Apr. 2008 Favorite Story Poll
Interview: Scott Dalrymple, on "Enfant Terrible" and "An Open Letter to Earth"
Scott Dalrymple, author of “Enfant Terrible” (from our July 2008 issue) and "An Open Letter to Earth" (from our August 2008 issue), said in an interview that it was an honor to have these two stories–his first published works of fiction–appear in F&SF. "I first subscribed to the magazine as a teenager back in the early 80s," he said. "I’m looking right now at the April 1983 issue, which includes an awesome story by Gene Wolfe– in my view the greatest living writer, period, and also a truly nice man. The back cover is missing the part I cut out to join the Science Fiction Book Club, which I did often."
"Enfant Terrible" is the story of really bright kids and what makes them really bright. "The story started with an image, as most of my stories do," Dalrymple said. "In this case, it had to do with a typical brainstorming exercise I’ve seen given to kids: tell them that two cars are speeding toward each other at 60 mph. Quick– what happens? The idea is to get them thinking creatively, beyond the obvious (they crash). A bright kid might suggest that the cars fly off into the air, or something like that."
F&SF, August 2008 now on sale
The August 2008 issue is now on sale. This issue includes the story "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay, so our free reprint this month is "The Political Officer" which is set in the same universe.
This issue also features the debut of our new reviewer, Chris Moriarty. See Gordon’s editorial for more details.
Here’s the whole table of contents:
NOVELLAS
- The Political Prisoner – Charles Coleman Finlay
NOVELETS
- Childrun – Marc Laidlaw
- But Wait! There’s More! – Richard Mueller
SHORT STORIES
- An Open Letter to Earth – Scott Dalrymple
- Another Perfect Day – Steven Popkes
- Bounty – Rand B. Lee
DEPARTMENTS
- Editorial – Gordon Van Gelder
- Books to Look For – Charles de Lint, covering Mind the Gap by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon; Heart of Stone and House of Cards by C. E. Murphy; and Jumper: Jumpscars by Nunzio Defilippis, Christina Weir, and Brian Hurtt.
- Books – Chris Moriarty, covering Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov; The Null-A Continuum by John C. Wright; Lorelei of the Red Mist by Leigh Brackett; The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman by Leigh Brackett; and The Martian General’s Daughter by Theodore Judson.
- Film: Not with a Bang, But with the Sex Pistols – Lucius Shepard, covering Doomsday.
- Coming Attractions
- Curiosities – David Langford, covering Adrift in the Stratosphere, by Professor A.M. Low (1937).
CARTOONS
- Bill Long
COVER
- Kent Bash for "The Political Prisoner"
Paolo Bacigalupi on NPR
I thought some of you would be interested in hearing Paolo on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92008378
By the way, Paolo’s story “Pump Six” will appear in our September issue. We’re reprinting it from the story collection.
F&SF Wins Locus Award for Best Magazine
As the headline states, F&SF has won this year’s Locus Award for Best Magazine. That makes it seven years in a row we’ve taken home the honor. Many thanks to everyone who voted for us!
A complete list of the winners can be found here. If you’re curious about the history of the award, you can poke around through lists of the past winners here. Congratulations to all of the other winners!
New Dave Truesdale column posted
Dave Truesdale’s latest F&SF column is up:
http://www.fsfmag.com/2008/dt0807.htm
Oddly enough, it overlaps a bit with Chris Moriarty’s first column, which appears in the August issue.
Algis Budrys
I’ve heard that A.J. Budrys died today at the age of 77.
I didn’t know him well, but our encounters were always amiable. (The last time I remember seeing him was about ten years ago, when he was Guest of Honor at Readercon, and I seem to recall him clapping me on the shoulder and calling me “a good kid” or somesuch.)
Regardless of our friendship, he was a great friend to F&SF, publishing many stories in the magazine (including the shorter version of ROGUE MOON). He was also our primary book reviewer from the Sept. 1975 issue through the Jan. 1993 issue.
Rest in peace, Ayjay.
Interview: Al Michaud, on "The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D."
Al Michaud–author of “The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D.,” which appears in our June 2008 issue–said in an interview that the story is the tale of a hapless lobsterman who finds himself the subject of a horribly objective haunting. "His haunter isn’t just any old ghost, either — she’s the most fabled phantom of local legend, a centuries-old decapitated young lady known in folkloric circles as ‘the Silent Woman,’" Michaud said. "For reasons that elude him, Clem discovers that he and the headless gal have virtually tied the knot, so with the help of his best man — a clam-digging buddy of his from way back — he begins the quest to annul this blissless wedlock and permanently uncouple himself from his otherworldly significant other. Along the way he makes new friends and incurs new enemies, some with agendas misaligned with his own."
Interview: Ted Kosmatka, on "The Art of Alchemy"
Ted Kosmatka–author of "The Art of Alchemy," which appears in our June 2008 issue–said in an interview that it’s a story about corporations that have become so huge that they’re not about making anything anymore, but instead exist as climax predators in the global economic food chain.
"Here in the West, we think of capitalism as a driving force behind scientific advancement, but what happens when advancement is at odds with corporate profits?" Kosmatka said. "In this story, Veronica, a high-level corporate bureaucrat for a huge, multi-national steel company, is contacted by a man who carries a secret that could change the world. It’s the holy grail of materials science– the secret to producing structural-quality carbon nanotubes on massive scale. But why bring that information to a steel company? The answer: for the same reason you’d bring an engine that could run on water to an oil company. Because they’d be sure to buy it. Veronica knows her company will bury the discovery, so she enlists the help of one of the corporate scientists, and together they take steps to release the information to the public. But the company finds out and sends a problem solver to deal with the issue once and for all."
Interview: Rand B. Lee, on "Litany"
Rand B. Lee–author of "Litany," the cover story of our June 2008 issue–said in an interview that the story began simply as an image of a tall, grey-eyed man knocking on the door of a real estate office in a small village in Northern New Mexico. "I had no idea who the man was when I began writing, except that he had come to the village looking for something," Lee said. "The key characters in the story likewise appeared vivid and full-blown without conscious efforts on my part. Particularly vivid was the image of the three-legged mixed breed black-and-white dog whom the stranger rescues. One week after I completed the story and submitted it to F&SF, a man walked into the Santa Fe nursery where I worked with a three-legged, black-and-white dog. The dog came right up to me and licked me vigorously on the face, causing his owner to remark in great surprise, ‘He usually is not demonstrative with men.’"
