Industry News
John Barth (1930-2024)
Author John Barth, 93, died April 2, 2024 at a hospice in Bonita Springs FL. Barth was famed for his (often hilarious) experimental fiction.
His debut The Floating Opera appeared in 1956, but he attained literary fame with his third novel, The Sot-Weed Factor (1960). His innovations occasionally led him into speculative territory, notably in Giles Goat-Boy (1966) and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991). His 1967 essay ...Read More
2024 Whiting Award Winners
The 2024 Whiting Award winners have been announced. Authors of genre interest include Aaliyah Bilal and Yoon Choi, both in the fiction category.
The ten winners, “emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama,” each receive $50,000. The award was created by New York investor and philanthropist Flora Ettlinger Whiting in 1971. Recipients of the award are selected by an anonymous committee appointed by the Foundation.
For more information, including ...Read More
2024 Tolkien Society Awards Shortlist
The shortlist for the 2024 Tolkien Society Awards has been announced. The awards recognize excellence in the fields of Tolkien scholarship and fandom. The trustees choose the shortlist, with winners to be selected by the membership.
Best Book
- The Letters of JRR Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition, Humphrey Carpenter & Christopher Tolkien, eds. (William Morrow)
- The Battle of Maldon, Peter Grybauskas, ed. (William Morrow)
- Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s
Forbes 30 Greatest Book Series of All Time
Forbes contributors have released their list of the 30 greatest book series of all time, including the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown (Del Rey), the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Penguin Random House), the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey (Orbit), The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin (Simon & Schuster), the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (Tor), and the Witcher Saga by Andrzej Sapkowski (Hachette).
For more
...Read MoreALA Most Challenged Books of 2023
The American Library Association (ALA) has released their Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023, including some works and authors of genre interest:
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews (Amulet Books)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (MTV Books)
- This Book Is Gay, Juno Dawson (Sourcebooks Fire)
- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (Vintage)
The ALA listed the top 10 most challenged ...Read More
2024 International Booker Prize Shortlist
The six-title shortlist for the 2024 International Booker Prize has been announced, and includes Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated by Johnny Lorenz (Verso).
The award is given “every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.” The £50,000 prize is divided equally among the author and translator(s). Shortlisted authors and translators will each receive £1,000. Judges for 2024 are ...Read More
2024 CSFFA Hall of Fame Nominees
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) announced the current nominees for the CSFFA Hall of Fame:
- Kelley Armstrong
- Clint Budd
- Gordon R. Dickson
- James Alan Gardner
- Chris A. Hadfield
- Karl Johanson
- James Davis Nicoll
- Robert Priest
- Hubert Rogers
- Karl Schroeder
- Diane L. Walton
- Jo Walton
- Lynda Williams
The CSFFA Hall of Fame “was created to honour people who have over the past number of decades made a great ...Read More
2024 Carol Shields Prize Shortlist
The shortlist has been announced for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and includes Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) and Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote (Zando).
The winner, to be announced on May 13, 2024, will receive $150,000 and residency at Fogo Island Inn; the runner-ups will each receive $12,500. For more information, including the complete shortlist, visit the Carol Shields Prize website.
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Trusting Your Voice as an ESL Writer
By Gunnar De Winter
Much has been said and—obviously—written about the writer’s voice. But what if that voice speaks in a language that is not your native one? While a writer’s voice is, by definition, hard to define, it lives and thrives through idiosyncrasy. Your voice as a writer is the collection of verbal quirks, (subconscious) stylistic preferences, and choice of metaphors that shape your words and sentences, a fingerprint written in cursive, as unique as you are.
The voice of some writers is distinct and rings a bell. For others, it’s a more subtle touch that nevertheless worms its way into the readers’ brains.
My writing has been called voice-y, and that writer’s voice has helped me in realms beyond the virtual page. It has helped me find myself when I was lost. “Here I am,” it said. Still. Despite.
And yet.
And yet, it can be hard to lean into that voice. You see, I am an ESL (English as a second language) writer. I was raised speaking Flemish, the Belgian dialect of Dutch, depending on how linguistically granular you want to get. English came later. At this point, I have to provide a bit more background. By now, English is, for all intents and purposes, a crucial language in my daily life through a combination of education at UK institutions and work in fields where English is the lingua franca. I even dream in English. I have the certificates that tell me I’m at “native level.” I am not mentioning this to boast. Quite the opposite. I am mentioning it to let you know that, even though I rationally know my English is, at the very least, advanced, I still worry about having my writer’s voice misunderstood, because English is not officially my first language.
My voice-y writer’s voice includes a lot of wordplay, explorations of specific idioms, or verbal tics. By their very nature, those components of my voice can be unusual or unconventional. For example, Dutch does not use auxiliaries in questions. The question “what do you think?” would literally translate into “what think you?” in Dutch. So, will editors think I messed up my English if I purposefully put “what you think?” (let’s ignore word order here; that’s a whole other can of worms) in a story for a character with that idiom? I avoid those decisions because I worry that they will be seen not as parts of my (characters’) voice but as inadequacies in my English. That might sound strange; I have had short stories published in great places and have had the privilege of working with editors whose wonderful suggestions and incisive comments have, without exception, improved those stories. The SFF writing community is a marvelous, diverse, and supportive place. Being an ESL writer changes none of that.
To borrow from Taylor Swift, I’m the problem; it’s me.
While I can only speak from my own experience, being an ESL writer makes it uniquely challenging to trust your writing voice. After all, it’s not your native language. After all, there may be nuances you miss, and influences from your native tongue might find their way into your writing without you noticing.
Will readers and editors see my wordplay, my Easter eggs, and my characters’ quirky expressions as fundamental flaws in my English, or will they see them for what they are: my writer’s voice coming through? Rationally, I know (or hope?) that the answer is the latter. Emotionally, I fear the former.
I imagine this internal struggle can be even more challenging for ESL writers who, unlike me, have not been raised in a Western country (note: not a fan of that term) or writers who are part of a minority group that uses an idiom that departs from “standard” English. After all, context matters. How your culture handles pronouns, self-reference, interpersonal relational terms, or even names can affect your (English) writing voice. Will that voice be heard and be allowed to stand on its own in the evolving landscape between your native tongue (and culture) and the English you use to write your stories as truthful and authentic as they can be?
Once more, the welcoming writing community I have glimpsed makes me think the answer is a resounding yes. A community, I might add, that is also wonderful in its diversity. Even if you are oceans away, even if English is not your first language, you will not be alone. The act of writing is often seen as a solitary one, but forums, critique groups, and, yes, social media can connect you to people who are or have been where you are in your writing, who share your struggles but can also share their experience in dealing with them. And yet, I know that this does not always quell the inner doubt.
The only way through this doubt, I think, is trust. Trust that the right readers and editors will follow your words and hear your voice. Most of all, trust yourself and your voice. Trust that the best way for you to tell your stories is to be unapologetically you. Amidst the rejections all writers face, ESL or not, that trust in yourself does not come easy.
Trust me, I know.
The stories I am proudest of, the ones that have found great homes, tend to be those in which I allow my writer’s voice to shine through (within limits, of course—I can go overboard). Yet I have to fight my self-doubt every day to let that voice speak.
I have no reason to think that my specific voice or my English is a problem. I have no reason to think that either of those elements of my writing is what’s holding me back.
No reason at all. Except, sometimes, the voice (ha!) in my head.
Gunnar De Winter is a Belgian biologist turned science writer, but sometimes his imagination runs away with him. His stories have appeared in, among others, The Deadlands, Future SF Digest, and Daily Science Fiction. Say hi to him on X as @evolveon or on Bluesky as @gunnardewinter.bsky.social.
The post Trusting Your Voice as an ESL Writer appeared first on SFWA.
2024 Xingyun Awards Finalists
Finalists for the 15th annual Xingyun Awards for Chinese science fiction were announced by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association.
Best Novel
- Cosmo Wings, Jiang Bo (People’s Literature Publishing House; 8-Light Minutes Culture)
- Gods of the Earth: Return of the Dead, Fenxing Chengzi (Shenzhen Publishing House; Science and Fantasy Growth Foundation)
- The Age of God Making, Yan Xi (Sichuan University Press; Science Fiction World)
- The City in
2023 HWA Lifetime Achievement Awards
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced Mort Castle, Cassandra Peterson, and Steve Rasnic Tem as recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, given annually by the Board of Trustees to “individuals whose work has substantially influenced the horror and dark fantasy genres.”
The Lifetime Achievement Award, presented periodically to an individual whose work has substantially influenced the horror genre, is the most prestigious of all awards presented by HWA. It ...Read More
In Memoriam: James A. Moore
James A. Moore (03 September 1965 – 27 March 2024) was a prolific, versatile, and award-winning horror, dark fantasy, comic, and game writer. He crafted a diverse set of multi-media and beloved works over three decades, from his debut novel Hell-Storm through his Tides of War and Seven Forges series and including Bram Stoker Award finalists, Serenity Falls and Bloodstained Oz, co-written with Christopher Golden. He was an editor on The Twisted Book of Shadows, a winner of the Shirley Jackson Award.
Moore really loved writing, telling stories, and worldbuilding, and developing characters with flaws—as well as the ability to change. And as much as his thrilling stories, Moore was known for his heart. He smiled and laughed without reservation and encouraged others to do so. He was also known for exhorting writers to actually write, providing a model of productivity.
Writer and designer Richard Dansky notes, “Jim was one of the most generous souls I have ever met. It was not enough for him to do his own, excellent writing, but he also took every opportunity to encourage and lift up other writers, whether they be friends or complete strangers. A ferocious master of horror on the page, he was a kind, loving, and beloved pillar of the horror community off it.”
Writer and poet Linda Addison remembers, “The first time I met Jim years ago at Necon I was in total fan mode, because I knew about his writing. He wanted to know if I was a writer and what kind of writing I did. Before many knew about my writing, Jim believed in me. He happily shared any advice, answered all questions and declared writing got done by sitting down and doing it. He knew how to make others feel seen. No matter what he was going through, Jim never complained, and always asked, with a smile: ‘What are you working on?’ He was a Master Class in how to be a kind, caring human. I hold close to my heart treasured memories of Jim forever.”
SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy says, “Jim was kind to me when I was a newbie author entering the SFF community. He treated me, this girly-girl from the romance world, with unfailing respect from the very beginning. His blog series on his first wife’s illness and passing, Dinner for One, touched so many people with its honesty and authenticity. Jim was the best of human beings and will be greatly missed by me, personally, along with a bereft community.”
James A. Moore lived 58 years.
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Dream Foundry Competitions Open to Submissions
Submissions are now open for the Dream Foundry Emerging Writers Contest and Emerging Artists Contest.
The contest is run by The Dream Foundry. Finalists for the writing contest will be selected by contest coordinator Julia Rios, and winners will be selected by judges C.L. Polk and Valerie Valdes. Finalists for the art contest will be selected by coordinator Grace P. Fong, and winners will be selected by judges Jessica Cheng ...Read More
2024 Le Guin Prize Open
The 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction is open to nominations. “The nomination process for the prize is open to all” and closes April 30, 2024. To be eligible, a title must be a “book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author,” published between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. The winner receives $25,000.
This year’s judges include Margaret Atwood, Omar El Akkad, Megan Giddings, ...Read More
2024 Dragon Awards Nominations Open
Dragon Con has announced that nominations are open for the 2024 Dragon Awards. “There is no qualification for submitting nominations or voting – no convention fees or other memberships are needed.” Voting closes July 19, 2024.
For last year’s winners, see our prior post. For more information about nominations and to vote, see the official Dragon Awards page.
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...Read MoreLangford Wins Doc Weir Award
SF author David Langford has been announced as the winner of the Doc Weir Award for service to fandom. The award is for “someone in fandom who helps make things happen, contributing time, effort, ideas and support – often behind the scenes.”
The award was presented during Eastercon, March 24-April 1, 2024 in Telford, UK. Winners receive an engraved silver cup, which they keep until it is presented to the ...Read More
2024 TAFF Winner
Sarah Gulde has won the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) to travel from North America to Europe to attend Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures, defeating Vanessa Applegate.
There were 118 valid votes, 25 of which were submitted with no preference. The fund is currently administered by Michael Lowrey in North America and Sandra Bond in Europe. Worldcon will be held August 8-12, 2024 at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) ...Read More
LA Times Book Prize Finalists
Finalists have been announced for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, including categories and works of genre interest.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction (formerly the Bradbury Prize):- The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga)
- Whalefall, Daniel Kraus (MTV Books)
- Lone Women, Victor LaValle (One World)
- The Fragile Threads of Power, V.E. Schwab (Tor)
- Jewel Box: Stories, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)
Fiction:
- Same Bed Different Dreams
In Memoriam – Vernor Vinge
In Memoriam: Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge (02 October 1944 – 20 March 2024) was a five-time Hugo Award winning author, credited for introducing the technological singularity. He won Hugo Awards for his breakout novel, A Fire Upon the Deep, as well as A Deepness in the Sky, Rainbows End, Fast Times at Fairmont High, and The Cookie Monster.
Vinge popularized the idea of a technological “singularity” in 1983, by suggesting a point of no return in which humans could not turn back from the decisions of their created intelligences. For decades through today, humanity has continued to debate this point, and whether the human creation of computational abilities beyond their own would ensure the end of humankind itself. Vinge continued throughout his life to participate in technological and software causes, and, after his retirement from teaching, was the Writer Guest of Honor at the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention.
Former SFWA President John Scalzi notes, “I personally thank him for being kind to me in the early days of my career, and continuing to be kind as we all went along. I will miss him as a fan, and a fellow writer.”
Former SFWA President Cat Rambo says, “Vernor’s work was prescient, an extrapolation of the future that has informed science fiction overall. He and his vision will be sorely missed.”
Writer Cory Doctorow remembers, “Vernor wasn’t just a giant in the field, he was a kind and empathic mentor and an enthusiastic fan. My first introduction to him was at my first-ever signing, when I sat at a table with a magazine that had just published my first story, next to Vernor. No one wanted to get their magazine signed, but Vernor had a queue that stretched out of the hall. When it was done, Vernor turned to me and said, ‘You know, I *still* do events that no one shows up to. Any time even one person comes to your event, that’s a success.’ This is something I never, ever forgot. Vernor will always live on in my mind as both a towering figure and a kind, enthusiastic, down-to-earth fan and writer who loved the field and encouraged his nascent colleagues. I miss him already.”
Vernor Vinge lived 79 years.
The post In Memoriam – Vernor Vinge appeared first on SFWA.
SFWA Market Report – April 2024
Welcome to the April edition of the SFWA Market Report.
Please note: Inclusion of any venue in this report does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. Those markets included on this list pay at least $0.08/word USD in at least one category of fiction. This compilation is not exhaustive of all publication opportunities that pay our recommended minimum professional rate. Additionally, SFWA adheres to our DEI Policy when making selections for this report. We strongly encourage writers to closely review all contracts and consult our resources on best contract practices.
New Markets100-Foot Crow (Upcoming)
Aliens Among Us (SpeKulative Stories Anthology Series)
Impressions Anthology Series (Upcoming)
Moon Falling Short Stories
Solidarity Forever Zine
Sun Rising Short Stories
Train Tales
Analog Science Fiction & Fact
Apex Magazine
Asimov’s Science Fiction
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Cast of Wonders (Recently Opened)
Clarkesworld Magazine
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores (Recently Opened)
Crepuscular Magazine
Escape Pod
Factor Four Magazine
Fear of Clowns
FIYAH
Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter
Flash Fiction Online (FFO) (Originals) (Recently Opened)
Haven Spec Magazine (Recently Opened)
Islandia Journal
khoréo magazine (khoreo) (Recently Opened)
Lightspeed (Recently Opened)
Nature: Futures
Orion’s Belt
PseudoPod (Recently Opened)
Reckoning
Samovar
Solarpunk Magazine (Recently Opened)
Super Canucks: An anthology of small-town Canadian superheroes
The Cosmic Background
The Deadlands
Uncharted Magazine
Gamut Magazine
Ghoulish Tales
Metastellar (Originals)
Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea (Permanent)
PodCastle
Stranger (Permanent)
Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Urban Stories (Permanent)
Worlds of Possibility
100-Foot Crow‘s Submission window begins soon.
Apex Monthly Flash Fiction Contest‘s Submission Window begins and ends soon.
Cast of Wonders‘s “Banned Books” Theme ends soon.
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores‘s Submission Window ends soon.
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores‘s Submission Window begins and ends soon.
Fear of Clowns permanently closes soon.
FIYAH‘s “Disabilities” theme ends soon.
Flash Fiction Online (FFO) (Originals)‘s Submission Window ends soon.
Flash Fiction Online (FFO) (Originals)‘s Submission Window begins soon.
Haven Spec Magazine‘s Open Submission Window ends soon.
Haven Spec Magazine‘s Limited Demographic Submission Window: authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups begins soon.
Impressions Anthology Series‘s Submission Window begins and ends soon.
khoréo magazine (khoreo)‘s Submission Window: Flash Fiction Only ends soon.
Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners opens soon.
Moon Falling Short Stories permanently closes soon.
Solarpunk Magazine‘s Limited Demographic Submission Window: BIPOC authors, for the theme “Colorful Roots” ends soon.
Solidarity Forever Zine‘s Submission Window ends soon.
Super Canucks: An anthology of small-town Canadian superheroes permanently closes soon.
The SFWA Market Report is compiled by David Steffen, editor of Diabolical Plots and The Long List Anthology series, and administrator and co-founder of the Submission Grinder. You can support Diabolical Plots and the Submission Grinder on PayPal or Patreon or by buying books or merch.
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