The Grandmaster and the SFWA president

On the Asimov's readers forum, Gardner Dozois and Tom Purdom were discussing how the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is dependent to a large extent on the SFWA president. As Purdom says, the SFWA "president picks the Grandmaster, with the concurrence of the current officers and the past presidents." Dozois concurs and adds that "I know for a fact that who the President was pushing for was the key factor in who got the Grandmaster on several occasions--sometimes against stiff oppositionfrom other SFWA officials." Purdom requested that someone compile a list of SFWA presidents and the Grandmaster picks for their terms. Here's that list, which is based on data from Wikipedia:

Obviously, there might be minor discrepancies with the list since there are occasional overlaps between presidential terms and the year a Grandmaster was selected. Still, the list points to possible stylistic, political and philosophical patterns between the SFWA president and the Grandmaster(s) chosen during their terms. However, I'll leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions on these points.

Final word on professional status of Star Trek New Voyages episode

There has been a good deal of controversy about the Star Trek New Voyages episode "World Enough and Time" making the final SFWA Nebula Award ballot, with quite a few people screaming that the production wasn't truly "professional." I include that word in quotes because viewing the episode is ample proof that the production is more "professional" than most of what passes for television these days. Now via the Science Fiction Awards site comes this public statement from Marc Scott Zicree, co-author of the episode's script along with overall director and executive producer. In my view the statement should end all debate about the professional status of the episode and Paramount's "knowledge and approval." Personally, I see the debate over all this as further proof of how out of touch a segment of the SFWA membership is with regards to the new media opportunities and avenues which exist today.

Million Writers Award and SF/F stories

Now that the 2008 Million Writers Award for best online short story is open for nominations, I wanted to touch on the subject of a recent e-mail I received: Why have science fiction or fantasy stories won the award for the last two years? Specifically, this e-mailer wanted to know if I was biased toward SF/F, and as a result had biased the award toward SF/F since that is the genre I write in.

As background, let's review the overall Million Writers Award winners for the last four years. These winners are "You Are a 14-Year-Old Arab Chick Who Just Moved to Texas" by Randa Jarrar from Eyeshot magazine (2004 award), "Toggling the Switch" by Alicia Gifford from Narrative Magazine (2005 award), "There's a Hole in the City" by Richard Bowes from SCIFICTION (2006 award), and "Urchins, While Swimming" by Catherynne M. Valente from Clarkesword Magazine (2007 award). That means half the overall winners, and the last two winners, have been writers of SF/F stories. So at first glance the e-mailer seems to have a point.

However, in my defense I should point out that the award's overall winner is based on a public vote. As a result, it's not possible for me to pick that winner. In addition anyone looking at each year's top ten stories will see a broad array of stories, authors, and genres represented. Finally, a few months back Scott Boyan completed a wonderful meta-analysis of the Million Writers Award. Basically, Scott crunched the numbers from the first four years of the award to see which online magazines placed the most stories in the notable and top ten listings. According to his analysis, Strange Horizons and Clarkesworld Magazine came in with a #9 and 11 ranking respectively. This indicates that while SF/F stories are well represented in the Million Writer Award, they are not all dominating.

I believe the reason SF/F stories have won the two most recent awards is because those two stories resonated with readers. One of the award's goals is to showcase top writing across genres; to show that great literature is not bound by genre conventions. As a writer and reader, I love all types of writing. I edit a journal of Southern literature. I read stories from every genre. I write science fiction and fantasy stories, along with so-called "literary" stories. So in response to this e-mailer's question, the award is not biased toward SF/F. But unlike most literary awards, the Million Writers Award allows all genres to compete against each other. In the end the best story wins, no matter what genre it's in.

2008 Million Writers Award now open

The 2008 Million Writers Award for best online short story is now open for nominations from editors and readers. Once again, the Edit Red Writing Community is sponsoring the contest, which means there is a $300 prize for the overall winner. For those who don't feel like wading through the rules, here's the award process in a nutshell:

  • Any story published during 2007 in an online magazine journal is eligible. The caveats are that said online mag or journal must have an editorial process--meaning no self-published stories--and the story must be at least a 1,000 words in length. Readers may nominate one story for the award. Editors of online publications may nominate up to three stories from their publication. All nominations are due by March 31.
  • A group of volunteer preliminary editors will go through the nominated stories--along with other stories that catch their interest--and select their favorites. These will become the Million Writers Award notable stories of the year. I will then go through all the notable stories and pick the top ten stories of the year. The general public will then vote on those ten stories, with the overall winner receiving the award and cash prize.

Complete information on all this, along with links to where people can nominate stories, is available on the award website. I hope people enjoy this year's award process.

SFWA selects Michael Moorcock as grand master

After all of the drama surrounding the SFWA in the last year, it's great to see them get one thing right as they name Michael Moorcock the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2008. Interzone recently published a special issue devoted to Moorcock (talk about being timely). In honor of this honor, let me quote from the excellent interview with Moorcock in that issue:

"I don't like being too safe, too comfortable, too predictable or to have too much of a routine. Still, I'm doing my best with what I have. And I still think of good stories in response to contemporary events and I still keep my optimism, which has always been rooted in the pleasure I take in the kindness of strangers."

Congratulations to Moorcock on a well-earned honor. And thanks to him for the excellent writing and perspective he has provided to the world.

Story of the week: "Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Monsters and Critics just published my review of Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi. Without giving too much away, I believe this is the best speculative fiction short story collection since Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others (but you can read the review for more on all that).

My intention here, though, is to highlight one of the stories in the collection: the previously unpublished title story of "Pump Six." The story focuses on Travis Alvarez, a maintenance man who helps keep the sewage pumps going in a future New York City. Because of ever-present pollution, the intelligence of the city's residents has plummeted to incredible lows. Even Alvarez himself is not an intelligent man, being at best average by today's terms. However, he has enough knowledge and concern left to know it is vitally important that the city's ancient sewage pumps keep running, or else a toxic mess will kill millions. But most New Yorkers don't see what harm can come from a few backed up toilets. Even his girlfriend, who almost blows up their apartment searching for a gas leak with a lit match, tells Alvarez not to take his job so seriously. Why worry about things like sewage pumps when there are so many parties and drugs to be had?

In many ways "Pump Six" is a reverse echo of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a 21st century warning about how societies exist because people like Alvarez do their part to maintain them. Just as in Huxley's novel, everyone Alvarez encounters seems to care little beyond using sex and drugs to tune themselves into nothingness. While Alvarez is attracted to this sensual oblivion, he also knows what's at stake and that, tragically, he's not equal to the task thrust upon him. Still, reaching for that hallmark element of humanity--the endless struggle against hopeless odds--Alvarez strives to find a way to keep the pumps going.

Bacigalupi has previously been nominated for a number of Hugo and Nebula awards. If there is any justice in the world, "Pump Six" will be the story that wins him one of those coveted awards.

Stirring the banning pot at Clarkesworld

Nick Mamatas, editor of the excellent online magazine Clarkesworld, has over the last week banned several authors from ever submitting again, as featured in banned author exhibit one, two, and three (and for a special encore, author exhibit three responds to the banning on her own blog). I'd suggest people submitting to Clarkesworld or elsewhere read up on these exchanges because they are very educational with regards to what not to do when submitting your fiction. Nick also has some helpful suggestions on how Clarkesworld handles author revisions.

Interview with Robert Sawyer

Science Fiction Quarterly has an excellent interview up with Robert J. Sawyer, whom they call the "dean of Canadian science fiction and a publishing machine." For those who don't know, Sawyer is a Hugo Award winning author who generally sets his science fiction novels in contemporary times or deals with contemporary events. I totally agree with Sawyer's view that the science fiction genre is amazingly nostalgic, even though some of the best work being done in the genre's history is being published right now. I also love how Sawyer says his recipe for science fiction is to "combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic." One point I disagree with, though, is when Sawyer laments how no science fiction authors are famous enough to be the public face of science fiction (like Arthur C. Clarke was in the 1960s and 70s). I'd say William Gibson fills that role nicely, although not to the extent of Clarke. I also find it amusing that Sawyer says in Canada he is the public face of science fiction. Since Gibson claims Canadian citizenship, I'd probably place him as the public face of SF in both countries. But I'll leave that for others to argue and merely point out that Sawyer's interview is a fascinating read.

Interzone reader's poll selections

Interzone's annual reader's poll is now accepting votes. As is tradition, readers can vote positively for as many stories from 2007 as they want, and likewise give a negative thumb down to any stories they truly hate. The winners are based on the combined totals of all positive and negative votes. My positive votes are:

  • "Molly and the Red Hat" by Benjamin Rosenbaum (issue 213). See my review of the story here.
  • "Tearing Down Tuesday" by Steven Francis Murphy (issue 210).
  • "A Handful of Pearls" by Beth Bernobich (issue 212). See my review here.
  • "Winter" by Jamie Barras (issue 209).

And yes, I wimped out and didn't cast any negative votes. But the truth is that I really enjoyed Interzone last year and none of their stories rubbed me the wrong way. The magazine also looks set to have a strong 2008, with Jason Stoddard's novella "Far Horizon" already on my radar for next year's reader's poll.

Update on 2-26-08

Since I can vote for more than four stories, I decided to add in two more positive votes:

  • "Softly Shining in the Forbidden Dark" by Jason Stoddard (issue 208)
  • "Metal Dragon Year" by Chris Roberson (issue 213)

Super editors debate the Nebula Award process and selections

For my money, the Asimov's Science Fiction readers forum is one of the best places for intelligent discussions of SF/F issues. Case in point: A current thread discussing the Nebula Award preliminary and final ballots. The thread was started by Dave Truesdale in reference to his essay "Nebula Apathy Slights Original Anthologies, Or Why I like the Hugos." Since then Gardner Dozois, Rich Horton, Gordon Van Gelder, and John Joseph Adams--along with writers like Tom Purdom and other Asimov's Forum regulars--have analyzed the hits and misses of this year's Nebula ballot, the problems with the Nebula process, and thoughts on how to fix things. In general, the rough consensus appears to be that:

  • While there are some great selections on this year's preliminary and final ballots, the really good stories and novels are not consistently getting nominated and making the ballot;
  • The Nebula script category is a joke since no one actually reads the movie and TV scripts. The category should be abolished or renamed Best Dramatic Presentation;
  • A jury should be used more in the Nebula process because few SFWA members have the time or inclination to read enough works to make an informed selection.

Praise and gripes about the 2008 Nebula Awards Ballot

Even though there's nothing on the SFWA website--after all, why would they want to promote the best SF/F to the readers of the world?--John Scalzi has posted the 2008 Nebula Award Ballot. I'd like to do a little crowing at this point, as a number of the novels and stories I highlighted on the preliminary ballot have made this final ballot. Among these are the novels Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell and The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon; the novellas "Fountain of Age" by Nancy Kress and "Memorare" by Gene Wolfe; the novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang; and the short stories "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler and "Titanium Mike Saves the Day" by David D. Levine.

I'm shocked that a few items didn't make the ballot, including Blindsight by Peter Watts (possibly the best science fiction novel of the year) and "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" by Mike Resnick. At least with Resnick's story I can understand that there were technical issues with the nomination since the story was published in early 2008--too late for this year's ballot--but I can see no reason why Blindsight didn't make the ballot.

Story accepted by Analog Science Fiction and Fact

This afternoon the mailman delivered an acceptance letter and contract from Analog Science Fiction and Fact for one of my short stories. Obviously I'm extremely excited about this and have been doing the happy writer dance for the last few hours. Not that the happy writer dance is anything to write home about--as we all know, writers have less dance ability than your average clown with two left feet.

Story of the Week: Jason Stoddard's "Far Horizon"

My new story of the week is Jason Stoddard's novella "Far Horizon" from issue 214 of Interzone. Stoddard has become an Interzone mainstay in recent years, with stories like "Winning Mars" providing updated 21st century takes on classic hard science fiction themes. This trend continue in "Far Horizon" as Stoddard embraces one of the most important themes of science fiction: How people create their own future.

The novella focuses on wealthy genius Alex Yucia, who creates a nanotechnology capable of--in his view--solving all the poverty and inequalities of the world. Unfortunately for him, the technology can also cause severe harm. As a result, the corporation that has supplanted world governments heavily restricts what Yucia can do with his technology. Instead of fighting for his dream of transforming the world, Yucia conceives a plan to go on a three-thousand-year suspended animation journey, enabling him enter a future where all his hopes for humanity will have been realized.

Naturally, things don't go as Yucia plans.

This story is science fiction in the grand tradition, exploring how the future belongs to those who show up to create it. Unfortunately, this is a truth Yucia realizes far too late. But while the story has a tragic ending, it is the tragedy--and truth--of how the future is created which brings the touch of greatness to Stoddard's tale.

The visual history of F&SF

Via the new Fantasy and Science Fiction blog comes a link to the visual history of their magazine. It's amazing how well the art of F&SF holds up even after almost 60 years. While the artwork of other contemporary SF/F magazines also had their high points, the covers of F&SF show an unparalleled artistic flair which, of course, matched the course set by this ground-breaking magazine. Of particular interest are the surrealistic paintings by George Salter which ran in magazine's the early years, and the many experimental covers of the 1960s and 70s. I particularly love Hannes Bok's 1963 cover for Roger Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes." Unfortunately, the visual history doesn't give Bok's complete wraparound artwork, but Wikipedia has it on their site . One of my favorite more recent covers is the 42nd anniversary issue from 1991, which has a true Andrew Wyeth feel to it.

Does the Screaming Flaming Writers Association (SFWA) have a future?

John Scalzi, who ran a write-in campaign for president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) a while back, has this to say about the current race for SFWA president: "This is the year SFWA decides whether it has a future or not." The contest is between Russell Davis and Andrew Burt. Scalzi has no beef with Davis, but says that Burt would only be acceptable if SFWA members want to "publicly and enthusiastically cut the organization's throat." This comment results from Burt's role in last year's copyright controversy.

I personally agree with Scalzi that Burt would be a bad choice for SFWA. However, what troubles me even more is that the SFWA has yet again set itself up for needless infighting and anger. I mean, is it just me or does anyone else see internecine warfare as SFWA's main occupation these days?  Perhaps I should resurrect my previous proposal to rename the SFWA as the Screaming Flaming Writers Association.

Million Writers Award almost here

storySouth's Million Writers Award will be up and running in about a week. I have the preliminary judges all lined up, but a few website programming issues are holding us up. This will be the fifth annual award and it promises to be bigger than ever. For those who don't know, this is an annual award for the best short story published online. The award has previously been highlighted by USA Today, the Utne Reader, and was the subject of a feature interview in Novel and Short Story Writer's Market.

How to depress a million short story writers

Jeff Crook, author of novels and stories and editor of Postcards from Hell and Southern Gothic Online, has decided to depress short story writers across the world. As Crooks states:

"It seems like every day, there are three or four new short fiction markets opening up, and five or six going out of business. Do people even read short fiction anymore, or does the short fiction audience mostly consist of aspiring short fiction writers? Aren't most subscriptions to short fiction magazines sold to writers trying to get published in said magazines?

"It seems to me that we are living almost exclusively off ourselves, feeding off our dwindling fat reserves until such time as public interest in short fiction magically revives -hey presto! I recently read somewhere that back in the days of Hemingway and Faulkner, these guys would sell a short story to a magazine like Harper's for the equivalent of a school teacher's yearly salary. Nowadays, if most writers didn't have non-writing jobs providing a trickle of new money into the publishing ecosystem through subscriptions and purchases of the yearly plethora of anthologies, I imagine almost the entire short fiction market would collapse."

While I am a lover of short fiction--both as a writer and reader--there is a lot of truth to what Crook says (and I've said some similar things in my own essays). That said, I'm more optimistic about the coming years than Jeff is, especially since short stories are so suited for reading on electronic devices like the Kindle e-book reader. I can easily see a short fiction renaissance waiting just around the corner. But I also know there's a fine line between being optimistic and naive, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.