Latest news update -
June 16
The design is coming along. There are text pages up for the stories to find out how well they work. Take a look at them here. And I already have some stories for when they go live, so I can't wait to get this all working. But that is the important thing. It must work before it goes live. So I would appreciate your patience while I test everything.
June 1
As you can see, the site design is progressing. And I have had several story submissions although we're not officially open yet. Check back soon for further updates
May 19, 2004
Look here for news about the development of the site.
At the moment, as you can see, the site design is emerging. It is rather slow as I am having to set up the administrative processes properly. However, as that is a one-off task, the site should develop more quickly once it is complete.
Come back here often to see how we are doing. Remember, this site is supposed to be fully interactive. Click everywhere and see what happens.
May 10, 2004
The list of authors who have promised work is impressive. Let's hope they all come through. At the moment, the roll call is
Steve Aylett
Mary Gentle
John Courtenay Grimwood
Geoff Ryman
Rob Holdstock
Daniel Kaysen
Tanith Lee
Liz Williams
Jay Caselberg
Adam Roberts
Mark Roberts
and many more
Diary – July 19
It has been almost a month. The people who said they could help with the security side of the site appear to have fallen off the edge of the world but I have found someone else who has offered concrete help. I have had achieved a lot but none of it is visible yet.
When I originally planned this site for interzone, I wanted to have it on-line around August. I wanted to have the replacement new Quercus site up by the beginning of June. It looks like I couldn't compress my timetable even though I wanted to.
Diary – June 20
Now there is a proper FAQ page in place, I feel I am getting somewhere. Click on the Oak Leaf to see it. I spent a lot of time today finding out why some people couldn't see the bottom and the right hand side of the page. It appears that it is because their screen resolution is too low. I fear there is little I can do about this. This is the smallest window size I could comfortably get everything into, and on high resolution screens it looks ridiculous, up there in the left hand corner. Heigh ho, nothing is perfect in this universe, and the internet is even less so.
Diary – June 16
We're all excited because the prototype fiction pages are finished and ready for testing. It hasn't been easy trying to get all this done. There are so many distractions. The conjunctivitis last week nearly stopped me seeing the last ever episode of Angel! Thanks goodness for DVD recorders. But all these things have got in the way of developing this site, so it is good they are all over. Except Tru Calling. I was more than happy to consign this to the trash, but it really is rather good. Eliza Dushku is reasonably good at her job, but the actual storylines are far less predictable and trashy than the opening episode promised. Enough excitement for one day. I must get these pages uploaded and then get to bed.
Diary - June 13, 2004
After a bout of conjunctivitis where I couldn't even see the screen to work, the site is coming along apace. There should have been a prototype fiction page up today, but a last minute glitch has meant it will have to wait another few days.
Good news is that the bank account paperwork has finally arrived. Just a couple more small things to put into place, and I will be able to commence taking subscriptions. And you will be able to see the stories.
Diary - June 6, 2004
One of the reasons I have been taking so long is I want to get this right. A correspondent on one of the mailing lists I subscribe to said he thought I had shot myself in the foot by putting the site up before it was ready. Leaving aside the inept cliche, he went on to point out that the site didn't load very quickly either. I assumed he was on dial-up. checked the site on a dial-up connection, and found he was right. Back to the drawing board, and I have rebuilt the site so it should work much more quickly.
I don't know why the bank is taking so long to open an account, but until they do I can't take money. Add to that this dreadful cold I have been suffering from, and I'm grateful I'm getting some good stories to read. We should be up and running quite soon now.
Diary - June 1, 2004
It is so irritating when you think you've got everything right, and something goes wrong. This should all have been working properly over the weekend, but there is a bug in the software and the buttons keep malfunctioning. It is, however, coming along. Please be patient.
Diary - May 30, 2004
Things are moving, albeit slower than I would like. I almost have a bank account for the site, I have located technical help to make it work properly, and I have received two submissions already, one of which I have accepted. The more stories I have when the site goes live the better, but don't take this as carte blanche to send stories. See submissions for guidelines.
Diary - May 19, 2004
Check in here frequently for the editor's personal diary. Find out what makes this editor tick. See new ideas born before your very eyes.
Today, I have had to recruit technical help as my implementation of the site is going too slowly. I still have some time as the financial side is wheeling and dealing, but I want to try to get the thing launched by the beginning of June if I can.
There will be a forum where members can discuss anything they want, including this blog. Please wait until it is ready, and only use the information e-mail to request the announcement of the site launch, or I will never get anything done.
I look forward to making your acquaintance.
Subscribe today
A single one-year subscription includes --
unlimited access
to the site and some of the finest fiction in the world
almost as soon as it is written.
That fiction collected into two collectable hard-back books a year
The chance to be published yourself
Plus much more
To suscribe, you can send me electronic money or pay by credit card via PayPal. The account is set up, but I won't put a link to it here until the site is live
Or you can be
old-fashioned and send a cheque. The postal address for this will
appear here as soon as it is finalised. Of if you must you can send carefully
disguised cash. As long as it is sterling and not dollars or yen or euros.
This site is under construction. Please check back frequently to watch it
grow.
If you would
rather I let you know when the site goes live,
please e-mail me
at quercus information
Submissions guidelines
Quercus-SF buys on-line rights and book publication rights to short fiction for one year from the date of first publication by Quercus-SF.
Quercus-SF will pay a minimum of £30 per thousand words on acceptance.
Quercus-SF requires
stories up to 5,000 words in length.
We will consider exceptional stories that are longer, but will not pay for
more than 10,000 words per story.
Submissions to Quercus-SF are by invitation only. This is not arrogance, nor is it an old boy's network. If we made submissions open, we would be so inundated with submissions that we would never have time to publish anything.
So how, you are wondering, do you get invited.
Professional writers are welcome to e-mail the editor to discuss our requirements.
Semi-professional
writers - those who have been published several times, including perhaps one
or two paid appearances - should e-mail the
editor with links to their
on-line work or an indication of where their work is in print.
New writers are
unlikely to achieve the standard we are seeking immediately.
However, we are anxious to develop new talent, so they are invited to visit
the workshop area of the site - sendmeastory.co.uk - and they should bear
in mind that all stories submitted to the workshop are automatically considered
for inclusion in Quercus-SF
WELCOME
The site is not live yet, but when it is members will be able to sign in here and see the exact state of play of the fiction we are publishing.
Meantime, we are very excited because we now have the first prototype pages ready for testing. Each book will consist of two parts - the themed stories and other stories. These pages will help you navigate to the stories.
The first page you will come to is the contents page. It will show contents for both the first and the second volumes as they grow. For now, though, there are just test pages that we can't wait to fill with stories once we know they will work.
Please check back often to see how we are getting on.
If you would
rather I informed you when the site goes live,
please email me at quercus information
WELCOME
The site is not live yet, but when it is you will be able to see the first pages of all the stories on the site and all the other things we will be getting up to.
Meantime, we are very excited because we now have the first prototype pages ready for testing. Each book will consist of two parts - the themed stories and other stories. These pages will help you navigate to the stories.
The first page you will come to is the contents page. It will show contents for both the first and the second volumes as they grow. For now, though, there are just test pages that we can't wait to fill with stories once we know they will work.
Please check back often to see how we are getting on.
If you would
rather I informed you when the site goes live,
please email me at quercus information
