Jason Sanford

Context 23 rehash

I really enjoyed myself at the Context 23 convention this past weekend. I took part in several interesting panels, including "Is a SF Renaissance Around The Corner?" (which included such great writers and editors as Tobias Buckell, Timons Esaias, Maura Heaphy, Paul Melko, and Paul Stevens). The panel produced a good bit of insight about the future of the genre. I'm working on a summary for possible posting next week.

Another great panel I took part in was a blogging discussion which included Maurice Broaddus. Maurice had a copy of his upcoming novel King Maker, a reworking of the Arthurian legends set in modern times. The cover art for King Maker is amazing, and the novel--which comes out in the U.S. next month--has already stirred up controversy in Britain by placing that country's beloved Arthur in Indianapolis. The shock! The horror! Maurice has already addressed this issue several times, although for the life of me I can't see why this setting is such a big deal. Anyway, I can't wait to read the novel.

As always, Context was a nice little literary con and well worth attending for writers and lovers of speculative fiction. Thanks to the organizers for having me as a participating author and for indulging me with some fun panels.

My story "The Ships Like Clouds..." goes head to head with James Blish's "One Shot"

On StarShipSofa's new podcast, my short story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain" goes head to head against James Blish's classic tale "One Shot." You can download the podcast or listen through their website. You can also vote for your favorite story.

Thanks to Tony C. Smith for putting together this amazing podcast and for interviewing me, and to Lizanne Herd for narrating my story. In the podcast Tony also plugs the upcoming StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 2, which includes one of my stories alongside those by such amazing writers as Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and Jeff VanderMeer. This book will be on sale October 10. Check out the StarShipSofa website in the coming days for more details.

Finally, StarShipSofa is up for a Best Fanzine Hugo Award this weekend at Aussiecon. My fingers are crossed that the Sofa pulls off well-deserved win.

Guess what? A reprint is a "new story" if you haven't read it!

Lightspeed Magazine published their third issue last week and they've now settled into their rythym of publishing two original stories and two reprints in each issue. So far I've really been impressed with the magazine and John Joseph Adams' fiction selections. Definitely a magazine worth reading.

However, in the comments for one of the magazine's recent stories--"More Than the Sum of His Parts" by Joe Haldeman--one reader complains about Adams selecting so many reprints:

"I’m obviously not the editor, but as a reader what I really look for in SF periodicals is new material. Of all genres, SF seems the most inherently tied to its point of authorship, especially in the short form. These stories that are 10, 20, or 30 years old may be good, but they are less acutely relevant to the world than a good story written this year. That’s not to say that the form is inherently pulpy, but precious few SF shorts are truly timeless classics; their strengths lie elsewhere.

Even before Adams could respond, other readers explained that Lightspeed only publishes lesser known reprints, with Haldeman's story originally coming out in a 1985 issue of Playboy and having been rarely reprinted since. But the comment did make me wonder why so many readers don't accept reprints--even when they haven't read the reprinted story.

I mean, if you haven't read the story it's therefore a new story to you. However, the attitude among some readers to older genre stories is that if the story hasn't been reprinted up the wazoo over recent years then it must not be worth reading. Or, as the reader above said, that older science fiction stories are not as relevant to today's world.

The truth is the relevance of a science fiction story is not tied to when it was written. Some SF stories from the 1950s are more relevant than stories written last month. It simply depends on how good the story is. And if you haven't read an older SF story, guess what: It's still new to you!

One thing I loved about Ellen Datlow's online magazine Sci Fiction was that they reprinted classic and lesser well-known stories. There are many great SF stories which haven't been read in decades, especially by readers used to online or electronic publishing. So I'm glad Adams is publishing reprints alongside his new stories. After all, 95% or more of the genre stories published each year are brand new. We can spare a few slots to reprint what has come before.

A great year for science fiction and fantasy novellas

Last night I finished reading The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang and, as usual with Chiang's work, his novella blew me away. Equally amazing is that 2010 has been an excellent year for novella-length fiction, with a number of novellas which will make my short-list for the major awards.

So far my favorites are:

• The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, Subterranean Books
  Is it even possible for Ted Chiang to write a less-than-great story? This novella follows the deepening relationships of humans and emergent AIs who were originally created as digital pets. A moving and all-too-possible tale.
   
• "A History of Terraforming" by Robert Reed, Asimov's July 2010
  An epic storytelling feat in which a scientist's life parallels the advances and setbacks of both humanity and terraforming.
   
  
• "Becoming One With the Ghosts" by Kathryn Kristine Rusch, Asimov's Oct./Nov. 2010
  This is the story of the Ivoire, a space-going battleship which lands at its repair base only to learn things have gone tragically wrong. A fascinating examination of how time makes ghosts of us all.
   
• "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance" by Paul Park, F&SF, Jan./Feb. 2010
  This offbeat novella is basically a literary memoir which extends its life-exploration into future years. An amazing treat.
   
• "The Sultan of the Skies" by Geoffrey A. Landis, Asimov's Sept. 2010
  A near-perfect hard science fiction story set among the clouds of Venus, and also a touching portrait of obsession and unrequited love.
   
• "The Union of Soil and Sky" by Gregory Norman Bossert, Asimov's April/May 2010
  This tale of alien archeology is Bossert's first genre publication, and it is a fun and well written debut.

In addition to these novellas, there have also been some excellent novelettes which border on being novella length, including "The Crocodiles" by Steven Popkes from F&SF May/June 2010. And from this list it's obvious Asimov's has been the place to go in 2010 for top-notch novellas.

I'm not sure which of these novellas I'd pick as my top choice for next year's Hugo and Nebula Awards, but it's wonderful to have such an amazing set of choices. And the best thing is 2010's not close to being over.

Aliette de Bodard on Non-Western/Non-Anglophone Science Fiction

Earlier this year Norman Spinrad's Asimov's column "Third World Worlds" stirred up a good portion of the speculative fiction community. Anyone who missed out on that explosion can see my original post on the subject. Be sure to also check out the comments and links below my post for more information.

Now the Sept. 2010 Asimov's presents an excellent response to Spinrad's views in the form of Aliette de Bodard's latest Thought Experiments column. Titled The View from the Other Side: Science Fiction and Non-Western/Non-Anglophone Counties, the column's introduction touches on the Spinrad controversy. However, Aliette herself focuses beyond Spinrad to present an excellent summary of world science fiction.

The most controversial part of Aliette's essay is likely to be her ideas on why so little world SF is being translated for Western cultures. To quote: "There is plenty of SF being translated from English into other languages, but little of it that makes its way into Western Anglophone countries." Aliette believes that this gap results from the cultural domination of the West, and of the United States in particular. She discusses how at the time of the Tang dynasty from the seventh to tenth century AD, when China was at its height of power, China exported its culture across the region but took very little in the ways of culture back into itself. The same when France was at the height of its power.

Aliette believes that since the U.S. has been the dominate world power since the middle of the 20th century, this dominate culture is following a similar track as the earlier Chinese and French and not bringing much of outside culture into itself.

This might very well be part of the reason so little non-Western SF is translated into the United States. However, I also wonder whether or not the immense size of the U.S.--over 300 million people spread across a massive landmass containing many separate cultural regions and identities--also adds to that isolation. China went through this same thing many times in their history. Not only were they for long stretches the dominant culture in their region, they were so large and contained so many cultures within their realm that they could ignore the need to look at cultural ideas outside their borders.

It's hard to say whether any of these ideas are true, but Aliette has presented a fascinating thought experiment. I suggest people go read it.

Interview with me, the "Lord of SciFi Strange"

On episode 14 of the Skiffy and Fanty Show I am named the "Lord of SciFi Strange." Wow! I've always wanted to be a Lord.

Seriously, this is a great podcast and I appreciate Shaun Duke and Jen Zink for interviewing me. As always, I babble on in a Southern dialect on various subjects including short story markets, why the glory years of genre short fiction are looming, why many literary magazines are in such trouble, Southern Literature, SciFi Strange and more.

If that sounds like something you're into, please listen to their podcast.

The online SciFi Strange anthology

Note: A year ago I first noticed a new trend in science fiction which I called SciFi Strange. Since then I've been compiling a list of SciFi Strange stories. Hence this online "anthology." Please enjoy.

Introduction to SciFi Strange

SciFi Strange isn't a label. It isn't a definition.  Instead, it's an attempt to describe the science fiction being created by some of today's most exciting writers. These stories combine the literary standards and cultural understandings of the New Wave movement with the basic strangeness and sensawunda from the golden age of science fiction--all seen through the lens of today's multicultural world, where diversity and difference are the norm even as basic human values and needs still bind us together.

SciFi Strange also flirts with the boundaries of what is scientifically--and therefore realistically--possible, without being bounded by the rigid frames of the world as we know it today. But don't call SciFi Strange fantasy. This is pure science fiction. It's merely an updated version of the literature of ideas. A science fiction for a world where the frontiers of scientific possibility are almost philosophical in nature.

Writers of SciFi Strange are a diverse group. Many are new writers who first came to the genre by experiencing science fiction in film and video games--meaning they don't see the term SciFi as derogatory but instead as celebratory. A few have been writing science fiction for decades. Others mainly write fantasy, but cross over into science fiction from time to time. The more established of these authors publish their stories in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov's. The newer ones frequently find homes in Interzone, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Strange Horizons.

Please understand that this is a dream anthology. Unless a publisher offers to actually publish an book along these lines, this is as far as I go. But the stories below are still well worth the read, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

The SciFi Strange Stories

• "Exhalation" (PDF) by Ted Chiang
  Published in Eclipse Two; winner of the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
• "The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black" by Jay Lake
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi
  Published in Fast Forward 2; finalist for the 2009 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novelette.
• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (podcast) by Eugie Foster
  Published in Interzone, winner of the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award.
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky
  Published in Tor.com, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
• "Longing for Langalana" (PDF) by Mercurio D. Rivera.
  Published in Interzone; winner of the 2006 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi
  Published in Subterranean Online.
• "Blue Ink" by Yoon Ha Lee
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" (PDF) by Jason Sanford
  I know, its crass of me to include my own story but since it's my dream anthology kiss off if you have a complaint. Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 14.
• "Spinning Out" by Jamie Barras
  Published in Strange Horizons.
• "Ack-Ack Macaque" (podcast) by Gareth L. Powell
  Published in Interzone. Winner of the 2007 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "The Integrity of the Chain" and "The Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String" by Lavie Tidhar
  Both published in Fantasy Magazine, but yes, they are science fiction.
• "Jigoku no Mokushiroku" by John G. McDaid
  An older story, but definitely SciFi Strange. Originally published in Asimov's.
• "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim
  Published in Asimov's. (Note: I originally had this in the list of print-only stories I wished to include. But now that Yoachim has posted the story online, I no longer have to wish.)

Stories I'd love to include in this "anthology" but which aren't online include

• "Third Day Lights" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 11.
• "Skinner's Room" by William Gibson
  An older story, but still one which fits with SciFi Strange. Gibson later revisited this short story in his Bridge trilogy.
• "Làzaro y Antonio" by Marta Randall
  Published in F&SF.
• "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn" by Aliette de Bodard
  Published in Interzone, reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. (See Update Below)

If you know any stories which would make a good addition to this online anthology, please add them in the comments below.

Update: I have reluctantly removed Aliette's story "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn" from this online anthology wish list. While I love Aliette's story, upon further reflection I realize it is more of a traditional alternate history than a SciFi Strange story. While there are several elements of the story which fit in perfectly with SciFi Strange, overall it isn't the best example of this trend. That said, I still urge people to track down this great story and read it--along with the rest of the wonderful fiction Aliette writes.

My Context 23 schedule

Next week I'll be a participating author at the Context 23 convention in Columbus. As I've said before, Context is a small literary con which is always well worth attending.

If you want to catch me at the convention, here's my panel schedule:

Friday, Aug. 27, 10 pm
"BFA: The Good, Bad, and Ugly?" with myself and Janet Harriett.

Saturday, Aug. 28, 10 am
"Blogging – Creativity and Publicity" with myself, Maurice Broaddus, Janet Harriett, Joseph Martino, Michelle Pendergrass, and others.

Saturday, 2:30 pm
"Is a SF Renaissance Around The Corner?" I'm moderating this panel and the current line-up includes Tobias Buckell, Timons Esaias, Maura Heaphy, Paul Melko, and Paul Stevens. This will be a great discussion, so don't miss it.

Saturday, 4:00 pm
"Southern Horror"with myself, Michael Knost, Michelle Pendergrass, and others.

Saturday, 7:00 pm
"Awards, Nominations, And Publicity, Oh My! Make It Work For You" with myself, Michael Knost, Michael West, and others.

Apologies for not having all the names for these panels, but I don't have access to the final line-ups.

During the con I'll be giving away extra copies of Interzone 228, which contains my story "Plague Birds." If you'd like a copy, simply ask for one. I'll even be happy to sign it.

Our science fiction isn't your father's SF

The February 2010 issue of Asimov's contains an amazing story in "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim. This story is set in a far future village which exists alongside the ancient remnants of a high-technology wall. When a new ruler takes control of the land, he sends his vanquished foes to this village, where they are cut open and strung to a wall. The wall not only keeps these people alive but reveals to them their inner devils and hells. Once that is done, the person is sewn back together and allowed to live--if people can truly live after having witnessed the darkness within the minds and souls of all humans.

This is one of those rare stories I immediately reread upon finish it. In fact, I felt the same way reading this story as I did last year about Eugie Foster's novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (which won a well-deserved Nebula Award and is a finalist for the Hugo). Like Foster's novelette, Yoachim's story also struck me as a perfect example of SciFi Strange and will be on my list of the year's best stories. But that said, I also knew many science fiction fans would have the same issue with Yoachim's story as with the other SciFi Strange stories I love. Because every single aspect of the story isn't explained, for many people a story like this simply can't be called science fiction.

Sure enough, when I looked for reviews on the story I found these comments in Tangent Online by Carl Slaughter. While Carl praises the story, he asks "What is the source of the wall's power?  The author doesn't say.  We don't discover the origin and nature of the wall.  Nor the identity of the Ancients who built it, nor the time and place of the story.  Thus the story is a masterpiece, but a masterpiece of fantasy rather than science fiction."

That review drives me crazy with its narrow view on what qualifies as science fiction (although I totally agree with Carl that the story is a masterpiece). The truth is there are many accepted tropes in science fiction which are not technically possible or can't be accurately explained, including faster than light travel, time travel, dimensional travel and so on. However, if an author uses these tropes in their story they're okay and still writing science fiction. But if an author tries to explore a possible future technology but don't explain said technology in mind-numbing detail, they aren't SF.

I have a mouth and I must scream! Which, by the way, refers to another famous science fiction story which doesn't explain how everything works. I mean, a computer the size of a planet which can trap people inside it for all eternity? Provide me a précis on how that is possible under what we currenty know about science and technology. It isn't. But Ellison's classic story is still pure science fiction.

Part of the problem is that the science fiction genre has become too narrow in what it accepts as legitimate SF. We live in a world where our most advanced theoretical sciences like quantum mechanics are almost philosophical in nature. But instead of allowing our science fiction to be as equally free to explore the universe, we box it in. And ironically, we're not even consistent in how we do this. For example, people screamed when the last Star Trek film tripped into the red matter realm, but they didn't say a word about universal translators, transporters, and Spock being the offspring of two totally different alien species. But all these conventions are accepted as SF without a second thought.

This is made even more amusing when you consider that the science in many older SF classics was flat out wrong when the authors originally wrote them. For example, in Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, the book opens with the discovery that Mars is inhabited, and even mentions Martian canals. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles deals with a similarly occupied Mars. However, when the authors wrote those science fiction classics it was known to science that Mars was a hostile environment which did not contain advanced life. So why were those books accepted as being part of the SF genre?

Likewise, in Gene Wolfe's classic Book of the New Sun series, the science and setting are so far in the future that the science behind everything is more fantasy than real.  Again, the science isn't explained to the Nth degree, but the books are accepted as being science fiction.

What these examples prove is that being part of the science fiction genre is about more than simply writing accurately about science. It is also about exploring ideas and visions and possible futures. So why the different standard when new writers like Yoachim and Foster do that very thing? I have yet to read a convincing explanation for this divide.

I suspect that just as science has expanded into disconcerting places in the last decade, some people are disturbed by where science fiction is going these days. So they simply wave their hand and state that certain stories can't possibly be science fiction.

Which is too bad. Because while our science fiction may not be your father's SF, all these stories belong to the same genre.

For students: A few words on genre and literary fiction

A while back I received an interview request from a high school student.  Based on the questions this student asked, it was obvious he'd run up against a teacher who believed that literary fiction was "good" and genre fiction "bad."

Since I encountered this same attitude from some of my teachers in high school and college, I thought I'd share my responses to the interview. Maybe this will help other students understand that great fiction can exist in both the genre and literary fields.
 

1. Do you think it is possible for a work of fiction to be literary and genre at the same time?

Absolutely. There are many works of genre fiction which exist on an equal plane with the best literary fiction. Examples include Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and the writings of great genre authors like Samuel R. Delany and Ursula K. Le Guin. You will also find that some of the most famous works of literary authors like Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, and Michael Chabon are actually genre works, with Morrison's Beloved being a ghost story, McCarthy's Blood Meridian a western/horror story, and many of Chabon's works resting fully in the fantasy and SF fields.

2. Why do you think there is a line between literary and genre, and what can writers and readers do to overcome it?

The line between literary and genre fiction results from the shared history of these types of fiction. By its nature, literary fiction attempts to hold itself up as the serious fictional genre while genre fiction is supposed to be mere escapist reading. But where there may have once been a bit of truth to these distinctions, that difference fell apart decades ago. The best genre fiction is the equal of the best literary fiction and vice versa. You'll find great stories in all areas of fiction. Likewise, you will also find horrible writing in all areas of fiction. As the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon once said, "Ninety percent of everything is crud." That applies equally to literary fiction as to genre writings. But that other 10 percent--that's the fiction worth reading, regardless of genre. And if writers and readers look for that 10%, we'll all be happier.

3. To you, what qualifies a work of fiction as literary, genre, or both/neither?

These days, that qualification depends on how a publisher wishes to market a book. There are many readers who will read one type of novel and not another (even though, as I mentioned above, there is a ton of overlap between genre and literary fiction). So if a publisher believes they can sell a book as a genre novel, they do so. Likewise with literary fiction.

4. What do you like about literary fiction, and what do you like about genre fiction?

It would be better to ask what do I like about fiction. I demand that my fiction be well written and take me to places I've never been and introduce me to people I care about. More importantly, I want my fiction to teach me something new. To open my eyes to new possibilities. What I don't want is to read fiction which merely reinforces what I already know or is a reworking of what I've already read.

5. What do you like about writing literary fiction, and what do you like about writing genre fiction?

While I've published fiction which could be considered both literary and genre, my goal has always been the same: To create the best possible story. I believe well-written stories take on a life of their own. That's what I aim for with every story I write.