Neil Clarke's Blog, page 31

The Future is Forever

I’ve gone and launched another magazine. Forever Magazine is an all reprint market that features a novella and two short stories in each issue. Unlike Clarkesworld, Forever is positioned squarely as a science fiction magazine and is not available for free. Like Clarkesworld, it will be available for subscription (Amazon, Weightless, and Direct) and as standalone issues from Amazon, Apple, B&N, and Kobo.

Why? Well, I explain some of that in the editorial, but what it comes down to is I see it as an opportunity to publish more novellas and to stretch my wings as an editor. I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while, but it didn’t become practical until I was given the ability to add it to Amazon’s subscription program.

How it grows and what direction it goes depends on your response. The first goal is to cover the expenses. After that, we’ll see. I’m not ruling out adding original stories or novellas to the mix, but that has a cost that the magazine must first grow to cover.

So you can get a taste, I’m making the first issue available for free (epub, mobi/Kindle). You can always purchase it online if you like, or even get the first issue as part of the free thirty-day trial of your Amazon subscription.

The first issue features:

The Regular by Ken Liu (novella)
The Fate of Mice by Susan Palwick (short story)
Firebrand by Peter Watts (short story)

and Ron Guyatt is our featured artist for at least the next six issues.

Boskone 2015 Schedule

I’ll be attending Boskone this weekend. Here’s my schedule.

Kaffeeklatsch: Kate Baker and Neil Clarke

Friday 18:00 – 18:50 – Galleria-Kaffeeklatsch 2

Kate Baker, Neil Clarke

How to Get Your Story Rejected

Friday, 8:00 PM – Marina 2

Every writer has received the dreaded rejection letter. Pros from both sides of the publishing fence share their anecdotes and tales of woe when it comes to tragic turndowns. Through the laughter and tears, you may even pick up a few tips and tricks to increase your odds with an editor!

Steven Sawicki (M), Neil Clarke, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Walter Jon Williams

Translation in SF and Fantasy

Saturday 10:00 – 10:50, Marina 4

Translated books can expand our imaginations with ideas from different perspectives and cultures. We’ll discuss why it’s important to share books via translation as well as the challenges specific to translating science fiction, fantasy, and some of our other favorite genres. Panelists also share some of their favorite “must read” translations.

Neil Clarke (M), John Chu, Fred Lerner, Ken Liu

Small Press Marketing Roundtable

Saturday 21:00 – 21:50, Burroughs

Publishers, editors, and marketing specialists from some of today’s hottest small presses share stories, tips, and advice on marketing small press works in an ever-changing landscape.

Bill Campbell, Neil Clarke, Steve Davidson, Ian Randal Strock

Editors — After the Draft

Sunday 12:00 – 12:50, Marina 4

An editor can make a good manuscript great. No matter how perfect you think your manuscript is, there is always room for improvement, tightening, trimming … and editing. Once your manuscript is done, submitted, and accepted, what happens next? What can you expect? What do you do if you don’t agree with changes? How many people are involved in the work? Professional editors share tips and techniques for those struggling with the editing process.

Tom Easton (M), Neil Clarke, Jordan Hamessley, Beth Meacham

I’m also going to be at the Boskone Multi-Author Book Party
 on Saturday (6:30 PM, Galleria-Stage) where I will be talking about/celebrating/promoting a soon to be announced project that will be available by this weekend.

Clarkesworld – February 2015

The February 2015 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is now available. You can get the issue:

Online at www.clarkesworldmagazine.com
Via podcast subscription (free)

or help us pay the bills by purchasing Clarkesworld with a subscription at:

Amazon.com
Apple Newsstand (iPad/iPhone)
Google Play (Android Phones and Tablets)
Patreon (epub/mobi/Kindle)
Weightless Books (epub/mobi/Kindle)

FEBRUARY 2015 – ISSUE #101





FICTION

“The Last Surviving Gondola Widow” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

“Indelible” by Gwendolyn Clare

“The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill” by Kelly Robson

“Meshed” by Rich Larson

“The Osteomancer’s Son” by Greg van Eekhout

“It Takes Two” by Nicola Griffith



NONFICTION

What in the World Do They Want, Anyway? The Myth of the Friendly Alien by Mark Cole

A Little Paranoia: A Conversation with Liza Groen Trombi by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

The Spurred Storyteller: A Conversation With Tang Fei by Ken Liu

Another Word: YA is the New Black by Dawn Metcalf

Editor’s Desk: The Next Hundred by Neil Clarke



PODCAST

This month’s stories will be released in audio form over the course of the month. Read by Kate Baker.



COVER ART

Lady and the Ship by Atilgan Asikuzun

If you enjoy what we do, please consider supporting us by spreading the word about our subscription options or Patreon account on Facebook, Twitter or your blog. Your subscriptions make everything we do possible.

Thanks!

2014 Locus Recommended Reading List

The 2014 Locus Recommended Reading List is out. Here are their selections for Clarkesworld and Wyrm Publishing:

Clarkesworld Magazine

Novelette

The Magician and Laplace’s Demon by Tom Crosshill
Wine by Yoon Ha Lee

Short Story

The Saint of the Sidewalks by Kat Howard
The Contemporary Foxwife by Yoon Ha Lee
The Long Haul From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 by Ken Liu
And Wash Out by Tides of War by An Owomoyela
Pernicious Romance by Robert Reed
Passage of Earth by Michael Swanwick

Wyrm Publishing

Anthology (original)

Upgraded , Neil Clarke, ed. (Wyrm)

Novella

The Regular by Ken Liu (Upgraded)
Dream Houses by Genevieve Valentine (WSFA/Wyrm)

Novelette

“Seventh Sight” by Greg Egan (Upgraded)
“Collateral” by Peter Watts (Upgraded)

Congratulations to everyone on the list!

Clarkesworld Authors Eligible for the John W. Campbell Award

Here’s a quick list of Clarkesworld authors that are currently eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (Nominated as part of the Hugo Awards, but as they painfully remind us, it is not a Hugo Award–but should be.)

Second year of eligibility:

Vajra Chandrasekera
Benjanun Sriduangkaew
Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

First year of eligibility:

Natalia Theodoridou
Joseph Tomaras
JY Yang

2014 Clarkesworld Reader’s Poll & Survey

It’s that time of year again… Help us pick the best story and cover art from Clarkesworld’s 2014 run. Poll is open now through February 23rd. Results will be published in the March issue of Clarkesworld Magazine.

http://clarkesworld2014.questionpro.com

 

By the way, participating in this poll can put you in the running for one of ten copies of Clarkesworld: Year Seven. (5 print, 5 ebook). Contest is open to entrants all around the world.

2015 Hugo Awards

Just like last year, Clarkesworld Magazine is not eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. Please don’t toss away your vote by nominating us in that category. There are plenty of eligible semiprozines to choose from. Check out this list.

I’m still eligible in the Editor (short form) category.

Clarkesworld’s stories are eligible in the appropriate categories, as are the stories from Upgraded. (Links will take you to posts that inform you which category a story is eligible in.)

Thanks for considering us for your Hugo ballot. Honored, as always.

 

Clarkesworld Magazine’s 2014 Covers

Click on the covers for larger versions.

“Guten Morgan” by Waldemar Kazak

“Space Sirens” by Julie Dillon

“Hollow” by Matt Dixon

“Wake” by Peter Mohrbacher

“Suspected” by Albert Urmanov

“Mecha Collab” by Artur Fast and Kemane Ba

“Depot/Station” by Albert Urmanov

“Slumbering Nayad” by Julie Dillon

“Retro” by Ian McQue

“The Haunting” by Sandeep Karunakaran

“Homecoming” by Kuldar Leement

“The Magpie God” by Lake Hurwitz

Award Eligibility for Upgraded Stories

Award nomination season starts up soon, so just in case you need them, here are the appropriate categories for all of the stories published in UPGRADED.

Novella

“The Regular” by Ken Liu

Novelette

“Always the Harvest” by Yoon Ha Lee
“Come From Away” by Madeline Ashby
“Collateral” by Peter Watts
“Seventh Sight” by Greg Egan

Short Story

“A Cold Heart” by Tobias S. Buckell
“The Sarcophagus” by Robert Reed
“Oil of Angles” by Chen Qiufan
“What I’ve Seen With Your Eyes” by Jason K. Chapman
“No Place to Dream, but a Place to Die” by Elizabeth Bear
“Married” by Helena Bell
“Negative Space” by Amanda Forrest
“Fusion” by Greg Mellor
“Taking the Ghost” by A.C. Wise
“Honeycomb Girls” by Erin Cashier
“Tender” by Rachel Swirsky
“Tongtong’s Summer” by Xia Jia
“Musée de l’Âme Seule” by E. Lily Yu
“Wizard, Cabalist, Ascendant” by Seth Dickinson
“Memories and Wire” by Mari Ness
“God Decay” by Rich Larson
“Small Machine” by Genevieve Valentine
“Mercury in Retrograde” by Erin Hoffman
“Coastlines of the Stars” by Alex Dally MacFarlane
“The Cumulative Effects of Light Over Time” by E. Catherine Tobler
“Synecdoche Oracles” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

Award Eligibility for Clarkesworld Stories

Award nomination season starts up soon, so just in case you need them, here are the appropriate categories for all of the stories we published in Clarkesworld Magazine in 2014:

Novelettes

Wine by Yoon Ha Lee
Stone Hunger by N. K. Jemisin
The Rose Witch by James Patrick Kelly
Spring Festival: Happiness, Anger, Love, Sorrow, Joy by Xia Jia
The Magician and Laplace’s Demon by Tom Crosshill

Short Stories

The Clockwork Soldier by Ken Liu
Grave of the Fireflies by Cheng Jingbo
Tortoiseshell Cats Are Not Refundable by Cat Rambo
The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul by Natalia Theodoridou
And Wash Out by Tides of War by An Owomoyela
Morrigan in the Sunglare by Seth Dickinson
Human Strandings and the Role of the Xenobiologist by Thoraiya Dyer
Suteta Mono de wa Nai by Juliette Wade
Passage of Earth by Michael Swanwick
Autodidact by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
Water in Springtime by Kali Wallace
The Cuckoo by Sean Williams
The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye by Matthew Kressel
A Gift in Time by Maggie Clark
Migratory Patterns of Underground Birds by E. Catherine Tobler
wHole by Robert Reed
Pepe by Tang Fei
Communion by Mary Ann Mohanraj
The Contemporary Foxwife by Yoon Ha Lee
Soul’s Bargain by Juliette Wade
Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion by Caroline M. Yoachim
Bonfires in Anacostia by Joseph Tomaras
The Saint of the Sidewalks by Kat Howard
Weather by Susan Palwick
Patterns of a Murmuration, In Billions of Data Points by JY Yang
Taxidermist in the Underworld by Maria Dahvana Headley
Lovecraft by Helena Bell
Seeking boarder for rm w/ attached… by Rahul Kanakia
Pithing Needle by E. Catherine Tobler
Cameron Rhyder’s Legs by Matthew Kressel
Pernicious Romance by Robert Reed
The Long Haul From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 by Ken Liu
Fatima’s Wound by Kali Wallace
Now Dress Me in My Finest Suit and Lay Me in My Casket by M. Bennardo
No Vera There by Dominica Phetteplace