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Diary – 25 March, 2005

Working on a newspaper means that, where other people relax and get time off at bank holidays, I have to work twice as hard in order to get time off at all. So the past couple of weeks has been rather fraught. However, there is a new story up on the site today and I plan to get the backlog displayed in the course of the next fortnight.

Diary – 14 March, 2005

Having got my arm back from the menders – it took longer than anticipated – and successfully got it almost working properly again, I have suffered a further catalogue of personal and medical traumas that have got in the way of getting this site working properly. However, stories continue to arrive, and you will find the first of them live on the site today and placemarkers for the other stories in hand which will be added to the site in the next few days.

Diary – 8 November

I broke my arm. So things have been delayed. There will be new stories soon. And other good new things too.

Diary – 7 September

We are off to a slow but steady start. We have subscribers and we have new story submissions. My hope is that as I accept new stories and the skeptical see the site growing they will sign up too. And don't forget you can help – sign up five new subscribers and get a fifth subscription free.

Diary – August 23

A few final wrinkles to sort out and I should be announcing the site tomorrow. This is quite exciting – we already have subscribers and I haven't told anyone the site is live yet.

Diary – August 16

At last we are live today. Everything is not perfect, but we will continue to work behind the scenes to improve the site while you improve it from out there with your subscriptions, submissions and comments.

It is difficult to believe that it is two months since I last put any words on this site, but it has been very fiddly getting the text pages exactly right. It is encouraging to know there are so many of you out there waiting to see what happens. I hope you're not disappointed.

Diary – June 21

I've improved the FAQ page today to make it look more like a proper Quercus page and straightened out the SendMeAStory button at the top of this page. There are also pages now for The Spike and The Spike's other stories.

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.

Latest news update -

March 25, 2005

Another new story goes live on the site today. Chris Butler's “The 128th Waveform” is a touching story of lost love set around the final demise of The West Pier and a fine addition to the themed section of Quercus-SF.

March 14, 2005

The first of several new stories, Liz Williams's “Who Pays?”, goes live on the site today. You will also find markers for the other stories that are slated to appear in the next few days.

August 24

Announcements that the site is live go out today. There are four stories on the site to begin your subscription, more in hand, and many more to come. Once the fiction is running smoothly, a discussion mailing list will be added for subscribers to discuss what is happening on the site, reviews of book, film and television and any other media you tell me you are interested in, and, with some help from publishers, listings of forthcoming publications and competitions with exciting prizes.

And remember that if you sign up another five subscribers, you can claim a sixth free subscription for yourself or as a gift for a friend.

August 16

At last we are live today.

At the moment, visitors can see the first page of the stories that are on the site and I hope they will be intrigued enough to want to pay for a subscription and read on.

Writers who want to submit a story to the sendmeastory workshop are now very welcome to do so for a modest joining fee.

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

S U B S C R I B E T O D A Y

A single one-year subscription costs £60 and 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 collectible hard-back books a year

The chance to be published yourself – subscribers may submit stories to our on-line workshop, sendmeastory.co.uk, without further charge

Plus much more to come in future

To subscribe, use your credit card to pay via PayPal. They ask you to open an account but it costs nothing and short-circuits their usual laborious sign-up procedure.

Or send a cheque payable to Quercus-sf (please, sterling only) – to

Quercus SF subscriptions
98 Hythe Road
Brighton BN1 6JS
UK

Don't forget to include your name and address.

SPECIAL OFFER – SIX FOR THE PRICE OF FIVE
Subscribers who buy five subscriptions qualify for a free subscription. You could help Quercus-sf by recruiting new subscribers and benefit yourself with a free year's subscription.

You could even subscribe for six years for yourself, with the sixth year free. This would be a great hedge against price increases.

Or combine the above – recruit new subscribers and make the numbers up to six with an extension to your own subscription. The six for the price of five offer will still hold.

To take advantage of this offer, click on the Paypal button below and fill in your usual details. Include the addresses for the other five subscribers – don't forget both email and snail mail addresses – in the send a message box

Alternatively, send their names, addresses and email addresses by terrestrial mail to the above address, but don’t forget to include full payment of £300.Any questions, email 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 join 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

W E L C O M E

Visitors have limited access to the site. While they can see the other aspects of the site (currently only the sendmeastory.co.uk workshop, but there will be more as the site develops), they can only see the opening pages of each story.

The plan is to use this site to gather stories for a story collection that will be published approximately every six months. The stories will appear on this site as they are accepted for publication, so subscribers will be able to see the book being assembled almost in real time. The intention is to publish a new story every week on average. As stories are added, subscribers will be informed by email.

Each book will consist of two parts - themed stories and other stories. The idea is to stimulate writers to write to a theme, or allow them to invent their own stories. There is room for both in the Quercus SF project.

When you click on the link below, 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. At the moment there are only a few stories, but there will soon be many more added.

Come on in and take a look!

Please check back often to see how we are getting on. Alternatively, subscribe, and you will receive a weekly email to keep you up to date.

If you would rather I informed you when the book is about to close,
please email me at quercus information