendous deal. That subscription is normally $12, and even at that price, it's a great deal. There's a Pay Pal donation button over at the top of the right-hand column. Smaller donations are welcome as well, but any at $5.00 or above received by 12/31/09 will be rewarded with the M-Brane subscription.

Ask the Oracle

Perhaps we'll decide that a full forum is called for at some point, but until that time, if you have specific questions about the guidelines or the milieu, please ask here.

Here's  couple to start with:


Q: Does the Aether extend out to Mars or in to Venus?

A: Well, it's not been totally mapped.  There are some Aetherati explorers who claim one or the other planet tantalizingly in reach but that the aether thins so much it cannot be breathed.  Others suggest the Aether contracts and expands in 'seasonal' variations, sometimes engulfing these other two planets, sometimes not.  As for life on those planets, that, too remains unconfirmed but tantalizing.

Q: I don't know what the word for XYZ is in the Greek or Egyptian language.  Can you help?

A: We assume that all tales are essentially translated into modern english.  So 'camel' is fine, though "Okay" is anachronistic.  'Egypt' is anachronistic.  The country was called Kimet.   Do research the culture(s) behind your contribution.  Add details for verisimilitude.  Even share (this thread is a good place) information you find.  There is quite a bit of writing out there by fantasy authors and historical fiction writers regarding these sort of pitfalls.  We may post some links to particularly good articles here soon.  In the mean time, remember not to write your Athenian maid as though with the spunk of a modern 15 year old high school student.  Unless you place her in a part of the timeline along with a rationale that allows this to make sense.

What questions do you have?

Chameleon Chamber Group to Create Aether Age Soundtrack

While there are details to be worked out (insert tautological statement about details), Audrey with the Chameleon Chamber Group contacted us today to say that it's on like Donkey Kong.  That may not have been her exact words, but you get the idea.

Regardless, this represents a total fan-gasm for at least one of the Aetherati on staff, and we're both excited about the collaborative journey ahead. 

Keep an eye out here for more news about the collaboration, including, perhaps, samples.  And just think, writers: your story could have it's own song, 'inspired by...'.

More to come....  In the mean time, check out this nice clip of the Chamber Group.

The Aetherati Manifesto:

Thoughts Regarding the (first?) Open-Source Anthology 

Cyberpunk, splatterpunk, steampunk, stickpunk, greenpunk, clockpunk, dieselpunk... It would be easy to slap the punk suffix onto “aether” and pronounce it something new.


But that'd be a lie.  

While we enjoy the steampunk stories, we have some trepidation about that label, as we do with “New Weird” or “New Space Opera.”  Where does the old end and the new begin?  Are nihilism and disaffection constituent parts of the sub-genre in the case of all these “punks?”  Sometimes, yes --as is the case with cyberpunk--, and the label fits.

As for the rest... we remain skeptical. But we always dig a good story; call it what you will.

So why would “aetherpunk” be a lie?  One, there is no philosophical orthodoxy behind these stories.  So, if we believe a word has meaning and that it needs to be used appropriately, “punk” is out for the count.  There may be Aetherati stories that could be called “punk,” but that mode is not a default one.  More, we don't think we want to (or should) represent these stories as something wholly new.  In fact, we suggest that what make the Aetherati stories special as a sort of sub-genre is a return to the past when stories belonged to no one.  Or when, through a different lens, they belonged to everyone.

These stories, their artwork, and the multimedia explosion that surrounds them represent a revision of history on two levels: meta-historical and actual.  We are imagining a time-line alternate to ours.  Ok.  Could be cool, or not.  Been done before, right?  But we are also creating a thing that is owned by any and all.

It's not new.  It's old.  Hence the neat juxtaposition we perceive when we think about the Aether Age.  It is science fiction about a past that might have been.  And it exists as stories existed going back into the recesses of our history.  As things to share freely, remix, redo, or build upon.

Now how cool is that?

--Fletcher & Bell

Call for Interior Art NOW OPEN

Call for Interior Art

We are now accepting submissions of black and white interior artwork for the Aether Age anthology. Submissions can be sent as email attachments in .jpg, .png, .tiff, or as pdf files.  If you need to send as a different file type, just check with us first. 

Details
While we are paying for cover art (we want to be upfront about this so there are no hard feelings), our budget will not allow us to pay monetarily for interior art.  So, for the interior artwork we are paying in exposure.  You deserve so much more, we know.  AND, because of the license, you -as an up and coming artist- have an opportunity to grab a lot of eyeballs your way by creating some great work.

License
All accepted submissions will be licensed under the same Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license as the cover art and the included fiction.  What does this mean?  In short, it means you  are creating work and handing it over to all humanity to do with as they please, as long as they credit YOU and the Aether Age project.  They can copy it onto tee-shirts (and sell them), use it for wallpaper, modify it and use it for the logo of their garage band... It is art and fiction gone Grudge.  Viral Creativity.

Either that will scare the crap out of you or it will hit you as the coolest thing ever.  If you are still reading, then we are looking forward to what you create for this collaborative dreaming we're about to undertake.

Specifics, Please!
Well, yeah, of course.  But first: have you read the writer's guidelines?  If not, do that now.  It explains a great deal about what this is all about.

Okay, now that we all have a general understanding...

• We need a frontispiece for the title page.
• glyphs to use as scene seperators, borders and florishes to use for emphasis, all filtered through a Greek/Egyptian (or possibly other ancient civ) style and then sprinkled with some scifi /fantastique goodness.
• small figures: hoplites, pharoahs, winged soldiers, Athenian Scientists, Aether fauna and flora, Aether Explorers and their crafts, orbital debris/ abandoned technology overgrown with plants.  
• patterns and wall-drawings with modern elements juxtaposed against the traditional elements.
• The alphabet, a full font I guess, to use for first letter of first word of each story.
• possibly a title logo, but I'd not submit this until we have finalized cover art.
• surprise us with the elements we need but weren't savvy enough to ask.

Finally
send your art submissions to mbranesf [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line as:

Aether Age ART: Your Name

Feel free to send multiple images but keep the email size below 5 megs.  Send us low quality samples if you need to and indicate them as such.  We'll just delete any images not accepted, but we will let you know within 60 days if they are accepted or not.  So DO NOT send files you don't have backed up.

Thank you

Aether Age is Open to Submissions

As of November 15th, the Aether Age anthology is now open to story submissions.  Find the full writers guidelines/ shared world bible HERE.

image credit: James Jordan

Bell to co-edit AETHER AGE

Because the idea of creating an open source, shared world, Creative Commons-licensed anthology was first suggested to me by Brandon Bell; and because so much of our concept for it originated with him; and because he has been busily laying the ground work for The Aether Age to be a great and grand project, I thought it undeniably appropriate and just that he be on the front cover of it as an editor. (Fortunately for me, since I badly need the assistance, he has been agreeable to this so far!)

We have some big plans cooking for this book. Aside from partnering with the publisher Hadley Rille Books on it, we have some fine plans for cover art, possible interior artwork and perhaps some multimedia tie-ins. You never know: it may call for an epic soundtrack. Having Brandon's energy and vision for the Aether Age universe will be a huge boon to the entire enterprise. I am sure that all the Aetherati will agree.

Brandon's activities may be followed at his blog.

Enter the Aether Age

Writers will find a link at the top of the right-hand column which leads to the writers "bible" for this shared world anthology. It explains the basic premise of the universe, outlines some key events in its alternate historical timeline, and explains the Creative Commons shared nature of it.

Submissions will be open from 11/15 until the end of January. We hope to release the book, with our partner Hadley Rille Books, in June 2010.

The idea of creating a shared world as a project for M-Brane SF was first suggested by writer Brandon Bell on Twitter, and then picked up by several other writers who happened to be seeing the conversation. Discussion moved to the M-Brane blog where we sorted through a bunch of great ideas. Readers who are interested in how the idea originated may wish to look through the discussion at the M-Brane blog. Some of the blog posts, particularly those with earlier dates, have some extensive comments that contain much of the raw material for what became the current writers guidelines.

Updates about The Aether Age will appear on this page, and I will cross-post items from here to the M-Brane blog, Twitter and Facebook as they appear.