I just wanted to post a quick note to let the writers who read this blog know that over at F&SF we’ve added a new editorial type to the team: Lisa Rogers. She’s just started working with us, but she has several years of editing experience. She went through some slush on Wednesday, so some of you will be seeing rejections from her. I really just wanted to point this out to let everyone know that she has not replaced me—we’ll just be working along side one another.
What does it take to get out of the slush pile and into the table of contents? To find out, I interviewed the editors of three of the top markets in short science fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Susan Marie Groppi, editor of Strange Horizons.
Gordon Van Gelder is the editor and publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He took over as editor of the magazine in January 1997, then took on the role of publisher as well in October 2000. As a teenager, Van Gelder published a number of short stories in anthologies such as 100 Great Fantasy Short-Short Stories and Bruce Coville’s Book Of Spine Tinglers, but put his writing career on hold to pursue his editing career, which started with a summer internship with Bluejay Books. Later, he worked for twelve years as an editor at St. Martin’s Press, and went on to edit several anthologies, including In Lands That Never Were and Fourth Planet From the Sun.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction. She’s been with the magazine since the summer of 1982, starting as an editorial assistant and taking over as editor in April 2004. She received her Master’s degree in philosophy from Washington University, and moved to New York in 1981 to pursue a career in publishing. In addition to her experience at Asimov’s, she is also the editor of more than two dozen anthologies, such as A Woman’s Liberation and Intergalactic Mercenaries. She doesn’t write fiction, and has no plans to do so in the future, but her editorial experience allows her keen insight into what works and what doesn’t.
Susan Marie Groppi is the editor-in-chief of Strange Horizons. Groppi joined the staff as a fiction editor shortly after the magazine’s launch in September 2000, and took over as editor-in-chief in 2003. In addition to her editorial work, she has a Ph.D. in History and is a lecturer at UC Berkeley. She doesn’t write much fiction–she calls her one fiction publication in the magazine Flytrap an "aberration"–but she does often write critical non-fiction. Prior to joining Strange Horizons, Groppi worked as an editorial assistant at Circlet Press. She is the co-editor of the anthology 20 Epics (with David Moles), and is currently one of the resident editors for the Online Writing Workshop (sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com).
Oh, Seeds of Change was also profiled today on SCI FI Wire, the news service of the SCI FI Channel.
The Living Dead was recently mentioned on NeedCoffee.com, which called it “A-grade zombie goodness.”
The Living Dead is also currently one of the featured books in the Barnes & Noble Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club.
SF Revu has a nice review of Seeds of Change: “These are not your usual short stories — each one is a true gem. If you haven’t already found this book on the shelves, go look for it now. It will supply hours of absorbing reading and lots of food for thought.”
Also, the Minimal to the Max blog says: “Seeds of Change exceeded my expectations. I found it to be quite an engaging read, and … I think the majority of it will appeal to readers everywhere.”
I’ve just added the following two free stories to the Free Stories & Excerpts page of The Living Dead’s website:
The Dead Kid by Darrell Schweitzer
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
Beautiful Stuff by Susan Palwick
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
There’s now six free stories here on the website in their entirety, plus all the excerpts. Be sure to keep checking back to see more!
I’ve got a new post up on Tor.com, about Nathan E. Lilly’s Convention Finder website, which has now been revised and expanded since its launch last year.
All writers at some point in their careers make some kind of submission faux-pas. It’s embarrassing and you’ll feel pretty dumb when it happens, but rest assured that there’s almost certainly another writer out there who has done the same thing, or has done something even more obtuse.
Following standard manuscript format will take care of most of the problems you’re likely to run into. But in my seven years experience as an editor at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, I’ve come across a number of recurring mistakes that tend to get glossed over in guidelines, but are annoying nonetheless. Here are my top 25.
Along with contributor David Barr Kirtley (“The Skull-Faced Boy), I will be appearing on the radio show Hour of the Wolf on Saturday (Oct. 4).
The name of the show refers to the early time slot: 5 AM, so be sure to set your alarm clocks. Or, if you’d rather not wake up at an ungodly hour, you can stream the show from the radio station’s website.
The show airs on WBAI, 99.5 FM, in New York City.