Blog – Page 146 – John Joseph Adams

F&SF 7/06: Favorite Story Poll

What was your favorite story in the July 2006 issue? Vote in the poll! Let your voice be heard!

F&SF 7/06: Favorite Story Poll
VOTING HAS CLOSED

Selection

Votes

The Lineaments of Gratified Desire – Ysabeau S. Wilce

18%

Kansas, She Says, Is the Name of the Star – R. Garcia y Robertson

11%

Holding Pattern – Steven Popkes

Billy and the Unicorn – Terry Bisson

The Meaning of Luff – Matthew Hughes

Republic – Robert Onopa

16%

Memory of a Thing That Never Was – Jerry Seeger

Just Do It – Heather Lindsley

32%

38 votes total

June 2006 Acquisitions

We paid out cash money for the following this month: a literary, somewhat anti-literature fantasy from William Browning Spencer (returning to the pages of F&SF after too long an absence!); another new story from the prolific Robert Reed (perhaps his best since “The Sleeping Woman”); a new Gaunt & Bone adventure from Chris Willrich; a sequel of sorts to “The Tribes of Bela” by Albert Cowdrey; a cyberpunk crime story from Alexander Jablokov; and an unorthodox tale of the Red Planet from Ruth Nestvold.

All this, plus: a new slush survivor, by the name of S.L. Gilbow, who debuts with a “Lottery”-esque tale of social SF; and…the F&SF debut of Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, who will grace our pages (in the December issue) with a tale of John Uskglass.

Pirates!

An announcement: I’ll be guest-editing the Summer 2007 issue of Shimmer! Here’s some verbiage from Shimmer‘s website:

Pirates! The word evokes the high seas, deep space and bootleg software. Be honest, who hasn’t wanted to be a pirate? Think of plunder, booty — Avast!

The MS Shimmer has been captured by the Dred Pirate John Joseph Adams, first-mate of the Fantasy & Science Fiction. For the Summer 2007 issue, our pages will be filled with pirate stories. What better way to celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day?

What kind of pirates? All kinds — fantasy, science fiction, contemporary, historical, futuristic, high seas, deep space — if it’s got pirates and it’s speculative fiction, Captain Adams wants it. The usual Shimmer guidelines apply, but with pirates.

Bring us your pirate stories for Summer 2007, the Pirate Issue.

Submission porthole: December 1, 2006-January 31, 2007.

Send submissions to submissions@shimmerzine.com with “Pirate Submission: Title” in the subject line.

Links

Ye scurvy sea-dogs need some inspirin’? Here are some links to get ye started.

Watch the History Channel’s series on pirates, beginning July 9.

Can’t think of a name for your pirate vessel? Check out this pirate ship name generator.

Read some sobering information on the connection between pirates and global warming in this Open Letter to Kansas School Board.

Brush up on your pirate words and phrases.

And don’t forget Bloodthirsty Pirate Tales.

If we be missin’ some links, or if ye have more questions, fire a cannon over our fo’c’s’le at midnight, or send e-mail to info@shimmerzine.com.

Arr!

ETA May 23, 2019: The internet is forever, and thus 13 years after posting this, this page was made useful by a teacher doing a lesson on pirates. One of the students discovered an interesting page on pirate dentistry, and thought it would be a good addition to this list of pirate facts, and I thought that was super cute that she thought to ask the teacher to alert me to the link, so I’m dutifully adding it to this repository of pirate facts.

New Rise Against Album

I just discovered, quite by accident, that the awesome punk band Rise Against has a new album coming out, appropriately, on July 4. But to hear it you don’t have to wait until then–you can go listen to the whole thing on MySpace right now.

Countdown to Readercon

I’ll be attending Readercon this year, which is held July 7-9 at the Burlington Mariott, Burlington, Massachusetts.

The programming was announced today. I’m only scheduled for one panel, but I still get in for free, so I have no problem with that. Here’s my panel description:

Sat 12:00 F Everybody Dies
Adams, Disch, Hanger (+M), Lewitt, Meacham, Morrow
There’s a small body of fiction in which all of humanity (or at least every character in the story) dies or is fated to die (Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, James Morrow’s This Is the Way the World Ends), or will die without producing children (Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End). These stories are dramatically different from the much more common tales in which almost everybody dies. What kinds of things can be said in these stories that can’t be said in their less grim cousins?

What about all of you readers out there? Anyone else going? Readercon rules, so if it’s possible for you to make it, you should register now.

World Fantasy Award Nominations Ballot

I was just attempting to fill out my World Fantasy Award nomination ballot (which must be postmarked by June 30) and I came across two categories that stumped me: anthology and special award non-professional.

There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of fantasy anthologies published last year to choose from, and for the non-professional category, I’m not sure who or what qualifies for that anymore. In the past, I would have nominated small presses like Night Shade Books, Prime, Subterranean, or PS Publishing, but they’ve all graduated to the professional category. I’m not sure who’s left.

So, any suggestions on who to nominate in those categories?

[Excerpt:] Blade: The Series debuts with an entertaining, action-packed episode, one that will likely please fans of the movies and of ass-kicking vampires in general. All in all, it was fun if middling entertainment, but despite its flaws it did succeed in making me want to watch the next few episodes, which is the ultimate goal of any pilot. And it’s far-and-away better than Blade II, though, of course, that’s not saying much.

Go read the review!