I learned yesterday that we made the top 5 bestseller’s list at Clarkesworld Books for the week ending April 23. May this be only the first of many bestseller lists!
In other news, the Spring issue should be here on May 19th. We’ll be releasing the cover and table of contents and taking orders soon.
A week or so ago, Sarah (our newest slush monkey: hi, Sarah!) and I headed to Seattle for Norwescon. We had a really great time, but it took days for me to feel well-rested again! Hence the belated and brief trip report.
The highlight was hanging out with Ken Scholes, author of Action Team-Ups Number Thirty-Seven in the Winter 2006 issue, and our first Featured Author. He is a funny funny guy, and he reads well. I got to hear him read two stories: one about a golden Mayan yak, and one about monkeys. I am pretty fond of monkeys but even after you adjust for my biases, that’s a really good story.
I went to hear Jay Lake read, too. He’s the author of The Black Back-Lands, a cheery story about pumpkins from our Winter 2006 issue.
Perhaps my favorite reading was Ray Vukcevich’s upcoming Night Train story. If you haven’t read Ray yet, you should - he’s amazing.
Lots of other readings and panels and parties and new friends. I hung out with Bridget Coila and Miki Garrison a lot in the wee hours of the morning, helping Bridget get her story right and discussing superpowers. There was also a lot of chicken-related foolishness and dancing.
Good times.
We’re now out of Winter 2006 print copies! Time for a celebratory beverage.
If you’re interested in purchasing a print copy, check with ClarkesWorld Books or Sam Weller’s Books - they might still have copies. You can find their contact information on our Where To Buy page. We’ll also continue to sell the electronic edition - so there’s no need to miss out.
Back from Norwescon now, and still awfully tired. I’ll try to say more about that this weekend. I really had a great time.
New content! I’ve posted a new audio file in our Reader’s Bonus section. Ken Scholes reads his story Action Team-Ups Number Thirty Seven, the first story in our Winter 2006 issue. If you’ve purchased a copy of the Winter 2006 issue, check it out! (And if you haven’t - why not? We still have a few print copies left, and the electronic edition is always available.)
The Winter Issue is at the printer’s now. We expect to be able to put copies in the mail the first week in May. We’ll be posting the table of contents and cover art shortly - stay tuned!
Norwescon Beth is going to be at Norwescon this weekend (April 13-16). If you’re there, please introduce yourself!
Submissions Thanks to everyone who has submitted their work to us recently - reading the stories sent to us is my favorite part of this gig.
We are chock full of fairy tale retellings right now - the odds of us accepting any more are not very good. Your fairy tale retellings will probably be more successful if you send them to us this fall, when we are not so glutted.
On the subject of retellings, we are most interested the retellings that bring new twists to familiar tales. Don’t just bring the original to life - change it. Warp it in your own way. Do something special with it.
Keep the submissions coming!
-Beth
If I had seen Shimmer in a store, I would have snatched it up right away, because I am a book snob, and, to my shame, am too easily seduced by gorgeous cover art. However, had I indeed picked up a copy in a fit of unmitigated passion for its prettiness, I would not have been disappointed; this is an excellent magazine with high editorial standards, a tight, sure vision of what it seeks to accomplish, and a degree of success with that goal that’s decidedly gratifying.