Get a free copy of F&SF

John Joseph Adams has details on how bloggers can receive a free copy of the July issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Sounds like a good way to drum up exposure for the magazine. I'd also suggest people subscribe to F&SF, which is having an amazing year and has published a number of great stories in the last few months. I mailed a two-year subscription renewal to F&SF yesterday and I can't say enough positive things about the great work Gordon Van Gelder and all the other editors are doing with this magazine.

Give 100% toward becoming 1% well read

By way of James Wallace Harris's blog comes news of the 1% well read challenge. As the site says, "The goal of this challenge is to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list."

James asked for some books from this list that blew other people's minds. A few of my choices from recent years would be The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I should note, though, that there are many great books--especially in the SF/F genre--are nowhere to be found on the list. Still, this is an interesting reading challenge.

Apex Digest subscription drive

Apex Digest is holding a subscription drive in an attempt to avoid going on hiatus. As a current subscriber to Apex, let me state that this is a great magazine with a totally unique view on how to mix science fiction and horror. And if you want to subscribe, Apex is again offering their Apex for Life subscription option which will give you Apex until you die. While that may sound like a disease, it's an offer well worth catching, especially as it only costs $100 (as opposed to $20 for a regular one year subscription). More info on these subscription options here.

And in an FYI, I'm in the process of reading issue 12 of Apex and hope to have a review up in a few weeks.

"Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi is a Locus recommended story

Back in February I reviewed Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi and noted that the title story of the collection is one of the best SF/F novelettes I've read in ages. I finished the review by stating that if there is any justice in the world, "Pump Six" will be the story that finally wins Bacigalupi a Hugo or Nebula Award.

After writing those words, I wondered if others would notice this amazing story or if it would fall through the critical/reviewer cracks, so to speak. Well now we have some great news: In the May 2008 issue of Locus, reviewer Nick Gevers selects the novelette as a recommended story. I strongly suggest people track down this amazing short story collection and its equally amazing title story.

I should also note that this issue of Locus contains excellent interviews with both Theodora Goss and Catherynne M. Valente. As people may remember, Valente won last year's Million Writers Award with her story "Urchins, While Swimming."

More flash fiction crap--and how authors can remove their names from consideration for this award

This morning I received several outraged e-mails, all stating I'd undermined the credibility of the Million Writers Award by not kicking out all the stories which were under 1000 words (see yesterday's post for more on this). Others wanted to know why we didn't employ a legion of fact checkers to go through each nominated story to make sure they met the award guidelines.

In response to that last question, I am the entire fact checking army for the MWA. I am ultimately responsible for any mistake in the award process. I collected the notable stories from each preliminary judge--all 164 of them--and then did my best to screen them to make sure they met the award criteria. As I stated yesterday, I made mistakes. In my haste to get the notable stories up, I missed several that came in under the 1000 minimum word count. One of these stories was so far under the word minimum (at only 208 words) that I felt I had no choice but to remove it. Two or three other stories were in the 700 to 1000 word range and, feeling these were closer to the intent of the award guidelines, I let them remain in the notable stories list.

Which brings us back to the main point of these outraged e-mailers, which is that I undermined the credibility of the award by doing this. To which I respond: Bullshit. What the e-mailers are really complaining about it that their flash fiction didn't get considered for the award while the judges had the audacity to pick someone else's 700 word story for this honor. As stated, none of these stories should have been picked for this notable list--that was a mistake. Still, a judge felt these two or three stories were worth honoring. So what are these e-mailers suggesting: That I revoke this honor from someone whose story is only slightly under the guideline minimum? Will that make you feel better that your own story wasn't considered? The complaints on this strike me as rather self-centered.

The MWA has one of the most open and transparent nominating processes of any literary award.  Our goal is to bring attention to deserving writers and their stories.  I have admitted making some honest mistakes with this year's list of notable stories. If anyone feels this undermines the credibility of the award, then that is what you will believe. However, I also hope you do not merely state this opinion in the privacy of an e-mail or a closed forum. Put your own credibility as an author on the line. E-mail me and ask that your stories not be considered for this award in the future. I will be happy to remove your name from consideration from this point onwards (or, if you have a notable story in this year's list, remove that story from further consideration). I will also publish a post in the near future naming all the authors who feel this way and contact me. After all, I wouldn't want anyone to risk taking part in an award they consider lacking in credibility.

Micro Award for flash fiction

Shortly after my previous post in which I mentioned a possible flash fiction version of the Million Writers Award in the works for next year, Robert Laughlin e-mailed to say that "It is too late for you to set a precedent by establishing the firstcompetition for previously published flash fiction; I have already done so. I am the creator and administrator of the Micro Award, an annual award for fiction not over 1000 words in length. Authors and editors may each nominate one story published in the previous year, and the award accepts stories published in print and online venues. Rules are posted on our website, at www.microaward.com. This year's submission deadline is Sep. 30, and the winner and non-winning finalists will be announced on or about Dec. 15."

More power to Robert with the award and I encourage people to submit early and often.

Screw-ups in the Million Writers Award

I have received a number of e-mails about screw-ups with this year's list of Million Writers Award notable stories. Many of these mistakes are minor--misspellings of either journals or authors' names and wrong links to stories. As I have been made away of these mistakes I have corrected them.

But as many people have pointed out, a couple of stories didn't appear to meet the guidelines for this year's awards. First, there seems to have been a story or two listed which were published prior to 2007. This is a mistake, but not one I take too seriously. Let me explain: some journals (such as the Barcelona Review) do not archive their stories in a way which lets the judges easily determine when a story was published. It also happens that judges can make mistakes and miss a story's publication date, meaning they might select a story which was not published in the preceding year. When any of this happens, my view is to not remove the story from the notable list PROVIDED the story wasn't also listed in a previous year's MWA. The main goal of the MWA is to bring attention to deserving authors. As such, I have little desire to remove a story because a judge messed up the story's publication date.

Another issue that has come up is that some of the notable stories this year don't meet the MWA's 1000 word minimum. The MWA rules state that the genre of short stories called flash fiction or short shorts is not eligible for the MWA. The reason for this is simple: When I started the MWA, I felt that the award should be used to promote longer fiction on the web. Partly this was because I am not a fan of flash fiction, and partly because I felt online flash fiction was already receiving a good deal of attention.

This year one notable story, Maryanne Stahl's "Your Hair, Your Weight" in Per Contra review, is well under 1000 words--clocking in at exactly 208 words. I asked the preliminary judge who selected this story what happened and she told me she'd forgotten about the 1000 word limit. Unfortunately, I also goofed and failed to notice the story's length when I was compiling the notable story list. Because the story is so far below the word minimum, I feel it would be unfair to leave it as a notable story and have now removed it from the list. I apologize to Maryanne and Per Contra for this mistake. The only good thing is that Maryanne is already a highly accomplished author, so I don't think this will derail her writing career in the slightest.

This leaves the final issue, which is that several people have noticed other stories on the list which appear to be slightly below the 1000 word minimum. In these cases, I will not remove the stories. I do not ask the judges to do a word count on stories--if they are close to the minimum, then they will remain. Again, this gets back to promoting deserving authors.

Now before people start harassing me because of my well-known dislike of flash fiction and how this episode marks me as a hypocrite or, worse, a sloppy editor, everyone should know that I was approached several months ago by an author and editor about doing a flash-fiction version of the MWA. We both agreed it was a good idea but that we didn't have the time to do it this year. If all goes well, this flash fiction MWA will be launched early next year alongside the regular award. And in even better news, I won't be running this flash MWA! So my biases against the flash genre will be kept well away from the award.

I hope this clarifies everything and settles any disputes about this year's award.

Crunching the Million Writers Award numbers

The Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007 is now out in the world and appears to be generating a fair bit of excitement, based on website traffic and the number of blog posts about the list. In my previous post announcing the notable stories I asked people who felt like doing some number crunching on the list to send me the results. As usual, the number crunchers out there quickly responded!

Robert Laughlin responded first, noting that there were 164 notables stories this year. In addition, he analyzed the first five years of the award to do a breakdown on which magazines have had the most MWA Notable Stories. His findings: Eclectica is first with 31 notable stories selected across five years. Pindeldyboz is second with 26 while Agni, Strange Horizons and Word Riot tied for third with 16 each. Rounding out the top ten are Narrative Magazine with 15, Fiction Warehouse with 13, The King's English and Mississippi Review both with 12, and Blackbird, Blithe House Quarterly, and Storyglossia with 11 nominations each.

I then received a detailed analysis of this year's notable stories from a correspondent who prefers to stay anonymous. According to him, the 164 notable stories for 2007 came from 92 different publications. Of these selections, 67 (or 41%) were first nominated by editors while 21 (or 13%) were first nominated by readers. This means that the preliminary judges selected stories solely on their own in 82 cases (or 50% of the time). In addition, 16 stories were nominated by more than one judge. These percentages don’t add up to 100% because of overlap--about 4% of stories were nominated by both editors and readers.

This breakdown on how the stories were selected seems good to me. In fact, it highlights one reason I like the format used by the MWA--we cast a wide net for stories. Several of the judges have told me how great the reader and editors nominations are b/c they point them to stories they wouldn't otherwise have considered. Likewise, I feel having the preliminary judges go out on their own brings in stories that likewise could have been overlooked.

According to this anonymous analysis, the top publications in this year's award (producing 26% of overall notable stories) were:

  • Blackbird (with 7 notable stories)
  • Pindeldyboz (5)
  • Subterranean (5)
  • Agni (5)
  • Clarkesword Magazine (4)
  • Baen's Universe (4)
  • Storyglossia (4)
  • Word Riot (4)
  • Mississippi Review (4)

This year's top authors were:

  • Elizabeth Bear (with three notable stories)
  • Cat Rambo (2)
  • Eric D. Anderson (2)
  • Elizabeth Crane (2)
  • Nick Antosca (2)
  • Andrea Fitzpatrick (2)
  • Corey Mesler (2)
  • Spencer Dew (2)
  • Jeff VanderMeer (2)

According to this analysis, of the top publications' notable stories, 25 of 42 (60%), including all seven of Blackbird's, were nominated solely by judges. Similarly, 11 of 19 (58%) of the top author's notable stories were nominated solely by judges.

To close out this number crunching, I should mention the previous analysis Scott Boyan did of the MWA. Scott used the analysis to create a ranking of the best online literary magazines and journals. While the analysis doesn't incorporate this year's list of notable stories, it is still a fascinating examination of both the award and online magazines.

Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007

The Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007 have now been released. The MWA award for best overall online publication goes to Blackbird for having seven of their stories selected as notable stories of the year. The MWA for best publisher of novella-length fiction goes to Jim Baen's Universe, while the award for best new online magazine or journal goes to Farrago's Wainscot (with runner ups being Wheelhouse Magazine and Coyote Wild).

I want to thank all the readers and editors who nominated stories and the preliminary judges who screened and selected this list of notable stories. I will begin reading these stories shortly and aim to release the top ten stories--and start the public vote for the best overall story--in late May.

BTW, I was too exhausted to count up all the stories on this list, but I swear it's even bigger than last year. If someone wants to do a breakdown and analysis of the notable stories, e-mail it to me and I'll post it here.

The Final Countdown (UPDATE: The not so final final)

I'm really not trying to milk this whole notable story thing--life has been hectic and I simply haven't had the time needed to finish the job. But I'm committed to staying up as late tonight as needed to get this finished. To keep myself focused, I'll post updates on this post through the night.

UPDATE 1 (April 28, 8:40 pm): I'm plugging away at the list. Taking longer than I thought to get the programming out. Still, I should have this up before midnight!

UPDATE 2 (9:00 pm): Blackbird and Agni are looking really good this year. Lots of notable stories.

UPDATE 3 (9:41 pm): A major irritation of mine is when online journals only keep links to stories up for a year or so. I mean, this is the frickin internet. Why remove a story from a place where readers can find it?

UPDATE 4 (10:41 pm): Reality set in when I estimated how much time was required to finish formatting the list. I'm still three hours from being finished and I have to go to work in the morning, so this drama is at an end for the night. Check back tomorrow night around 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

I know what people are saying about me right now

Based on comments I made last weekend, I can assume people are cursing my name for missing another self-imposed deadline for getting those Million Writer Award notable stories up. But If it makes people want to hold off on the whole burning in effigy thing, I took my kids camping yesterday. So yes, I picked family quality time over editorial work.

But the good news is the notable stories will be up tomorrow night! Check back then.

Maps of the Bible

My short story "Maps of the Bible" has just been published over on Monsters and Critics. Set in Alabama during the early 1960s, the tale is in some ways a ghost story (although it would be more correct to place the story within the Southern Gothic genre of literature). "Maps of the Bible" also functions as a prologue to my short novel Jeremiah, which consists of the story sequence "Cold Pelts," "One Side, Two Weeks, One Bathroom," and "Water Hearts."

Locus Awards short list and questions on why this award process works so well

Per the Science Fiction Awards watch blog comes news of the top five finishers in each category for the 2008 Locus Awards. I must admit to being quite pleased with the line up. While I could quibble about certain stories or novels that made the Locus list, this definitely gives people an excellent overview of the best in SF/F from the last year.

Since this award is decided upon by the readers of Locus, who nominate their favorite stories and novels, I wonder why the Locus Awards line up looks so much better this go around than the recent Hugo and Nebula lists. After all, many of the same people who nominate for the Locus Awards also help pick the Hugos and Nebulas. My guess would be a difference in the actual award process, with the Locus Awards able to avoid many of the group dynamics and infighting which sometimes plague the Hugos and Nebulas. If anyone has an alternate theory on why the Locus Awards consistently produce such high quality nominees and winners, I hope they'll drop me a line and let me know the reason.

Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas

I have been negligent in mentioning that my novelette "Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas" is forthcoming in issue two of Tales of Moreauvia. TOM is a new magazine edited by Pete S. Allen which will feature fiction andarticles around alternate histories and what-ifs. According to Allen, the inaugural issue is at the printer right now and will be available shortly.

Still working on Million Writers Award notable stories list

By the traffic this blog is receiving from the storySouth 2008 Million Writers Award page, its obvious that people are eagerly awaiting our release of the list of notable stories of the year. Unfortunately, between the demands of work and life I was unable to finish coding the list for upload today. If all goes well, the notable stories will be released next Sunday. If I don't make that deadline, I give the readers, writers and editors of the world permission to both burn me in effigy and slander me at will on the literary blogs of their choosing.

As always, a big thanks goes to the Edit Red Writing Community for sponsoring the contest, which means there is a $300 prize for the overall winner. I should also note that the Edit Red community has nothing to do with me taking too long to compile this year's lists of notable stories.

Into the world of really bad submission guidelines

Over on the Analog Science Fiction and Fact discussion board, Greg Ellis mentions the "egregious submission and contract terms" found in the role playing game industry. For example, if you plan to submit a story to the Amarillo Design Bureau, publisher of a number of games based around the Star Trek universe, you should first read this paragraph in their guidelines:

"All submissions of new material are accepted ONLY under the following terms unless specifically agreed otherwise in writing in advance by ADB: All materials submitted immediately become the property of Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. and may be used, modified, expanded, or changed as ADB, Inc., in its sole judgment, sees fit. (It is not sufficient to claim an exemption to these rules within a submission; you must obtain an exemption first.) All materials used will be credited to the original author to the extent of his original submission. All claims of copyrights to material created from or for use with this product are invalid as they are 'derivative' copyrights requiring our permission."

Personally, I wouldn't submit to any place that had such a statement in their submission guidelines. But that said, I also understand their point of view. First off, they don't have to allow unsolicited submissions. Second, since these are submissions to an already created fantasy and SF world (and in the case of Star Trek, one of the most famous SF worlds in existance), it's more than likely that there will be similarities both among different submissions and with stories already being produced but not yet published. Finally, already created worlds like Star Trek are covered by copyright, meaning anyone wanting to write in that world has to abide by their rules (despite the wishes of the Organization for Transformative Works, which believes that fan fiction is transformative and legitimate, a view I don't agree with). As ADB's guidelines state, works written within these gaming world are "derivative" and based on my experience with copyright law that's something which might hold up in court.

When I worked as a senior editor at a book publisher, I saw cases where authors submitted very similar stories merely because they were working with specific guidelines within a particular fantasy world. This likely happens even more in the gaming industry and so they put this statement up to protect themselves. But again, I personally wouldn't submit to anywhere that had such a requirement. But since these fantasy gaming worlds are these companies own personal sandboxes, if a writer wants to play in them they have to abide by the companies' rules.

Is the Short Fiction Market in Trouble? Hell no!

SF Signal, which has become the web's most essential SF/F blog, has a fascinating discussion up titled "Is the Short Fiction Market in Trouble?" Personally, I agree with Charles Coleman Finlay's comment that "This is the Golden Age of the short story in science fiction." As he states, yes, few people can make money merely by writing short fiction these days. But the only reason there's a debate on whether SF short fiction is dying is "because people are fixated on the old paradigm." Amen to that. I love short fiction. I read tons of short fiction, both in print and online, and I know there are many others out there just like me.

Just because people aren't buying short fiction magazines the way they did 30 years ago doesn't mean there's no interest in short fiction. After all, people don't buy record albums or CDs the way they did even a decade ago, but that doesn't mean people aren't listening to music. Instead, people are finding new ways to listen to music such as through iPods, iTunes, and other digital delivery systems. The same goes for short fiction. As I finish compiling the notable story selections for this year's Million Writers Award for best online short story, I'm constantly amazed at how many top-notch online magazines there are. While the professional SF magazines may have had larger circulations a few decades ago, there were no where near as many people writing, editing, and promoting short fiction as there are these days.

As Finlay states, the paradigm is changing and that scares some people and excites others. Speaking for myself, I prefer to embrace the excitement instead of the fear.

Review: May 2008 Fantasy and Science Fiction

Fsfmay2008_2I've been on a business trip for the last few days (hence my lack of posts). But while flying has lots of irritations--the delays, the security checks, the long waits--one upside is that I had lots of time at the airport and during the flight to catch up on my SF/F reading.

One magazine I read from cover to cover during my flight was the May 2008 Fantasy and Science Fiction. F&SF has been on a roll lately, publishing two stories--"Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed and "The Overseer" by Albert E. Cowdrey--which were so amazingly good I selected them as my stories of the week. This top-notch run continues in the new issue.

Both Reed and Cowdrey return with stories which, while not at the level of their earlier mentioned works, are still very good. Reed's "The Reunion" concerns a high school reunion where half of the class have gone on to achieve world-class results, a statistical outcome no one can explain until the daughter of a dead classmate begins to dig a little deeper. Unfortunately, Reed doesn't pull together the threads on this story as well as he did with "Five Thrillers," leaving me feeling a bit disappointed at the end. Still, this is a very good tale.

Like his earlier story, Cowdrey's "Thrilling Wonder Stories" is set in a Southern Gothic derived New Orleans, only this time during the 1950s. A young teenager named Farley has recently discovered that he is a bastard child--that the man who raised him isn't his true father. With Farley's imagination stoked by the pulp magazines of his era (hence the story's title), he imagines his true father as being from Mars. But when the truth rears its ugly head, he discovers that there could be another explanation--or perhaps an alternate life to be lived--inside an alligator in a dank, dark sewage pipe. This is a wonderful, horrifying, and ultimately haunting story.

My favorite story of the issue was "Firooz and His Brother" by Alex Jeffers. This fantasy, set on the ancient caravan routes of the Middle East, involves a man who finds a baby in the wilderness and raises the child as his brother. Well written and emotionally gripping, this story left me with a smile as a result of the story's tenderness and understanding of the human condition. Another story which left me with a warm feeling was "Rebecca's Locket" by S. L. Gilbow, which is an light-hearted and disturbingly funny tale of human technology and change. While the story isn't up to the standards of Gilbow's earlier stories--most notably the excellent "Red Card" from last year--this is a solid tale which makes one think about how far humans will go to avoid death.

I also loved "Circle" by George Tucker. Set during the south Florida real estate boom of recent years, the story focuses on Billy Black, a Seminole Shaman who works as a carpenter's assistant second class on the construction of a new high rise condo. But the construction has disturbed some ancient relics, leading to the typical curse and inevitable conflict with a greedy developer. But just when you think the story is going to embrace every stereotype of its genre, Tucker takes the characters and plot in new directions. After all, why shouldn't everyone--including the angry spirit--benefit during booming economic times! A fun, fun read featuring some very realized and fascinating characters (in the full sense of that word).

The magazine's final two stories are also very good, although I did have issues with both of them.  "Traitor" by M. Rickert is ripped from recent political headlines surrounding terrorism. While the story is well written, it was too forced for my tastes, almost as if the author was desperate to convince the reader to do a bit of societal soul-searching. Unfortunately, any story which applies its moral with the force of a sledgehammer inevitably turns me off.

This was also the problem with "Immortal Snake" by Rachel Pollack. This novelet is an excellent read for 95% of the story, as Pollack explores a fantasy future world where the leader of a nation is both ever-living and constantly facing eminent death. Both fast-paced and emotionally gripping, the story features amazing characters and storytelling--so impressive, in fact, that as I read the story I was certain I'd be selecting it as a story of the week. However, the story falls apart at the end as Pollack, like Rickert, applies the story's message to the reader's brain with the force of a not-so-subtle hammer. As if this hammering away at the message isn't enough, she even includes an author's note telling how the story was inspired by the history and recent events in Darfur. While this doesn't take away from the stength of "Immortal Snake," the ending keeps this story from reaching the level of a classic fantasy work, which is a shame.

So in short, this is a great issue of F&SF. While many of the major SF/F magazines have published excellent stories during the first four months of this year,  F&SF is leading the pack in both quality and the number of great and very good stories in each issue. If this keeps up, editor Gordon Van Gelder will be the leading candidate to receive next year's Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form.

Million Writers Award update

Most of the preliminary judges have turned in their selections for the Million Writers Award. As soon as the remaining judges turn in their selections, and I combine these selections into the official list of notable stories, I will post the information onto the storySouth site. I'm aiming to have all this done by the end of next weekend.