Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 113

Bad Credits Will Not Help You Get Published.

My friend Ann and I have been running the magazine PodCastle for the past two years and reading slush for it for almost three. I'm nominally the editor and she's the associate editor, but we chose to work together because, well, we work together well, and as a consequence our tasks often bleed into each other. She picks up the slushy slush when it comes in and filters out the stuff I need to see — or, sometimes, I go and do that myself. I have the final say on what gets published, but her...

What reference books sit on your desk?

Guest blogger Jason Sanford often rants on his website at www.jasonsanford.com. His fiction has been published in Interzone, Year's Best SF 14, Analog, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pindeldyboz, and other places, and has won the 2008 Interzone Readers' Poll and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.

So you dare call yourself a writer! If that's the case, here's my question: What reference books sit on your desk?

And yes, we know all about that amazing resource called the internet. And yes...

At the Forefront of Madness

Being a fairly prolific short story writer, I've noticed something rather strange happening in the last couple of years: I'm at the forefront of a lot of so-called "movements" in genre fiction.

 What does it all mean? Why me? And how do I opt out?

 I first noticed this phenomenon when my story, "How to Make Paper Airplanes" appeared in the Mundane SF issue of Interzone. Mundane SF! Has there ever been a manifesto destined to annoy more SF fans? And somehow, my story opened the issue – did it...

A Tightrope Poet of the Impossible

Gio Clairval is an Italian-born writer who lives in Paris.

Yesterday, the road seemed too difficult and tiredness threatened with a feeling of void. I said to myself, "Why have I chosen the trade of writing–this hard journey?" Then I heard the words of Philippe Petit, high-wire walker (but he prefers to call himself 'tightrope walker')—an interview aired by the Italian TV channel, RAI3, and I found his answers inspiring.

I'd like to dedicate these words to Jeff, who is reaching the end of his b...

Alas, the Poe Bicentennial: Studying Poe with Rob Velella

S.J. Chambers is an articles editor for Strange Horizons.  Not only has her work appeared in that fine forum, but also Tor.com, Fantasy, Bookslut, and The Baltimore Sun's Read Street Blog.  She is also currently working with Jeff as his Master Archivist for The Steampunk Bible. You can find out more about S.J. at www.sjchambers.org.

This is my last post, and before I introduce my interviewee, I want to thank Jeff for giving me time and blog space, and I want to thank you, Ecstatic Days

Colleen Lindsay Answering Questions at Booklifenow

Not sure if it's too late to pitch this, but the indomitable Ms. Lindsay is answering questions over at Booklifenow. At the very least check out the comments thread.

Also, Finch is on the Barnes & Noble Review's best of the year list.

Now, off to crash and get some sleep before tomorrow's discussion/signing in Asheville.

The VanderMeer Endurance Tour: The Final Push!

The photo above is of two pages of my personal copy of Booklife, which I've been having everyone I meet sign. It's got everyone from the cabby who drove me into NYC to Lev Grossman to Robert Fisher from Willard Grant Conpiracy to Colleen Lindsay to Matt Cheney to Ekaterina Sedia to most of the attendees at the various events. It's especially gratifying to get readers' signatures, and to see their surprise and often their delight at getting to sign my "yearbook" of my five-week tour. It's...

Wait. What Did You Just Say?

It's Holiday Season. We all know what that means – several radio stations switch to All-Holiday-Music-All-The-Time, commercials start running their annoying versions of carols, and everyone walks around with mind-numbing earworms of truly hideous songs like that terrible Red Shoes one (CRAP. Now it's in my head.). Now, don't get me wrong. I like quite a few holiday tunes – like that one by that guy. You know, with the snow in it. Okay, so I'm lying. I really don't like holiday music. All...

Does It Need to Be Magic to Be Science Fantasy?

Gio Clairval is an Italian born speculative fiction writer who commutes between Paris and the Lake of Como.

—-
Gio: Lately, I've been writing Science Fantasy.
Felicino: And what the heck is that?
Gio: No one knows exactly.
Felicino: Cool.
Gio: I mean that writers and critics haven't come up with an universally accepted definition but, as I've been writing Science Fantasy, I could try to define it.
Felicino: I thought writers were the least reliable guys when it comes to define what they're writing. ...

DOES IT NEED TO BE MAGIC TO BE SCIENCE FANTASY?

Gio Clairval is an Italian born speculative fiction writer who commutes between Paris and the Lake of Como.

—-
Gio: Lately, I've been writing Science Fantasy.
Felicino: And what the heck is that?
Gio: No one knows exactly.
Felicino: Cool.
Gio: I mean that writers and critics haven't come up with an universally accepted definition but, as I've been writing Science Fantasy, I could try to define it.
Felicino: I thought writers were the least reliable guys when it comes to define what they're writing. ...