Fantasy Magazine relaunches online

Fantasy Magazine, one of the most impressive debut print magazines of recent years, has relaunched as an equally impressive online magazine. The magazine's website features a new story every week, along with interviews, commentaries, and fascinating interactive features like "blog for a beer," where writers are encouraged to go to the site each Friday and write whatever comes to mind. The most entertaining writer gets $10 to buy beer (for minors, root beer). I should add that the clean, sharp design of the website is a definite plus.

Zombies: The archaeological dig

For the first time in its 100 plus year history, the Archaeological Institute of America underwrites a dig the undead can really sink their teeth into: "Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis."

As a lapsed archaeologist who once dealt with a rabid raccoon while on an isolated dig, I can attest that the trowel technique for zombie eradication is way too close contact for my comfort. Instead, I'd advise the shovel technique for all zombie and rabid creature encounters.

SF/F, female writers, and that dang submission thing

The other day at Novacon in England, one of the editors from Interzone was told that their magazine wasn't "feminine friendly" enough (just FYI, that's the editor's choice of words, not mine). Evidently about 30% of stories submitted to Interzone are from women writers, which results in about 30% of stories published in the magazine being by women authors. However, this editor was evidently told that Interzone should receive about 52% of submissions from women.

First off, I question someone complaining because 52% of stories submitted to and published in Interzone aren't by women. The goal isn't to have a numbers-driven statistical parity between the sexes; the goal to make sure that all authors have their stories considered equally and that there is no discrimination by sex, religious affiliation, ethnicity and race, and so on. If 30% of submissions are from women and 30% or more of the stories the magazine publishes are by female authors, then the problem is with how many women are submitting SF/F, not with Interzone being hostile to female writers. This view appears to be born out by the fact that there are more women writing SF/F than are indicated by the number who submit their stories.

This issue has been discussed for a number of years and numerous efforts have been made to address the fact that fewer women submit science fiction short stories than men (such as the attempt by female writers to occasionally "submission bomb" certain SF magazines). For an examination of the issue, check out "SF and Fantasy in the New Millennium: Women Publishing Short Fiction" and an update to the article, both by Susan U. Linville and published in Strange Horizons. According to first article, "only 26% of the stories published in the Big Four print magazines in 2001 were written by women (Analog 13%, Asimov's 28%, F&SF 19%, and Realms of Fantasy 33%)" Linville's 2007 update then shows how the situation hasn't changed much in six years, with Analog now hitting 14%, Asimov's 25%, F&SF 20%, and Realms of Fantasy 48%.

In addition, the 2007 update states that "submissions by women varied greatly between magazines. Analog had the lowest submission rate, 18% of 239 submissions by women (men 72%, unknown 10%). F&SF, with 25% of 381 submissions by women (men 70%, unknown 5%), and Asimov's, with 27% of 200 submission by women (men 66%, unknown 7%), showed intermediate submission rates. Realms of Fantasy had the highest rate with 40% of 262 submissions from women (men 53%, unknown 7%)."

As Linville declares in her 2007 update, "It seems clear that overt editorial bias is not to blame for women's low representation in short fiction. Instead, lack of participation by women remains the clear villain." I agree with Linville's accessment and wonder why Interzone was singled out at that convention when it is obviously doing better than all but one of the "Big Four" SF/F magazines?

So what is the solution? I'm not sure. Two of the big four magazines have female editors at their helms (Sheila Williams at Asimov's and Shawna McCarthy at RoF). In addition, Strange Horizons now publishes a greater proportion of women's stories than they receive--in 2006, women accounted for 33% of submissions to Strange Horizons but 67% of published stories--which is the prerogative of that magazine's editors but seems  to me like merely bending over in the opposite direction rather than actually fixing the problem of why female writers don't submit as often as they could. As Linville write, "This type of encouragement from editors and writer's workshops may help, but in the end, it is the women themselves who must take the initiative."

How to save the SF/F magazines

There's been far too much said in far too many blogs about Paolo Bacigalupi's three-part series on saving science fiction and fantasy magazines from ever-declining circulations. However, if you've missed this somehow, check out his overview, his "Marketing in Meatspace," and the final part Online Marketing. Everything he says is sensible and gets little argument from me, and I say that as someone who subscribes to way too many SF/F magazines but easily understands why most people don't. Among the people who've commented on Paolo's ideas are Matt Cheney and Lou Anders.

Heinlein short story contest

The Heinlein Society has announced the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest, with prizes of $5,000, $2,000, and $1,000 given "for the best original short stories reflecting the spirit, ideas, and philosophies of Robert Anson Heinlein." There is no entry fee and the deadline is June 1, 2008. More information available on their website. Needless to say, I imagine they'll receive quite a few submssions in the next eight months.

New SF/F magazines received

Now that I've worked the kinks out of my new site, I'll be noting the arrival of new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the mail, along with providing quick reviews of what I see as their highlights.

The January 2008 Asimov's is an excellent issue and contains the print version of Mike Resnick's "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders," which I was fortunate to hear him read at the recent Context 20 convention. As I said in an earlier review of the story, this story is Resnick at his best and I expect to see it on a number of award ballots. In addition, the third part of the "Galaxy Blues" by Allen M. Steele is the best installment yet and I look forward to the ending next month. "The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald" by Tanith Lee is also a very good story, although at the beginning I wished more explanation of what was going on had been provided. But in this case trust the story and the author and you will be rewarded.

In the last month I've also received copies of the December 2007 Realms of Fantasy, the Sept./Oct. '07 Interzone (always a bit slow because of the international mailing), the Autumn 2007 Paradox, and the Summer 2007 Tales of the Unanticipated. I haven't had time to read all these magazines yet, but I'm happy to see that RoF has original art on its cover--their frequent use of movie promo pics as covers in the last year has not been attractive. I'm also looking forward to reading TOTU. For the record, the editor of TOTU, Eric Heideman, is one of the last editors in the world still sending handwritten critiques of rejected submissions. If you've ever received one of these letters, you know how valuable his feedback is. I highly value TOTU because of the hard work Eric and his fellow editors put in and for their efforts to bring new authors to the attention of the larger reading public.

Story of the Week: "Finisterra" by David Moles

For a while now I've been highlighting a favorite story of each week through the literary journal I edit, storySouth. However, the focus of storySouth is on Southern literature, while many of the stories I wish to highlight are science fiction and fantasy. To avoid blowing the minds of readers who came looking for Southern Gothic or the next William Faulkner and instead found my recommendation for Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," from now on I'll make all my SF/F story picks here.

Like Ted Chiang's tale, today's story of the week is also from the magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, specifically the December 2007 issue. The story is "Finisterra" by David Moles, who blogs at the Chrononautic Log. If you just looked at the title of his blog and went "What the hell is a chrononautic?" then his story may not be up your alley. But if you are the type of person who is intrigued by a strange word and curious enough to delve further, then "Finisterra" is for you. The story follows one Bianca Nazario, an aeronautical engineer who wants to escape from the life she's trapped in but slowly realizes the cost of escape is not always worth paying. As Moles says of the story, "It’s a riff on an old theme--the skilled protagonist who's called on to travel to a strange locale to do a job that only that protagonist can do, and who ends up changed by the experience. 'Finisterra' would mostly make sense, I think, to any SF reader back to the Golden Age--apart from the setting, it would probably make sense to Joseph Conrad and Mark Twain."

I strongly recommend this story (in fact, this story convinced me to finally subscribe to F&SF, which I did today). I also want to echo a comment Moles made on his blog: "I think I’m going to start describing all SF I like as 'literary' ... if only because the term apparently gets up so many people's noses." Amen to that. "Finisterra" is literary in the best possible meaning of that word, and if that gets up some people's noses, that's only because those people haven't read great fiction in far too long.

New anthology I Am This Meat

I'd like to draw people's attention to a wonderful new electronic book anthology called I Am This Meat. The anthology is based around Kurt Vonnegut's famous quote and features the short story "Freelanga" by yours truly.

This is one of the best designed electronic anthologies I've ever seen. You can chose to read the stories individually on the website or download a beautiful PDF to either print out or read on your PDA. And as a bonus, there are several interesting introductions and essays in the anthology. My favorite just might be by someone named Sheos, who writes tongue-in-cheek about how the creation of an anthology causes editors to hate one another as they reject each other's favorite stories.

Review of Mike Resnick's story "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders"

The short story "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" by Mike Resnick (in the January 2008 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine) deserves to be on every award and anthology short-list next year. Not only is the story amazingly well written, it'll stab you through the heart while leaving you both sad and optimistic about humanity and our desires. This is Resnick at his very best.

The story focuses on two octogenarians who spend their remaining days reminiscing about the Chicago magic store where they first met as kids. To say that the two men have had a mixed bag in life is an understatement--they've failed in most of their careers, their families passed away before them, and they now are in poor health and waiting for death in a less-than-prime nursing home. Then they set off in search of the magic store of their youth and . . . well, you'll just have to read the rest.

Unfortunately, the January 2008 Asimov's isn't yet available. I heard Resnick read the story to a small group of people at the recent Context convention in Columbus. I usually grow irritated by author readings, especially when the story isn't worth listening to. Not this time. I literally lost track of everything but the story during Resnick's reading and for days afterward found myself reflecting on the tale.

Resnick has written many great short stories in his career, not the least of which are collected in the award-winning collection Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia. But I believe this story might just top them all. When the January 2008 Asimov's becomes available, I'd suggest picking up a copy. Until then, feel free to check out the interview I held with Resnick at the 2006 Context.

New review up, interview with Matthew Cook

My latest book review, of Blood Magic by Matthew Cook, is now up at Monsters and Critics along with a featured interview with the author. From the interview:

"I think that the 'hidden world' element that you mention is popular because we, as modern human beings, have a yearning for a bit more mystery in our lives. Think about it: we inhabit an ever-shrinking world where the answer to any question, no matter how esoteric or obscure, is no more than a Wikipedia article or Google search away. No wonder people are drawn to the fantasy of a world where things are a bit more mysterious and grand than the everyday reality they inhabit. The sad part is that people have taken so much of the wonder of our everyday situation for granted. For example: when I was a kid, the idea of a phone that would let you access a global information network, or the ability to have parts of your body repaired with artificial replacements, was pretty much the stuff of Sci-Fi. Now, you can buy a disposable web-enabled cell phone at a gas station for $25 or get your joints repaired with surgical steel and plastic replacements." --Matthew Cook

This is my second "countdown" interview, so named because the interviews focus on science fiction and fantasy authors and countdown to what I hope will be an explosion of insight for readers. The title's a little cheesy, but the interview are extremely fun to do and so far readers seem to like them.

Roundup on Context 20

I had a blast at Context this last weekend. I attended a a "Plotting the Novel" workshop with Guest of Honor Tim Powers and it was an amazingly compact yet insightful affair. Putting aside the fact that Powers is deadpan funny--there's nothing like humor to spice up a workshop--his knowledge of novel craft is unsurpassed.

The other workshop I attended focused on world building. Taught by Timons Esaias, this workshop was a three hour affair covering all aspects of creating unique and realistic worlds in fiction. Even though the focus was on SF/F, what Esaias covered actually applies to all fiction genres. Yet again, a wonderful and learning experience.

In all, Context is a great literary-focused convention. The attendance was up again this year and I spoke to people who came from as far away as the Bahamas to attend. I highly recommend this convention to anyone with an interest in either writing or reading science fiction and fantasy.

Context 20 this weekend

I'll be at the Context 20 convention in Columbus this weekend. Context is a small convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy literature. I've signed up for the "World-Building Workshop"with Timons Esaias and the "Plotting The Novel" seminar with Tim Powers. At last year's convention I conducted an interview with Mike Resnick, who will be back this year as the Editor Guest of Honor. Resnick is a really nice guy and a great writer. If anyone hasn't read Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future or Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia, surf over to your favorite online bookstore immediately and order them.

In other news, Steve Buchheit mentioned on his blog my science fiction story "Rumspringa," which was recently published in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Glad to know there are other SF/F writers paying homage to the Amish. Buchheit also liked my interview with Tobias Buckell.

Mundane science fiction

The British science fiction magazine Interzone (which accepted one of my stories the other day) is taking submissions for their upcoming mundane science fiction issue. As Wikipedia states, mundane sf focuses on "on stories set on or near the Earth, with a believable useof technology and science as it exists at the time the story is written." This means no faster than light travel, psi power, nanobot technology, extraterrestrial life, computer consciousness, materially profitable space travel, human immortality, brain downloading, teleportation, or time travel. The submission form for the issue even has a checklist to make sure authors avoid those non-scientific items.

Novelist Geoff Ryman, one of the three guest editors of this special issue, published an essay about the mundane sf movement in the June 2007 New York Review of Science Fiction. Titled "Take the Third Star on the Left and on til Morning," the essay gives Ryman's view that too much of science fiction is based on an adolescent desire to run away from our world. While Ryman sees nothing wrong with this desire in and of itself (especially since the desire is rooted in the need of human children to eventually leave their parents' home), he notes that humans are not truly considered grown-up until they create a new home of their own. He says science fiction is big enough to take in both dreams--the dream of leaving home and the dream of making a home and becoming an adult. To Ryman, mundane science fiction focuses on this last aspect.

I'm working on a story to submit for the issue, which has created a good deal of angst in sf quarters. As one commentator stated on the Interzone forum, "I'm amazed people are having trouble with the very simple request by Interzone for no fake science." The sf community's nervousness with the whole mundane concept is probably a sign that there's something exciting going on in the mundane, everyday world of science fiction.

Yes, my site's been redone

I didn't think I needed to mention it, but two people have e-mailed me asking if I've redesigned my website. Yes indeed, that's what happened. After having the old site for about five years, the design was creaking and the functionality was zero. All the info from the old site is here (see the links to my writings at left), but now I also have an integrated blog with the site.

Interzone accepts one of my science fiction stories

Interzone has just accepted my science fiction short story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain." I don't know which issue the story will be in, but as a long-time admirer (and now subscriber) of the British magazine, I'm really excited about this.

In case anyone is interested in how the submission process works, in this case I submitted the story during Interzone's May e-mail submission period. Editor Jetse de Vries kept a running dialogue on how the submission process was going on Interzone's forum and in his blog. Evidently 500 stories were submitted, of which he sent 17 to the other editors. I'm not sure how many of those 17 will be accepted, but it's likely less than half or a third. If I'd known those numbers beforehand, I think I'd have been too intimidated to submit anything. Who says ignorance isn't bliss. :-) A big thanks to Jetse, Andy and the other Interzone editors for accepting my story. Coming on the heels of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show publishing my story "Rumspringa,"  2007 is shaping up to be a decent publication year.

Nonfiction and essays

 

Quick links


Note: If a publication isn't given for an essay, that means it was originally published on my website.

Essays on Literature and Writing

Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy

Author Interviews

Book and Magazine Reviews

General Essays

Selected Nonfiction Articles

Short Stories

Quick links

"Interzone is really spoiling me when it publishes Jason Sanford so regularly. As far as I'm concerned, they couldn't publish too much of this author if they named it Jason Sanford's Science Fiction Magazine." — Sam Tomaino at SFRevu

 

Science fiction and fantasy

"What Is Sand but Earth Purified?"

"We Eat the Hearts that Come for You"

"Paprika"

  • Novelette in issue 249 (Nov./Dec. 2013) of Interzone.

"Monday's Monk"

"Mirrorblink"

"Heaven's Touch"

"The Ever-Dreaming Verdict of Plagues"

"Her Scientifiction, Far Future, Medieval Fantasy"

  • Novelette in issue 234 (May/June 2011) of Interzone.

"The Blue Room"

"The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola"

"Memoria"

"Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep"

"Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime"

  • Originally published in issue 231 (Nov./Dec. 2010) of Interzone.
  • Reprinted in the Russian magazine ESLI (IF).

"Plague Birds"

"A Twenty-First Century Fairy Love Story"

  • Originally published in Tales of the Unanticipated, issue 30, spring 2010.
  •  

"Cwazy"

  • Originally published in OCHO #28, the print companion to the literary and arts magazine MiPOesias. This special issue was edited by Kirk Curnutt. Fall 2009.

"Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas"

  • Originally published in Interzone, issue 226 (Jan./Feb. 2010).
  • Placed third in the 2010 Interzone Readers' Poll.
  • An earlier version of the story was published in issue 2 of Tales of Moreauvia
  • Reprinted in StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2.
  • Reprinted in the Czech SF magazine XB-1.

"Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows"

  • Originally published in issue 225 (Nov./Dec. 2009) of Interzone.
  • Reprinted in Apex Magazine, Czech SF magazine Ikarie and the French book anthology Ténèbres.

"Sublimation Angels"

"When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees"

"The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain"

"Where Away You Fall"

"Book Scouts of the Galactic Rim"

"Freelanga"

"Rumspringa"

  • Originally published in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Issue 5, July 2007.
  • Reprinted in the anthology Beyond the Sun.

"For Aging Kids Who Dream of Star Treks"

  • Originally published in Tales of the Unanticipated, April 2002

Podcasts

Jeremiah (a short novel in four parts):

 

Asimov's March 2013
XB-1 April 2013
Interzone 243
XB-1 December 2012
Asimov's Science Fiction August 2012
Interzone 236
IGMS
XB-1
XB-1
Interzone 231 (Special Jason Sanford fiction issue)
Ikarie November 2010
Apex Magazine July 2010
Ikarie June 2010
TOTU30
TOTU30
Ikarie235
IZ226
Cover of Russian SF magazine ESLI
IZ225
IZ224coversm
IZ219
IZ217
YearsBEstSF14
AnalogDec2008
TOTU23