Chapter 187 186 "Minghua! A treat!"
On October 1st, the country held a military parade to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the National Day, and the whole country was filled with joy.
This is the first grand National Day military parade in 25 years since the National Day in 1959, showcasing military and national power and shocking the world.
Similarly in the American science fiction community, a shocking thing also happened. A Chinese writer named Fang Minghua submitted three manuscripts to the "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in one go, each of which was fascinating. Attention.
The "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" is one of the most famous science fiction magazines in the United States. The famous science fiction writer Asimov is a frequent visitor to the magazine. His main works are published in it, and every day I always receive works written by science fiction writers from all over the world, but this is the first time I have received a manuscript from a big Eastern country.
The English manuscripts of the three novels are neatly placed on the desk of editor-in-chief Williams.
"The Village Schoolteacher" ("The Village Teacher"): It tells the story of an ordinary teacher who imparts knowledge to students and saves mankind.
"Sunshine" ("Sun Catastrophe") is about mankind saving the sun that is about to extinguish. The narrative style is very Western, while "Robotgeneralmobilization" and "Robot General Mobilization" are similar to fairy tales - covered with science fiction. fairy tale.
It is estimated that if this novel gets to Hollywood, it will definitely be popular with directors who like to make animated films.
Williams thought so.
Each of these three novels has its own brilliance. In comparison, Williams prefers the first one: the jumping language description creates a huge contrast and tension in reading, and the ancient and suffering country, a He was fascinated by the noble qualities embodied in ordinary teachers.
“Publish all three articles.” Williams said to Jack, the director of the circulation department, who was sitting opposite.
Jack is a relatively young man, and his curly blond hair is particularly eye-catching. He was a little surprised when he heard what Williams said: "Publish three novels?"
"Yes, let Everyone, look at this science fiction novel from the mysterious country in the East!" Williams said with a smile: "They are not only good at kung fu, they can only write martial arts novels!"
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The first person to get the good news was not Fang Minghua, who was far away in China, but Sun Lizhe, who was in Illinois. At this time, he was still studying at Northwestern University. Also coming to Northwestern University with him was his newlywed wife, Wu Beiling, from from the Chinese Department of Yan University, and now I am studying comparative literature here.
The two rented a house outside the school and lived a tense and poor life of "foreign queue".
Wu Beiling had just returned to her residence after class that day when she heard Sun Lizhe's voice coming from outside.
"Beiling, there is a letter from the magazine! All three of Fang Minghua's novels have been published!"
Immediately afterwards, Sun Lizhe walked in, holding a letter in his hand. Face excited.
Wu Beiling has never met Fang Minghua, but since Sun Lizhe returned from his trip to China some time ago, he has often mentioned this name.
The novel was well written, and his character was not to mention. Without his help, he and Shi Tiiesheng would not have been able to go to Qinbei.
So Fang Minghao wrote to him and asked him to contribute, and he agreed without hesitation.
However, three manuscripts were sent in one after another. Sun Lizhe was worried that the submission would not be successful, so he deliberately suppressed it for a while and adopted a one-time submission method.
One of the three articles must win, right?
Unexpectedly, all three articles won!
Look at the royalties written above: a total of US$112,000!
This is not a small amount.
"Li Zhe, the magazine's remuneration is quite high." Wu Beiling looked envious.
Yes, I did the math. These three novels contain about 130,000 English words. The other party gave me $0.80 per word, which is quite a good remuneration. I have inquired that the remuneration of well-known science fiction writers in the United States is basically this amount. ”
"If it can be sold as a single volume, the income will be higher. The United States has a royalty system!" Wu Beiling said with a smile.
“Haha, yes, let Fang Minghua write another novella and publish it in the United States. Four short stories and short stories can be made into a book!”
Fang Minghua received a letter from Sun Lizhe from the United States. The letter came in late October, and he was holding the cover with a smile on his face. Not bad.
The manuscript fee for three novels is US$112,000.
However, Fang Minghua prepared to write a letter asking Sun Lizhe not to send it back, but to temporarily store it in his account in the United States. He joked that if you and your wife are short of money for school in the United States, just use it, and I will return it in time when I use it.
The current exchange rate is too low. It is not cost-effective to exchange 1 US dollar for about 2.3 RMB. Anyway, I am not short of money for the time being.
Also, according to Sun Lizhe's suggestion, if a book is published separately, the future royalties will be linked to sales, and it is estimated that it will be higher.
Just follow his advice and write another one!
Fang Minghua was just thinking when he heard the office door being knocked open and saw Bai Miao running in happily, holding a letter in his hand. His first words were: "Minghua! Treat!" ”
"I'm talking about Brother Bai. Why is it that the first thing you say when you see me is treat me?! Why don't you treat me?"
"I'm not as capable as you are to write three science fiction novels in one breath." Bai Miao Hehehe laughed twice.
Suddenly noticed the envelope he put on his desk.
"Hey, a letter from the United States? Could it be that your three science fiction novels were published in the United States? I heard that science fiction novels are very popular in the United States."
"No, No," Fang Minghua quickly denied: "It's a good friend of mine, Qin Bei, who we went to together some time ago, a doctoral student at Northwestern University in the United States."
Of course you can't tell this guy, lest you have to treat him again, maybe three times!
Bai Miao didn't care about the letter from the United States. He handed the letter in his hand to Fang Minghua.
“Look, is it time for a treat?”
Fang Minghao took it and saw that it was an invitation letter from the organizing committee of the “National Literature Award” of the Chinese Writers Association. , invited him to Yanjing to participate in the selection of the second "National Literature Award".
The actual full name of the "National Literature Award" should be the "National Outstanding New Poetry (Collection of Poems) Award". It was created under the background of the prosperity of poetry in the new era and is the predecessor of the "Lu Xun Literature Award".
Like the Lu Xun Literary Award, the National Literary Award has separate judging panels based on style and style, and the members of each judging panel are all chosen at the moment.
The New Poetry Award only evaluates collections of poems, not single articles, so the full name is the "National Outstanding New Poetry (Collection of Poems) Award".
It has been held once, this is the second time, mainly to select outstanding poetry collections from 1983 to 1984.
Fang Minghua naturally knows the reason, and it is because of the "College Student Poetry Issue" issued by "Yanhe" magazine in June.
At that time, 65 excellent poetry manuscripts from college students across the country were published, and a number of college student poets such as Xichuan, Haizi, Luo Yihe, Zhang Zao, and Gu Rongli were solemnly introduced.
At the same time, the poetry theory article "Poetic Imagery in the Post-Misty Poetry Era" he wrote attracted great attention from the poetry theory community, so he was invited.
"Minghua, is it time for a treat?" Bai Miao said:
"The jury is all well-known people in the poetry world, the editors-in-chief of poetry in major magazines, we "Yanhe" magazine is invited for the first time! This is an honor in itself."
"Okay." Fang Minghua was helpless, and he suddenly thought of a question.
“Hey, how did you get this invitation letter?”
"I just walked to the door. Zhang Baofu said there was a letter from you, and I helped bring it over."
Holy shit!
I must tell Zhang Baofu next time and never let this guy send a message.
(End of this chapter)