Exciting news! I just sold a new anthology to Vintage Books, again in collaboration with Daniel H. Wilson (with whom I co-edited ROBOT UPRISINGS, which is due out April 8).

ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY

Video games are a multi-billion dollar a year industry that has outpaced movies and books combined. The humble, pixelated games of the ‘70s and ‘80s have evolved into the vivid, realistic, and immersive form of entertainment that now rivals all other forms of media for dominance in the consumer marketplace. For many, video games have become the cultural icons around which pop culture revolves.

PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves.

These stories will appeal to anyone who has interacted with games, from hardcore teenaged fanatics, to men and women who game after their children have gone to bed, to your well-meaning aunt who won’t stop inviting you to join her farm-based Facebook games.

At the helm of this project are Daniel H. Wilson—bestselling novelist and expert in artificial intelligence—and John Joseph Adams—bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated editor of more than a dozen science fiction/fantasy anthologies and series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (volume one forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2015). Together, they have drawn on their wide-ranging contacts to assemble an incredibly talented group of authors who are eager to attack the topic of video games from startling and fascinating angles.

Under the direction of an A.I. specialist and a veteran editor, the anthology will expose readers to a strategically chosen mix of stories that explore novel video game concepts in prose narratives, such as save points, kill screens, gold-farming, respawning, first-person shooters, unlocking achievements, and getting “pwned.” Likewise, each of our authors is an accomplished specialist in areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and techno-thrillers, and many have experience writing for video games professionally.

Combining unique viewpoints and exacting realism, this anthology promises to thrill generations of readers, from those who grew up with Atari 2600s to the console and PC gamers of today.

PUBLISHER: Vintage Books
TENTATIVE PUBLICATION DATE: Late 2015

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I’m delighted to announce that I have agreed to serve as the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, a new entry in the prestigious Best American Series^® published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Our inaugural guest editor will be bestselling author and all-around swell guy Joe Hill. The first volume will be published in October 2015, collecting the best of 2014. [press release]

To help ensure that I don’t miss anything great, I am currently, and will be for the foreseeable future, accepting reader recommendations. I am also open to writers submitting their stories directly, and, in fact, would encourage writers to do so to help ensure I see everything.

To learn more about the series, including how to submit a story or recommendation, and what is eligible, please visit , visit johnjosephadams.com/best-american.

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This year’s World Fantasy Awards nomination period is now open.

The World Fantasy Awards will be presented in Washington, D.C. during the World Fantasy Convention (Nov. 6-9). Deadline for nominating is and ballots must be received by May 31, 2014.

All registered members of the 2012 World Fantasy Convention, the 2013 World Fantasy Convention, and the 2014 event in Washington, D.C. will be eligible to vote before the deadline. If you didn’t attend one of the previously mentioned World Fantasy conventions, and you don’t plan to attend this year, you can still nominate by purchasing a supporting membership.

Already registered? Go and nominate your favorite works! Voting information is available on the World Fantasy Convention 2013 website.

To assist you in finding material to nominate, I’ve assembled this post to list everything that I worked on in 2013.

• All of Lightspeed‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast).
• All of Nightmare‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast).
• Selected stories from Oz Reimagined are available online.
• Selected stories from The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination are available online.

If you are planning and eligible to vote for the World Fantasy Awards this year, if you email me proof of your World Fantasy membership (i.e., your name is listed on the World Fantasy website as an attending member, or the email confirmation or receipt you received when you purchased your membership, etc.) I would be happy to make all of my 2013 content available to you in digital format.

After the jump, you’ll find all of the 2013 eligible stories/authors that either appeared in Lightspeed or Nightmare, or in projects I’m otherwise affiliated with.

(more…)

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This year’s Hugo Awards nomination period is now open. The 2013 Hugo Awards will be presented in London, England during LonCon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (Aug. 14-18). Nominations close on March 31, 2013. Anyone who has a supporting or full membership of LonCon 3 as of January 31, 2014 and all members of Lone Star Con 3 (last year’s Worldcon) may nominate works. If you didn’t attend Lone Star Con 3, and you don’t plan to attend LonCon 3, you can still nominate by purchasing a supporting membership. Nominations may be submitted through the online ballot, available here. To assist you in finding material to nominate, I’ve assembled this post to list everything that I worked on in 2013.

• All of Lightspeed‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast).
• All of Nightmare‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast).
• Selected stories from Oz Reimagined are available online.
• Selected stories from The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination are available online.

If you are planning and eligible to vote for the Hugos this year, if you email me proof of your Worldcon membership (i.e., your name is listed on the Worldcon website as an attending member, or the email confirmation or receipt you received when you purchased your membership, etc.) I would be happy to make all of my 2013 content available to you in digital format. After the jump, you’ll find all of the 2013 eligible stories/authors that either appeared in Lightspeed or Nightmare, or in projects I’m otherwise affiliated with.   (more…)

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This year’s Nebula Awards nomination period is now open.

From November 15 to February 15, Active and Associate SFWA members may submit nominations for the Nebula Awards. Nominations may be submitted through the online ballot, available here. For more information, visit SFWA’s How to Vote page.

To assist you in finding material to nominate, I’ve assembled this post to list everything that I worked on in 2013.

• All of Lightspeed‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast). If you are a SFWA member, you can also grab each of the stories in various formats from the SFWA Forums, or else download an ebook (epub/mobi/pdf/doc) compilation of all 2013’s original material.
• All of Nightmare‘s original fiction from 2013 is available online (and also much of the 2013 original fiction is available as a podcast). If you are a SFWA member, you can also grab each of the stories in various formats from the SFWA Forums, or else download an ebook (epub/mobi/pdf/doc) compilation of all 2013’s original material.
• Selected stories from Oz Reimagined are available online. If you are a SFWA member, you can also grab each of the stories in various formats from the SFWA Forums, or else download a DOC of the whole anthology.
• Selected stories from The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination are available online. If you are a SFWA member, you can also download a PDF of the whole anthology.

After the jump, you’ll find all of the 2013 eligible stories/authors that either appeared in Lightspeed or Nightmare, or in projects I’m otherwise affiliated with.

(more…)

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LIGHTSPEED is currently looking for a few volunteer first readers (a/k/a “slush” readers). We’re using a Google Docs form to solicit our applicants, so if you’re interested, please submit your application there. The form is embeded below, but if you can’t see it for some reason, you should be able to access it via http://tinyurl.com/lightspeed-slush.

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