Author: sdramsey

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“Our Villains, Ourselves: On SF, Villainy, and… Margaret Atwood?”

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SF Canada Member Greg Bechtel’s semi-autobiographical essay on Margaret Atwood, Sad/Rabid Puppies, and villainy appears in Issue 5 of the grad student journal The Word Hoard. The essay examines SF writers’ sense of ourselves as noble “outsiders” to mainstream culture and literature, and how our aggrieved frustration with this perceived outsider-ness–while not entirely imaginary–may also reveal something about us as both SF writers and an SF community. In it, he argues that our choice of imaginary villains (and how we respond to them), may reveal more about us than we might like to admit, and that it may be productive–even necessary–to recognize the ways that even our “real world” villains are often largely imaginary.

You can download the .pdf of Greg’s essay at this link.

To download and read other articles or the entirety of this issue of The Word Hoard, visit the website here.

Greg is currently busy reviewing submissions for Tesseracts Twenty-One with co-editor Rhonda Parrish. You can find his website at http://gregbechtel.ca/.

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Tesseracts 20 – Compostela

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SF Canada is well-represented in the newest Tesseracts (the twentieth in the series), published by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy. Compostela is edited by Spider Robinson (an SF Canada member) and James Alan Gardner, and includes stories and/or poetry by SFC members Chantal Boudreau, Rhea Rose, Robert Dawson, Nancy S.M. Waldman, Leslie Brown, Linda DeMeulemeester, and Matthew Hughes.

From the publisher’s website: The stories contained within the pages of Compostela are a reflection of the world we live in today; where science produces both wonders and horrors; and will leave us with a future that undoubtedly will contain both. Journeys to the stars may be exhilarating and mind-expanding, but they can also be dangerous or even tragic. SF has always reflected that wide range of possibilities.

About the title of this anthology:
For more than 1,000 years, Santiago de Compostela (Compostela means “field of stars”) has attracted pilgrims to walk to the cathedral that holds St. James the apostle’s relics. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time.

Compostela is currently available to order on Amazon Kindle, and will release in other ebook formats and in print in the fall of this year.

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Short Fiction from Dale L. Sproule

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SF Canada member Dale L. Sproule announces two recent short fiction publications. His story “Ladder of Ashes,” a ghost story set in an old British settlement in Myanmar, appears in the Spring 2017 issue of The Colored Lens. A previous story of Dale’s, “Along Dominion Road,” appeared in issue #17 of the magazine and is free to read on the site, here.

Another recent story, “The Birthing Blades,” co-written with Sally McBride, appears in the anthology Unbound 2 – Changed Worlds. The anthology is available on Amazon.

Keep up with Dale’s news on his website at http://dlsproule.blogspot.ca/.

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“Water Is…” Top Pick

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SF Canada member Nina Munteau‘s book, Water Is… was chosen by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times as her #1 choice in “The Year in Reading” for 2016. You can find her comments here. Water Canada has also recommended the book as a summer read.

Nina talks more about The Meaning of Writing and Water in this video interview.

In other news, Nina’s short story, “Fingal’s Cave,” was recently published in the Megan Survival Anthology series.

After crash landing on a hostile jungle planet, rebel-scientist Izumi sets out against orders on a hunch that may ultimately save her fellow survivors but risk everything. Still haunted by the meaningless death of her family, Izumi’s intrepid search for life becomes an existential journey of the heart that explores how we connect and communicate—with one another and the universe—a journey intimately connected with water.

You can find “Fingal’s Cave” on Smashwords, and Water Is… and Nina’s other titles on Amazon.ca.

Finally, Nina will be editing an anthology for Reality Skimming Press based around the theme of water. “Stories must use real or realistic science based on the theme of water in the near future (50-100 years from 2017). Your story must be considered optimistic—this does not mean that bad things can’t happen in your story, but there has to be an optimistic twist and an optimistic ending (a happy ending or hope for a happy ending).” Submissions for the anthology are currently open, and full submission guidelines can be found here.

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2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide

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Today marks the launch of a Kickstarter for the 2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide from Dreaming Robot Press, which includes stories by SF Canada members Sherry D. Ramsey (“Station Run”), and Holly Schofield (“Fluffy Pets are Best”). This marks the fourth volume in this series, which aims to bring diverse and accessible science fiction to young readers. Last year’s volume was named an SFWA Star Project, and the series has received wide acclaim since its inception. Stories come from authors around the world.

Well-known SF writer Nancy Kress has contributed a story to each volume, and has said of the project: “When I was a child, the school library had a Girls’ Section, which included fairy tales, and a Boys’ Section, which included all the science fiction. Things have changed, of course, but not enough. There is a strong need for science fiction, as opposed to fantasy, aimed at girls, especially in the middle grades. This anthology is an important contribution to the effort to fill that need, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.”~ Nancy Kress, winner of six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award

The anthology will be available in print and ebook formats, and as well as claiming your own copy, pledge options include ways to sponsor copies for libraries. Find out more on the book’s Kickstarter page. The campaign runs until the second week in July, but extra perks are available to sponsors who pledge early!

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EssentialEdits.ca

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SF Canada member Robert Runté has recently launched a new companion editing company to SFeditor.ca: EssentialEdits.ca.

Essential Edits is a collective of several editors who share work so that we can better match the client and their project to the right editor. Essential Edits offers services for general fiction, speculative fiction, and memoir, as well as coaching services to help writers identify issues that are slowing their writing progress or preventing them from finishing work. In addition, Essential Edits offers help in the non-fiction department, with theses or dissertations, non-fiction books, journal submissions, and research writing.

Teachers and instructors can also access assistance with test construction and editing as well as teaching and assessment help.