Neil Clarke's Blog, page 17

Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3 – ToC and Cover reveal

The Best Science Fiction of the Year – Volume 3

Night Shade Books – April 3, 2018

ISBN-10: 1597809365

ISBN-13: 978-1597809368

The third volume in a new year’s best series. This book will feature science fiction short stories/novelettes/novellas originally published in 2017.

Available at:

Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.es, Amazon.jp
Apple
Barnes & Noble
ebooks.com
Google Play
Indiebound
Kobo
Powells

Table of Contents

“A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld, January 2017)
“Holdfast” by Alastair Reynolds (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
“Every Hour of Light and Dark” by Nancy Kress (Omni, Winter 2017)
“The Last Novelist, or a Dead Lizard in the Yard” by Matthew Kressel (Tor.com, March 2017)
“Shikasta” by Vandana Singh (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich)
“Wind Will Rove” by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2017)
“Focus” by Gord Sellar (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May/June 2017)
“The Martian Obelisk” by Linda Nagata (Tor.com, July 2017)
“Shadows of Eternity” by Gregory Benford (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
“The Worldless” by Indrapramit Das (Lightspeed, March 2017)
“Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached to the Hull of My Ship” by Rachael K. Jones and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Diabolical Plots, June 2017)
“Belly Up” by Maggie Clark (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2017)
“Uncanny Valley” by Greg Egan (Tor.com, August 2017)
“We Who Live in the Heart ” by Kelly Robson (Clarkesworld, May 2017)
“A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World” by A.C. Wise (Sunvault, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Bronte Christopher Wieland)
“Meridian” by Karin Lowachee (Where the Stars Rise, edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak)
“The Tale of the Alcubierre Horse” by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
“Extracurricular Activities” by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com, February 2017)
“In Everlasting Wisdom” by Aliette de Bodard (Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“The Last Boat-Builder in Ballyvoloon” by Finbarr O’Reilly (Clarkesworld, October 2017)
“The Speed of Belief” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s Science Fiction, January/February 2017)
“Death on Mars” by Madeline Ashby (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich)
“An Evening with Severyn Grimes” by Rich Larson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2017)
“ZeroS” by Peter Watts (Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)
“Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” by Tobias S. Buckell (Cosmic Powers, edited by John Joseph Adams)

Cover art by Chris McGrath.

The Final Frontier – Cover and ToC reveal

THE FINAL FRONTIER

Night Shade Books – July 3, 2018

ISBN-10: 159780939X

ISBN-13: 978-1597809399

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them.

Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. With galaxy-spanning adventures of discovery and adventure, from generations ships to warp drives, exploring new worlds to first contacts, science fiction writers have given readers increasingly new and alien ways to look out into our broad and sprawling universe.

The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

Order trade paperback from:

Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.cn, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.jp
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository (UK)
Booksamillion
ebooks.com
Google Play
Indiebound
Powells

Available from:

Amazon.com, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.ca, Amazon.cn, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.jp
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Indigo
Kobo

Table of Contents

“A Jar of Goodwill” by Tobias S. Buckell (Clarkesworld, May 2010)
“Mono no aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington)
“Rescue Mission” by Jack Skillingstead (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 3, edited by George Mann)
“Shiva in Shadow ” by Nancy Kress (Between Worlds, edited by Robert Silverberg)
“Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick (Analog, December 2002)
“Three Bodies at Mitanni” by Seth Dickinson (Analog, June 2015)
“The Deeps of the Sky” by Elizabeth Bear (Edge of Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“Diving into the Wreck” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s, December 2005)
“The Voyage Out” by Gwyneth Jones (Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, edited by Lynne Jamneck)
“The Symphony of Ice and Dust” by Julie Novakova (Clarkesworld, October 2013)
“Twenty Lights to “The Land of Snow”” by Michael Bishop (Going Interstellar, edited by Les Johnson and Jack McDevitt)
“The Firewall and the Door” by Sean McMullen (Analog, March 2013)
“Permanent Fatal Errors” by Jay Lake (Is Anybody Out There? edited by Nick Gevers and Marty Halpern )
“Gypsy” by Carter Scholz (PM Press, November 2015)
“Sailing the Antarsa” by Vandana Singh (The Other Half of the Sky, edited by Athena Andreadis)
“The Mind is Its Own Place” by Carrie Vaughn, LLC (Asimov’s, September 2016)
“The Wreck of the Godspeed” by James Patrick Kelly (Between Worlds, edited by Robert Silverberg)
“Seeing” by Genevieve Valentine (Clarkesworld, November 2010)
“Travelling into Nothing” by An Owomoyela (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“Glory” by Greg Egan (New Space Opera, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois)
“The Island” by Peter Watts (New Space Opera 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois)

Cover art by Fred Gambino.

Not One of Us – Call for submissions

I’m currently working on NOT ONE OF US, a reprint anthology focusing on the theme of aliens on Earth. I would like to see stories about alien invaders, refugees, colonists, observers, and more.

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Formats: Ebook, Print, and Audio

Publication Date: November 6, 2018

Payment: 1 cent/word against a pro-rata share of royalties

Submissions Window: Submissions will be open today through February 5th, 2018.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Science fiction reprints (no original stories) published within the last 20 years
3000-22000 words in length
English language (translations are welcome)
Stories must take place on Earth and include aliens

HOW SHOULD YOU LET ME KNOW ABOUT A STORY?

If you are an editor or fan and would like to recommend a story for consideration, please leave a comment on this post or send email to neil@clarkesworldmagazine.com.

If you’re an author and have a story you would like considered for this anthology, please submit a copy in .doc or .rtf format at: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/anthology/

Multiple submissions permitted.

Clarkesworld in 2017 – Hugo Award Eligibility

It’s January, which for some people means it is time to start figuring out what stories to nominate during this year’s awards cycle. Each year, I assemble a list to help our readers figure out what Hugo Award categories best apply to the people or works associated with Clarkesworld.

Eligible for Best Short Story (alphabetical by author)

“Conglomerate” by Robert Brice (April)
“Antarctic Birds” by A. Brym (September)
“Dead Heroes” by Mike Buckley (November)
“Crown of Thorns” by Octavia Cade (March)
“The Stone Weta” by Octavia Cade (August)
“Darkness, Our Mother” by Eleanna Castroianni (December)
“Left of Bang: Preemptive Self-Actualization for Autonomous Systems” by Vajra Chandrasekera (April)
“Milla” by Lorenzo Crescentini and Emanuela Valentini (January)
“Möbius Continuum” by Gu Shi (September)
“Reversion” by Nin Harris (August)
“Prosthetic Daughter” by Nin Harris (February)
“Landmark” by Cassandra Khaw (December)
“Waiting Out the End of the World in Patty’s Place Cafe” by Naomi Kritzer (March)
“Travelers” by Rich Larson (July)
“The Ways Out” by Sam J. Miller (June)
“In the Blind” by Sunny Moraine (August)
“The Last Boat-Builder in Ballyvoloon” by Finbarr O’Reilly (October)
“Real Ghosts” by J.B. Park (March)
“Justice Systems in Quantum Parallel Probabilities” by Lettie Prell (January)
“Crossing LaSalle” by Lettie Prell (December)
“Two Ways of Living” by Robert Reed (March)
“The Significance of Significance” by Robert Reed (July)
“Little /^^^\&-” by Eric Schwitzgebel (September)
“Assassins” by Jack Skillingstead and Burt Courtier (February)
“Twisted Knots” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires (August)
“Prasetyo Plastics” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires (November)
“Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus” by Bogi Takács (April)
“The Person Who Saw Cetus” by Tang Fei (May)
“The Nightingales in Plátres” by Natalia Theodoridou (October)
“The Rains on Mars” by Natalia Theodoridou (December)
“Baroness” by E. Catherine Tobler (May)
“The Catalog of Virgins” by Nicoletta Vallorani (November)
“Retrieval” by Suzanne Walker (November)
“The Psychology Game” by Xia Jia (October)
“An Age of Ice” by Zhang Ran (July)

Eligible for Best Novelette (alphabetical by author)

“An Account of the Sky Whales” by A Que (June)
“Neptune’s Trident” by Nina Allan (June)
“The Bridgegroom” by Bo Balder (July)
“Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics” by Jess Barber and Sara Saab (September)
“Who Won the Battle of Arsia Mons?” by Sue Burke (November)
“A Man Out of Fashion” by Chen Qiufan (August)
“Rain Ship” by Chi Hui (February)
“Fool’s Cap” by Andy Dudak (June)
“The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales” by Fei Dao (April)
“How Bees Fly” by Simone Heller (February)
“Interchange” by Gary Kloster (January)
“Last Chance” by Nicole Kornher-Stace (July)
“The Ghost Ship Anastasia” by Rich Larson (January)
“The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer (September)
“My Dear, Like the Sky and Stars and Sun” by Julia K. Patt (June)
“Falling in Love with Martians and Machines” by Josh Pearce (December)
“A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (January)
“We Who Live in the Heart” by Kelly Robson (May)
“The Sum of Her Expectations” by Jack Skillingstead (October)
“Into Prom” by Genevieve Valentine (October)
“Streams and Mountains” by Nick Wolven (May)
“Goodnight, Melancholy” by Xia Jia (March)

Eligible for Best Novella

“Sunwake, in the Lands of Teeth” by Juliette Wade (April)

Eligible for Best Professional Artist

Gabriel Bjork Stiernstrom (Issue 124)
Benedick Bana (Issue 125)
Sergei Sarichev (Issue 126)
Eddie Mendoza (Issue 127, Issue 130)
Julie Dillon (Issue 128)
Matt Dixon (Issue 129)
Pascal Blanche (Issue 131)
Vladimir Manyukhin (Issue 132)
Marianna Stelmach (Issue 133)
Jonas De Ro (Issue 134)
Peter Mohrbacher (Issue 135)

Above Authors Eligible for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer

A. Brym
Eleanna Castroianni
Burt Courtier
Simone Heller
Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Finbarr O’Reilly
D.A. Xiaolin Spires
Suzanne Walker

I’m eligible for Best Editor (short form) for editing the following in 2017:

Clarkesworld Magazine
Forever Magazine
The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 2
Galactic Empires
More Human than Human
Touchable Unreality

Clarkesworld Citizens

Patreon has decided NOT to implement the awful fee structure they proposed! (If you don’t know about this, don’t worry. It’s not happening anyway.) In the last few days, we lost about six months worth of gains at Patreon. It’s been brutal, but totally understandable. I was vehemently opposed to the changes and made sure to let them know about it.

I’ve worked with Patreon for four years and have come to trust people in the company. This last week was a total aberration and I’m planning on sticking with them. I’m less trusting now, but willing to give them a chance to earn it back. Some of our supporters might not feel the same way and I totally understand that. Several have asked that we provide an alternative, so for the last few days, I’ve been working on a new monthly subscription and pledge site:

https://clarkesworldcitizens.com

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that people who are already supporting us leave Patreon, Amazon, etc. There’s value in having a third party handle the support and all that. However, it pays to have options. It probably would have saved me a lot of headaches this week if I had this in place then. Regaining that lost income will be a challenge, one that is compounded by a $500/month increase in my health insurance premiums that starts next month. Augh.

Back to work!

The Great Wall

While I was in China last week, I managed to take a trip out to see the Jinshanling Section of the Great Wall. All I can say is wow. So glad I went. Here are some pictures, but they will never do it justice. Click on them for full view.

Out Today! More Human than Human

Out today! My latest anthology from Night Shade Books:

MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN

ISBN-10: 1597809144

ISBN-13: 978-1597809146

The idea of creating an artificial human is an old one. One of the earliest science-fictional novels, Frankenstein, concerned itself primarily with the hubris of creation, and one’s relationship to one’s creator. Later versions of this “artificial human” story (and indeed later adaptations of Frankenstein) changed the focus to more modernist questions… What is the nature of humanity? What does it mean to be human? These stories continued through the golden age of science fiction with Isaac Asimov’s I Robot story cycle, and then through post-modern iterations from new wave writers like Philip K. Dick. Today, this compelling science fiction trope persists in mass media narratives like Westworld and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, as well as twenty-first century science fiction novels like Charles Stross’s Saturn’s Children and Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl. The short stories in More Human than Human demonstrate the depth and breadth of artificial humanity in contemporary science fiction. Issues of passing . . . of what it is to be human . . . of autonomy and slavery and oppression, and yes, the hubris of creation; these ideas have fascinated us for at least two hundred years, and this selection of stories demonstrates why it is such an alluring and recurring conceit.

Order trade paperback from:

Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.cn, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.jp
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository (UK)
Booksamillion
ebooks.com
Google Play
Indiebound
Powells

Order ebook from:

Amazon.com, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.jp
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Indigo
Kobo

Table of Contents

“Dolly” by Elizabeth Bear
“A Good Home” by Karin Lowachee
“The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald
“And The Ends of The Earth For Thy Possession” by Robert B. Finegold
“Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points” by JY Yang
“The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees” by John Barnes
“Fixing Hanover” by Jeff VanderMeer
“Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)” by Rachel Swirsky
“Brisk Money” by Adam Christopher
“Act of Faith” by Fadzlishah Johanabas
“The Caretaker” by Ken Liu
“Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots” by Sandra McDonald
“We, Robots” by Sue Lange
“The Education of Junior Number 12” by Madeline Ashby
“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia
“The Man” by Paul McAuley
“The Robot’s Girl” by Brenda Cooper
“.identity” by E. Catherine Tobler
“American Cheetah” by Robert Reed
“Artifice” by Naomi Kritzer
“Small Medicine” by Genevieve Valentine
“Silently and Very Fast” by Catherynne M. Valente
“I, Robot” by Cory Doctorow
“Bit Rot” by Charles Stross
“Angels of Ashes” by Alastair Reynolds
“The Old Dispensation” by Lavie Tidhar
“Today I am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker

Cover Art by Donato Giancola.

November trip to China

In just under a week, I’ll be in China. So far, this is what I have on my schedule:

11/8 – Leave for Chengdu, China

11/9 – Arrive in Chengdu

11/10-12 – Fourth China (Chengdu) International SF Conference

      11/12

            10-11am, Panel: Exchange our worlds via words, Moderator: Regina Kanyu Wang,

                  Panelists: Neil Clarke, Chen Qiufan, Joanne Li, Meng Qingshu

            16:30-17:30pm, Master of the Future Award Ceremony (organized by Sci-Fi Space)

            ??-??, Sci-Fi Space Campus Event at Sichuan University

11/13 – Pandas

11/14 – Fly from Chengdu to Beijing

11/15 – Meeting with Storycom

11/17 – Storycom Press Conference & Party

11/18-19 – Chinese Nebula Weekend

      11/18 – Signing (with Xia Jia)

      11/19

            ??-??, Forum: Chinese science fiction going internationally

            ??-??, Chinese Nebula Award Ceremony

11/20 – Leave Beijing, Arrive Newark, NJ

I’m still working out what I’ll do on the 16th. I’m told I really need to see the Great Wall while I’m there, so maybe that will land there. I also have to set aside some time to buy a few things for my family.

Capclave 2017 Schedule

Ken Liu and I are Guests of Honor at this year’s Capclave. (October 6-8 in Gaithersburg, Maryland.)

Hope to see some of you there!

Here’s my schedule:

Friday 6:00 pm:  How Not To Get Published  (Ends at: 6:55 pm) Salon A

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Mike McPhail, Hildy Silverman, Ian Randal Strock, Michael A. Ventrella (M)

Editors will discuss all the things authors shouldn’t do if they want to be published. For instance, submission guidelines exist for a reason. And no matter how brilliant your story is, threatening the editor will reduce the probability that it will be published to zero.


Friday 7:00 pm:  The WSFA Small Press Award  (Ends at: 7:55 pm) Frederick

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Ken Liu, Margaret Ronald, Alex Shvartsman (M), Fran Wilde

Current finalists and past finalists and winners discuss what the awards means to them and the place of short fiction from small presses in the genre.


Friday 8:00 pm:  The Clarkesworld Magazine Chinese SF/F Translation Project  (Ends at: 8:55 pm) Salon A

Panelists: Scott H. Andrews (M), Neil Clarke, Ken Liu

Guest of Honor Neil Clarke and Ken Liu discuss Clarkesworld’s commitment to publishing Chinese science fiction and fantasy in translation, including how the stories are chosen, interaction with the authors, and general audience reception to the project.


Friday 10:00 pm:  Clarkesworld Book Club  (Ends at: 10:55 pm) Rockville/ Potomac

Panelists: Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Sam Lubell (M), Sean Wallace

Sam Lubell, the head of the WSFA Committee to Actually Discuss SF/F will moderate a discussion with audience participation, of the current issue of Clarkesworld as well as a discussion of which stories over the last decade have particularly stuck with people.


Saturday 12:00 pm:  Small Press Publishing in 2018  (Ends at: 12:55 pm) Rockville/ Potomac

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Shahid Mahmud, Joshua Palmatier, Lezli Robyn, Ian Randal Strock (M), Sean Wallace

Capclave is lucky to have a number of small press publishers as program participants. The folks from Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick, Prime Books, Zombies Need Brains, Wyrm Publishing, and Fantastic Books talk about their upcoming projects


Saturday 1:00 pm:  Neil Clarke Publisher/Editor Guest of Honor Interview  (Ends at: 1:55 pm) Rockville/ Potomac

GOH & Interviewer: Scott H. Andrews, Neil Clarke

GOH Neil Clarke is interviewed by Scott H. Andrews


Saturday 2:00 pm:  Crowdfunding Dos and Don’ts  (Ends at: 2:55 pm) Frederick

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Ron Garner, Joshua Palmatier (M), Alex Shvartsman, Lawrence Watt-Evans

So you have a fabulous idea or product and a shortage of funds – what do you do. Panelists will discuss successful and unsuccessful crowd funding campaigns, either their own or those of other people. Topics include how to set reward levels, how to budget how much money you need and the merits of various crowd funding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Pozible.


Saturday 4:00 pm:  Anthology Builder  (Ends at: 4:55 pm) Frederick

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Ron Garner, Joshua Palmatier (M), Lawrence M. Schoen, Darrell Schweitzer

So you want to edit and publish an anthology. How do the stories get picked?  How do you come up with a theme? What sells and what doesn’t?  How do authors produce readable fiction in the straitjacket of an original themed anthology? How do you properly curate your anthology?


Sunday 11:00 am:  Editing the Short Story  (Ends at: 11:55 am) Bethesda

Panelists: Kate Baker, Neil Clarke (M), Scott Roberts, Bud Sparhawk

Panelists talk about the work of editing short fiction, keeping things interesting and on-pace and making sure all the elements of a good story are in place when there are only so many words to work with.


Sunday 3:00 pm:  Endings – Bang or Whimper?  (Ends at: 3:55 pm) Rockville/ Potomac

Panelists: Neil Clarke, Joshua Palmatier, Irette Y. Patterson, Sarah Pinsker (M)

So many short stories start out well but end abruptly or just trail off, leaving the reader to wonder, what’s the point. Why does this happen and how can writers avoid this fate? How do you determine your endings? Is a twist ending a cheat?

August Submissions – World Wordle

Been having too much fun with Wordle lately, so why stop. Here’s a look at the August submissions for Clarkesworld after you take out the US, UK, Canada, and Australia (because with them you can’t see anyone else).

 

Top ten countries by submissions



811
United States
68.1%


105
United Kingdom
8.8%


64
Canada
5.4%


38
Australia
3.2%


16
India
1.3%


10
Japan
0.8%


9
South Africa
0.8%


7
Finland
0.6%


7
New Zealand
0.6%


7
Germany
0.6%