I’ve had Lucy A. Snyder’s slim collection Installing Linux on a Dead Badger on my shelf for a couple of years, always meaning to get on to reading it. From the title you can tell it’s pretty tongue in cheek, and it is. From sly snickers to laugh-out-loud moments I really did enjoy the collection. Some of the stories are told in fairly standard narrative, while others are written as news reports. There’s a thread running through the book – the whole Linux as a way to work with the undead, and similar ideas – which makes it a strong unifying whole.
This prompted me to check out her website, and Lucy’s been busy since (and before) publishing the badger book – several books from Del Ray, which I’ll be checking out.
That all leads me to the point of my post – Lucy’s cool post “On sales versus publications” about why she lists her story sales, rather than her publications. Go read the post. Okay, it’s a few years old now, but the concept still stands. It’s been argued elsewhere – along the lines of treating writing like any job, a writer deserves to be paid – but Lucy gives a great and concise argument.
You’ll see in my bibliography I list publications. Just a handful of those are genuine sales, and many of those for token amounts.
