Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction

Per George Santayana's famous comment that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," I would like to point out that the continual hand wringing over whether or not short science fiction is dying is almost five decades too late. In 1960 Earl Kemp asked the top science fiction authors a series of questions, the first of which was "Do you feel that magazine science fiction is dead?" The results were published as Who Killed Science Fiction, which went on to win the 1961 Hugo Award for best fanzine.

Two years ago Earl Kemp published an updated and unexpurgated online version of Who Killed Science Fiction. It's an amazing experience to read through the responses from authors like Robert A. Heinlein, Philip José Farmer, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. One highlight is the interview with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who states that "Anybody who announces that he is a science fiction writer is announcing that he is in damn bad company financially and artistically." Kemp's updated version of the publication then gives Vonnegut's second thoughts about those harsh words, as he states in a letter to Kemp that "My own contribution to Who Killed Science Fiction? was irresponsible, and I'm sorry for it."

I challenge everyone who moans about the coming death of science fiction short stories to read through this amazing piece of SF history. I think you'll find that many of the arguments and issues being raised today are the same ones being raised back then, which leads me to suspect that forty years from now people will still be writing and publishing SF short fiction--and moaning about the genre's coming death.

(As a side note, Earl Kemp still publishes a monthly e-zine. Check out the back issues here.)

Million Writers Award update

Voting for the Million Writers Award appears to be going smoothly, with just over 500 people casting their votes so far. "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken" by Matt Bell (Storyglossia) remains in first place with 18% of the vote, while "Friday Afternoons on Bus 51" by Sruthi Thekkiam (Blackbird) and "The Surgeon's Tale" by Cat Rambo and Jeff VanderMeer (Subterranean) are close behind.

So far attempts to stuff the ballot have been manageable and I've only had to remove a few votes. I should also note that there isn't that big a vote difference between the top five ranking stories, so this remains a very competitive race which can easily swing any way. Remember, voting ends on July 17.

Top science fiction films since 1991

Over on SciFi Scanner, John Scalzi suggested how to improve the American Film Institute's list of top ten science fiction films. The problem with AFI's list is that it only contains films from 1991 and before. Since there have been a ton of great SF films created in the last 17 years, that's a hell of an oversight.

I agree with all five of Scalzi's additions--The Matrix (1999), Ghost in the Shell (1995), The Incredibles (2004), 12 Monkeys (1995), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). I would also propose the following films: Gattaca (1997), Children of Men (2006), and most importantly, Alex Proyas's masterpiece Dark City (1998). People might also be interested in Cinemension's Great Films List, which breaks the best films down by genre, director, and more.

About Jason

 

NeverNeverStoriesCoverJason Sanford is the award-winning author of a number of short stories, essays, and articles, and an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Born and raised in the American South, he currently lives in the Midwestern U.S. with his wife and sons. His life's adventures include work as an archeologist and as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Jason has published more than a dozen of his short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone, which once devoted a special issue to his fiction. His fiction has also been published in Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Tales of the Unanticipated, The Mississippi Review, Diagram, Pindeldyboz, and other places. Book anthologies containing his stories include Year's Best SF 14 edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, Bless Your Mechanical Heart edited by Jennifer Brozek, and Beyond the Sun edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

A collection of Jason’s short stories, titled Never Never Stories, was published by a small press in 2011.

Jason’s awards and honors include being a finalist for the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novella, winning both the 2008 and 2009 Interzone Readers' Polls for best story of the year (and being a co-winner of the 2010 Poll), receiving a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, being nominated for the BSFA Award, and being longlisted for the British Fantasy Award. His stories have also been named to the 2012 and 2013 Locus Recommended Reading Lists along with being translated into a number of languages including Chinese, French, Russian, Polish, and Czech.

Jason co-founded the literary journal storySouth, through which he ran the annual Million Writers Award for best online fiction. His critical essays and book reviews have been published in a number of places including SF Signal, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and The Pedestal Magazine. He also writes a regular column for the Czech SF magazine XB-1.

Jason can be contacted at jasonsanfordsf (at sign) gmail (dot) com. He can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, Medium.com, and other social media platforms.

Awards and media

Here are some of the awards and honors I've received for my writing:

  • Winner of the 2008 and 2009 Interzone Readers' Polls. Co-winner of the 2010 Readers' Poll.
  • Finalist for the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novella.
  • Story reprinted in Year's Best SF 14, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.
  • Story nominated for the 2009 British Fantasy Award.
  • Two stories nominated for the 2008 BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction.
  • Multiple honorable mentions in the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th annual collections of The Year's Best Science Fiction Stories, edited by Gardner Dozois.
  • Winner of a 2002 Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.
  • 2003 Gold Award for Communications Crafts, Writing, from University of Minnesota Communicators Forum.
  • Winner of the 2005 Fiction Warehouse Hypnologic Experiment writing contest
  • Winner of the Magnificent Magnolia 2003 essay contest
  • Jury selection in the Walker Art Center's 5 Minutes of Fame, December 2002
  • Winner of a 1997-98 Loft Mentor Series Award for Fiction.
  • Finalist for a SASE/Jerome Award.
  • Finalist at the 2001 Op-Ed Slam, sponsored by the National Writers Union.
  • Three-time judge of the Minnesota Book Awards, including judge of the 2003 fiction category.

 

Below is a sampling of the media coverage about my work. Reviews of my fiction are on this page.

Reviews and interviews

 

Quick links

 

Here are reviews of my fiction along with interviews with me. For specific publication information on these stories, please see my fiction page.

Interviews with Jason

 

General Reviews about Jason's Stories

  • "Sanford (and some other writers) are producing SF that truly has a different feel than much that has gone before." — Rich Horton, Locus, February 2011
     
  • "Few SF/fantasy writers generate a buzz through short fiction alone, but Jason Sanford is an exception. Over the past few years, he's created a growing fan base through his brand of modern speculative fiction, something he called 'SF Strange.'" — Jeff VanderMeer on Amazon's Omnivoracious blog
     
  • "Interzone is really spoiling me when it publishes Jason Sanford so regularly. As far as I'm concerned, they couldn't publish too much of this author if they named it Jason Sanford's Science Fiction Magazine." — Sam Tomaino, SFRevu
  • "A writer whose reputation grows with each story." — author Colin Harvey
  • "Sanford expertly blends world building and storytelling. In fact, he makes it look easy." — John DeNardo, SF Signal

 

Reviews of Selected Stories

"Plague Birds" (short story originally published in Interzone)

  • "Breath-taking in its audacity ... a story to remind jaded reviewers why they fell in love with SF in the first place." Colin Harvey, Suite 101
  • "Hugo-worthy." SFRevu
  • Five Stars. SF Signal
  • "Ingenious fiction." Tangent Online
  • "Intriguing and a worthwhile base story for what seems like a planned series." Rich Horton, Locus, Aug. 2010
  • "Good solid entertainment." Gardner Dozois, Locus, Oct. 2010.
  • Honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction Stories, 28th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.

"A Twenty-First Century Fairy Love Story"  

"Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas"  

  • "Will make my Hugo short list when I nominate in 2011." SFRevu
  • "The original premise and good writing recommend the story." Tangent Online

"Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows"

  • Longlisted for the 2010 British Fantasy Award.
  • Honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction Stories, 27th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.
  • Reprinted in the Czech SF magazine Ikarie and the French book anthology Ténèbres.
  • "A dark, tragic tale that somehow ends with a measure of hope." Suite 101
  • "Will make my Hugo shortlist." SFReview
  • "A chilling story of the unknown." SF Crowsnest
  • Four stars. "Marvelously engaging story." SF Signal
  • A "haunting story that stayed with me long after the first reading." Tangent

"Sublimation Angels" (Link to ebook editions)  

"When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees"

"The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain"
 

"Where Away You Fall"

  • Honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction Stories, 26th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.
  • Selected by Richard Horton as one of four impressive Analog short stories for 2008.

"Book Scouts of the Galactic Rim"

"Rumspringa"

  • Selected as an honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction Stories, 25th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.

 

Pictures of a Martian dust devil

Alan Taylor at Boston.com has compiled some amazing photos from the different NASA probes sent to Mars. While there plenty of mind-blowing images here, perhaps the eeriest is seeing dust devils blow across the surface of the red planet. The video results from a series of images acquired in 2005 by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover. To see the dust devils, pan down about a third of the way through the page.

Revelations on the success of Battlestar Galactica

The season-ending episode of the new Battlestar Galactica series has now aired. For an excellent review and analysis of this amazing episode (titled "Revelations"), see Alan Sepinwall's dead-on comments. Instead of joining in with praise for the episode, I want to address a bigger issue on why Battlestar Galactica is in the running for the best science fiction TV series in history.

There has been a lot of grumbling from people that season 4 was too slow and that the series had become nothing more than a soap opera in space. Personally, I didn't agree with these comments because I thought the season was shaping up to be the best in an already top-notch broadcast run. However, as I listened to these complaints, the truth began to dawn on me: Many SF fans can't stomach a TV series that actually practices what so many in the genre have preached for years.

For decades SF authors and fans have been saying that the best SF is based on character development and insight into deep human issues. Yes, SF features exciting future worlds with lots of space ships, fun technology, and massive interstellar backdrops, but when you cut to the essence of the best SF stories they are about individual humans and their struggles. Well guess what: Battlestar Galactica has truly followed this formula. The reason this season's last episode paid off so amazingly well is because of the character development we've witnessed these last few months and years.

I believe the mixed critical reaction among SF fandom to Battlestar Galactica results from a scism between those who want their SF to reach truly human understanding and depths, and those who see SF as more like escapism. This doesn't mean that Battlestar Galactica isn't also a great thrill ride, which it is. But what pushes the series into TV greatness is it's not afraid to address incredibly deep issues such as what makes us human and what our purpose in this crazy universe might be--all while tying the audience into knots over the personal dramas of the main characters. Speaking for myself, I expect nothing less from the best SF, and that's why I've loved every minute of Battlestar Galactica season 4.

The Chekhovs and Maupassants of the weblit era

Writer Robert Laughlin e-mailed that he analyzed all the authors who've made it to the different levels of the Million Writers Award over the last five years. His purpose: to determine who are "the Chekhovs and Maupassants of the weblit era."

His findings:

  • Richard Grayson and Corey Mesler, with 7 stories from each author making the MWA notable lists over the years.
  • Stephen Gillis, with 5 stories.
  • Elizabeth Bear, with 4 stories.

So there you have it--the new weblit Chekhovs and Maupassants.

Interzone issue 217

CoverIssue 217 of Interzone will be published July 3rd and features my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain."

Vincent Chong did the art for my story. After seeing an advanced copy of his art I can only fall to the ground and say, "My story's not worthy. My story's not worthy."

All modesty aside, I think this is one of the best stories I've ever written and I look forward to seeing how readers like it.

IGMS offering Peter S. Beagle story for free during Million Writers Award voting

While I stay neutral in the voting for the top story in the Million Writers Award--aside from removing hamfisted attempts at ballot stuffing, which is always done by a few fools--I want to let everyone know about "We Never Talk About My Brother" by Peter S. Beagle from Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Normally, readers have to pay $2.50 an issue to read IGMS, but editors Orson Scott Card and Edmund Schubert have given free access to the story during the MWA voting period. So check it out. And I highly recommend putting $2.50 down for the current issue of IGMS, because you can't beat that price for some of the best SF/F on the web.

Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2007

I have now picked my Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2007. The stories are:

The public vote for the top story will run through July 17. This year's award is sponsored by the Edit Red Writing Community. As a result of this sponsorship, the award features a $300 prize for the overall winner.

I'll have more to say about these stories and the process in the coming day, but for now I'll let the stories speak for themselves.

The final Million Writers Award update

This will be the final Million Writers Award update before I release the top ten stories of the year and the public voting starts. I've now picked the top ten stories. What I'm doing now is trying to arrange for access to one of the selected stories, along with programming the public vote. Look for the stories to be posted either Monday or Tuesday. I know I've been slow with this year's award, and for that I apologize. But as much as I enjoy doing this award, it doesn't pay the bills (in fact, it generates a number of bills, so please consider donating to help support the effort). As such, it has to come after work and family obligations.

Tomorrow's big SF/F stars

SF Signal has a wonderful new post up titled "Who Are Tomorrow's Big Genre Stars?" Read through the collection of comments to find the responses from various editors, commentators, and established writers like Gardner Dozois, Matthew Cheney, and Niall Harrison. For those too lazy to read through all those words, here's the summary of up and coming writers, as compiled by SF Signal from the number of mentions in the discussion:

The Top 21 Genre Authors To Keep an Eye On

  • Paolo Bacigalupi (5 mentions)
  • Darryl Gregory (5)
  • Jay Lake (4 mentions)
  • David Moles (4)
  • Benjamin Rosenbaum (4)
  • Cory Doctorow (3 mentions)
  • Ted Kosmatka (3)
  • Chris Roberson (3)
  • Vandana Singh (3)
  • Daniel Abraham (2 mentions)
  • Laird Barron (2)
  • Elizabeth Bear (2)
  • Alan DeNiro (2)
  • Alex Irvine (2)
  • Paul Melko (2)
  • Naomi Novik (2)
  • Tim Pratt (2)
  • M. Rickert (2)
  • Jason Stoddard (2)
  • Karen Traviss (2)
  • Scott Westerfeld (2)

It's worth noting that one of my favorite new writers, Tobias Buckell, was not named anywhere in this. His response to that: "Ouch."

The book reviewer revolt against PDFs

Book reviewer Jonathan Strahan, who also edits a number of anthologies including two yearly "best of" science fiction and fantasy collections, writes that he is tired of receiving PDFs of novels and stories and being expected to absorb the said printing costs. As he states, "PDFs are, no matter what anyone says, designed to be printed." Strahan then estimates that printing off a PDF of one 500 page novel "means about $6.00 worth of paper and about $20.00 worth of printingcosts. Call it $25.00. That’s close to what the final book will cost to buy, once it’s been published. I can justify that cost from time to time, but not day after day." As a result, Strahan is considering restricting his reading for his year’s best anthologies to printed copies only.

It's a shame Strahan has to consider such a ban, but it's an understandable reaction to an equally  understandable trend. I review books for several places and while I'm nowhere near as big a name as Strahan, I also receive PDFs of upcoming novels. I understand that this delivery method is both faster and cheaper for publishers, authors, and promoters--which is obviously why they prefer it to mailing advance copies of books. But people need to be careful not to make sending PDFs instead of printed copies the norm; likewise, always query first to see if the person wants to receive a PDF of a massive novel. Otherwise, more reviewers will institute bans like the one Strahan is considering.

Review of Tales of Moreauvia #1

The Fix has published my review of the premier issue of the new semi-prozine Tales of Moreauvia. In short, ToM is an excellent debut on the semi-prozine level--i.e., a semi-professional magazine, existing between the worlds of the professional SF/F magazines and the fan-created publications--and contains some top-notch stories by Gary K. Wolf, Rita Oakes, Daniel Pearlman, and others.

As a side note, I will be reviewing short fiction journals on a regular basis for The Fix. My next assignment is to do a series of monthly reviews of the fiction published by Strange Horizons. Look for my review of SH's June fiction on The Fix in early July.

Now back to the previously interrupted judging of the Million Writers Award.

Story of the Week: Bayou by Jeremy Love

My new story of the week is the web comic Bayou by Jeremy Love. This Southern fantasy/horror tale is the story of Lee Wagstaff, the daughter of a poor black sharecropper growing up in 1930's Mississippi. When a monster from the bayou eats/kidnaps a white girl, Lee's father is arrested and facing a certain lynching. To save her father, Lee goes into the bayou to find the girl.

Love's writing is sparse and his artwork beyond beautiful. This is Southern Gothic at its best, and a perfect example of why the tropes and awful history of the South continually bring forth some of the best literature around.

As of this date, Bayou isn't finished, with new panels being continually added to the story. So bookmark the site and check back every now and then to see what has befallen Lee Wagstaff in your absence. You will be glad you did.

MIA: Million Writers Award?

I'm sure a number of people are wondering if the Million Writers Award has gone MIA, but don't worry--I'm still reading through the 164 notable stories. I have now read 122 stories and have some 40 odd stories left to go. I expect to finish and have the top ten up by the end of next week.

One reason this has taken longer than expected is there are more notable stories to read than in previous years. Also, there are a ton of great stories in this year's list, meaning I'm going back and rereading quite a few of them. So thanks for the patience and check back next week.

Retro science fiction t-shirts

ShirtA few months ago a friend told me that the main problem with most science fiction stories is that they violate the basic laws of the universe. To show my agreement, the next time I see him I'll be wearing the stylish T-shirt at right.

The caption reads "Speed limit: 186,000 miles per second. It's not just a good idea, it's the law."

Anyone looking for this and other retro SF shirts should go to the Retropolis Transit Authority. And a hat tip to SF Signal for first pointing me to this great site.