"Ships Like Clouds..." nominated for Theodore Sturgeon Award

Lois Tilton at the Internet Review of Science Fiction has selected my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" from Interzone #217 as one of her nominations for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Many, many thanks to Lois for including the story among her ten nominations. It looks like all the judges are sending in their nominations right now, with the finalists to be announced in the spring.

Overall, I've received a great response to "The Ships Like Clouds, ..." and its slated to be reprinted in David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer's upcoming Year's Best SF 14.

Thank you to MWA donors

As I mentioned last night, we received so many donations that the top prize for the Million Writers Award is now $500, with the runner-up set to receive $200. In addition, we received a few more donations since that announcement, so I'm trying to decide what to do--should we add the additional money to those prize amounts, or offer a small prize for the third-place honorable mention? Drop me an email with your opinion.

I want to give my great thanks to all the MWA donors. A few donors wished to remain anonymous, while others didn't want a specific dollar amount listed next to their name.  To honor these wishes, I've arranged the donors in the following categories. I've also included, where available, a link to the donor's website.

$200 donors

  • One anonymous donation
  • WordArts, Inc. While I am thankful to all our donors, I want to mention a few extra words of thanks to WordArts for its overall contribution to online literature. Under the helm of editor Jeff Crook, WordArts published two wonderful online publications: Postcards from Hell and Southern Gothic, both of which Jeff had to shut down in recent months. These publications showcased top-notch fiction, with one Southern Gothic story ("Vertically Divided, Blue-Red-White" by Mark MacNamara) making the 2007 MWA top ten list.

$100 donor

  • Henry F. Tonn

$50 donors

  • Anthony Mohr
  • Whitney Pastorek

Other donations

MWA overwhelmed by donations. Top prize hits $500, runner-up to get $200

Wow! I can't believe how people responded to my call for donations to increase the prize money for this year's Million Writers Award.

First, the background. As I mentioned the other day, our previous monetary sponsor dropped out, meaning we didn't have the $300 we usually give to the overall MWA winner. To ensure that there was at least some award money, I ponied up $50 while storySouth's new publisher, Spring Garden Press, promised another $50, getting us to $100. I then placed a call for donations, hoping we could add a few dollars to that amount.

But instead of a few bucks, we raised just over $600 in two days! With the previously committed money, that means we have $700 to give out.  So the top prize for the Million Writers Award is now $500, while this year's runner-up will receive $200.

Thank you to everyone who donated. As people know, too often short story writers receive little if any payment for their work. This money will go a long way toward raising the profile of both the winners of this contest, and online fiction as a whole.

I'm working on a post to honor all the people who donated this money and hope to have it up soon. And while I'm reluctant to turn away anyone who still wishes to donate, please note that we've more than met our goals. That said, if more donations come in, I'll simply use the money to increase the prize money even more.

So many thanks to everyone. And remember--turn in your reader and editor story nominations by March 31, 2009. Complete details are here.

storySouth Million Writers Award now open

The storySouth Million Writers Award is now open. I will be running the reader and editor nominations from my blog; the main award page on storySouth will be where the notable stories and top ten stories will be posted.

For background information on the award, please see my previous introduction and the award rules. In short, the award is for any fictional short story of at least a 1,000 words published in an online publication during 2008. By "publication," I mean an online magazine or journal with an editorial process (so self-published stories are not eligible).

  • Reader nominations can be made here.
  • Editor nominations can be made here.

The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2009.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the award in previous years, and I hope you enjoy the award this year.

UPDATE: Thanks to the generosity of many donors, this year's award offers the following prize money:

  • $500 for the overall winner,
  • $200 for the runner-up,
  • $100 for honorable mention/third place.

Please note that we no longer need donations to increase the prize money. However, if anyone still wishes to donate, I will use the money to cover the admittedly small cost of the voting system the award uses; additional money will then be applied to fund next year's prize.

Reader nominations for 2009 Million Writers Award

The 2009 Million Writers Award is now open for nominations. This page is for READERS to nominate one short story published in an online magazine during 2008. Editor nominations are here.

If you like what we're doing with this Million Writers Award, please consider making a donation to increase the amount of prize money we can offer. Unlike in previous year's, the 2009 award does not have a monetary sponsor.

Nominations will be accepted through March 31, 2009. If a story is already nominated below, there is no need to nominate that story multiple times. Attempts to "stuff" multiple nominations of the same story by one reader or a group of readers will be deleted.

To nominate a story, please first read the rules, then use the following format to place information in the comment box at the bottom of this page.

storySouth
http://www.storysouth.com
Story: "7 Cornish Hens" by Erich Sysak
http://www.storysouth.com/fiction/2006/11/7_cornish_hens_1.html

Failure to use this format can result in nominations not being considered. Be sure to provide your name and a valid e-mail address or your nomination will not be considered.

Editor nominations for 2009 Million Writers Award

The 2009 Million Writers Award is now open for nominations. This page is for EDITORS to nominate three short stories published in their online magazine. Individual nominations are here.

If you like what we're doing with this Million Writers Award, please consider making a donation to increase the amount of prize money we can offer. Unlike in previous year's, the 2009 award does not have a monetary sponsor.

Nominations will be accepted through March 31, 2008. To nominate stories from your online magazine or journal, please first read the rules, then use the format below to place information in the comment box below. Failure to use this format can result in nominations not being considered. Please also provide a valid e-mail with your story nominations. All editor nominations will be verified.

Correction nomination format (which should be entered into the comment box at the bottom of this page):

storySouth
http://www.storysouth.com
Story 1: "7 Cornish Hens" by Erich Sysak
http://www.storysouth.com/fiction/2006/11/7_cornish_hens_1.html
Story 2: "Letters from Mercury" by Jessica Schneider
http://www.storysouth.com/fiction/2006/01/letters_from_mercury.html
Story 3: "Grappling" by Jacob M. Appel
http://www.storysouth.com/fiction/2006/09/grappling_by_jacob_m_appel.html

Nebula Awards overlook Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book

The SFWA has posted the Nebula Award final ballot. I'll post soon on which novels and stories I'll be voting for. It should be noted that many great stories were overlooked this year, which I hope the revision in the Nebula rules will keep from happening from this point on. However, what really irritates is that the Norton award finalists (for best young adult novel) were all selected by judges since they didn't get enough regular nominations--and these professional critics still missed the best young adult novel of the year: Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Not only is this one of the best young adult fantasy novels of recent years, it also won the fraking Newbery Award. How can it not even make the lists of finalists?

Wanted: Great SF stories for a SF short film

Rusty at BestScienceFictionStories.com is talking with a film maker on which science fiction stories would make for a great SF short film. The catch: the film will only be 15 minutes long. Rusty is looking for suggestions from people, so pop over to the discussion and voice your opinion.

One story I believe would work well at that length is "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. A number of the Futures short SF stories published by Nature might also fit.

L. Ron Hubbard is NOT "one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century"

As I was fishing through my email's spam folder, I came across this subject line: L. Ron Hubbard, "one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century."

My response: hell no!

The email is from Galaxy Press, which is owned by the Church of Spiritual Technology and publishes the fictional works of L. Ron Hubbard along with the Writers of the Future anthologies. Now I don't mind publishers promoting their works--promotion is a great thing for any author. And I'm glad Galaxy Press is rereleasing Hubbard's pulp works. There is great fun to be had in the classic pulps, and Hubbard was one of the major figures of the genre, churning out more than 130 novels in the five years between 1933 and 1938.

However, to call Hubbard "one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century" is simply too much and nothing a true reviewer would say of Hubbard's works. Curious, I tracked down the original review and yes, in the Publishers Weekly review for an audio version of Hubbard's story "Orders is Orders" the unnamed reviewer says, "Hubbard's stunning writing ability and creative imagination set him apart as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century." My first thought is that of course this had to be an anonymous review, since I doubt a named reviewer would place their name beside such an obviously puffed up statement about Hubbard.

Hubbard has his place in the literary canon, but it is not as "one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century." It is as a writer of pulp fiction. Enjoy the better aspects of his work, many of which are fun and some of which are well-deserved classics (such as Final Blackout). But don't try to push his stories off as being more than they are.

Story selected for Year's Best SF

Editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have selected my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" for their upcoming Year's Best SF 14. Many thanks to both of them for this honor. I also want to thank all the editors at Interzone for originally publishing the story last year.

Year's Best SF 14 will be published in the spring by Harper Eos.

Received final issue of Realms of Fantasy

I received the final issue of Realms of Fantasy in the mail today. First thought: They couldn't at least print something on the wrap-around mailing cover that says this is the final issue? Instead, we get the "Renew Early and Save!" message they always have. I understand they probably have a ton of these wrap-around covers at the mailing house, but it seems a bit dishonest to encourage people to renew when there are no more issues coming out.

Based on some of the complaints aired online about RoF since they announced the publication's demise, this is likely typical of their business-end practices. Everyone I heard from agreed with me that the editorial side of RoF was top-notch. But way too many people had complaints about how the magazine's business side was run. But I guess none of that matters at this point.

Vincent Chong's new website

Artist Vincent Chong, who illustrated my two stories last year in Interzone, has created a totally new website to showcase his amazing work. For my money, Vincent is one of the best artists working in the SF/F field, and his works will be considered classics in the years to come.

BTW, here's are his two images for my stories:

  • Chance, from my story "When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees." I love how he interpreted the character of Chance, a former mathematician with glowing numbers tattooed on his chest;
  • The Weather Tower, from my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain."

I can't praise Chong's work enough, so I suggest people check out his new site and consider purchasing a print. One of his images hangs in my house right now and I intend to buy another shortly.

Botching the Million Writers Award page

A few moments ago I botched an update to the storySouth Million Writers Award page. Before anyone asks, I'm aware of the issue and have emailed storySouth's new system's administrator about fixing the problem. But because its a three-day weekend, this may take time to fix. Until then, rest assured that the award is almost ready to kick off its sixth annual run! It hasn't actually disappeared from the world--only from the storySouth web server.

BTW, due to my error the page is gone. Poof. Not there. That's why the link above redirects to the main storySouth page.

My Nebula Awards preliminary ballot votes

A few minutes ago I cast my votes from the Nebula Awards preliminary ballot. You could cast up to five votes in any particular category, although some of the categories (such as novellas) didn't have enough preliminary entries, so those stories jumped straight to the final ballot.

My votes, in no particular order:

  • Novels: Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Pyr, May07) and Making Money by Terry Pratchett (Harper, Sep07);
  • Novelettes: "If Angels Fight" by Richard Bowes (F&SF, Feb08), "Finisterra" by David Moles (F&SF, Dec07), "The Prophet of Flores" by Ted Kosmatka (Asimov's, Sep07) , and "The Ray Gun: A Love Story" by James Alan Gardner (Asimov's, Feb08);
  • Short stories: "The Tomb Wife" by Gwyneth Jones (F&SF, Aug07), "Mars: A Traveler's Guide" by Ruth Nestvold (F&SF, Jan08),  and "The Dreaming Wind" by Jeffrey Ford (The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Ed., Viking, Jul07).

I should note that the short story category did not include a number of my favorite stories from the eligible period. However, I'm optimistic that the recent rules change for the award will correct problems like this in the future.

Final call for Million Writers Award preliminary judges

This is the final call for preliminary judges for the 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award. These judges help screen the nominations and select the list of notable stories of the year. As always, I will select a group of judges from across the literary genres.

To apply, e-mail me your writing and/or editing experience at lapthai (circle a sign) yahoo (dot) com. Be sure to tell me why you'd make a good preliminary judge.

Apex Magazine goes PDF

Apex Magazine is switching to a PDF magazine format, with individual issues available for $2. Readers can also order a full-year subscription at a discounted price of $12.The PDF will be formatted like the print edition of Apex, which ceased publication last year. Since then, Apex has published stories on their website. Editor Jason Sizemore hopes using a PDF format will enable Apex to combine the best aspects of the print magazine with the advantages of online distribution.

Personally I think this is a great idea. I encourage people to purchase the PDF of the Feb. 2009 Apex, which features stories by Gord Sellar, Lavie Tidhar, Steven Francis Murphy, and Aaron Polson, along with an essay by Alethea Kontis and an interview with R. Thomas Riley.

A sleuth of Edgar Allan Poe books

Since 2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, a whole slew of books--or perhaps sleuth of books, since Poe invented the detective tale--have been released. My current review on Monsters and Critics examines three of these books:

  • In the Shadow of the Master, edited by Michael Connelly;
  • On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Stuart M. Kaminsky; and
  • Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow.

2009 shaping up to be SF/F's "annus horribilis"

As I mentioned back in December, 2009 was likely to be a horrible year for SF/F magazines. It didn't take long for that prediction to come true. In only the last few weeks, we've learned that

On top of that, Asimov's and Analog last year changed to a new format that was more economical to print, while Locus and NYRSF have both recently asked for more subscribers to keep their financials solid. Add this in with problems in the magazine distribution business and cut backs in the book publishing industry, and it isn't hard to see how more bad news could come down in 2009 for written SF/F.

So the question is: Where do we go from here? It seems to me that SF/F anthologies are doing well right now, as are online magazines like Baen's. Amazon is also getting set to release a new version of their popular kindle e-book reader. I also think the other major SF/F magazines--Asimov's, Analog, F&SF, and Interzone--appear to be in a solid position to continue publishing great SF/F. So perhaps 2009 is a tipping point year, in which the world of written SF/F gets shaken up before going on to new and greater things.

I certainly hope that's the case.

Story of the Week: "The Radio Magician" by James Van Pelt

My new story of the week is "The Radio Magician" by James Van Pelt, from the February 2009 issue of Realms of Fantasy. Set in that border time between the Great Depression and the start of World War II, the story follows the life of Charlie, a young boy who has been crippled by polio. Unable to run and play like all kids should, Charlie's favorite moment of each day is listening to Professor Gilded's Glorious Magical Extravaganza on the local radio station.

Charlie wonders how the Professor can do such magical wonders, and refuses to listen to his mother's logic, who says that since they can't see what the magician does over the radio, how do they know it isn't all a trick? And that is the point of this wonderful story--how do you know which reality is truly reality, and which are simply one of the various realities you continually create in life? Both deeply touching and deeply illuminating, this story is a magical treat to behold.