Jason Sanford

Hanging with Hayao Miyazaki and Brian Aldiss (in my mind, at least)

Today I received a copy of David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer's anthology Year's Best SF 14, which includes my Interzone story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain." In the introduction to the story, they write:

"If there is such a thing as new weird SF, this is it. The story gets high marks for originality. It has a kind of anime feeling reminiscent to us of Miyazaki, but it also reminds us of the early fiction of Brian Aldiss."

Uh ... wow! I can't believe they mentioned my story in the same sentence with Hayao Miyazaki and Brian Aldiss. I've been a big fan of Miyazaki's films for years--and as a self-promotional sidenote, if Miyazaki needs a story to adapt for his next film, "The Ships Like Clouds ..." is available! I also I grew up loving Aldiss' writings. So many thanks to both David and Kathryn for the extremely kind words.

Read Peter S. Beagle's IGMS story for free during the Million Writers Award

I always remain neutral on the finalists for the storySouth Million Writers Award, allowing the public to vote for their favorite stories. My view is that all ten finalists are great stories. If they weren't great, I wouldn't have picked them!

However, I want to draw attention to "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" by Peter S. Beagle, from OSC's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Normally IGMS is a pay site, where a very reasonable fee--only $2.50 per issue--allows access to their wonderful stories. However, during the public vote for the Million Writers Award, IGMS editor Edmund Schubert is allowing free access to Beagle's story. So I encourage everyone to surf over there and check it out. If you like what you see, consider purchasing an issue or two to read. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Do you think I'm stupid? (A Million Writers Award voting rant)

There's been a lot of activity during the first two days of voting for the 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award. So far over 300 people have voted for their favorite story. To vote or to see the totals, go here.

Now for my rant. Obviously someone out there thinks I'm stupid because they made a ham-fisted attempt to stuff the ballot box today. As I've said repeatedly, I closely monitor the voting and can easily see repeat voting. Even if someone uses--SHOCK!--proxy servers! When this happens, I remove the illegal votes, which is what I did a few minutes ago to this bone-headed idiot's votes. Please note that if this happens too much said story might be removed from the competition. So keep it honest, people!

FOC_U!

Recently a well-know SF/F author commented that there weren't many people of color who were actually fans of SF/F. My response: WFT? An even better response is FOC_U, a new Livejournal group dedicated to showing how many people of color exist at all levels of the SF/F/Horror genres--as fans, as writers, as artists--and how these people are an integral part of the genres.

All of this hits me on a very personal level. Yes, I'm a white guy from Alabama, but I'm married to a black woman and have two biracial children--all of whom read SF/F!  So go check out FOC_U, learn a few things, and raise the awareness of everyone.

Million Writers Award finalists (and some other great stories)

A hard deal--that's what it was, trying to select the top ten online stories for the 2009 Million Writers Award. I guess we've reached the point where so many great stories are being published online each year that it's difficult to select only ten great stories.

As always, my choices were limited to the 2009 Million Writers Award notable stories, selected by our preliminary judges. So if a story wasn't on that list, I didn't consider it.

Without further delay, my selections for the top ten online stories are:

• "The Whale Hunter" by Steinur Bell (Agni)
• "Intertropical Convergence Zone" by Nadia Bulkin (ChiZine)
• "No Bullets in the House" by Geronimo Madrid (Drunken Boat)
• "Fuckbuddy" by Roderic Crooks (Eyeshot)
• "The Fisherman's Wife" by Jenny Williams (LitNImage)
• "Every Earth is Fit for Burial" by Cyn Kitchen (Menda City Review)
• "Interview With A Moron" by Elizabeth Stuckey-French (Narrative Magazine)
• "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" by Peter S. Beagle (OSC's Intergalactic Medicine Show)
• "Grief Mongers" by Sefi Atta (Per Contra Fiction)
• "Nine Sundays in a Row" by Kris Dikeman (Strange Horizons)

Please go over to the storySouth Million Writers Award page to vote for your favorite story. Thanks to the support of our donors, the top three winners of the public vote will receive, respectively, $500, $200, and $100. The public vote will run from today through June 17, 2009.

I'd also like to single the following stories out for praise. They all made my short list for the top ten:

3AM Magazine
http://www.3ammagazine.com

• "Senseless Nights in Williamsburg" by Michael DeCapite
  http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/senseless-nights-in-williamsburg/

Abyss & Apex
http://www.abyssandapex.com

• "Snatch Me Another" by Mercurio D. Rivera
  http://www.abyssandapex.com/200801-snatch.html

Anderbo
http://www.anderbo.com/

• "Chasing Adonis" by Adam Gallari
  http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/afiction-031.html

Arch Literary Journal
http://archjournal.wustl.edu/

• "A Sensitive Soul" by Andrew Coburn
  http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~archword/fiction/coburn/sensitive.soul.htm

Baen's Universe
http://www.baens-universe.com/

• "A Thread of Silk" by Eugie Foster
  http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/A_Thread_of_Silk

Beneath Ceaseless Skies
http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

• "Architectural Constants" by Yoon Ha Lee
  http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=3

Carve Magazine
http://www.carvezine.com

• "The Last Hours of Pompeii" by Marc Nieson
  http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/nieson.htm
  

Cha: An Asian Literary Journal
http://www.asiancha.com/

• "Life is Awesome" by Thaila Ramanujam
  http://www.asiancha.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=227&Itemid=112

Clarkesword Magazine
http://www.clarkesworldmagazine.com/

• “Blue Ink” by Yoon Ha Lee
  http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/lee_08_08/

Eclectica Magazine
http://www.eclectica.org

• "Retardo" by Rachel Maizes
  http://www.eclectica.org/v12n1/maizes.html
  
• "Bones Do All the Hard Work of the Body with Very Little Thanks" by G.K. Wuori
  http://www.eclectica.org/v12n1/wuori.html

Elimae
http://www.elimae.com/

• "Christmas in Burma" by Christopher Luppi
  http://www.elimae.com/2008/January/Burma.html

Farrago's Wainscot
http://www.farragoswainscot.com

• "Flowertongue" by Jessica Reisman
  http://www.farragoswainscot.com/2008/6/flowertongue.html

JMWW
http://jmww.150m.com

• "Flyaway Dreams" by Bryan S. Wang
  http://jmww.150m.com/Wang.html

The King's English
http://www.thekingsenglish.org

• "Statement and Game" by Sheila McKown
  http://home.comcast.net/~wapshot1/fall08/Fiction.McKown.html
  

Our Stories
http://www.ourstories.us

• "The Old Challah Radio" by Adam Shechter
  http://www.ourstories.us/Fall2008_Issue/Shechter_OurStories.html

Pindeldyboz
http://www.pindeldyboz.com

• "Mice" by Tai Dong Huai
  http://www.pindeldyboz.com/tdhmice.htm
• "Two Rubber Bands" by Kyle Minor
  http://www.pindeldyboz.com/kmbands.htm

Plots with Guns
http://www.plotswithguns.com

• "They Take You" by Kyle Minor
  http://plotswithguns.com/3Minor.htm
  

Serendipity Magazine
http://www.magicalrealism.co.uk

• "Smoking Bamboo" by Molara Wood
  http://www.magicalrealism.co.uk/view.php?story=87&issue=11

Smokelong Quarterly
http://www.smokelong.com

• "Lobster Girl" by Alicia Gifford
  http://www.smokelong.com/flash/8050.asp

Storyglossia
http://www.storyglossia.com

• "To the Bone" by T. J. Forrester
  http://www.storyglossia.com/29/tf_bone.html

Strange Horizons
http://www.strangehorizons.com

• "Until Forgiveness Comes" by K. Tempest Bradford
  http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20081117/forgiveness-f.shtml
• "The Magician's House" by Meghan McCarron
  http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20080714/magician-f.shtml
  

Tor.com
http://www.tor.com

• "The Things That Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away" by Cory Doctorow
  http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=2993

Word Riot
http://wordriot.org

• "You Are One Click Away From Pictures of Nude Girls" by Heather Fowler
  http://www.wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1501

Review at BestScienceFictionStories.com

Rusty at BestScienceFictionStories.com has a very nice review of my story "When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees."

Million Writers Award update

I've almost finished reading the notable stories from this year's Million Writers Award. There are a ton of great stories and I'm having some trouble making my selections, so I'm re-reading a few stories and will announce the top ten stories Sunday evening. The public vote will also begin at that time

Update: Now made my selections. Probably have the top ten stories up Saturday night, but no promises.