Neil Clarke's Blog, page 7

Quick Health Update

If you’ve been trying to get in touch with me, you should probably know that I’ve been in the hospital much of the last week. In short, kidney stones, but the full story is much more complicated and ugly explanation that spans eight years of medical issues. The good news is that I’m in considerably less pain. I do, however, have another procedure scheduled for next week and the possibility of needing a third not long after that.

I’ll still be working, but expect my schedule to be erratic for a bit. In-progress updates about medical stuff will be on Twitter if you want to follow there.

Capclave 2020

Like most every other convention, Capclave will be a virtual convention. It’s one of my favorites, so hopefully this gives more people an opportunity to discover them. $10 gets you a membership to the virtual convention. If you purchase a full membership for next year’s convention, you get the virtual convention for free. Information here.

Saturday 10/17

12:00 PM – Ask Me Anything – Editor Edition

Scott H. Andrews (mod), Neil Clarke, Sarena Ulibarri, Troy Wiggins

9:00 PM – Dodo Fantastic: Writing for Themed Anthologies

Michael D. Pederson (mod), Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Hildy Silverman, Joshua Palmatier, Neil Clarke

Sunday 10/18

10:30 AM Kaffeeklatsch – Neil Clarke

3:00 PM – Intro to Short Fiction Markets

A. T. Greenblatt (mod), Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Neil Clarke, Sarena Ulibarri, Scot Noel

C’monfluence

I’ll be participating in the virtual C’monfluence Conference this weekend. (Schedule and attendance information)

Friday 10/02/2020

5:00 – 5:50 PODCAST PANEL (Track 1)  – Podcasters talk about how they  put together material, how they use podcasting to strengthen their brand and possibly some of their plans to use podcasting for their own nefarious ends.  (Scott Edelman, Alan Bailey, Gail Carriger, Neil Clarke, J. Thorn)

7:00 – 7:50 KLATSCH (Track 4) – Bring your beverage of choice and come hang out with Neil. This interactive, social chat is limited to 15 participants. Some spaces will be determined via a lottery system.

Saturday 10/03/2020

2:00 – 2:50 THE BUSINESS OF WRITING (Track 2) – What’s a con with all these writers if you don’t talk about what they do after the story is written. (Gay Haldeman, Neil Clarke, Gail Carriger, Tamora Pierce, Herb Kauderer)

4:00 – 4:50 THE EVOLVING SHORT STORY MARKET (Track 1) – “Over the Transom”” doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Best advice from editors about what it takes to make an impression in the market. (Jane Noel, Scot Noel, Neil Clarke, Catherine Lundoff)

Cover Reveal: The Best Science Fiction of the Year – Volume 5

Cover art by Pascal Blanche.

Table of contents and ordering information here.

2020 NASFIC (Virtual)

 

I’m participating in this year’s NASFIC (a con normally held when the Worldcon is outside the US) this weekend. It was supposed to be in Columbus, but like everything else this year, they’ve had to make some adjustments and become a virtual convention.

Here’s their program schedule. I’ll be on the following program items:

The Future of Anthologies (Saturday 11:00 AM)

Jason Sanford (M), Dominik Parisien, Lucy A. Snyder, and Neil Clarke

Our highly-regarded panel of editors discuss current trends in and future of anthologies.

 

COVID-FX: Traditional Publishing (Sunday 2:00 PM)

Dave Ring, Neil Clarke, and Pablo Defendini

Our panel of traditional publishers talk about the state of SF/F publishing since the pandemic. What’s changed, what’s not?

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: 2020 Submission Guidelines

 

The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 6 will be published in mid-2021 and select from science fiction stories (short stories, novelettes, and novellas) originally published in English in 2020.

Translations are allowed as long as their first English language appearance is in 2020. To keep things simple, I will be using the publisher’s copyright, magazine’s cover date, or posting date (primarily for online fiction) to determine eligibility. Serialized works will be considered published at the time of the final installment.

Deadlines

Print materials must be received by November 1st. Digital materials must be received by November 15th. If your project is scheduled for publication after that date, please send galleys by the above deadlines so that I will have sufficient time to consider your work.

Rights

I will require non-exclusive World anthology rights in English in print, ebook, and audio formats for stories I select for this volume.

Delivery

I will accept science fiction stories, novelettes, and novellas for consideration in the following formats:

Print – mail to:

Neil Clarke

PO Box 172

Stirling, NJ 07980 

EPUB, MOBI, and .DOC – email to:

bestsciencefiction@clarkesworldmagazine.com

I strongly dislike reading PDFs and they are more difficult to work with, so please do not send me work in this format unless you have no other options.

Publishers: If sending a magazine/anthology/collection that also contains other fantasy/horror/other stories, please list the titles of the science fiction stories in your cover letter or email.

Authors: I will not be able to let you know whether or not your work has been submitted by your publisher. To avoid duplication, please check with your publisher before sending a story. If your work is self-published, please include the date and location (blog, website, Amazon, etc.) your work was originally published.

Stories published in the following magazines and anthologies do not need to be submitted. I already have (or will receive) them. UPDATED 8/18/2020

Magazines: Analog, Apex, Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Diabolical Plots, Escape Pod, F&SF, Fiction River, Future SF, Future Tense Fiction/Us in Flux (Slate), Galaxy’s Edge, GigaNotoSaurus,  Interzone, Lightspeed, Mithila Review, Samovar, Shoreline of Infinity, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, Uncanny

Anthologies: Avatars, The Dystopia Triptych (Ignorance is Strength, Burn the Ashes, Or Else the Light), Made to Order, Way of the Laser

Sending a book/file/story is a one-way transaction. I will not be confirming receipt or returning materials.

Notes on publication dates:

Magazines: It is traditional for magazine cover date to be used to determine year of publication, however, if a story from a January issue is published on the website of that publication in December of the prior year, that will be considered the first publication date. This is considered an intentional publication by the publisher in the earlier year.
Anthologies: If the ebook or an e-Arc of an anthology is made available for purchase (and delivery, preorders don’t count) in the year prior to the official copyright year, the earlier year will be ignored when determining eligibility.  If the print edition happens to ship a few days earlier than the official publication date, causing it to drift into the prior year, the copyright date will be used. Unlike the digital publication dates, this is something that tends to be outside the publisher’s control. This is why they are treated differently.

Short Story Cover Letters

 

Let me preface this post by saying:

These are my preferences for cover letters when submitting a story to Clarkesworld Magazine or one of my anthologies. This is not a standard, though other editors may feel the same way.
Most cover letters are awful, so I read them last. I don’t want them influencing my opinion of a story before I’ve even read it.
This post will be updated as necessary. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

How to address a cover letter

You can skip Dear Neil, Dear Mr. Clarke, Dear Editor, Dear Editor and first readers, etc. It doesn’t have any impact. This is also a place you can make an unnecessary mistake. For example, “Dear Sheila” tells me you either meant to send this to Asimov’s or they’ve already rejected it. Every editor I know has had this sort of thing happen to them. Some hate it. Some find it amusing. I couldn’t care less, so just skip the niceties and dive right into the substance.

What should be in a cover letter?

There’s a few things that might have me view your story in a different light.

if there’s a particular aspect to this story that pulls from your professional experience (for example, physicist, historian, astronaut, musician, etc.) or personal experience (cultural, regional, temporal, etc.)

You don’t have “write what you know” but if you happen to know, it’s good that I know you do.

if you are a non-native English speaker

I have immense difficulty learning other languages, so I’m not going to hold a non-native speaker to the same standards for spelling and grammar. Your approach to storytelling might even be a bit non-standard to an native English speaker. This is important to know for the evaluation and (if accepted) editing phases.

if you are under 18 years old

I’m impressed. I never would have done something like this at your age. Like the non-native speakers, I’m going to cut you a little more slack on the grammar and spelling. (Not that I’m particularly hung up on that being perfect to start with.) It does, however, have an impact should we choose to accept your work: your parents or legal guardian will be required to co-sign the contract.

Since I read the cover letter last, think of the above as having the potential to make me go back and read a bit further. This even applies in instances where I haven’t been the first reader. (Editors and first readers often stop reading a story when they no longer think it will work for a publication.)

if you are previously unpublished

I’m not buying names. I’m buying stories. That said, every editor I know loves to be the first person to publish an author’s work. It’s something that should be celebrated and I often don’t find out until after the story has been published. Telling me up-front helps avoid that.

if you are submitting a translation

You should be tell me where the story was originally published (if it was), what the original language is, your relationship to the story (author or translator), and whether or not you have the approval of whoever holds the rights on the original (sometimes this isn’t the author or their estate).

if you are submitting a reprint

We don’t accept reprints at Clarkesworld, but this does to any of the reprint anthologies I edit. I need to know where and when the story was originally published and if there are any restrictions (usually time, region, or language-based) in place.

if you aren’t the author

Yes, there are legitimate reasons this could happen. The most common is that the person submitting the work is the author’s agent or otherwise represents their estate. It also common with translations. We will verify this before issuing a contract.

If none of the above applies to you, then a simple “Thank you for considering my story” is more than enough.

What shouldn’t be in a cover letter?

Our submission system already asks for title, genre, word count, and email address. Repeating them here is pointless
Mailing address (should be on the first page of the story) or phone number
A laundry list of everyone that has ever published you. Never include more than three, but honestly, you should just skip this information entirely
Bank or PayPal information
A summary of your story

 

Ultimately, I prefer your cover letter to be very short. If your cover letter is long (for reasons other than those positives I’ve mentioned), you’ve likely done something wrong.

Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 5, Table of Contents

 

Volume 5 (covering 2019) of my Best Science Fiction of the Year series will be published later this year by Night Shade Books. The cover (art and names) you might see on some sites is just a placeholder. I’ll unveil the final one when I have a finished copy. Preorders for the hardcover (isbn: 978-1949102239) and trade paperback (isbn: 978-1949102222) are now available from most booksellers. I’m not sure why, but the ebook edition still isn’t listed. I’ll post updates as I get further information.

Table of Contents

“The Painter of Trees” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld Magazine, June 2019)
“Emergency Skin” by N.K. Jemisin (Amazon Original Stories, September 17, 2019)
“In the Stillness Between the Stars” by Mercurio D. Rivera (Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2019)
“Sympathizer” by Karin Lowachee (Do Not Go Quietly, edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Connor)
“Knit Three, Save Four” by Marie Vibbert (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2019)
“Moonlight” by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Broken Stars, edited by Ken Liu)
“By The Warmth of Their Calculus” by Tobias S. Buckell (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“Deriving Life” by Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com, January 31, 2019)
“The Little Shepherdess” by Gwyneth Jones (Current Futures, edited by Ann VanderMeer)
“Such Thoughts Are Unproductive” by Rebecca Campbell (Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2019)
“The River of Blood and Wine” by Kali Wallace (Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December 2019)
“One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit” by Dominica Phetteplace (Lightspeed Magazine, August 2019)
“Permafrost” by Alastair Reynolds (Tor.com Publishing)
“The Work of Wolves” by Tegan Moore (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2019)
“Song Xiuyun” by A Que, translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2019)
“Mother Ocean” by Vandana Singh (Current Futures, edited by Ann VanderMeer)
“Cratered” by Karen Osborne (Future Science Fiction Digest, June 2019)
“The Justified” by Ann Leckie (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
“Old Media” by Annalee Newitz (Tor.com, February 20, 2019)
“At the Fall” by Alec Nevala-Lee (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May/June 2019)
“The Ocean Between the Leaves” by Ray Nayler (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2019)
“Rescue Party” by Aliette de Bodard (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“Close Enough for Jazz” by John Chu (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
“On the Shores of Ligeia” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Lightspeed Magazine, March 2019)
“The Empty Gun” by Yoon Ha Lee (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
“Kali_Na” by Indrapramit Das (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
“Painless” by Rich Larson (Tor.com, April 10, 2019)
“Give the Family My Love” by A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld Magazine, February 2019)

International Submissions: A longer view

 

Following on the earlier post about international submissions, our submission data goes back to 2008, so I took another look at the data by year:



A closer look at the change in non-USA submissions:



And to give you some sense of the variety of countries participating: (Keep in mind that 2008 and 2020 are both partial years in terms of available data.)

A Windows into Clarkesworld Submissions by Genre

 

If you go back to 2015 or 2016, the distance between Science and Fantasy is smaller. SF represented around 39% back then and Fantasy was closer to 27%. Dropping Horror as an option contributed to some of this, but SF has slowly gained ground, even without that. I decided to see if the increasing international submissions might be impacting it, but it doesn’t appear to be the case.