Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 187 186 "Minghua! Treat!"

On October 10st, the country held a military parade to celebrate the 1th anniversary of the National Day, and the whole country was filled with joy.

This is the first grand National Day military parade in 1959 years since the National Day in 25, showcasing military and national power and shocking the world.

Also in the American science fiction community, a shocking thing happened. A Chinese writer named Fang Minghua submitted three manuscripts to the "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in one go, each of which attracted attention.

"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 he receives calls from all over the world. There are works written by science fiction writers from various countries, but this is the first time that we have received manuscripts from a large Eastern country.

The English manuscripts of the three novels are neatly placed on the desk of editor-in-chief Williams.

"The Village Schoolteacher": It tells the story of an ordinary teacher who imparts knowledge to students and thereby saves mankind.

"Sunshine" ("Sun Catastrophe") is about humans saving the sun that is about to extinguish. The narrative style is very Western, while "Robot general mobilization" and "Robot General Mobilization" are similar to fairy tales - fairy tales dressed in science fiction.

It is estimated that this novel will be popular with directors who like to make animated films in Hollywood.

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," Williams said to Jack, the director of the publishing department, who was sitting across from him.

Jack is a relatively young man with particularly eye-catching curly blond hair. He was a little surprised when he heard Williams' words: "Publish three novels?"

"Yes, let everyone take a look at this science fiction novel from the mysterious eastern country!" Williams said with a smile: "They not only know kung fu, but also write martial arts novels!"

"OK!"

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 impoverished life of "foreign team jumping".

Wu Beiling had just returned to her residence after class that day when she heard Sun Lizhe's voice coming from outside.

"Beiling, there's a letter from the magazine! It says that all three of Fang Minghua's novels have been published!"

Immediately afterwards, Sun Lizhe walked in, holding a letter in his hand and his face full of excitement.

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, but 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.

I have to win one of the three articles, right?

Unexpectedly, all three articles won!

Look at the royalties written above: a total of US$11.2!

This is no small amount.

"Lizhe, the magazine's remuneration is quite high." Wu Beiling looked envious.

Yes, I did the math and found that these three novels contain about 13 English words. The other party gave me $0.8 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, that's right. Let Fang Minghua write another novella and publish it in the United States. Four short stories and novellas can be made into one book!"

It was late October when Fang Minghua received the letter from Sun Lizhe of the United States. At this time, he held the cover with a smile on his face. not bad.

The royalties for the three novels were US$11.2.

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, and it is uneconomical 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 will probably be even higher.

Just follow his advice and write another one!

Just as Fang Minghua was thinking about it, 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 that capable of writing three science fiction novels at once." Bai Miao chuckled twice.

Suddenly he noticed the envelope he had placed on his desk.

"Hey, a letter from the United States? Could it be that your three science fiction stories were published in the United States? I heard that science fiction novels are very popular in the United States."

"No, it's not," 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, inviting him to go 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 a jury based on questions, and the members of each jury are selected at the moment.

The New Poetry Award only evaluates collections of poems, not single articles, so its full name is the "National Outstanding New Poetry (Collection of Poems) Award".

It has been held once, and this is the second one. It mainly selects outstanding poetry collections from 83 to 84.

Fang Minghua naturally knew the reason, and it was because of the "College Student Poetry Issue" published by "Yanhe" magazine in June.

At that time, 65 excellent poetry manuscripts from college students across the country were published, and top 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, should we treat you?" Bai Miao said:

"The judges are all well-known figures in the poetry world. They are the editors-in-chief of poetry from major magazines. This is the first time for our Yanhe magazine to be invited! This is an honor in itself."

"Okay." Fang Minghua was helpless. He suddenly thought of a question.

"Hey, how did you get this invitation?"

"I just walked to the door, and Zhang Baofu said there was a letter from you, so I helped bring it over."

What the hell!

I must tell Zhang Baofu next time and don't let this guy send the message.

(End of this chapter)