Another reason not to join the SFWA

I now qualify for associate member status in the SFWA, but every time I think about joining I read something like this post from Charles Stross. John Scalzi has a less enraged view of the matter, but my thought is why join an organization whose sole purpose appears to be creating continual tempests in a teapot among its members. I mean, there are already enough ways for life to distract me from writing without bringing in even more drama.

Getting your Fix with short fiction reviews

TTA Press, the publisher of Interzone, Black Static, and Crimewave, has debuted an online short fiction review site called The Fix. Originally published for nearly a decade as a print magazine, the Fix is now a purely online venture. So far, the reviews I've read are excellent, while the simple yet classy web design makes finding and reading the reviews an enjoyable experience.

For what it's worth, the Fix's Ziv Wities also takes a less than charitable view of my short story "Freelanga" in the recent anthology I Am This Meat. As Ziv says, its "A solid story, mostly aimed at building up the final scene; this reader found Freelanga pleasant but unremarkable." Ah well. Guess I can't be dishing out my own reviews in this blog if I can't take the heat of what other people think about my stories.

Should newbies write novels or short stories?

Author S.L. Farrell says fledgling writers often ask him, "Is writing short stories first a good way to start 'breaking into' writing novels?" While you can read his response for yourself, the short answer is . . . maybe. Be sure to check out the comments on the post, where other writers are giving their own views on this question. Thanks to John Joseph Adams for first linking to Farrell's question and answer.

Review: Realms of Fantasy Dec. 2007 and Feb. 2008

Because I've been behind on my offerings to the review gods, today I present a double sacrifice: the two most recent issues of Realms of Fantasy.

Overall, the Dec. 2007 issue is a fun and extremely satisfying issue. To start things off, Virginia Borges presents a fascinating look at the Little Mermaid fables and stories. The Disney animated film was the first movie Borges ever saw and heavily influenced her then five-year-old sensibilities. As she recounts, "I made myself a mermaid's tail from a sheet of butcher paper spangled with sequins and glitter" and wondered why "my mother always insisted on reading (the original story) aloud to me." This is a compelling mix of personal and mythical exploration and is highly recommended. The essay is published online here.

There are also a number of excellent stories in the issue, including a new Lord Yamada tale by Richard Parks. While "Hot Water" continues Park's light-hearted yet haunted journey through ancient Japan, the story isn't quite up to his "A Touch of Hell" from the April 2007 RoF. But since the characters of Lord Yamada and Kenji the priest are so compelling, this new story remains a very good read. Another good story in the issue is "The Fireman's Fairy" by Sandra McDonald, about a fire department using assistance from mythical creatures. Naturally, this leads to a pairing between an overly macho fireman and a flaming fairy called Tinkerbob. While this may seem like a buddy-movie cliche in the making, McDonald pulls off the story through good writing, pacing, and characterization. Only at the end does the tale bog a bit down when the author tries too hard to beat a moral of tolerance into her readers' heads. Still, it's a good read. The issue also features an enjoyable fantasy story along more traditional lines in "The White Isle" by Von Carr (the pen name of Siobhan Carroll, although I'm not sure why one uses a pen name while also giving your real name).

While the December issue is a good, fun read, the February 2008 issue of RoF steps things up a notch by publishing a great story in "Hobnoblin Blues" by Elizabeth Bear (see my previous review of the story here.) While Bear's story is a hard act to follow, the issue still features strong fiction from M.K. Hobson (with the adorable "The People's Republic of the Edelweiss Village Putt-Putt Gold Course") and Margaret Ronald (with the priest/wolf story "And Spare Not the Flock"). In fact, of all the fiction in the issue, the only story which didn't agree with me was "The King of the Djinn" by Benjamin Rosenbaum. While this story of a Middle Eastern father's friendship with a supernatural being starts off well, it is so short that only the father's character has the depth of a real person. As a result, his friendship and ultimate betrayal by the supernatural being doesn't ring as true as it might if the story had fleshed out the relationship more.

These two issues are the best RoF has produced in the past year (and I say that while noting RoF had a number of strong issues during 2007). My only major complaint is that the Feb. 2008 issue returns to the RoF pattern of putting movie promo photos on the cover (in this case, for The Golden Compass). I really liked the original art by Julie Fain in the Dec. 2007 and wish RoF would do this more often. But that said, with all the worry lately about failing SF/F magazines, if the choice comes down to either having a massive ad on the front cover or having no RoF at all, I'll go with the ad any day.

Best SF/F of the Year, Volume 2

John Joseph Adams has posted the line-up for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan and published by Night Shade Books. While the anthology won't be out til next year, I'd suggest reserving a copy. Among the selections I've read is Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which remains one of my favorite stories from the past year. Stories I haven't read but look forward to seeing include "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman and "The Last and Only, or, Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French" by Peter S. Beagle.

Jumping the shark, SF/F style

There's been lots of discussion lately about when particular science fiction movie series jumped the shark. Jay Garmon at Sci-fi rant says the Star Trek series jumped it with the First Contact movie, while with Star War it was the Midi-Chlorians of The Phantom Menace (meaning the Jedi knights are merely a master race, not meditation masters in touch with the greater universe). I agree with Jay about the Star Trek movies--First Contact was where I lost interest in the series. But with Star Wars, I believe John at SF Signal hits the nail on the head by saying that the true shark jumping was with the Ewoks. Evidently Lucas had originally planned for the Return of the Jedi to focus on Wookies, but for merchandising reasons made a script change to "cute, cuddly Ewok toys." The rest, as they say, was shark jumping history.

In my opinion, other SF/F cinema shark jumping includes the killing off of all the best characters at the start of Alien 3. I mean, hey, when you have a great character like the android Bishop (played so perfectly by Lance Henriksen), why wouldn't the first thought of any director be "How can I get rid of this SOB?" Another shark jumping moment is the Wachowski brothers believing that their hip look at religious themes in the first Matrix movie was worth total immersion in philosophical babble during the next two films. The shark finally ate the Wachowskis when Neo was crucified in The Matrix Revolutions. After all, if you're going to jump the shark, there's no need to be subtle about your intentions.

Everything you never wanted to know about submissions

So you've dredged up your soul and transformed it into 6,000 words of concise, literary, speculative fiction angst. Now all you need to do is publish the dang thing so the literary applause and money can roll in like a tsunami. Unfortunately, there's one problem standing in your way: The slush pile.

Yesterday I submitted a story to Interzone, a wonderful British science fiction and fantasy magazine. According to editor Jetse de Vries, so far this month he has received 276 submissions, totaling 1.3 million words of writing. 1.3 MILLION WORDS! That's equal to more than sixteen 80,000 word novels. Out of those submissions, Interzone may end up publishing five stories. If those odds don't scare you as a writer, then you are certifiable and shouldn't be writing fiction in the first place. Do the rest of us a favor and place your stories in an old filing cabinet so there's less competition. :-)

Seriously, every writer needs to know the odds they are facing. These odds apply to every fictional genre--be it literary fiction, SF/F, mysteries, or romances. But in the end, there's nothing a writer can do but keep writing his or her stories and submitting them again and again--no matter the odds.

"Book Scouts of the Galactic Rim" in Menda City Review

My short story "Book Scouts of the Galactic Rim" has just been published in Menda City Review. The story skirts the boundaries of science fiction and literary fiction, placing the tale well within the slipstream genre (which in many ways simply means the story doesn't fit neatly into any literary genre). My thanks to Terry Rogers for taking a chance with the story and publishing it in his amazing literary journal, which is one of the best designed and most thought-provoking online journals out there.

Story of the Week: "Hobnoblin Blues" by Elizabeth Bear

I generally dislike stories which merge popular music and literature. Too often, this subgenre of fiction feels like a literary short cut where authors use the goodwill and world building from a style of music--be it rock and roll, rap, blues, or so on--to make up for deficiencies in their own stories. For example, if a story features a character murdering his mother while listening to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," the author doesn't need to do as much literary heavy lifting with character development and emotional resonance because readers can use their knowledge of the song to fill the story's missing pieces.

In addition, the use of today's popular music in fiction too often strikes me as overly dated and elitist. Overly dated because while today's readers may know a song that hit the top ten a year ago, is it likely tomorrow's readers can say the same? Or that future readers will have the same emotional reaction to the song? As for elitist, too many songs referenced in fiction are rather obscure, giving the reader a feeling that the author is playing games like a character from the movie High Fidelity (i.e., thumbing their nose at anyone who doesn't know their favorite cutting-edge musician).

But now that I've ranted about how not to use music in literature, let me give you an example of how to do it right: "Hobnoblin Blues" by Elizabeth Bear. My new story of the week is found in the February 2008 issue of Realms of Fantasy and features the Norse trickster god Loki, who has been exiled to earth and is living as a glam/punk rock star of the 1970s and 80s. While Bear uses the themes and tropes from these musical eras to flesh out her story's background, the tale itself is totally unique, featuring a gender-defying and mortal Loki desperate to share his knowledge with humanity before he/she dies. In this way, Bear has picked up on a theme of modern pop music which fiction writers too often ignore: how every bimbo and bimguy who finds success strumming a guitar or hacking out a boy-band melody suddenly feels an irrepressible urge to change the world. But where most pop stars merely use their socially conscious pose to be trendy, the Loki of Bear's story actually has something important to tell the world. And the gods help us if we ignore him/her. And the gods help us if we actually listen.

One of the strengths of Bear's story is her amazing writing style, which alternates between rock magazine-style interviews with Loki, rock articles about him/her, and the point of view of Loki's assistant Hobnoblin, who was exiled along with his master. While I've seen stories using interview and article writing styles go horribly wrong, in Bear's hands it simply goes wonderfully right. In addition, Bear has created a Loki with whom readers emotionally connects--a rare feat whenever one is writing about god-like creatures, let alone one so delved into as Loki. In short, this is a great story. If you're not already a subscriber to Realms of Fantasy, look for a copy in your local bookstore in the next few weeks.

Columbus, Ohio, lands 2010 World Fantasy Convention

The news is now out: Columbus, Ohio, won the bid for the 2010 World Fantasy Convention. The convention will evidently be held that year during Halloween weekend.Now I'm sure a few people are asking "Columbus? What the hell's in Columbus?" For all those ignorant . . . er, uneducated folk who believe the U.S.A. begins and ends with the initials NYC or LA, Columbus is the largest city in Ohio and the 15th largest in the country. The city and region boasts a large per capita number of science fiction and fantasy writers. Columbus is also a highly literary city, with a library system consistently ranked as the best in the country. I love this city even though I'm a transplanted Columbusite--don't love that term, though--and I look forward to our community showcasing both Columbus and fantasy in 2010.

David W. Hill: The most popular SF writer you've never heard of

The Nov. 2007 issue of The New York Review of Science Fiction focuses on both science fiction in China and the recent Chengdu International Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival. While there are a number of good articles in the issue--including essays about the Chengdu Festival by David Brin, Neil Gaiman, and Michael Swanwick--the most fascinating read is an interview with a science fiction writer you've probably never heard of: David Wesley Hill.

Hill has had some success with science fiction in the United States, winning second place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1998 and publishing his short fiction in Talebones, Black Gate, Brutarian Quarterly, and Aboriginal SF. However, none of that compares to Hill's success in China. A number of his stories have been published in Science Fiction World, a Chinese magazine with the largest distribution of any SF/F periodical in the world. In addition, one of his stories, an ozone depletion tale called "The Curtain Falls," hit a deep nerve ten years ago with Chinese audiences. As Science Fiction World editor Yang Xiao writes:

"The Curtain Falls ... by the American writer David W. Hill presents a vivid, touching vision of how people suffer after the ozonosphere is damaged. The story was first published in our Science Fiction World in 1993, then reprinted in Readers, China’s most popular magazine, in 1994, arousing an immediate sensation among millions of Chinese readers. Shocked by the story ... many readers wrote to our magazine, expressing their strong determination to prevent ... the fictitious tragedy of the hero and his family from becoming a reality. In addition, [the] China State Environmental Protection Office reprinted the story and spread it among the broad masses of people in Beijing on the 1995 International Day of Ozonosphere Protection."

Despite this success, odds are you've never heard of the story (which I couldn't find online). In fact, when Mikael Huss mentioned the history of "The Curtain Falls" in an essay about Chinese SF in Science Fiction Studies, he added an editor's note stating "evidently the title has been lost in translation, as there is no U.S. book of that title."

As Michael Swanwich writes in the NYRSF, David Hill "may not be well known in the U.S., but is big as big in China." With luck Hill will begin to gain more exposure in the West, especially with his new science fiction novel being represented by Shawna McCarthy. (Publishers, take note!) Anyway, the wonderful NYRSF interview with him was written by poet Carolyn Click and offers a fascinating look at both Hill and the thriving Chinese science fiction world. Pick up a copy today.

A funny thing happened on the way to the online forum

Science fiction and fantasy fans tend to be labeled as anti-social geeks, but that stereotype's unfair on so many levels. The truth is the SF/F-loving world embraces as much social interaction as any aspect of humanity, and one way both readers and writers of SF/F interact is through the large number of specialized online forums. There's a long tradition of this: anyone remember the old GEnie network, which ran for a decade plus in the 1980s and 90s? Many SF/F writers used GEnie as their online community. And before anyone takes this love of online forums as an excuse to yell "geek," know that this is yet another case where SF/F stood at the leading edge of a trend. After all, it's not a big step from online forums to social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.

But what happens when your favorite forum shuts down? Lovers of the Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine forum found out when a spam virus took down their favorite haunt. The result: the community temporarily jumped to the Fantasy and Science Fiction forum at Night Shade Books (in particular, this thread). One participant, Clint Harris, even compared the Asimov's forum to a once-beloved bar. So I guess in the end, the Asimov's forum community has behaved as all communities do when their existence is threatened--it adapted and found a new way to live.

More on bloggers promoting SF/F

Glenn Reynolds noticed my comment the other day about Instapundit's role in promoting science fiction and fantasy (thanks for the link, Glenn). Tobias Buckell then noticed Glenn's comment and said there are three bloggers who create "great word of mouth" for SF/F: Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, and John Scalzi at the Whatever and via Ficlets.

Buckell adds that his own books have benefited from these bloggers and that they "probably do more than the hundreds of pieces of spam by self published authors I see dotting forums, blog comments areas, and my inbox around the internet." It's impossible to disagree with this statement.

Review of Apex Digest Issue 11

Apex Digest has long staked a claim as one of the best SF/F semiprozines and issue 11, which arrived in my mailbox yesterday, continues this trend. The issue features a great science fiction/horror story by Gary A. Braunbeck called "Blackboard Sky," in which Braunbeck channels Arthur C. Clark's Childhood End into the type of horror Clarke couldn't imagine on his most pessimistic of days. Steven Savile follows up the story with a fascinating interview with Braunbeck where they discuss Braunbeck's rather dour worldview (note: Braunbeck avoids calling his worldview pessimistic, instead saying its "more a pragmatic one that been run through a pessimistic filter and then presented to you by a cautious optimist.") The interview also discusses Braunbeck's views on writing and his life, including a horrific event no father should ever endure. This is hands down the best author interview I've read all year and, combined with Braunbeck's story, makes the issue a must read.

Another great story is "Ray Gun" by Daniel G. Keohane, in which an old man with Alzheimer's encounters a hostile alien. As the killing starts, the character tries to understand if this is really happening or simply a disease-related hallucination. While this set-up could have been a disaster in the hands of a bad writer, Keohane's steady prose presents the main character and situation through painfully-understated images and emotions, which gently lead the reader toward a tragic but understandable conclusion.

The issue also features a very good cover story, "The Moldy Dead," by first-time writer Sara King. The story is a well-written exploration of alien intelligence and genocide which is a fun and fascinating read. In fact, the heroic aspects of the story reminded me (in the best of ways) of something straight out of science fiction's Golden Age.

A final tip of the hat must be given to the short "What to Expect When You're Expectorating" by Jennifer Pelland. This hilarious spoof of drug commercials features a pharmaceutical cure for minor demonic possession. Of course, you should "Stop taking Xybutol if you experience dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sleepiness, projectile vomiting, an urge to vote Libertarian, voices telling you to cover up the local Indian burial mound with a Wal-Mart, or if you cough up something which then attempts to sell you a time share in Florida." All in all, Pelland's story is a fitting drug to close out a great issue of Apex.

How to promote your SF/F novel: send a copy to Glenn Reynolds

The other day a science fiction author with a first novel soon to be published asked me what he should do to promote the book. I told him to send a copy to Glenn Reynolds. Him: Silence. Me: You know, the law professor who writes the extremely popular political blog Instapundit. Him: Oh. I wanted to get some real publicity.

Because of that last comment I'm not naming this naive author. For those who don't know, Instapundit is one of the biggest political blogs in the country, receiving seven million page views last month alone. And Glenn Reynolds loves science fiction and fantasy. He recently promoted the winners of the Hugo awards, highlighted an interview with William Gibson, did a podcast with Vernor Vinge, and regularly mentions new SF/F books he's reading. I wouldn't be surprised if Glenn's doing more to promote SF/F right now than anyone else in the world. So my suggestion to any SF/F writers trying to gain more attention for their novels: send a copy to Glenn Reynolds.

SF/F tidbits

Two SF/F tidbits to mention:

  • The speculative genre site SFScope appears to be thriving. With an easy to use interface, clean design, and tons of regularly updated news and information, this website is worth reading on a daily basis.

  • Editor and poet Mike Allen is accepting submissions for the anthology Clockwork Phoenix. As Allen says, the anthology "is a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren't afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques. But experimentation is not a requirement: the stories in the anthology must be more than gimmicks, and should appeal to genuine emotions, suspense, fear, sorrow, delight, wonder. I will value a story that makes me laugh in its quirky way more than a story that tries to dazzle me with a hollow exercise in wordplay."

New SF/F magazines

The Oct. 2007 issue of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show is now available. As I previously mentioned, the issue includes the wonderful "In The Beginning, Nothing Lasts" by Mike Strahan. Other top notch work includes "The Towering Monarch of His Mighty Race" by Cat Rambo and "The Price of Love" by Alan Schoolcraft, which is a fascinating and compelling beginning to a two part story. I look forward to the conclusion in the next issue. There is also a new Ender story by Orson Scott Card. In addition, the issue features excellent artwork, such as the compelling visual by Scott Altmann for Brad Beaulieu's story "How Peacefully the Desert Sleeps" (which is also a good read). IGMS counts as a qualifying, professional-level market by SFWA standards, so it's gratifying to see the magazine giving so many slots to new and less-well-known writers.

The other day I mentioned the January 2008 Asimov's, which includes a number of good stories. One fascinating story I missed was "Unlikely" by Will McIntosh, which is a love story where the greater good of humanity depends on two unlikely people getting together. This is a fun, light-hearted read with an ending guaranteed to leave a smile on your face.

Story of the week: "In The Beginning, Nothing Lasts" by Mike Strahan

My new story of the week is "In The Beginning, Nothing Lasts" by Mike Strahan, published in the Oct. 2007 Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Set in the 1930s dust bowl, the story opens with a weeping mother watching workers dig her son's grave. While this may sound like a tragic if everyday occurrence, the mother isn't weeping tears of grief. Instead, she is excited, happy, because "her son would not die until yesterday." In short, her son is coming back. Today he is dead in the coffin. But come yesterday, he will be freed from that wooden box and be alive in his mother's loving arms.

Welcome to the resurrection, where people live their lives backward. Where you get a second chance to undo all the mistakes and sins of your life. The main regret of Beulah Irene's life was losing her son at age three to a horrific accident, so for the last few decades she's focused on her son's return. Naturally, things don't work out the way she planned.

New writer Mike Strahan creates a surreal world in this story, using past tense to indicate events which have yet to happen--except in the sense that all time is flowing backward, so the future is always past and the past future. Even though this setup could cause confusion in the hands of a lesser writer, Strahan's wonderful prose doesn't miss a beat. This story not only tugs at the heart strings, but also leaves one questioning what it means to "wipe the slate clean" of all the things we regret in our lives. Highly recommended.

Review of Interzone 212 and "A Handful of Pearls" by Beth Bernobich

I'm trying to catch up on my reading and just finished Interzone issue 212 (Sept./Oct. 2007). For the last year I've subscribed to this British science fiction and fantasy magazine and to say I eagerly await each new issue is an understatement. Part of the excitement is Interzone's amazing design--while stories rise or fall on their own merits, the beautiful art and layout make reading Interzone a more moving experience than one gets from many of the pulp-style digest magazines. Another reason I love Interzone is the editors take risks with the stories they accept, risks other SF/F magazines sometime seem loath to embrace.

For example, take issue 212. There are many excellent stories inside, including  "The Algorithm" by Tim Akers and "Feelings of the Flesh" by Douglas Elliot Cohen. I enjoyed these two stories immensely and highly recommend them to all readers. However, the story which stuck with me the longest, the story which twisted my gut into painful knots, is also the one I didn't particularly enjoy: "A Handful of Pearls" by Beth Bernobich.

I'm not saying this isn't a top-notch story. Beth is an amazing writer and the story grabs the reader's attention from the start, pulling us through a fascinating exploration narrative involving scientists trying to understand both themselves and an isolated part of their alien world. No, the reason I didn't enjoy the story is because the main character slowly reveals himself to be exactly as other people see him: a despicable, cowardly man. When the story's ultimate moment arrives--let's just say it involves a horrific act on a mute child--I placed the magazine on the table and told myself I was through with this story. However, to the author's credit the story was so well written, and the main character so fascinating in his self-denial and lack of self-understanding, that I returned to the magazine and finished reading the story.

I don't recommend "A Handful of Pearls" to most readers. But anyone wanting to understand how people do truly evil acts while imagining themselves to be the mistreated heroes of their own self-narratives, then this story is a must read. I'm certain that long after the fun stories I've read this year fade from memory, "A Handful of Pearls" will remain.