Jetse de Vries resigns from Interzone

Editor Jetse de Vries has resigned from Interzone, as stated in an announcement on his website. According to Jetse, "The reason is simple: like a rock band where one musician quits because she/he doesn't like the musical direction the band is taking (the well-known 'musical differences'), I am unhappy with the direction and tone the fiction in Interzone will be taking."

Andy Cox and the other Interzone editors have expressed puzzlement at the change in direction Jetse mentioned. Andy even stated on the Asimov's forum that, "There are no changes afoot, no new direction,we've been doing what we've always done, and will continue to do it: simply, publish the best entertaining and thought-provoking modern sf and fantasy we can find, introducing more than our fair share of new writers along the way, and staying uniquely Interzone."

I'm also in the dark about this change of direction Jetse mentioned. But I do want to thank Jetse and the other Interzone editors for the support they have given my writing. Jetse was also the initial editor who picked two of my stories out of the Interzone slushpile (both "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain," published in issue 217 and receiving some very nice reviews, and "When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees," which is forthcoming in Interzone). So I wish Jetse success in whatever directions his future SF/F work takes him.

Major redesign for Analog and Asimov's SF magazines

Over on the Asimov's forum, editor Sheila Williams states that beginning with the December issue Asimov's will adopt a major redesign. To quote Williams, "The reason for the change is nothing to be alarmed by. Paper andproduction costs have presented [us] with a choice: increase subscription rates and single-issue costs to retain the old format, or adopt a slightly different size and return our current prices. The new size is called an L trim (5 7/8" x 8 5/8"). The page count will be reduced from 144 to 112. Since the new pages are larger than the old pages, the actual volume lost is about 8 pages or 4,000 words. I've made some minor changes that reduce any further word loss."

This change will also apply to the December issue of Asimov's sister magazine Analog. In case anyone is comparing the new size to the current size, the change means that Asimov's and Analog will be adding about a half inch to both their vertical and horizontal length.

Labor Day SF/F magazine renewal drive

In honor of Labor Day, I'm calling on lovers of short science fiction and fantasy stories to renew their subscriptions early. As everyone knows, the SF/F magazine genre's financial situation is still shaky. So instead of waiting until the last minute to renew, do so early. This will help your favorite magazines, which "labor" so hard to bring us the SF/F stories we all love. And if you don't have a subscription to renew, then subscribe. With online subscription ordering, doing so has never been easier.

And just to show that my money is where my mouth is, I recently did two-year renewals for Asimov's, Apex Digest, and Fantasy and Science Fiction, while I also renewed Locus (which isn't truly a SF/F short story magazine, but is still recommended for anyone interested in the genre).

Here are some links to subscription/renewal sites for the major SF/F magazines:

Emma Larkins interviews me

I'm still on an August blogging break, but I wanted to let people know about an interview with me over on Emma Larkins' website. My favorite question was What is your one super secret tip for aspiring authors hoping to get published? My short answer: "Don't be a jerk." Read the complete interview for more.

Nebula Award dismay

Over on the Asimov's forum, Gardner Dozois is worried that the lack of participation by SFWA members in the Nebula Awards nominating process. In the most recent award cycle, this almost resulted in not enough nominees being posted for the different award categories. Now Dozois warns this is shaping up to happen again with the new award cycle. He's especially concerned that stories being touted as among thebest of the year--"The Political Prisoner," "The Egg Man," "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story," "From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled," "Shoggoths in Bloom," "The Surfer," "The Dust Assassin," "The Tear," "Poison Victory," and so forth--at this point only have one Nebula nomination each (and with that one nomination usually coming from Dozois himself).

I must admit my ignorance on why people aren't nominating stories, especially since active members of the SFWA can nominate as many stories as they want. I recently turned in my application to join the SFWA, so if everything goes through okay I'll make sure to nominate a slew of stories.

Literary spam from Geraldine Rodeger and Xlibris

Every author loves to receive fan mail. So the other day I open my e-mail account and what pops out but a message with the title of one of my short stories as the subject heading. My first thought is someone must have really loved or hated that story.

Then I opened said e-mail:

Dear Jason Sanford,

A very nice exchange of thoughts and statements ensue in your "One more Expert Speaks to a Jury" which was posted in TheDiagram.com. It would be a shame if your writings were not shared with a wider audience: how about coming out with your very own book?

Self-publishing is your best venue for getting your first book out. You become the master of your own work, having full creative control over editing, printing, and marketing processes. Full ownership rights, you also get to keep. This can also be your stepping stone into getting noticed by the traditional publishers who may want to pick your book up for future editions.

Do e-mail me for more details on how to get started self-publishing.

Sincerely yours,

Geraldine Rodeger
Xlibris Corporation

Wow. Just . . . wow. I was tempted to simply delete the message, but something I'd read in the most recent issue of the SFWA Bulletin came to mind. In their joint essay "The Clueless(Part 1)," Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg rant against the belief that self publishing is the route to literary success. As they say, money flows to authors, not the other way around. Those who believe otherwise are usually naive and inexperienced authors looking for any way to succeed at their chosen field. Unfortunately for them, self-publishing is rarely the path to success.

The reason I'm outraged over this obviously spammed letter is that its plays on the hopes and dreams of people who may not know what that this same e-mail was likely sent to thousands of writers around the world. My suggestion: Run as fast as you can from Geraldine Rodeger and Xlibris.

My favorite science fiction story

Rusty at BestScienceFictionStories.com recently asked science fiction bloggers to pick their favorite SF stories. He's now posted my selection, along with my analysis of the story and more. While I don't want to give too much away, let me just say the story is by Ray Bradbury.

The first blogger to post their favorite story was John DeNardo of the always great blog SF Signal. He picked Tom Godwin's classic story "The Cold Equations." Many thanks to Rusty for running this series. And despite the fact that I've now blogged twice this week, I'm still on an August blogging break. So expect only a few random posts until next month.

Story of the Week: "The Magician's House" by Meghan McCarron

I'm still on an August blogging break, but I wanted to quickly highlight my new review in The Fix Online of last month's fiction in Strange Horizons. In particular, I want to praise the story "The Magician's House" by Meghan McCarron. Originally published in two parts in Strange Horizons, this tale is both beautifully written, amazingly compelling, and extremely disturbing. I predict it will make many of the year's best lists. For more details on why I've selected this as my new story of the week, check out my complete review on The Fix.

Taking an August blogging break

I'll be taking a blogging break during the month of August. Even though I'm not going on vacation, I wanted to step back from blogging and see how that affects my fiction and nonfiction writing. I'll let people know how it went in early September.

Until then, here's a new review of Interzone #217 in the August issue of SF Crowsnest. Gareth D. Jones has some very nice things to say about my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" (such as calling it "a very enjoyable yarn"). There is also a review in Best SF, which says that my story is "As inventive a piece of world-building as you generally see in short SF." When combined with the glowing comments from a previous review, all I can say is, "Wow! I could really get used to reviews like this!"

Literary criticism and the difference in good and bad editors

A friend of mine, Dan Schneider, has a fascinating essay up dealing with his experiences with Cambridge University Press. An excerpt from one of Dan's critical essays was recently reprinted in their new textbook Contemporary Fiction: TheNovel Since 1990, edited by Pamela Bickley. As Dan points out in the essay, he wasn't paid for this reprinting and knew going in that the editors would probably take his words out of context. All he asked was that the editors not mangle his criticism too much and credit him as "Dan Schneider, webmaster of Cosmoetica.com, reprinted with permission from Hackwriters.com." As you can see by reading the essay, the editors couldn't even get that one simple request right.

Contrast this with Stanley Schmidt and the other editors of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. My story "Where Away You Fall" is forthcoming in Analog and yesterday I received the page proofs so I can have a final look before the story is published. Very nice. That's how good editors do things--as opposed to the esteemed Cambridge U.P.

Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun

I just finished the first volume in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. For those not familiar with the book, Neil Gaiman has called this "The best SF novel of the last century." Even though I still have a ways to go before I finish the entire novel, so far I have to totally agree with Neil. I highly recommend people grab a copy of the novel and start reading.

BTW, because I have a lot of personal writing and reading to finish, I won't be blogging that much during the next month. I suggest blaming the silence of the blogs around here on Gene!

Some Brief and Frightening Tips from George Saunders

I'm working on a review of the wonderful new anthology series Best of the Web--and yes, by using the word "wonderful" I obviously like their inaugural 2008 edition. I strongly suggest people order a copy. Anyway, one essay which jumped out at me in the book is "Some Brief and Frightening Tips from George Saunders" from Konundrum Engine Literary Review. This short essay is an advanced primer for writers, told in Saunders' unique voice and style. The sections on voice alone are worth worth checking out and the essay is highly recommended for all writers.

When genre writers don't read stories in their own genre

James at Speculative Horizons raises an excellent point: Why do readers tolerate "fantasy authors who, when asked what other genre writers theyread/admire, give a reply along the lines of: 'Oh, well...I don't really read fantasy, you see.'" Specifically, James harps on fantasy author David Bilsborough for having this attitude and claims that author Steven Erikson has also noticed it among his fellow writers.

Personally, I'd expand this rant to not just include genre writers--as I mentioned in an essay last year, mainstream literary novelists have been appropriating genre tropes and themes for years. You can bet these authors have the same attitude to genre writings as James talks about. But it's one thing to have intellectual snobs looking down their noses at the genre. To have this attitude come from people within the genre ... ouch.

Countdown to the Million Writers Award

These are the final hours of the Million Writers Award, with voting set to end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time tonight. I'll be up until the very end--making sure there are no last minute attempts at vote stuffing--and I'll officially announce the winner shortly after midnight.

For those needing more of a MWA fix, blogger Erica Naone has written some excellent posts about this year's finalists. Here's her review of Cat Rambo and Jeff VanderMeer's "The Surgeon’s Tale," her thoughts on Matt Bell's "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken," her review of Kelly Shriver's "The Ethical Dilemma of a Sandwich Down the Pants," and her analysis of how much fantasy it takes to make a fantasy (with regards to Liz Williams' story "The Hide").

More William Sanders crap (or how not to be a professional SF/F editor)

I promised myself I wouldn't devote any more of my limited time to the William Sanders affair. But now I see that Sanders has gone off the deep end on Yoon Ha Lee, a talented writer I admire whose story "Notes on the Necromantic Symphony" was selected as a notable story in the current Million Writers Award.

Lee asked that her story"The Shadow Postulates," which Sanders had published on Helix, be removed from that site because she no longer wished to be associated with Sanders' comments about Muslims. Sanders responded by saying that her story "never did make any sense" and that he only accepted it to "please those who admire your work and also because (notorious bigot that I am) I was trying to get more work by non-Caucasian writers." Sanders closed his e-mail my stating "There was a suggestion I was going to make, but it is probably not physically practicable." Very tasteful.

If there's anyone out there who still thinks Sanders retains any shred of professionalism, this should put that view to a quick death. Let me also state that Yoon Ha Lee is a talented writer whose stories I have greatly enjoyed reading. Show your support for her by reading more of her fiction.

Story of the Week: "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" by Peter Beagle

Shout the news from the rooftops: "Peter S. Beagle is back!" For many years it seemed that Beagle, the author of such classic novels as A Fine And Private Place and The Last Unicorn, was finished with fantasy writing. Then he returned in 2005 with the Hugo and Nebula Award winning "Two Hearts," which is a coda to The Last Unicorn. Then last year there was his wonderful "We Never Talk About My Brother", which I selected as a finalist for the Million Writers Award. And now comes the most haunting fantasy story I have read in years,"The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" from the July 2008 issue of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

"The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" is the story of a huntsman in ancient Japan and the woman he loves, even though her humanity is questionable since she is a shapeshifter who can change into different animals. The story is a tale of love, envy, and the things that make us human. The tale is also an exploration on how the culture around us can both define and limit us, and how sometimes the price for overcoming these constraints is simply not worth paying.

I can not praise this novella enough. Beagle's use of dialogue is flat-out unbelievable. With just a few, delicate words--such as when a character exclaims "So beautiful," or states "Whatever I am"--Beagle gives more insight into life that most authors can create with an entire page of text. Even though I call myself a writer, as I read this story I marvelled at how far I have to go to attain even a fraction of Beagle's ability. And even though I fancy myself an experienced reader of fantasies, this story still took me by surprise with its overwhelming humanity. I fully expect this story to be a finalist for all of the major speculative fiction awards.