I'm a Functional Nerd!

If you haven't already overdosed on the Southern-accented sound of my voice, check out this week's Functional Nerds podcast where I talk with Patrick Hester and John Anealio about science fiction, short stories, inspiration, music, Lawrence Welk, Hank Williams, ghosts, Philip Jose Farmer and Andy Kaufman.

Unfortunately, the discussion we had about why Patrick and John should do a science fiction BBQ podcast didn't make the episode. But my fingers are crossed that one day they'll take up this tasty yet controversial subject.

"Plague Birds" Podcast on Dunesteef

The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine has released an amazing podcast of my story "Plague Birds," which was originally published last year in Interzone. This is my fourth appearance in the Dunesteef and it is mind blowing how great a job they did with my story. I mean, if Michael Bay called and wanted to podcast of one of my stories, I doubt he'd do a better job.

Of course, considering my reaction to Bay's recent films maybe that isn't the best comparison, but you get my drift.

If you've never heard any of the Dunesteef's full cast audio productions, you are in for a treat. This isn't one person simply reading my story—instead, Dunesteef brings in multiple people to act out the different voices. They also mix in top-notch sound effects. The result is a professional reading which feels like an updated version of those old-time radio dramas. If you're interested in learning more about this production, check out Fullcast Podcast where Bryan Lincoln details how he created the story's special effects and more.

Thanks to Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich at the Dunesteef for publishing this podcast, to Bryan Lincoln for producing the story, and to L. "Scribe" Harris, Abigail Hilton, Norm Sherman, R.E. Chambliss, Stacy Dooks, John Riendeau, and Liz Lincoln for providing the voices. And as Rish and Big mentioned during the podcast, I have indeed written a sequel to the story. I hope it will be published soon.

In related news, author Rachel Swirsky selected "Plague Birds" as one of her five nominations for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette. Many thanks to Rachel; people should also check out her other great recommendations. And if anyone wants to read "Plague Birds," I've posted a PDF version on my website.

Two Items of Note

I'm now recovering from a camping trip in zero degrees F weather, an experience which left me feeling amazingly alive—if by alive you mean in the same way those frozen bacteria in Antarctica are technically "alive." And for the rest of world who don't have a clue what zero degrees fahrenheit means, it's -17 celsius.

BTW, am I the only one who thinks the fahrenheit scale is positively steampunkish? Maybe the U.S. is so far behind the times with our temperature measurements that we're now actually ahead. :-)

Anyway, here are two items of note:

• Over on the Amazon blog Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer has some very nice things to say about both my writing and Interzone. Many, many thanks.  And Jeff is correct that Interzone is a magazine well worth checking out. If you'd like to order Interzone's special issue on my fiction, click here.
   
• Shaun Duke has finished the third and final part of his examination of the New Weird and SciFi Strange. Go! Read! Once I finish melting I'll comment on his analysis.

Inspiration Behind "The Never, Never Wizard of Apalachicola"

The blog Side-Show Freaks has published a few words from me on the inspiration behind "The Never, Never Wizard of Apalachicola," which is the cover story for the current issue of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

This is one of the rare times I discuss what goes into the making of my stories, so check it out if you are curious.

A Super Sunday Grab Bag of Links

A few links this morning:

• Shaun Duke at World in a Satin Bag has handed out his WISB Awards and named me as the "Best Writer of 2010." Wow! He also gave Lavie Tidhar his Kudos Award and picked Interzone as his favorite magazine. Many thanks to Shaun for the kind words.
   
• Peter Wilson also has some very nice things to say about my fiction. I'm not sure I'm an "exciting talent" but I still thank Peter for saying that.
   
• Rich Horton reviews Tales of the Unanticipated 30 and singles out my story "A Twenty-First Century Fairy Love Story" as one of his favorites. TOTU is a long-running semi-prozine which is well worth checking out.
   
• Aliette de Bodard has published online her Asimov's story "The Jaguar House, in Shadow," which I selected as one of my picks for the magazine's Reader's Award. Go. Read.

My Year in Fiction (aka the Annual Award Consideration Plugfest)

Every new year starts with authors plugging their stories for "award consideration." Never one to stand in the way of a self-promotion trend, I hope people will consider the following stories for everything from the Hugo and Nebula Awards to the Wall of Infamy Plaque at Galactic Jim's Super Emporium of Glittery Cheese.

First off, please know that the special issue of Interzone focused on my fiction (issue 231, Nov./Dec. 2010) is now in bookstores in the United States. Barnes and Nobles tends to carry them along with certain independent stores. The following stories are in the issue:

• "Memoria" (short story)
• "Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep" (novelette)
• "Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime" (short story)

Unfortunately, I can't post the stories online since the edition is still in stores. But I urge people to buy the magazine.

My other stories published in 2010 were:

• "The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola" (short story and cover story in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show issue 20, Dec. 2010)
   
• "Plague Birds" (PDF download, novelette in issue 228, May/June 2010, of Interzone)
   
• "A Twenty-First Century Fairy Love Story" (PDF download, novelette in Tales of the Unanticipated, issue 30, spring 2010)
   
• "Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows" (short story in issue 225 (Nov./Dec. 2009) of Interzone and reprinted in Apex Magazine, the Czech SF magazine Ikarie and the French book anthology Ténèbres)

Please note the last story isn't eligible for the Hugo Award because it was originally published in Britain in 2009. However its electronic publication by Interzone was in 2010, so it is eligible for the Nebula. Yeah, award rules are a funny, quirky thing.

A Few Items of Note

I've a number of items to throw at people, so here they are:

• My review of Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor is now up on SFSignal. While I urge people to read the entire review, in short this is one of the best fantasy novels of the year and one I'll be nominating for the major awards.
   
• SF writer Larry Eisenberg is the current "Get to Know an Internet Commenter" over on McSweeney's Internet Tendency. And in case you missed it, check out my interview with Larry from last year.
   
• Rusty is celebrating the third anniversary of BestScienceFictionStories.com. Congrats to Rusty—he produces an insightful and interesting look at the best SF stories out there. And I'm not just saying that because of the kind words he wrote about me on his site. So Rusty, definitely keep up the great work (and I'll try to do the same ;-).
   
• Colin Harvey has posted a review of Interzone 231 (which contains 3 of my stories) on Suite 101 while Gareth D. Jones picked my story "Plague Birds" as one of his favorites of 2010. He also picked "The Shipmaker" by Aliette de Bodard and "The Shoe Factory" by Matthew Cook—both also from Interzone 231—as others of his favorites. And congrats also to Aliette for having her story selected by Gardner Dozois for his Year's Best Science Fiction #28.

Story Accepted by Daily Science Fiction

Winter is not be my favorite time of the year because of that whole ice and snow thing. However, from the point of view of my fiction writing this has been a hell of a good season. First, Interzone published a special issue devoted to my short fiction. Then my story "The Never, Never Wizard of Appalachicola" was published as the cover story in Intergalactic Medicine Show. And to top off the winter festival of fictional happiness, today Daily Science Fiction accepted my fantasy "The Blue Room."

In case you've missed it, Daily Science Fiction is a dynamic new online SF magazine. Edited by Jonathan Laden and Michele Barasso, DSF publishes a new story every weekday, with each story emailed to readers for free (although you can also read the stories on their website). And because DSF pays some of the best rates in the genre they've already snagged stories from many of today's hottest SF writers.

Look for "The Blue Room" by the middle of next year. And before then, be sure to check out DSF.

My Story "The Never, Never Wizard of Apalachicola" in IGMS

My story "The Never, Never Wizard of Apalachicola" has been published in the new issue of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.  This is my second appearance in IGMS, but my first time as a "featured cover author." Be sure to check out the mind-blowingly good art from Julie Dillon.  

As IGMS editor Edmund R. Schubert says in his letter from the editor,  my story is "about the yin and yang between science and magic, and the value both can bring to a dangerous world." Other content in the issue includes stories by Gary Kloster, Jens Rushing,  Erin Cashier, and Bruce Worden along with two Christmas stories, one by Orson Scott Card and another by Maureen Power. To top it all off, there's even an interview with Ellen Datlow.

To read the issue, you'll need to purchase a one-year subscription (six issues) for $15. Personally, I think this is a great deal because along with the next year's worth of stories a subscription gives you access to the last 20 issues of IGMS  (which means you could also read "Rumspringa," which was my first professionally published SF story).

Thanks to Edmund Schubert for accepting the story, Eric James Stone for recommending it, and Julie Dillon for her great art.

My "Writer's Guide to Social Media"

The SFWA blog has published "A Writer's Guide to Social Media," which is a reworking of my original post on the topic from last month. 

Those posts are also an excellent example of why editors are nothing but a good thing in any writer's life. When Todd Vandemark, the web editor for SFWA, approached me about reprinting this post, he said he wanted to run the entire essay from the fourth paragraph on. 

Obviously this detail caught my attention, so I looked at my original post and realized,  yep, the first three paragraphs are a complete waste of the readers' time—at least with regards to the subject I was writing about. I had fallen into that dreaded writer's curse of digressing on an unrelated subject because it was something I'm interested in.

Of course, Todd was too polite to express all this, but I figured it out when I reread my piece.

So thanks to Todd for reprinting the post, and thanks also for showing so clearly why editors are a great thing.

Teaser for my story "Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime"

Only a few days until Interzone mails their Jason Sanford special issue. Last week I previewed two of my stories in the issue—"Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep" and "Memoria." Now comes my last tale: "Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime."

Set several decades after the collapse of our monetary economy, the story focuses on Millisent Ka, a talented young woman born in a neo-feudal musical fiefdom. Without giving away too many spoilers, let me simply say the plot revolves around the new payment system which took the place of money. But as with all attempts to improve the world, this new economic system didn't turn out as people intended. So it's up to Milli to create some new world disorder. 

Of all my characters in this issue of Interzone, "Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime" features my favorite. I flat out loved writing about Milli and I wouldn't be surprised if readers also relate to her. In addition, this story is my comment about the recent near-collapse of our financial system. This doesn't mean I was deliberately writing a commentary about economics, but it was on my mind. For more about authors and their ideas, read what I said during the WFC panel on that subject.

Above is the story's spread from Interzone 231. The surreal art is by Dave Senecal, who has created many delightfully mind-twisting illustrations for genre publications.

This issue of Interzone will be mailed to subscribers on Thursday. And don't forget if you subscribe to Interzone you can receive this issue for free.

Teaser for my story "Memoria"

The other day I plugged my story "Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep" which will be in the upcoming issue of Interzone focused on my fiction. Today I'll talk about a second story, "Memoria."

In the universe of "Memoria," dimension travel is possible but extracts a horrible cost, ripping apart the minds of volunteers who shield their fellow explorers. Now the crew of one of earth's dimension ships have discovered a creature which might explain why this happens. But the creature has other plans—which unfortunately involve the painful death of every human in existence.

This story is one of the most challenging and experimental I've written and explores how many memories a person can lose before they are no longer who they were. It also ponders if there are some memories we shouldn't be allowed to forget, no matter how much we might want to leave them behind.

Above is the story's spread from Interzone 231. The eye-catching art is by Richard Wagner, who has created a number of amazing illustrations for the magazine.

This issue of Interzone will be mailed to subscribers next Thursday. And don't forget if you subscribe to Interzone you can receive this issue for free. But if you want this special subscription offer, act soon.

Interzone 231

Interzone has released their preview of issue 231, which is the special issue focused on my fiction. Interzone 231 contains an interview with me and three of my science fiction stories—"Memoria," "Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep," and "Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime."

In addition to my stories, other fiction includes "The Shipmaker" by Aliette de Bodard and "The Shoe Factory" by Matt Cook. Aliette always write engrossing stories and I can't wait to read her tale. As for Matt, I have already read his tale and it is one of the best science fiction stories of the year. Here's what I said about "The Shoe Factory" when Interzone first accepted it.

The new issue of Interzone will be published November 12th. And don't forget that for a limited time if you subscribe to Interzone you can receive this special issue for free.

Update on Feb. 15, 2011: This special issue is now totally sold out.

World Fantasy Convention updates

A reminder that starting today I'll be at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus. I probably won't be updating this website until after the con, so for more frequent updates check out my ever-trusty Twitter feed.

I'll also be taking part in two WFC panels on Saturday, October 30 -- "The Lighter Side of Death" panel at 4 pm, with Kristine Smith, Esther Friesner, and Laurel Ann Hill; and the "Authors and Ideas" panel at 5 pm, with L.E. Modessitt, Tim Powers, and S.M. Sirling. I'm moderating this last panel, so if you've ever wondered where the hell one of my ideas came from, stop by and I'll ramble into some type of explanation.
 

The complete "Sublimation Angels" on StarShipSofa

StarShipSofa has now aired the final part of my novella "Sublimation Angels." The first of the three-part serial can be downloaded here, the second part here, and the final part here.

The final episode resides alongside the story "Bigfoot and the Bodhisattva" by James Morrow. Morrow's story was narrated by Larry Santoro, who also provides some fascinating background on his narration techniques. Add in the interview with Morrow and it's an all-around fun edition of the Sofa.

Thanks to Tony C. Smith for running my novella as a serial and to Josh Roseman for narrating it. I've always loved multi-part stories and it was a thrill to have "Sublimation Angels" turned into one.

Teaser for my story "Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep"

In the coming weeks I'll be plugging the special issue of Interzone focused on my fiction. I apologize in advance for this relentless self-promotion, but it's not every day something this exciting happens in my writing life.

One of my three stories in the issue is "Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep," which deals with the sheep, sheepdog, and wolves analogy. While the analogy is not well known to the general public, it is widely repeated among police officers and soldiers. That's not to say the analogy is correct or believed by every police officer and soldier--as with all summations of human behavior, this one has glaring strengths and weaknesses. But it is an interesting perspective on humanity and was a fascinating subject to explore.

Above is the story's spread from Interzone 231. The art is by Warwick Fraser-Coombe, who has also illustrated all of this year's Interzone covers. The covers combine to create a new, larger image, which will also be revealed with this upcoming issue.

To read the story, keep an eye out for the new issue of Interzone, which will be published November 12th. And don't forget that for a limited time if you subscribe to Interzone you can receive this special issue for free.

Subscribe to Interzone, receive the Jason Sanford special issue for free

Andy Cox, the editor of Interzone and Black Static, has sent me some exciting news: For a limited time, anyone who subscribes to 12 issues of either Interzone or the Interzone/Black Static combination can receive the Jason Sanford special issue for free!

As I've mentioned before, the upcoming issue of Interzone focuses on my fiction and contains three of my newest stories, an in-depth interview with me, and more. The issue will be published November 12th.

I highly recommend subscribing to Interzone and Black Static. Interzone is the best science fiction magazine in the world and I've been a subscriber for quite a while (well before they began publishing my stories). And as Ellen Datlow has said, Black Static is "the most consistently excellent horror magazine published." It's hard to argue with her assessment.

To receive this special offer, simply order a 12 issue (two-year) subscription to either Interzone or the Interzone/Black Static combination through the TTA Press online store. Then, in the Shopper’s Reference box, enter JASON SANFORD. That way you'll receive the special issue for free.

And as a note to overseas subscribers like myself, subscribing to 12 issues cuts down on your price because TTA Press sends out half those issues without any added shipping costs. Add in another free issue and you can't beat this deal.

I don't know how long Andy plans to make this special offer, so I urge people to take him up on it. And if you need any more convincing, check out the promo flyer above and its illustrations from the upcoming issues of Interzone and Black Static. Not only do these magazines publish some of the best short fiction in speculative literature, they're also the most beautifully designed.

A few updates

I'm extremely slammed with work and life, so don't expect many posts through next week. Until then, here are a few updates:

• I'll be at the World Fantasy Convention next week in Columbus. If you see me, please say hello. I'll also be taking part in two panels on Saturday, October 30 -- "The Lighter Side of Death" panel at 4 pm, with Kristine Smith, Esther Friesner, and Laurel Ann Hill; and the "Authors and Ideas" panel at 5 pm, with L.E. Modessitt, Tim Powers, and S.M. Sirling. I'm moderating this last panel, so if you've ever wondered where the hell one of my ideas came from, stop by and I'll ramble into some type of explanation.
   
• The ever-great StarShipSofa is now airing my novella "Sublimation Angels." The first of the three part serial can be downloaded here. The second part is here.
   
• Last week I took part in a SF Signal Mind Meld on the perfect science fiction anthology. My picks showcased the "then" and "now" of cutting-edge science fiction.

StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2, now on sale

StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2, is now officially out--as in "out of this world!" The second collection of stories from the Hugo-winning podcast contains fiction by me, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Jeff VanderMeer, Nancy Kress, Tobias S. Buckell, Stephen R. Donaldson, China Miéville and many more. My story in the anthology is "Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas."

The anthology comes in several different editions, from a regular trade paperback to a very nice hardback to a special signed limited edition. That means somewhere in the world are 25 copies of this book with my signature alongside those of Gaiman, Doctorow, et al. I can't tell you how exciting that is.

And don't forget that starting next week StarShipSofa will air my novella "Sublimation Angels" as a serial podcast. I'll post more information when it is available.

UPDATE: StarShipSofa is now airing my novella "Sublimation Angels." The first of the three part serial can be download here.

Promo video for StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2

StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2, will be published on 10/10/10. My story "Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas" is sandwiched like a piece of organic high-grade salami between works by Jeff VanderMeer and Cory Doctorow. That's a great place to be, so call me a contented salami. :-)

The collection also features stories by Neil Gaiman, Mary Rosenblum, China Miéville, Stephen R. Donaldson, and many more.

StarShipSofa has created a catchy promo video for the collection. Be warned--the original music by David Bradshaw is very addictive.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ONVlpR9G8&w=510&h=385]