Reader's Freebies 11 - BEWILDERING STORIES and coordinating editor Edward Ahern
I recently sat down with writer and poet Edward Ahern. He has over 100 publications in magazines and anthologies, two collections of short stories and a novella to his name. His work has appeared in such journals as Cast of Wonders, FLAPPERHOUSE, Best Horror Shorts, Enchanted Conversation, Bards and Sages Quarterly and Kzine.
Ed and I are also both editors at the e-zine Bewildering Stories, although we’re in different departments. It’s a weekly magazine which is free to read online, and has been in continual publication for over 15 years, with no intention of slowing down anytime soon. With more than 25 editors at the magazine, hundreds of contributors and thousands of readers, it is an online institution. Bewildering Stories welcomes any genre and many types of submissions, including short and long poetry, essays, book reviews, nonfiction articles, flash fiction, short stories, and serialized longer works, including novel-length fiction. Each issue includes art, NASA space pictures and discussion posts about the pieces published each week, encouraging reader responses.
I sat down with Ed at the Stamford Art Festival before he did a poetry reading at the Poet’s Corner. Here’s his official brag sheet, as he likes to call it:
Ed Ahern sometimes detours into literary fiction and poetry, but he’s best known as an innovative genre writer. He’s tucked away several awards and honorable mentions for seventy-seven short stories and three books. The stories have appeared in ten countries and, counting reprints, a hundred fifty-nine publications. His stories can be listened to through Audible and the New York Public Library. And he started writing fiction at sixty-seven.
His editorial skills are based on a degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and extensive experience at the Providence Journal. Ed’s been honing the skills for several years at Bewildering Stories, where he serves on the review board and as review editor with a staff of five. (Bewildering Stories is widely known for the author-friendly quality of its critiques.)
Ed also serves as the newsletter editor for the Connecticut River Salmon Association. He’s a member of several writing groups, including the Fairfield Scribes, where he’s known for his tough-love comments.
He has his original wife, but advises that after almost fifty years together they are both out of warranty. Two children and five grandchildren serve as affection focus and money drain.
His work career after university has been an enjoyably demented hopscotch game. U.S. Navy officer (diver and bomb disarmer); reporter for the Providence Journal; intelligence officer living in Germany and Japan; international sales and marketing executive at a Canadian paper company (twenty- three years, seventy four countries visited, MBA from NYU); same job for the company that also owns the New England Patriots; and retirement into writing like hell to make up for lost time.
Without further ado, I’ll head straight to the interview.
Thanks for joining me, Ed! I wanted to start by asking about your fiction publishing beginning a bit later in life. What has your writing journey been like?
I didn’t start writing until I was about 66 or 67 and have been writing ever since. Some 300,000 words later, I have 1 novella, around 75 short stories and 60 odd poems.
My first story was a bodice ripper, written when I was 17 or so. A typical male hero rescues a damsel with décolletage. I never kept a copy, and I’m thankful for that.
I’ve been published/republished 300+ times. Some of my stories have been republished 3-4 times.
I don’t subscribe to writing formulas. I have an idea and I go where the story takes me, until I think it’s halfway decent.
You and I are both editors at the free online magazine, Bewildering Stories, which publishes a wide variety of submissions. How long have you been at the magazine and can you talk a bit about what Bewildering Stories publishes and your role in it?
I’ve been there about 5 years. I’m what they call a coordinating editor, which is different from what they call a review editor (slush reader). I’m in charge of five review editors for fiction. The stories are submitted to Don, our managing editor, and Don routes them to one of five coordinating editors, who route it to two of five review editors. If both say accept, I accept. If both say decline, I decline. And if there’s a mixed review, normally it goes back to Don for a decision.
I’m also on the review board and I’m one of eight. We read and rate the stories and poems in each issue. Those that receive a 75 or above get published in the quarterly review and those that receive 80/85 get published in the annual review.
What do you enjoy reading in your free time (or do you not have any free time)?
It’s pretty eclectic. I read books on writing and on poetry. I recently went through a Neil Gaiman period where I read American Gods and The Sandman series. I have a copy of Ulysses (which is currently free on Amazon Kindle) in my office and I will occasionally go back to it, but will give up in frustration. And I’m partial to David Foster Wallace, but I think his essays are better than his fiction.
What do you write?
It’s pretty eclectic also. My poetry is, I would say, approachable literary with a bias toward the natural world. My fiction is mostly genre with occasional detours into literary fiction. My articles are almost all about fishing.
What inspires you? As a (mostly) speculative fiction writer, how do you take the ordinary and make it into weird fiction?
Probably because there’s very little that I view as ordinary. I think there’s a little magic in everything. Ordinary isn’t a pejorative. It’s true of my poetry, too. I write a lot of small things. I’m a nickel poet. I tend to write approachable, relatively emotional pieces.
What’s your writing process? How many drafts do you go through before sending a piece out for publication?
Three drafts as a rule, unless there’s a deadline, in which case two before sending it for the first time. But I’m actually never done. I have a very bad habit of even revising stuff that’s already published. A case in point, I did a story called “The Consubstantial Man” and it first appeared as one version in one magazine, in Bewildering Stories as another version, and there is yet a third version that is being revised between an editor and I. I describe them as reprints, but they’re actually rewrites. If I ever get to be famous, my bibliographer will be mind-screwed. And it’s actually true of my poetry, too.
What do you like to do outside of writing?
Fly fish, shoot, and I’m a puzzle freak. I do crosswords and Sudoku. I do the New York Times Sunday puzzle in ink.
Who are some of your writing heroes and what makes you love their work?
My heroes—oh, wow—you’re always tempted to pick the old standbys, the ones you think will make you sound good. Like David Foster Wallace, who is an incredibly gifted and irritating writer. Sometimes the irritating overwhelms the gifted. Poetry, I’m in love with Mary Oliver, which is difficult because she’s a lesbian.
He’s not popular, currently, but I’m still a big Ray Bradbury fan. (Me, too!) More than most of the other science fiction and fantasy writers, I really got off on his writing. It’s a tiny bit dated, but I still reread him. Some of my poetry might sound like Mary Oliver, because if I read her in the morning, I write her in the afternoon.
What are you working on now? What’s on the horizon?
I normally will do 2-3 poems a month and a couple of short stories a month. The Rule of Chaos is a paranormal suspense thriller novel that I want to give a reasonable depth of character. I’ve done about 44,000 words on it.
Between reprints and originals, I’ll usually have between 2-4 pieces, poetry and fiction, in print any given month. I’ve got one called “The Birthing” which is coming out in On Fire Anthology later this fall. I’ve got one coming out this month at Longshot Island called “The Good Fairy”—it’s a reprint. “The Missionaries” is coming out in Hellbound Anthology in October. Some of my poetry is coming out in Dime Show Review, a print anthology, in August. “The Consubstantial Man” is coming out in late fall in Aether/Ichor. The Patchwork Raven is running a fairy tale called “The Boy Beneath the Beach Tree,” coming out in September. A magazine called Gold Dust in the U.K. has my story called “The Oracle,” which is currently running, and they’ll also be including some of my poems and stories in an upcoming anthology.
Where can readers stalk—um—find you in person?
I’m wide open on Facebook, and my Twitter account is @bottomstripper. Locally, the Westport Writers’ Rendezvous is a good place to trap me. I’ll be going to StokerCon next March in Providence.
I’ve read some of your work-in-progress, which is a psychological/military thriller. What made you interested in this genre? Do you have any personal experience in the military or chasing criminals?
Yes.
Well, I better not ask for details from you. I’m afraid to hear the old, “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you,” from a former intelligence officer, ha ha. It’s been great chatting with you, Ed. Thanks so much.
Please join us in two weeks' time for a continuation of the Reader's Freebies series with a look at the art of Strange Horizons magazine, followed by a one-on-one interview with art director Tory Hoke. Until then, happy reading!
