A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

Chapter 110 Short Story Collection

Wednesday, April 10th.

When Lin Shubai received Zhou Hang's call, he was organizing the manuscript of "The Astrological Murder Magic".

"Professor Lin, there's something I'd like to discuss with you." Zhou Hang's voice came through the receiver, carrying his usual Sichuan accent. "We're planning to publish a collection of your science fiction short stories, compiling all the works you've published in our magazine since last November. What do you think?"

Lin Shubai put down his pen. Last November, he submitted his first article to *Science Fiction World*, titled "Dinosaurs in the Afternoon."

And "Artificial Beauty"—at that time, he had just finished writing "Charlotte's Web," and his mind was full of Shinichi Hoshi's short stories. He wrote two in one go and submitted them. From then on, he would submit two stories every month without fail. Now, almost half a year later, he has published about ten stories.

"Teacher Zhou, was this decision made by your organization?"

"Yes, it was Editor-in-Chief Wang who made the decision. Your science fiction short stories are very popular among readers. We have received many letters saying that they want to collect them. Moreover, your style is different from the existing science fiction short story collections on the market—cold, short, and powerful."

Lin Shubai thought for a moment, "How many articles do I need?"

"Ten or so articles will be enough. Of course, if you have new material, we welcome you to include more at once. The royalty rate is 10%, and the first print run is 20,000 copies. How does that sound?"

Lin Shubai did not answer immediately. He was calculating how much material he had in stock. From last November to now, he had published ten stories in Science Fiction World. There were more than twenty stories in that collection. Every single one was clear in his mind. When publishing a collection of short stories, he couldn't just rely on the published works. He definitely needed to bring out some new material.

"Professor Zhou, I have about a dozen unpublished papers. Do you want them?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Zhou Hang's voice rose noticeably: "You still have a dozen or so articles?"

"A draft." Lin Shubai was too lazy to explain why so many drafts suddenly appeared; saying "a draft" was the easiest way.

"Then bring them all over! We'll publish them all at once!" Zhou Hang's tone became urgent, as if afraid he would change his mind. "Teacher Lin, let me tell you, if you can produce fifteen or sixteen articles at once, this collection will be much more significant. Do you understand what I mean?"

Lin Shubai understood perfectly well that if a collection of short stories only contained those that had already been published, readers might feel cheated, but if it contained many new stories, readers would accept it even if it was sold at a higher price.

"Let me organize the manuscript I have on hand first. I'll finish writing it this week and then send it to you together."

"Okay! I'll be waiting for your manuscript! Professor Lin, your output is so high, even I, as the editor, can't keep up."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Shubai opened the notebook and turned to the page of Shinichi Hoshi's short story collection. It listed the titles of thirty-one short stories, each marked "published" or "unpublished". Since Lin Shubai used the short story of the same name, "Feed - Come Out", for a competition, there were eleven submitted stories and twenty unpublished stories. He scanned through them and picked up a pen to start filtering.

He didn't need to include all twenty articles because he felt a few were unsuitable. Lin Shubai ultimately selected fifteen, adding them to the eleven already published, for a total of twenty-six. After some thought, he realized twenty-six was too many, so he crossed out a few that were of relatively average quality, ultimately finalizing the manuscript at twenty-one articles.

He wrote down the titles of these twenty-one articles in his notebook:

Feed It Out, Dinosaurs in the Afternoon, Artificial Beauty, Love Communication, A Long Life, The Age of Contracts, Thieves Company, A Gift from Button Star, The Ideal Sales Method, The Angel's Test, City of Desire

Fairy Rating Company, The Key, The TV Show, The Age of Instruments, Insomnia, Finding Weakness, A Device, Housing Problems, By Chance, Goddess.

Lin Shubai first looked at the ones that had already been published, and then looked at the newly added ones. "The Contract Era" is about a man who signs a contract to earn a living, but is bound for life and completely loses his personal freedom. "The Thief Company" is about a professional theft company that takes orders, but unexpectedly, the high-value commission is a trap set by others.

"The Gift from Button Planet" tells the story of an invention sent by aliens to make life easier, but the ultimate device is intended to destroy Earth's civilization. "The Ideal Sales Method" tells the story of a salesman who masters a universal sales technique, but in the end, this method backfires and drags him down. "The Angel's Test" tells the story of angels conducting tests of humanity, under which the boundaries between good and evil become blurred.

"City of Desire" depicts a man indulging in greed in a dream, trapped by a house full of wealth, becoming a prisoner of desire. "Fairy Distribution Company" depicts merchants selling fantasy fairies, transforming pure beauty into a commodity for profit. "TV Show" depicts the whole nation chasing after television performances, vying to appear on screen for popularity, staging an absurd entertainment chaos.

"Housing Problems" depicts the harsh housing rules of a future society, highlighting the struggles of ordinary people to survive and reflecting the realities of life. "A Device" describes how a novel device brings convenience but also constantly arouses greed and causes numerous problems.

Lin Shubai went through each of the twenty-one stories in his mind to make sure he hadn't missed any. Each story was a classic by Shinichi Hoshi. He knew that once this collection was published, it would cause a great sensation among science fiction readers.

He picked up his phone and sent a text message to Zhou Hang: "Teacher Zhou, the list of articles has been finalized. There are twenty-one articles, ten of which are newly written. One of them is called 'Feeding Out,' which I wrote before, but I haven't submitted it to the magazine before. I suggest putting it as the first article."

Lin Shubai placed his phone on the table, wrote the title "The Era of Contracts" on the manuscript paper, and then began to write.

He sat at his desk all afternoon, writing one piece after another. Each piece was already in his mind; he didn't need to come up with ideas, just make simple revisions.

He wrote "The Age of Contracts," "The Ideal Sales Method," and "The Angel's Test." After finishing each one, he would put them on his right and stack them up.

In the evening, Wang Xiulan knocked on the door to call him for dinner. He put down his pen, rubbed his wrist, and saw a thick stack of manuscript papers on the table. He counted them: four.

At the dinner table, Lin Jianguo asked him, "I noticed you've been writing a lot today?"

"I wrote four short stories."

Lin Jianguo paused, his chopsticks still for a moment. "Four articles?"

"Um.

""

Lin Jianguo was silent for a few seconds, then put the food on his chopsticks into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and said, "Why did you write so much at once? Can you even finish writing it all?"

"I can write them all; none of them are very long."

Wang Xiulan glared at Lin Jianguo from the side and said, "You don't care if he can write it or not, as long as he can write it." Then she put a piece of pork rib on Lin Shubai's plate and said, "Eat more, writing takes a lot of brainpower."

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