What's new in our corner of SFF

I want to start doing more blogging going forward, and less wasting time on media like Twitter (where I've recently joined the growing throng who have deleted their accounts). So after a long hiatus from Tarquin the Humble, it seems good to return with a quick roundup of some of what's new in "our" corner of the science fiction and fantasy (SFF) genre, whatever we're calling ourselves these days--the readers and writers who hope to enjoy speculative fiction as it used to be, focused on fun, inspiration, imagination, and the celebration of humanity, human achievement, human potential, and all that. You know, like the Sad Puppies, or PulpRev, or NobleBright. The Inklings, Chesterton, Dunsany, Merritt, John C. Wright, etc.

John C Wright has had a successful funder for a new series, STARQUEST, to be published by Superversive Press, and aimed at being a space opera of the sort that would not have disappointed Star Wars fans. AFAIK there's no projected publication date yet; if you know better, there's a comment section.

Out already are the first two books of Declan Finn's new Saint Tommy, NYPD series. Declan, of course, is the author of the Honor at Stake series, the Pius Man series, and wrote a terrific story in the underappreciated Tales of the Once and Future King , the anthology where (ahem) you can find one of my stories. Declan is also an editor in an upcoming Superversive Press anthology where another of my stories is slated to appear, which I'll be blogging more about later. So far I've only read the first Saint Tommy book, and I would recommend it heartily, as I did in my Amazon review.

If we really want to influence the course of SFF, how would we go about it? I recall reading in Frederick Pohl's autobiography that someone asked him a question around 1950 about how to get more or better writers for one of the pulp magazines, or something like that--sorry, my copy is in a box someplace--but what struck me was less the question than his answer, which for a leftist like Pohl was quite astute. He said simply, "Pay more." If I had a fortune at my fingers, that would be my strategy: I'd start about 20 monthly fiction magazines, priced low, that would each publish about 70,000 words each issue of fun, uplifting, religion-positive (or at least religion-neutral) SFF, mysteries, westerns, romances ... and I would pay the authors 15 cents a word.

That would do it, I think. Authors would look at that market, and instead of trying to get into Asimov's or Analog or F&SF would aim first at this market. The whole writing market would change as a result. Granted, I'd have to be ready to lose millions while the reading public shifts; but for those millions I'd get a wholesome change in the whole culture.

Could a market support fiction magazines paying that much? Actually, as a fascinating post at Emperor's Notepad reveals, the market once did. If you think the pulps underpaid the authors, go read that post. Actually go read it if you're interested in the history of SFF at all.

Misha Burnett, author of the Book of Lost Doors series, has been turning his attention to shorter fiction this year, and has a good blog post on his experiences also. I'm personally interested in short fiction markets because I have several ideas for short stories I want to get written in the near future; a few more short stories and then start adding some work on novels to the mix. Burnett also has a good story in the just-released (good bargain!) Utopia Pending anthology.

I'm going to have to do another roundup soon because there's so much going on in "our corner of SFF" (we really need to come up with a name).