Three of my stories, free for the reading

I finally got off my butt and created PDFs of my three SF stories published last year in Interzone and Analog so people can read them online. The stories, with promotional notes, are:

Thanks for all the support everyone has given my stories!

Several suggestions for Nebula Awards

Last night I submitted a few works as "suggested reading" for the Nebula Award, which under the new rules is the quasi-unofficial first step in the award process. My initial suggestions are:

  • "The Art of the Dragon" by Sean McMullen (F&SF, Aug-Sept. 2009)
  • "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons, Jan. 2009)
  • "The Radio Magician" by James Van Pelt (Realms of Fantasy, Feb. 2009)

I'll no doubt have more suggestions as the year goes on. I also regret that I can't suggest several stories from Interzone, but the SFWA rules specifically forbid that since Interzone is a British magazine. Anyway, the official nomination period for the Nebulas opens on November 15. Any story I list on my blog as suggested reading will definitely be among my official nominations.

Literary liar James Frey dips toes into SF for big money payout

So well-known literary liar James Frey (of A Million Little Pieces infamy) hooks up with a new writer and creates a young adult series of SF books. However, instead of pulling his own weight, Frey gets the new writer, Jobie Hughes, to actually do most of the writing for the series, the first of which is titled I Am Number Four. The premise: A group of alien teenagers "hide on earth after their planet is attacked by hostile invaders." Wow. Original.

Naturally the large publishing houses which aided and abetted Frey's previous lies scoop up the new series, and immediately sell it to Hollywood. Michael Bay, the director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is signed on to produce and possibly direct the first installment. For those of you who aren't sure of the talent swirling around all this, here's Nick Mamatas' recent review of the new Bay film.

Think this is all a joke? Here's the NY Times article.

Perhaps Jobie Hughes is a great writer and storyteller, in which case I wish him the best with the series. But from where I sit, this deal stinks worse than most of Michael Bay's films.

Sneak peak at Tesseracts Thirteen

T-13_cover270 Tesseracts, the famed anthology series of Canadian speculative fiction, returns with Tesseracts Thirteen: Chilling Tales from the Great White North. Where last year's anthology focused on novella-length SF and fantasy, this year's collection is solid Canuck horror.

An advanced reading copy arrived in the mail today and so far I'm really impressed. Edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrel, the collection includes a large number of original stories by authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Alison Baird, Daniel Sernine, and many more. The first story I read is an amazing tale: "Lost in a Field of Paper Flowers" by Gord Rollo. This story will likely make many of the year's best lists, and left me wanting to keep reading the book.

Tesseracts Thirteen hits bookstores in the middle of September. Until then, here's my review of last year's edition.

Support Tim Pratt and his serial story idea

SF/F writer Tim Pratt's wife was laid off yesterday. As he details on his Livejournal page, he and his wife are searching for freelance work to both keep a roof over their heads and pay their son's medical bills (so if you know of anyone needing a talented freelancer, contact him).

Tim also says he is "toying with the idea of writing a Marla Mason prequel novella/shortnovel, about her early days as a sorcerer. Would any of you be interested in a donation-driven serial approach, with me posting a chapter a week free online, and soliciting whatever people want to pay? And possibly selling a hard copy/e-book through Lulu.com or something when it's done?"

I'd totally support that. Help convince Pratt to write this story by going to his Livejournal page and making a pledge.

UPDATE: Tim is now writing the serial story. As Tim explains, "Bone Shop tells the story of Marla's evolution from runaway to sorcerer's apprentice to mercenary magician and beyond. Fans of the urban fantasy series that began with Blood Engines will find surprising secrets revealed about Marla's past, and new readers can meet the character from the very beginning." To read the story, go here. The first chapter will be posted June 29. Be sure to hit the donate button on that page.

Calling BS on Harry Potter plagiarism claim

According to this Reuters report, the estate of Paul Allen, author of the 1987 novel The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land, are claiming that J.K. Rowling copied "substantial parts" of Allen's book when she wrote Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Allen's estate alleges that "the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire copied elements of the plot of Willy the Wizard, including a wizard contest, and that the Potter series borrowed the idea of wizards traveling on trains.

"Both Willy and Harry are required to work out the exact nature of the main task of the contest which they both achieve in a bathroom assisted by clues from helpers, in order to discover how to rescue human hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal fantasy creatures," the estate statement said.

Let me be the first to call this plagiarism claim what it is: Bull crap! (Yes, I'm being polite by using the euphemism.) Having wizards in different books both riding on trains is not plagiarism--that's next, yelling plagiarism if two authors both write about characters riding in cars? And having Willy and Harry both work out their task assisted by clues from helpers--My God, that sounds like the plot of half the fantasy books in existence. That must mean every fantasy author out there is guilty of plagiarism.

Seriously, this is an attempt by the estate of an author no one has heard of to profit from a book no one has read. Google The Adventures of Willy the Wizard and all you'll find is a report about this lawsuit. According to a Google Book search, Allen's book is all of 36 pages long and was likely published (according to the Writer Beware blog) by a vanity publisher. Even if these charges rose to the level of plagiarism--which they don't--I rather doubt Rowling could have found a copy of Allen's book to read.

So like I said earlier: Bull crap!

Ham-Sized Fist Award for heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories

Editor and writer Jeff Crook is seeking nominations of heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories for his newly launched Ham-Sized Fist Award. According to the rules:

"Only heroic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery stories published in magazines, e-zines, literary journals, anthologies or chapbooks that have an editorial process are eligible for nomination. This means that an editor must have selected the story for publication. Only English language stories, or stories translated into English for publication, will be considered. Self-published stories are not eligible, and unpublished stories will not be considered."

In addition, all nominated stories must be at least 500 words in length and must have been published between January 1 2009 and December 31 2009.

Jeff is a great writer who has also edited some wonderful projects like Postcards from Hell. He has also been a preliminary judge for the Million Writers Award. To put his money where his award-mouth is, Jeff has already ponied up $300 for the Ham-Sized Fist Award's author award, and another $300 to go to the publisher of the award-winning story. He's asking for donations to increase that amount to $500, and I intend to donate shortly.

I hope people will support this award. One of the ways new and unknown authors gain recognition is through awards. While heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories are extremely popular with readers and writers, to my knowledge there isn't an award devoted solely to this genre. Jeff is filling a needed gap in the literary award landscape.

I'm behind on my Million Writers Award reading--blame Laird Barron

I know, I know--everyone wants to know what's up with the Million Writers Award. The short answer is I'm still working my way through the notable stories, and hope to have my selections made by the middle of the month.

One thing I've noticed during my MWA reading is that very few horror stories made this year's notable list. This is my fault because I failed to select a preliminary judge who specialized in horror literature. Before people jump on me, I will fix this before next year's award.

By an amazing coincidence, an advance copy of the paperback edition of Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence and Other Stories arrived in the mail this week. At first I avoided the book because 1) I have way too much MWA reading to do, and 2) I'm really, really picky about my horror. But then I started reading Barron's stories and couldn't stop. Anyone interested in some really creepy but well written stories should check out this collection. You can learn more about Laird Barron here. And if anyone asks why I'm behind on this year's MWA reading, I'm blaming Laird Barron!

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.

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.

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.

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.

BSFA Awards shortlist

The British Science Fiction Association has announced the shortlist for its BSFA Awards, which Interzone editor Andy Cox posted on the TTA Press forum. The shortlist is:

Best Novel
Flood by Stephen Baxter
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Best Short Fiction
"Exhalation" by Ted Chiang (Eclipse 2)
"Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan (Interzone 215)
"Little Lost Robot" by Paul McAuley (Interzone 217)
"Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment" by M. Rickert (F&SF, Oct/Nov 2008)

Best Non-Fiction
"Physics for Amnesia" by John Clute
Superheroes!: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films by Roz Kaveney (I.B. Tauris)
What Is It We Do When We Read Science Fiction? by Paul Kincaid (Beccon)
Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan)

Best Artwork
Cover of Subterfuge, ed. Ian Whates, by Andy Bigwood
Cover of Flood by Stephen Baxter, by Blacksheep
Cover of Swiftly by Adam Roberts, by Blacksheep
Cover of Murky Depths 4 by Vincent Chong
Cover of Interzone 218 by Warwick Fraser Coomb

This is a very good shortlist. "Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan and "Little Lost Robot" by Paul McAuley are very good SF stories, and Vincent Chong is in my opinion the best SF/F artist out there. Not that I'm biased, of course.

The public domaining of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu"

An interesting debate has been going on over the last few years about how many of H.P. Lovecraft's most famous stories, including "The Call of Cthulhu," are now in the public domain. Wikipedia has a summary of the issue, while Chris Karr has written a detailed examination. More information is available here. The general consensus is that most of his stories are no longer protected by copyright, much to the horror of Arkham House, but that to prove this in a court of law would be extremely expensive. One thing this debate points to is a flaw in current copyright law, whereby there is continual confusion around copyrighted items passing into the public domain when their copyright period is over.

Gender breakdown of science fiction and fantasy publishing

Blue Tyson has a fascinating analysis of the gender breakdown in SF/F publishing. In the first analysis, Tyson breaks down the authors' gender with regards to SF/F books published in 2006. In that year, 45% of fantasies were written by woman, compared to 55% written by men. For SF books, only 21% were written by women.

In the next analysis, Tyson examines how many men and women published short stories in SF/F anthologies and collections from 1984 to the present. The findings: 84% men, 16% women. Kudos to Blue Tyson for the analysis and for giving people some good food for thought.

BTW, here are some comments I've previously made with regards to gender diversity and submissions in SF/F.

Quote of the day

Ricardo Montalban: "Once you obtain a fantasy it becomes a reality, and that reality is not as exciting as your fantasy. Through the fantasies you learn to appreciate your own realities."