Shimmer: The Pirate Issue update
Okay, so I’ve waded through most of the submissions now. I’ve still got 27 in my inbox that I haven’t read yet. Everything else has either been rejected or been set aside for further consideration (or possibly inexplicably lost–possible, but unlikely).
I want to say again how pleased I’ve been with the overall quality of submissions. I only wish more of them were shorter and/or I had more room for stories in the issue. Unfortunately, I received many stories that pushed the word count limit (5000), and some that exceeded it. Well, it wouldn’t be unfortunate if they were no good, but a lot of them were, so there’s going to be a lot of tough choices to make.
Looks like I have 29 in the “Under Consideration” folder, totalling more than 113,000 words. Admittedly, some of those are just stories I think I need to re-read to make sure before I pass on them, but still — that’s a lot of good fiction there, and less than a quarter of that is going to make it into the issue, so competition will be fierce.
For those wondering about overall numbers, I’ve got 100 stories in the rejection folder, so add that together with the 27 unread and the 29 under consideration, looks like we got 156 stories submitted overall.
Impact Wraps Axis Trilogy
Australian alternate-history author John Birmingham told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Final Impact, concludes his Axis of Time trilogy.
Dude, do your own homework…
I got this email message at my MySpace account today:
I was searching Frankenstein on myspace and I stumbled upon your name. I have this essay to write about it, and I was wondering if you can help me? Is it ok if you give me an outline on what I should write about? Please help a brother out, thank you.
I am supposed to identify some aspects of Frankenstein that both reflect the Enlightenment and Romanticism and I’m supposed to explain what Mary Shelley might be stating or implying about both movements.
Please help! Thank you so much.
Anyone inclined to help the poor bastard?
I wonder how *my* name came up when he was searching for Frankenstein. There’s no mention of it on my profile…
F&SF Mar. 2007: Favorite Story Poll
What was your favorite story in the Mar. 2007 issue? Vote in the poll! Let your voice be heard!
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| Selection | ||
| The Helper and His Hero, Part 2 – Matthew Hughes |  26% |
10 |
| Dance of Shadows – Fred Chappell |  18% |
7 |
| The Devil Bats Will Be A Little Late This Year – Ron Goulart |  21% |
8 |
| Magic with Thirteen-Year-Old Boys – Robert Reed |  8% |
3 |
| Memoir of a Deer Woman – M. Rickert |  11% |
4 |
| I wasn’t impressed with any of them. |  16% |
6 |
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| 38 votes total | ||
SG-1 Video Card Game Launches
Gamers will be able to go on missions with SG-1 in the new Stargate Trading Card Game, a video game being released by Sony Online Entertainment, director of development Scott Martins told SCI FI Wire.
Headstone Blends Guns, Ghosts
Bram Stoker Award-winning author Tom Piccirilli, whose novel Headstone City was named a finalist for this year’s award, told SCI FI Wire that the book is a guns-and-ghosts novel about two former childhood friends.
Blade’s Mead Talks Art
Visual futurist and Blade Runner concept artist Syd Mead–who was recently named a Spectrum Grand Master–told SCI FI Wire that he didn’t expect his work on that seminal SF movie to be so well-regarded.
Magazines Anonymous
I’m starting to get really sick of these new magazines that pop up online and don’t bother to say anywhere who the people are behind them. Doesn’t that bother you all as *writers*? I mean, when a new magazine pops up, wouldn’t you like you know who’s involved with it before you submit something?
I mean, come on–haven’t they ever heard of a *masthead*? Also, for those that do actually deign to tell us who’s editing the thing, it doesn’t hurt to, you know, actually tell us who you are besides your name. I’m just sayin’.
Marvel Card Game Trades Up
The Marvel Trading Card Game is the video-game recreation of the hard-copy card game from Upper Deck. Players can create decks that team up characters from anywhere in the Marvel universe.