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"
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!
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.’"
Interview: P.E. Cunningham on "Monkey See…"
P.E. Cunningham, author of "Monkey See…," which appears in our June 2008 issue–said in an interview that the story was originally written for an anthology with a tight deadline. "Normally it takes me forever to write something — I’ve got book and story fragments and chapters in the closet that go back 10 years or longer — but because of the deadline I had to go to work," she said. "I came up with the basic idea literally overnight, and went from first draft to final sub in two weeks, a land-speed record for me. I sent it out with time to spare … and it got rejected. In truth, I didn’t think F&SF would be interested in a pure sword-and-sorcery story, but then I figured, what the heck. And you guys surprised me and bought it. I didn’t think [F&SF would] like ‘Car 17′ either. Shows what I know. If I could just figure out what editors like, I’d sell a lot more. Hey, wouldn’t we all."
F&SF, July 2008 now on sale
The July 2008 issue is now on sale. Here’s the table of contents:
NOVELLAS
- The Roberts – Michael Blumlein
NOVELETS
- Fullbrim’s Finding – Matthew Hughes
- Poison Victory – Albert E. Cowdrey
SHORT STORIES
- Reader’s Guide – Lisa Goldstein
- Enfant Terrible – Scott Dalrymple
- The Dinosaur Train – James L. Cambias
DEPARTMENTS
- Books to Look For – Charles de Lint, covering Duma Key by Stephen King and Jack: Secret Histories by F. Paul Wilson.
- Books – James Sallis, covering The New Weird edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer and The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick.
- Plumage from Pegasus: Galley Knaves – Paul Di Filippo
- Film: "Superpowers Do Not a Superhero Make" – Kathi Maio, covering Jumper.
- Coming Attractions
- Curiosities – F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, covering The Big Ball of Wax: A Story of Tomorrow’s Happy World, by Shepherd Mead (1954).
CARTOONS
- Bill Long
COVER
- Mondolithic Studios for "The Roberts"
Get a Free Copy of the July 2008 Issue of F&SF
Over on the Forum, Gordon posted the following note:
We’re going to do a promotional giveaway with this issue. There’s a box of copies of this issue on its way to me and I’d like to give away the copies people who will blog about the issue. So here’s the deal:
1) Go to our "Contact Us" page: http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/contact.htm
2) Tell us where to mail your copy of the issue.
3) Receive the issue and blog about it. Naturally, we prefer if you read the issue before blogging about it, but I’m just insisting that you blog about it. (The first time we tried this promotion, people mistakenly thought they should blog about the magazine before receiving the issue. No. Get the issue first, then blog about it.)
4) Send us a link to your blog.
That’s all there is to it. I’ll post here when we run out of the giveaway copies.
Spread the word!
