dr_phil_physics | Entries tagged with magazines

One Of The Older Titles Undergoes "Change"

Weird Tales is a venerable title, but it's seen a lot of changes even since I've been writing to markets. And somehow I've managed, with only two subs, to hit the transition points. (grin)

In more recent news, last month there was an announcement on the sudden sale and editorial change at Weird Tales. Ann VanderMeer, editor since early 2007 is finishing up an issue, but the new owner/editor Marvin Kaye will have an all new staff and new direction. Seems scary after VanderMeer's several Hugo nominations and one Hugo win. But that's free enterprise for ya.

Of course this news came just two weeks after I got around to making my second sub ever to Weird Tales and first-time to VanderMeer. I suppose this just goes to show that you need to keep after your Invenstory and markets -- or it doesn't actually mean anything. (grin)

So today there was an update on Facebook that Ralan's had a link to a notice freeing all the stories in Weird Tales's submission queue.

To all writers who have submitted work to us and not yet heard back. We thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your manuscript. Alas, this venerable magazine has recently been acquired by a new publisher. And therefore there will be a new Editor-in-Chief: Marvin Kaye. If you have a submission in the electronic submission portal at Weird Tales, your submission should be considered returned to you whether or not you have heard back. All stories sent via snail mail will be returned. Please check back to the website for updated information. (NOTE: currently closed to all submissions until further notice).

Win, Lose Or...

When I first started submitting stories to markets, I thought I'd track responses as wins and losses. But reality is more complicated than that. There are qualified "wins", such as WOTF Honorable Mentions or receiving an encouraging letter or nice critique which don't result in a sale or a publication. And then there's the category of NO CALLS. The very first story I sent out generated this, when the space station story contest I'd submitted to was canceled due to insufficient submissions.

Editorial changes and returning all subs? Outside of my writing skills -- no matter how good that story might be. (grin) This is my ninth NO CALL. Most of them are for markets closing or disappearing, but one was for a whole bin of WOTF submissions that got lost in the USPS system and another was from withdrawing a contest entry after I'd made a pro sale and no longer qualified. That last shows you that even a NO CALL can be a positive sign of progress.

Who knows what the new guidelines for Weird Tales will look like, or whether I'll have any stories suitable for them. We'll see.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: enduring

Maybe I'll Hate Myself In The Morning

But last year, after I noted the first passing of Realms of Fantasy, my next post was about RoF's website was woefully out of date, including the cheery note that they are still going strong.

Alas, while the current RoF website has the news right, along with nice farewells from editors Shawna McCarthy and Doug Cohen, as well as publisher Warren Lapine, there's the little issue regarding the Final Issue. Or non-issue. As I posted on the Final Issue PDF Available Via Bittorrent and Direct Download page:

Dr. Phil October 19, 2010 at 9:00 pm

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

FYI — Alas, neither the Click here to download the PDF from our servers OR the Download PDF button to the right work. The first is an incomplete URL — the second 404’s.

Dr. Phil

Tis a shame that bad HTML coding spoils the party and mars the ending... once again.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: disappointed

A New Non-Fiction SF/F E-Mag

With the death of IROSF in February, I lamented the loss of an interesting source of reviews and commentaries about SF/F/H. At least Lois Tilton was able to move her Reviews of Short Fiction quickly to LOCUSonline.

Now it seems in September that writer Cheryl Morgan has started up Salon Futura:

Hello, and welcome to the first issue of Salon Futura, a new and hopefully somewhat different magazine devoted to the discussion of science fiction, fantasy and other forms of speculative literature.

It's October, so there are two issues out now for you to peruse. The webzine is a mix of online print and audio podcast, and is also available in the EPUB format for e-readers and mobile devices. It is currently free to read, but they will take donations to keep going.

If Cheryl Morgan's name seems familiar in the non-fiction genre field, it may be because she's the non-fiction editor for Clarkesworld and ran the old Emerald City webzine, which a lot of people talked about.

I ran into Salon Futura from the most excellent current issue of Dave Langford's Ansible.

I've only looked at a few of the items, but I think this will be a welcome addition to those who wish to read commentary about our field. Check it out.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: accomplished

N + 2

It seems that there's a whole cottage industry in predicting the failure of publishing (of any kind) for SF. Certainly I've noted the loss of several SF/F markets, both print and online. So not only is it great fun to highlight when new venues begin their startup, it's excellent fun to point you to the brand new launch issues... of TWO, not one, new e-mags. These are for both readers and writers, folks, so check them out from one if not both directions. (grin)

Redstone Science Fiction

Michael (M.E.) Ray and Paul (P.C.) Clemmons have split the Editor and Publisher titles between them to create Redstone Science Fiction, which has a very tailored and crisp look to it. I like it.

Redstone Science Fiction publishes quality stories from across the science fiction spectrum. We are interested in everything from post-cyberpunk to new space opera. We want to live forever. Get us off this rock.

We have all been reading Science Fiction and Fantasy since we were children. It has been a key element in our lives.

From writing and submitting our own stories, we’ve learned that there are only a handful of online & print magazines that pay a professional rate for original science fiction stories.

We decided that there needed to be one more.

We know the magazine will probably not be profitable, but we have planned for that.

We will focus on producing a quality science fiction magazine and on exploring every opportunity to make Redstone Science Fiction a long-term success.

Redstone Science Fiction also reopened to submissions today, 1 June 2010, through Tuesday 15 June 2010.

Lightspeed

John Joseph Adams is known to, by correspondence if nothing else, a lot of SF writers I know. As the longtime slush editor for F&SF, JJA has also the last few years put together and edited a number of well-received anthologies on various topics. And now Lightspeed has its June 1st debut issue. Yet its new web home has a quality commercial feel to it as if they've always been around. A nice touch.

You can see one new story a week on the website, or you can buy the whole issue at once for US$2.99.

Our debut issue features four all-new, never-before-published stories: from newcomer Vylar Kaftan, we have an interstellar love story dealing with the perils of communication and time-dilation; from veteran, award-winning author Jack McDevitt, we have a tale about Earth’s moon and the mysteries it might still possess; from David Barr Kirtley, an adventure of a young catman who must face the last of the dogmen and something else entirely unexpected; and from bestselling author Carrie Vaughn, a cautionary tale of the near future that shows some of the extremes we might be pushed to if we don’t start implementing now the seeds for a sustainable future.

Lightspeed is currently closed to submissions -- will reopen on Thursday 15 July 2010.

To The Future!

So a hale and hearty Huzzah! to two new markets. I'll try to get around to reading their debut issues and putting up a review. Right now, though, my intent is just to let you know that they are out there. Enjoy!

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: excited

In Memory Of IROSF

It was just a month ago that I posted about the passing of IROSF, the Internet Review of Science Fiction. The last issue, February 2010, mentioned that Lois Tilton's short fiction reviews were going to show up at LOCUSonline. But I guess I thought they'd show up in March. Instead, I found today that her first column was dated Sunday 21 February 2010.

If you need to catch up, the second and third installments of her reviews are here.

I like Lois' reviews. They do a good job of capturing the essence of a story. And she is well read, allowing her comments to assess important aspects of all the worlds that the authors are trying to invent. I find I enjoy the reviews whether I've read the stories or not, and whether I agree with her conclusions or not. And often I will make the effort to track down intriguing stories that I might not have otherwise run into. To me, that's the mark of a good reviewer.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased

Well, We Knew It Was Coming... To An End

Last month I mentioned that The Internet Review of Science Fiction was going to end its run with the February 2010 issue. Alas, that day has come. But it's still worth checking out IROSF, since there is still a February 2010 issue.

Of course, any magazine worthy of the title "Review" should contain reviews -- and IROSF did. Both in terms of current short fiction and analytical and retrospective discussions of science fiction. I think what I was anticipating missing most was Lois Tilton's short fiction review column. But...

Despair not, gentle reader, we knew that a reviewer of Lois' caliber would not languish in obscurity. Henceforward, her reviews can be found at Locus Online. We all congratulate Lois for this transition, and look forward to her future efforts.

Locus magazine already has lots of reviews in its pages -- Lois Tilton's comments will provide them with another set of reviews in the online pages.

Then again there's the case of Kristine Kathryn Rusch, whose column is entitled "Here We Go Again" this month:

I'm going to write two essays like this in two months. This is the first; the second is for my column in Baen's Universe. Both magazines are going away, both for different reasons.

If I were the pessimistic sort, I'd think I'll never work again. Or that internet magazines are doomed. Or that magazines in general are doomed. Or that writing is doomed.

But as anyone who has read this column through its first incarnation in Æon and now here at IROSF knows, I'm a realist. I know magazines come and go, markets come and go, and that's normal.

How normal? Consider Ellen Datlow's comment posted to Kristine's column:

Hi Kris,

Actually Baen's Universe was not "one of the first online magazines to pay well and get excellent fiction;"-not by a long shot.

Maybe the 5th?

OMNI Online,
Event Horizon
SCIFICTION
Strange Horizons

Those were the first.
Cheers
Ellen

I'm sure we haven't heard the last of that argument. (grin)

A Last Hurrah -- And Three Cheers For The Folks At IROSF

So let us raise the metaphorical glass in praise of IROSF and all those who contributed. Though this venue will fall silent with new content, we can hope that the years of content for IROSF will continue to be a resource for some time to come. And those who wrote columns will surely, as others have noted, write again.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: melancholy

This Just In

My morning e-mail had the monthly announcement of a new online issue of IROSF, The Internet Review Of Science Fiction. But it was also the bearer of bad tidings. Blunt "Bluejack" Jackson's editorial says:

The decision has been made. The announcements have been sent.

IROSF will suspend publication after the February issue.

Alas, it is the old story -- money and time. The irony is that the last year or so they upgraded their website and found a new home for Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Signals" column in December 2008 after Æon Speculative Fiction folded. Despite having many worthy volunteers assisting, there comes a time when it is not enough. I'd be curious to know how big their e-subscriber list was and how many hits. No doubt Bluejack will get offers by others to continue it on in another form -- IROSF has survived other attempts to shut down. (grin) But one must soldier on and prepare for the current eventuality our here in the real world.

My own comments to the growing list of comments to the editorial:

I didn't quite get in on the beginning, but I've been an IROSF subscriber since July 2004. Learned about it from the extended contacts family I'd just joined after the 2004 Clarion workshop. IROSF has been an excellent resource every month, with insightful articles and reviews of the SF/F scene. I have a pair of IROSF hats from Cafe Press and have worn them at the cons I go to and have tried to otherwise spread the word.

It's been a good run and I will sorely miss IROSF come March 2010. Good luck to all and Thank You.

Dr. Phil

The Internet Review Of Science Fiction is/was all about reviews. Review articles on the past and reviews of many of the current and recent magazine offerings, both print and online. Even Dr. Phil has had his own short stories reviewed in IROSF. There is the new issue for January 2010 and one more for February 2010. It's not to late to jump over and visit IROSF and see what you've been missing -- and what we all will miss come March.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: disappointed

John Joseph Adams' New Magazine Guidelines

As I mentioned back in October, there's a new pro paying market coming out in June 2010, John Joseph Adams' Lightspeed. The Submission Guidelines are now online.

Lightspeed Guidelines

Guidelines for Original Fiction
Lightspeed is open for submissions beginning January 1, 2010. A link to the online submission system will be added to the site at that time.

Lightspeed is seeking original science fiction stories of 1000-7500 words. Stories of 5000 words or less are preferred. We pay 5¢/word for original fiction, on acceptance. To see which rights we're seeking, please view our contract template for original fiction.

All types of science fiction are welcome, from near-future, sociological soft sf, to far-future, star-spanning hard sf, and anything and everything in between. No subject should be considered off-limits, and we encourage writers to take chances with their fiction and push the envelope.

We believe that the science fiction genre's diversity is its greatest strength, and we wish that viewpoint to be reflected in our story content and our submission queues; we welcome submissions from writers of every race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation.

Guidelines for Reprints
Lightspeed will be publishing two reprints each month, but it is primarily a market for original fiction; a majority of our reprints will be directly solicited, but you may submit a reprint for consideration if you wish. For reprints, we are offering 1¢/word, on acceptance. To see which rights we're seeking, please view our contract template for reprinted fiction.

Rejections
Be aware that every month we expect to receive several hundred submissions. As such, we cannot offer personalized feedback on each story. If we say, "Send more," it does mean that we hope to see something else from you. Most rejections will be sent out in 48 hours or less, while stories being seriously considered may be held for up to two weeks.

Summary
Stories should be science fiction between 1000 and 7500 words long. Stories of 5000 words or less are preferred.

Payment for original fiction is 5¢/word, on acceptance. To see which rights we're seeking, please view our contract template for original fiction.

Payment for reprinted fiction is 1¢/word, on acceptance. To see which rights we're seeking, please view our contract template for reprinted fiction.

Response time: Most rejections will be sent out in 48 hours or less, while stories being seriously considered may be held for up to two weeks.

Submission Procedures
All fiction submissions must be submitted through our online submission system. A link to the online submission system will be added to the site by January 1, 2010.

Our submissions form asks for your name, email address, cover letter, story title, and story. Your cover letter should contain the length of your story, your publishing history, and any other relevant information (e.g, if you send us a hard sf story about black hole clusters and your doctoral dissertation was on black hole clusters, mention that). All stories should be in standard manuscript format and can be submitted in either .RTF or .DOC format. If you are unable to use our online submission system, please e-mail your story as an attachment to john@lightspeedmagazine.com. All questions about fiction and fiction related e-mails should go to john@lightspeedmagazine.com.

After you have submitted your story, a tracking number will be displayed and an automated email confirmation containing this information will be sent to you. If you have not received this email us. Your tracking number will allow you to monitor the status of your submission through our website, so please make note of it.

NOTE: Be sure to add john@lightspeedmagazine.com to your address book (or your email client's spam white list), and check your spam folder before querying if we have received your story.

Additional Notes
Lightspeed is not a market for fantasy fiction. Please submit fantasy stories to our sister publication, Fantasy Magazine.

Sexual themes and stories with strong sexual content are acceptable, but Lightspeed is not a market for erotica.

Lightspeed is not a market for media-based fiction (i.e., stories set in the Star Wars or Star Trek universes, etc.), or any kind of fan fiction.

Lightspeed is not a market for poetry.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions.

Do not query for fiction. If you're not sure if your story is suitable, please simply submit it and let our editors decide.

If editor John Joseph Adams has previously rejected your story, please do not submit it to Lightspeed, unless it was rejected as being unsuitable for the market (due to theme, etc.) or unless it has been significantly revised to the extent that it is no longer the same story. (emphasis mine)

Please do not respond to rejection letters, even just to say "Thanks for the quick turnaround" etc. We appreciate the thought, but it is unnecessary and will just clutter up our editorial inbox.

Why The Big Deal

Well, for one thing we're always lamenting the loss of markets, especially paying markets. To have a new SF market coming out, one paying SFWA pro rates, is news to SF writers. Especially in light of the recent "Rate Fail" discussion -- a new market paying 0.1¢ a word -- which I'll probably blog about soon. Second, JJA has until recently been the Assistant Editor at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reading Gordon Van Gelder's slush pile for all the years I've been submitting to markets. And JJA's been editing some pretty nifty anthologies recently. Not that he's been buying my work. (grin) -- See italic emphasis in Guidelines above. -- Yet. (big-grin)

So, if you're a SF writer, you might want to read the above and think about some submissions. And if you're an SF reader, well, we'll just have to wait til June 2010 to see if all this fuss is worth it.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: anxious

New SF Market

Was zipping by LocusOnline just now and saw that John Joseph Adams will be the fiction editor for a new SF online magazine called Lightspeed:

Press Release
Prime Books Announces Lightspeed, a New Science Fiction Magazine

ROCKVILLE, MD, OCT. 16 -- Prime Books, the award-winning independent press and publisher of Fantasy Magazine, announced today that in June 2010 it will launch a new online magazine called Lightspeed (www.lightspeedmagazine.com), which will publish four science fiction short stories every month, along with an assortment of non-fiction features. Lightspeed will be edited by John Joseph Adams, the bestselling editor of anthologies such as Wastelands and The Living Dead, and Andrea Kail, a writer, critic, and television producer who worked for thirteen years on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Adams will select and edit the fiction, while Kail will handle the non-fiction.

Lightspeed will focus exclusively on science fiction. It will feature all types of sf, from near-future, sociological soft sf, to far-future, star-spanning hard sf, and anything and everything in between. No subject will be considered off-limits, and writers will be encouraged to take chances with their fiction and push the envelope. New content will be posted twice a week, including one piece of fiction, and one piece of non-fiction. The fiction selections each month will consist of two original stories and two reprints, except for the debut issue, which will feature four original pieces of fiction. All of the non-fiction will be original.

Lightspeed will open to fiction submissions and non-fiction queries on January 1, 2010. Guidelines for fiction and non-fiction will be available on Lightspeed's website, www.lightspeedmagazine.com, by December 1, 2009.

About John Joseph Adams
John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com) is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as By Blood We Live, Federations, The Living Dead (a World Fantasy Award finalist), and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. He has been called "the reigning king of the anthology world" by Barnes & Noble's Unabashedly Bookish blog and his anthology The Living Dead was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. In addition to his editorial work, he is also currently a reviewer for Audible.com, a blogger for Tor.com, and the co-host of the podcast The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.

About Andrea Kail
Andrea Kail (www.andreakail.com) is a graduate of the Dramatic Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has spent the last two decades working from one end of New York's television spectrum to the other: HBO, MTV, A&E, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, as well as thirteen years at NBC's Emmy Award-winning Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Her fiction has appeared in Fantasy Magazine, and her novella, "The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom," was a first-place winner in the Writers of the Future contest and appeared in Writers of the Future Vol. XXIII. Since 2005, Andrea has also been writing lively film criticism for such venues as Paradox Magazine and CinemaSpy.

About Prime Books
Prime Books (www.prime-books.com), edited and published by Hugo Award-nominee and World Fantasy Award-winner Sean Wallace, is an award-winning independent publishing house specializing in a mix of anthologies, collections, novels, and magazines. Some of its established and new authors/editors include John Joseph Adams, KJ Bishop, Philip K. Dick, Theodora Goss, Rich Horton, Nick Mamatas, Sarah Monette, Holly Phillips, Tim Pratt, Ekaterina Sedia, Catherynne M. Valente, and Jeff VanderMeer.

Contacts
Sean Wallace, publisher, sean@lightspeedmagazine.com
John Joseph Adams, fiction editor, john@lightspeedmagazine.com
Andrea Kail, non-fiction editor, andrea@lightspeedmagazine.com

JJA has been editing anthologies besides being The Slush God at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. And I've always liked Lightspeed as a word. Will be interested in checking out their guidelines when they get them up.

For all the markets that close, so far there's always been someone willing to open up a new one. We shall see what we shall see.

Dr. Phil

UPDATE: I asked JJA if Lightspeed was going to be a pro-paying market.

Hi Phil,

Yes, it’ll be a pro-paying market.

John Joseph Adams wrote on October 18th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

Current Mood: hopeful

Oops?

Dear Andromeda Spaceways,

On 18 September 2009 I received not one, but two copies of ASIM #40. Now I received more than one copy of issues #38 and #39 because I had stories in those issues, so I received my subscription copies as well my contributor copies. But I do not have a story in issue #40.

If you are willing, I would take the extra copy of ASIM #40 and give it away to a good home via my LiveJournal blog -- http://dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com/ . Perhaps we can get someone else to subscribe -- I've certainly been pushing ASIM the last few months.

Thank you!

Dr. Phil

And Fixed

Hey Dr. Phil,
Thanks for that. All fixed up now. Very happy for you to pass on your extra copies and drum up any business you can for us.

kind regards,

David

A Free Copy of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

So I have this extra copy of ASIM -- Australia's premier Science Fiction magazine -- and I'd like to give this Issue #40 to a good home. As I've mentioned before, anyone can subscribe to Andromeda Spaceways, either in print or as PDFs. I'm very fond of ASIM -- and I was fond of them long before they published two of my stories. (grin)

The Giveaway Rules

So the same people don't win all the time, I'm going to annoy my closest friends and request that this giveaway is NOT open to my extended SF/F family. That'd be (1) my actual family, (2) 2004 Clarion attendees, (3) WOTF XXIV winners, and (4) fellow members of the nefarious UCF. Also, (5) people who already get ASIM -- after all, the goal is to get a copy to someone who hasn't had a chance to get this Australian SF magazine before.

First person who requests in the comments in this posting and isn't a member of (1) to (5) above -- it's yours. Don't put your snail mail address in the posting -- no point in making it easy for the Nigerian Ministry of Oil people -- I'll let you know how to get an address to me. (grin)

And Yes...

... I do have a pile of books I promised in an earlier giveaway -- I haven't forgotten you. Really! I have all the mailers and just have to go back and find the emails and print the address labels.

Someday I have to remember I don't have a shipping department who does this stuff for me.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: amused

Diabolical Plots Reviews WOTF Volume XXIV

Writers of the Future Volume XXV may have just come out, but that doesn't stop anyone from buying, reading and even reviewing Volume XXIV -- especially as it was so late getting wide distribution anyways. (grin)

Frank Dutkiewicz reviews all 13 stories in WOTF Volume XXIV:

A Man in the Moon by Dr Philip Edward Kaldon.

This is the baker’s dozen of the anthology. It didn’t place in the competition but the judges liked it enough to fill out the book.

Gene Fisher-Hall is a terminally ill astronaut who wants to hold onto his job and wishes to spend the rest of days on the moon. He uses loopholes in the regulations, the press, and his folksy down-home charm to get his way.

I found this to be not much more than a story of a workaholic that doesn’t want to hang it up, set in space. I did enjoy a scene where Gene needs to overcome his arthritic-like disease to avoid a disaster. A Man in the Moon is easy to fall into but it went on way too long. Halfway through I started to wonder if it had an ending.

Grade: B minus

"I have read about a dozen of the twenty-five additions of The Writer’s of the Future Contest. In past anthologies I would find about three stories outstanding (A quality) but an equal number difficult to finish (D quality), with the rest in that B, C range. This addition I found the most satisfying one of the bunch."

For the record, Dr. Phil found the grades for Volume XXIV, none lower than a C, to be:

A+  1
A   1
A-  3
B+  1
B   1
B-  2
C+  1
C   3

Reviews are subjective, of course, but with an "average GPA" of 3.03 = B, it's nice to see an overall positive review for "our" antho. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased

Stares At Calendar Again

High today in Allendale was maybe 65°F. Lows in the next few days will be in the 40s. Cold and rainy all day. I was just looking at the latest Northwestern Magazine -- the alumni mag from NU -- and noted to Mrs. Dr. Phil that (a) 2010 will be my 30th Reunion, which means (b) 2009 would've been her 30th Reunion. But she doesn't like the way her college does reunions right now. They used to be held at graduation in June -- having it in October makes no sense at a school where football was not important.

On the other hand, NU reunions in October are wonderful -- fall in Evanston is wonderful. Of course the picture in the alumni mag showed fall foliage with a backdrop of brilliant blue sky. Given today's weather, Mrs. Dr. Phil brought up the rain. But it didn't deter me. Cold fall rain in Evanston is perfect, too. (grin)

Kind of like... today. (Goes back to contemplating the calendar.) The end of August calendar. Not October.

More On Charles N. Brown

Back on 13 July 2009 I reported on the legendary editor-publisher of Locus magazine. Today I got the September issue, which includes several pages of reminisces by many SF people about Charles.

Also cover interview with Larry Niven and extensive coverage of this year's Hugos. As if you didn't have enough reasons to go to LocusOnline and get your own subscription to Locus.

(Goes back to contemplating calendar.) Locus almost always comes on the first, but it's the 29th. Of August. Not September.

Whatever The Weather Is Doing, It's Not All Bad

My mother used to comment that when they were at the University of Illinois, that the farm reports typically said the weather was "good for the corn" no matter what the weather was doing.

Well, this year had produced some damned fine Red Haven peaches. Red Havens are already the best eating peaches ev-ah, but the ones we bought today continued to be beautiful and lovely. Sigh.

(Goes back to contemplating calendar.) It's still summer? I can has Red Haven peaches? (double-grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: complicated

Just Happening

Ralan's is reporting that Analog and Asimov's, both published by Dell Magazines, has editorial/submission address changes. The date on Ralan's for the tip was August 19th, so this is recent.

It's a funny thing. I've got files with submission guidelines for both from February 2003 -- and submitted to both in March 2003. Asimov's got updated, because of an editorial change. But the real thing is that I check guidelines websites on a regular basis -- less often from ones I submit to often -- and cruise Ralan's on a regular basis. Don't assume that addresses stay the same or that markets stay open. Recheck and verify.

By The Way

September is Ralan's donation drive month. If you use this resource, and you can spare some PayPal, send it his way. Because as bad as it is for markets to close, having resource sites close would make things really difficult.

Just sayin'.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: awake

Another SF Market Closing

Word is spreading around that Jim Baen's Universe is closing. While the most impact it has on me is that I will have no more submissions to JBU -- and will never appear on its webpages -- the fact is they are announcing this "early" and will continue e-publishing through the April 2010 issue. All the stories they currently have contracted for will be published and paid.

I'm sure that many SF writers will comment, as I did above, about losing another market to sell their stories. Of course, one of the arguments against short fiction markets is that too many of those interested in them are interested in SELLING to them and not BUYING. A lot of people hoped that JBU had found a model that would work in today's marketplace, and after being open for a couple of years, perhaps people got complacent that a successful business model had been found. It is ironic that JBU's announcement comes on the heals of SFWA's announcement that the Tor.com website will count as a SFWA pro market.

I met Eric Flint and Mike Resnick at Windycon two years, at a talk about JBU. They were both very concerned with both getting quality SF out there, and of giving a chance to the next generation of writers. Multiple people read through the slush piles, and they also used Baen's Bar as a way to help new writers wring out the problems of their stories. Though I never got a chance to meet Jim Baen himself before his passing the other year, I kind of hoped that JBU would be able to stand as part of his legacy. Alas, twas not to be.

Finally, I'd let to send out a Thank You to

nancyfulda Nancy Fulda, who was one of the slush readers for JBU and mostly the assistant editor who sent me my rejections. JBU had a fast turnaround time and a wide word count range, so nearly all of my stories could be routed through them -- and Nancy saw most of them. I used to joke to my friends that "Nancy Fulda hates me", but that's not true. Editors are rejecting the story, not the writer -- send them another one, write more, write more better. (grin) Another assistant editor who stands out is Sam Hidaka, who I know comments on the WOTF Forum, again helping out new writers.

Jim Baen's Universe and its dead tree offspring The Best of... will be missed. But not yet. They're still running until the April 2010 issue. And that's still a lot of SF stories to read. Just not mine.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: disappointed

It's The Second Of July

And that means new issues of three of my favorite non-fiction SF/F sources. Yeah, I've probably written about this before -- so are you reading these, too? What, not yet? Yeesh!

More Words And Pictures Than You Can Shake A Stick At

The July 2009 issue of Locus magazine arrived today. We didn't get any mail on the 1st, so I think our postal person must've been sitting by the side of the road reading my copy. (Actually, it comes in a sealed envelope so no one gets it before you do!) When I first started reading Locus, I'd see the coverage of events and cons and see all these pictures -- and I'd find out what my favorite authors look like. Now I look and see my friends. People I've seen or even done panels on at cons. People I've workshopped with or were instructors at workshops. What? Am I becoming an insider in the biz? No, probably not. But I know the insiders now. (grin) I keep recommending Locus both to new writers who want to know how it all works and to SF/F/H fans who want to read interviews and learn about who's who and what's coming.

You can get subscription information from LocusOnline. Really, it's a LOT of content and the one print magazine I receive that I devour from cover to cover the day it arrives. It seems like all magazines are suffering from subscription shrinkage and Locus is no different. But so many authors and publishers reference Locus that I don't know what we'd do without it. PLEASE give it a try. There are some stores which carry single copy sales, but not around here. (grin)

Online...

Then there's IROSF -- The Internet Review of Science Fiction. It's free right now, but you want to subscribe. Why? So you get a nifty little e-mail reminder at the beginning of the month reminding you that the new issue is up. Reviews and neat articles about people and sub-genres and history. Check it out here and also their cool logo gear at CafePress.

Speaking of you, our beloved readers, we wanted to point out that IROSF no longer requires a subscription to view—for now. We've been experimenting with ways to make our material more accessible, and this particular one has been a mixed blessing. More and more people are stopping by to read an article or two each month, but then there's the trouble of being forgotten about the following month. We'd like to invite you to sign up for the site, which is not only free, but also keeps you in the loop. You can comment on our forums and articles, becoming part of the conversation here. You'll also receive an email each month, letting you know that a new issue has come out. So take a moment and "subscribe." It's fun, you won't miss all the great stuff that's coming in August, and did I mention that it's free?

And Across The Universe

And then there's David Langford's legendary Ansible. If nothing else, this long running (July 2009 is the 264th monthly installment) U.K. e-fanzine will make you laugh. Thog's Master Class is legendary.

And now I've done my community service for the month -- and I'm going back to reading IROSF and Ansible... having already made one pass through Locus. (double-steal-grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: pleased

Marjorie M. Liu Interviewed

When I got back from Penguicon 7.0 -- report forthcoming -- on Sunday night, the mail included the May issue of Locus. I knew they were doing a feature on Urban Fantasy and that there'd be an interview with fellow 2004 Clarion classmate Marjorie M. Liu. This would be the first Locus cover mention from our class for writing.

Okay, so it's a small pic and isn't even the major one. But so? (grin)

Nice interview with Marjorie. This woman writes too many books -- I can't keep up with them! (double-grin)

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: amused

April 2009 Issue of IROSF

The new online issue of the Internet Review of Science Fiction, which I've touted on this blog before, includes Lois Tilton's Short Fiction reviews. The May 2009 Analog is featured first, including "The Brother on the Shelf" by Philip Edward Kaldon.

It's 2882, and Earth is at war with Enemy Aliens. Billy and his little Brother Connor go every week to the store to pick up the new war trading cards. Billy likes the big cruisers.

Later, at age seventeen, Billy volunteers to serve on one of the cruisers while Connor is still too young to go to war, but he can keep in contact through the trading card of Billy's ship.
Pulling his last card out of the pouch, Connor sat quietly in the cold winter afternoon. It had been hard to find one specific warship out of the thousands of ships in Fleet, but he had a strong reason for having this exact card and so sought one from a dealer off the net. He stared at the image of the black and gray wedge, the notation FFL-2890 in crisp Fleet lettering.

A cross between Starship Troopers and Bazooka Joe, for readers who can accept the premise that it's still 1959, after nine hundred years.

At Least My Name Was Spelled Correctly (grin)

Unlike one of my student's book reports, which got both my first and last name wrong!

I'm not here to argue about reviews. It is instructive to me to see which aspects of a story get through and which do not -- some of that has to be on me, the writer, not on the reviewer, the reader. (grin)

Ha!

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: accomplished

A Small Amusement

Looking at LocusOnline to see what's up, I saw a familiar looking magazine cover on the link to their March magazines received. Clicky reveals (edited for personal aggrandizement) that the first two listings for Dr. Phil's writing:

Analog Science Fiction and Fact

• Vol. 129 No. 5, May 2009, $4.99, 112pp, cover art by NASA
• This issue has novelettes by Adam-Troy Castro, Alexis Glynn Latner, Tom Ligon, and Robert R. Chase, plus short stories by Shane Tourtellotte, Steven Gould, and Philip Edward Kaldon.

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

• Issue 38, Vol. 7 No. 2, 2009, A$8.95, 96pp, cover art by Rachel McLachlan
• This issue of the Australian SF and Fantasy magazine, edited by Zara Baxter, has fiction by Dr Philip Edward Kaldon, Ingrid Banwell, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, EM Sky, Katherine Sparrow, Gitte Christensen, and KV Johansen.
• The magazine's website should have a page for this issue soon.

Yay!

Dr. Phil stories out in the world for your amusement.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: amused

Look At What I Found

Thursday afternoon, about 3:30pm EST, Barnes & Noble in Holland MI. I could see they had copies of Analog -- the title stuck out of the second tier shelf -- but I didn't know what the May 2009 cover looked like. Apparently it looks a lot like these:

And look -- one of the copies happens to have opened to reveal "The Brother On The Shelf" by Philip Edward Kaldon.

As You Can See... It Starts On Page 77

But with the May 2009 Analog on bookstore shelves, you can buy your own. Just don't try the Barnes & Noble in Holland MI -- they're out right now.

My First Real Fan Letter

Lots of people have wished me well with this or that publication. And I've gotten a number of congratulations with the publication of the May 2009 Analog and my story. But today when I checked the email over at my website http://dr-phil-physics.com I discovered my first real fan mail:

Dear Dr. Kaldon,

I enjoyed your story in the latest Analog. Enough so that I bought Tangle Girls, where I enjoyed Under Suspicion rather more. I also quite liked Le Grand Bazar and will happily order ASIM 38/39 as they are available.

Wow. Someone read my story in Analog, found my website, ordered another anthology, Tangle Girls with my story "Under Suspicion". I've generated a sale!

And no, I'm not being sarcastic here. This is both amusing and exciting to me. Because it happens to writers -- and I'm getting established as a SF writer, plain and simple. But it gets better, because my fan also had a question about my 29th century universe which I happily answered.

Yeah, people are beginning to read Dr. Phil. Okay, now I'm chuffed.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: excited

Failing At The Internets

Re: Today's news about Realms of Fantasy. It's been a while since I've had occasion to visit the RoF homepage, but you know?

27 January 2009 Tuesday 22:30 EST

http://www.rofmagazine.com/

Dear Realms of Fantasy fans:

We apologize for our extremely outdated site. The magazine is still going strong and is better than ever. We are working on a new and much improved design for the website and hope to have it up and running this summer. In the meantime, the Forums are still operational and you can still access the Subscription and Guidelines areas. Please be patient—we know you are going to love the new site!

http://www.rofmagazine.com/issues/current

Issue: August 2006
Inside this issue

Look, Even My Website Is Currently Out Of Date...

... but I'm a one person operation, and sorry, but my classes and my writing come first. (grin)

BUT, in 2009, couldn't they at least find some fanboy intern who keep the pages even somewhat up to date? This irks me, because it's not fair to the authors.

It's as bad as if a major anthology still hasn't gotten around to doing a major print run even though the book was launched way back on 15 August 2008. Seriously.

Dr. Phil

Current Mood: annoyed

Profile

dr_phil_physics

April 2016

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

________________

Email: drphil at

dr-phil-physics.com

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Base style: Modular by branchandroot
Theme: Labors Won by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Thursday, 22 May 2025 11:14

Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Those Who Lie In Wait, Dream Deep

Entries tagged with magazines

A Weird Tale

Piling On, Deja Vu Edition

Somehow I Missed This The First Time

Two New E-Magazines Launch

I Almost Missed This

The Last IROSF

Aw Damn... IROSF To End In February

Lightspeed Guidelines Are Up

Oh This Should Be Interesting

Andromeda Spaceways' Error -- You Might Benefit

Never Too Late For A Review

A Cold Day In...

Dell Magazines Address Changes

Going Out With Some Style

Reading The July News

May 2009 Locus Cover Girl

A Brief Review at IROSF

A Two-Fer

Analog Sighting

One Hates To Pile On, But...