SFWA

This has been in discussion for a while now; I’m glad we’ve finally moved ahead on the project of making the Nebula Suggested Reading List public. The intent is to build awareness of the awards, help drive participation by members, and help the genre by providing a solid list of notable material from the year. Authors do not need to be SFWA members to make their work eligible.

Here’s the official press release about it:

As part of its mission to serve professional genre writers, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is pleased to announce that for the first time they’ll be making the Nebula Suggested Reading List public. The list is compiled from the suggestions of SFWA members and is available on the SFWA website at http://www.sfwa.org/forum/index.php?app=readinglist. All SFWA members are eligible to add items to the list throughout the year, providing a list of notable speculative novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, and dramatic works from the year. Inclusion on the list is not an endorsement by SFWA.

From November 15 through February 15, 2016, Active and Associate members will be able to make actual Nebula nominations as well as nominations for the Bradbury and Andre Norton Award. The votes will be tallied and the final ballot will be released on or before February 20 for voting on by the membership. Winners will be announced at the Nebula Awards Weekend, to be held May 12 -15 at the Palmer House in Chicago. The banquet and awards ceremony will take place the evening of May 14. Other awards presented at the weekend include the Grand Master Award, the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award, and the Solstice Award.

Nebula Commissioner Terra LeMay says “Even before I became the Nebula Awards Commissioner, I’ve always thought the Suggested Reading List was one of the best resources I’ve ever encountered for finding the most exciting new science fiction and fantasy works each year. It is a great privilege to have helped bring this list out to the public where any reader may benefit from it.”

SFWA President Cat Rambo notes, “Every year there’s plenty of terrific stuff to read. I hope that providing a list that draws upon the wide spectrum of tastes represented in the SFWA’s membership of professional writers helps up the discoverability of great writing that should be considered for awards. For me the Nebula Awards remain the most meaningful in the field, chosen by writers working in the genre, who understand and appreciate craft and who possess an understanding of the works that have shaped our field. SFWA has had a productive year in 2015, and it’s a pleasure to share yet another result of our members working together.”

For more information please email pr@sfwa.org.

Recent high notes for SFWA include the Accessibility Checklist being made available to the public, an event Lee Martindale blogged eloquently about. Several conventions have expressed interest in the checklist already and we’ve gotten some useful feedback on how to update them to make them even more useful.

Stick with us; there’s even more cool stuff coming in 2016.

Well, happy birthday to me. I’ve managed five decades and a bit so far; here’s to many more.

Man, this has been a shitty year in many ways, and one full of life lessons that apparently the universe felt were overdue. Some of those I’m still grappling with. I am so freaking behind on this book it’s not even funny, but thank god for both the wonderful time spent writing in California this summer and the kick in the ass that NaNoWriMo has administered. I’m feeling hopeful about that again and making steady progress.

At the same time among the bumps there’s been plenty of bright spots. Among them my first novel, my first appearance in a Year’s Best collection (edited by Joe Hill, no less), and my first acceptance to longtime goal Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (I have been submitting there for over a decade now). I’ve had nineteen original publications come out since my last birthday, and twelve are currently forthcoming, including a team-up with Mike Resnick. Rachel Swirsky and I are working on some projects together, which is terrific fun. I have a good half dozen stories already spoken for. My collaboration with Bud Sparhawk finally got accepted so he can stop nagging me about why it hasn’t sold yet.

And I’m somehow SFWA President, which is surreal, but also cool because we’ve been getting shit done this year, including admitting independent and small press-published writers, getting a model magazine contract up, reinstating the member electronic newsletter, expanding SFWA’s offerings for self promotion, and even got a cool infographic that answers to all the times someone whinges about how SFWA doesn’t do anything. Not to mention the recent Accessibility Checklist. Nothing speaks like success, and we’ve had some solid ones this year, in my opinion, and I love this ass-kicking team. It’s freaky though, when there’s moments like talking to Harlan Ellison on the phone or getting e-mail from Robert Silverberg.

We moved! Which was awesome but a pain in the butt when it was going on. I love the new place so much; West Seattle feels like home already in a way that Redmond never did. We’re not quuuuuuite moved in all the way; at least, we’re still waiting on a couple of pieces of furniture before everything will feel squared away. And my brother Lowell came out for his first visit to Seattle, but hopefully not the last. I made lots of new friends, and had good times with existing ones, including my beloved Caren Gussoff and Sandra Odell.

As always I picked up some new domestic skills in my endless exploration; this year included how to brew kombucha, how to make Greek yogurt, and the amazing nature of browned butter, which remains me that I co-edited a cookbook with Fran Wilde whose contributors included some pretty august names. Holy smokes was that project a pain in the ass but we survived.

And there’s plenty to look forward to in the next twelve months. Another two-sided collection, hurray! Hearts of Tabat forthcoming, and hopefully Exiles of Tabat along with it. The usual plethora of stories. Continuing to expand the online school (I’ve got some very cool content coming up in 2016.)

So here’s to a lovely birthday weekend that will include Indian buffet and thrift shopping and either ordering myself a pair of shoes I’ve been wanting or pulling a couple of wants from my Amazon wishlist. 😉

One of the things we’ve been working on behind the scenes is getting submission guidelines for both the SFWA Bulletin and the SFWA Blog up. The former pays ten cents a word, the latter six cents. They’re looking for much the same sort of content, things of interest to professional genre writers; blog articles are a bit shorter and more informal.

Here are the SFWA Bulletin guidelines.

Here are the SFWA blog guidelines.

You do not have to be a SFWA member to write for either publication. I’ve done a number of pieces for both, most recently a series on teaching workshops that finishes up soon.

If you’re not familiar with the blog, it runs a number of articles that are useful, including tips on tools, new markets, industry news, and writing advice.

#sfwapro

This morning the question was raised for me as to whether or not SFWA will hold a business meeting at World Fantasy if they do not produce a policy for handling harassment that matches up with the SFWA guidelines. (I myself am not attending WFC this year for reasons that have no connection to any of this; Susan Forest, the current SFWA Secretary, will be running the meeting if it is held.)

There’s been a lot of controversy about the current WFC policy and my understanding is that they are looking at amending it right now. So my answer depends very much on how it’s amended, actually. If the policy doesn’t match up with ours sufficiently to keep SFWA members and their families able to enjoy the convention and participate freely, we may not have the business meeting. That remains to be seen.

The SFWA guidelines, which have been around since 2011, are here. I’m not part of the group that produced them, but I’d like to go through and explain why I find ours adequate in a way the existing WFC policy is not.

I’m in the process of assembling a SFWA resource that lists what, exactly, SFWA provides its members, which to my mind is a pretty substantial list. I tried to break it down according to the SFWA Mission, “SFWA informs, supports, promotes, defends and advocates for its members.” That’s a broad umbrella but the organization’s been around for fifty years, and it lives up to that mission.

It seemed to me it’d be useful to have something that people can point to. I’ve added a couple of things suggested on the SFWA discussion forums, but I know I’m overlooking some. If you have suggestions, glad to hear them.

What SFWA Membership Offers

Informs you by:

• Hosting the website and discussion forums
• Distributing the Forum, SFWA’s members-only publication
• Publishing The Bulletin, SFWA’s public publication
• Providing model contracts and other useful information on the SFWA blog
• Providing sample contracts for SFWA qualifying and other markets in the members-only section of the website
• Maintaining the SFWA Member directory
• Supplying a wealth of reading in the SFWA Fiction forums, as well as some guidance from fellow members in the Nebula Recommended Reading List.

Supports you by:

• Administering the The Emergency Medical Fund
• Providing networking opportunities, like the annual NY reception, events at conventions, and the Nebula Weekend
• Working to support diversity and anti-harassment efforts
• Supplying and stocking the SWFA suite at Worldcon
• Providing a SFWA table or booth at events like the Baltimore Booth Festival where members can distribute promotional material, sell and sign books, and participate in programming
• Letting you recommend, nominate, and vote for the Nebula and Norton Awards
• Providing a community of fellow professional genre writers
• Presenting an opportunity for interesting and useful volunteer work

Promotes you by:

• Offering the Featured Author and Featured Book slots on the SFWA website, which has over 50,000 unique visitors each month
• Providing the SFWA Authors Twitter feed, which can automatically tweet about your blog posts
• Administering the SFWA Youtube channel, with playlists that include member’s book trailers
• Allowing you to post your fiction for Nebula consideration on the private discussion forums
• Publishing the SFWA New Release newsletter
• Supplying access to members interested in co-promotion
• Funding the various SFWA reading series
• Curating a member Kickstarter page

Defends you by:

• Providing Griefcom
• Hosting Writer Beware
• Making sure you are aware of potential issues
• Supplying the opportunity to request advice/information from your peers
• Administering the Estate Project
• Organizing The Legal Fund

Advocates for you by:

• Making recommendations to government on copyright and other publishing issues
• Providing a presence at STEM events
• Raising the profile of the genre with the yearly Nebula, Norton, Solstice, and Grandmaster Awards

For once I’m going to try to write a con wrap-up while it’s still (relatively) fresh in my head.

Caren and I arrived Wednesday evening and checked into the Davenport Grand, which was the same hotel as the SFWA Suite. We headed up there immediately after dumping up luggage to consult with SFWA Volunteers Extraordinaire Cat Greenberg and Terra LeMay. Heading out for food, we ran into the inimitable Ken Scholes, which was unfortunately just about the only time I saw him other than in passing at the con. After that I hung out in the SFWA suite for a while but we went to bed pretty early, since I knew it was going to be a long convention.

Thursday morning started with early AM swapping back and forth of mail about SFWA stuff and then I wandered down to Stroll with the Stars, where I saw some of my very favorite people in the world and met lots of new friends. Spokane was beautiful along the river — lots of visual interest and pretty things. Stu Segal led the amble while David Gerrold, Vonda N, McIntyre, Lawrence M. Schoen, Stphen Segal and Tom Smith were fellow walkers.

After that I went off to the board meeting. Thank you for coming, Jenn Brozek, Susan Forrest, Matthew Johnson and Susan Pinkser, as well as to Kate Baker and Bud Sparhawk for being willing to attend virtually. While the SFWA board meets sort of continuously in the form of a discussion forum on the SFWA boards, it’s nice to meet face to face and get to talk about things quickly. Because there wasn’t a full assemblage of us, we just did it in one of the SFWA suite rooms, which seemed to work well and saved us money, which I always approve of. I had to duck out of the meeting and go off and talk to the con folks after lunchtime about a table issue (this was not the smoothest con we’ve ever had, particularly with hotel difficulties, but we muddled through.)

It feels like I have been here a shorter time than I have, but it’s been great and I have gotten so much work done. I’m filling in gaps on Hearts of Tabat right now and happy with its progress. I wrote a bunch of stories and one poem. I walked on the beach and among the redwoods, and I got to spend time petting a bunny, and watching deer. I saw a grey fox and a barn owl swooping along late at night and covey after covey of quail, including a mama with six bitty little perfect quail running as fast as they could to keep up with her. Tonight I’ll lie out under the stars and watch the Perseid meteor shower from probably the best vantage point I’ll have in my life.

I spend literally less than a day at home, then get a haircut in the morning and head off to Sasquan in Spokane with my bestie, the fabulous Caren Gussoff. I’ve posted my convention schedule here, and if you’re wondering what sort of SFWA events I’ll be attending, here’s a video about that:

One of the things I’ve been trying to do in recent years is look more at the history of the field. In the thrift store, I love finding F&SF anthologies from the 60s and 70s, in part because it’s interesting to see which names kept on going, which faded away. Often the most riveting story in a collection is from a writer whose name I’ll only see that once. In reading anthologies, I find that often one of the most revelatory parts is the introduction, less for anything said about the stories than for clues to the publishing climate at the time.

Recently in the thrift shop, I picked up a couple of paperbacks: two volumes worth of early Hugo winners, edited by Isaac Asimov. Of course I bought them. How could I not, in light of recent controversies? They’ve been an interesting read – particularly when I’m reading the first Nebula volume at the same time — and sometimes illuminating. If you’d like to read the book I pulled these from, it is More Stories From the Hugo Winners Vol II, published in 1971.

I certainly have realized that despite my admiration for Asimov’s work, the good doctor and I would probably have not gotten along particularly well — at least from my point of view. Every intro to a story seems much more about Asimov than either story or writer, in an egocentric way that seems a little charming but I’m betting was pretty grating to be around at times. (I by no means claim that Asimov is the only SF writer to exhibit this trait.) But Mr. Asimov is not here to defend himself and was very much a product of his time, so I’ll leave it at that.

Because I found it striking, this is taken from his introduction to Anne McCaffrey’s “Weyr Search”. It’s a glimpse into the social mores of that time (the early 70s) that’s interesting. I have refrained from adding any inline commentary. As you read, you may admire my restraint in that.

One of the questions that’s come up repeatedly as a result of the recent vote to admit indie and small press published members: why join at all?

I joined as soon as I was qualified because Ann Crispin told me to, and she was a smart lady. And here’s a list of the things SFWA has provided me. I am a professional writer. I make a modest amount off writing and teaching, and have a spouse who takes care of a lot of the bills plus the health care. My hope is to continue to grow my writing income. With that in mind, here’s what I get for my dues.

What SFWA offers me:

• The Grievance Committee. I’ve benefited from mentioning its name in the past when trying to shake payment from a magazine publisher, for example.
• The Emergency Medical Fund, which I personally haven’t had occasion to use, but am happy to know exists.
  Similarly, the Legal Fund.
• The SFWA suite at conventions, both for food and drink as well as for the chance to hang with other members and enjoy their conversation. I was delighted to have a chance to sit for an hour and talk with Jacqueline Lichtenburg and Jean Lorrah at Worldcon, for example.
• Knowledge resources on the website, such as the document on formatting manuscripts or Myrtle the Manuscript.
• Knowledge resources in the Bulletin, such as recent pieces on what conventions might be useful to me, how teaching and writing intersect, and how to write (and publish) serial fiction.
• A chance to participate in book festivals and other events, such as the Baltimore Book Festival or the ALA.
• The PNW SFWA Reading series, at which I’ve been both reader and frequent attendant.
• Opportunities to publicize books through the SFWA web site, Youtube stream, and Twitter stream.
• A sense of tradition, of belonging to an institution founded by and which has included (and continues to include) so many of my early influences and heroes in its ranks.
• The Nebulas and the East Coast Mill and Swill.
• Free fiction! Both the Nebula Voter packet and what gets uploaded to the boards.
• New friends who are writers, and plenty of them. I’ve deepened earlier friendships with others and even seen some of my students enter SFWA, which delights me.
• A opportunity for meaningful, interesting, and informative volunteer work. I’ve served on the Nebula Short Fiction and Norton juries, worked with the Copyright Committee, written for the Bulletin and the SFWA blog, sat at the SFWA table at conventions, helped moderate the discussion boards, and now serve on the SFWA Board. All of that has been rewarding and engaging.

Speaking of that last item, that’s another big plus for me of SFWA: a community that I see evolving on the discussion boards on a daily basis. I see members doing all of the following:

• Celebrating each other’s victories and small joys
• Promoting each other and organizational efforts
• Teaming up on promotional efforts
• Sharing knowledge, encouragement, and advice
• Grieving when a member dies and supporting other members through illness or loss
• Being silly together at some moments and serious at others
• Discussing the issues affecting writers, the industry, and SFWA overall

So there’s my two cents worth. To my mind and as someone who’s been writing professionally (fiction and freelance) for a decade, SFWA offers me quite a bit. People are welcome to quote this post elsewhere as long as they include attribution.

I encourage questions — it’s how we’re compiling a FAQ — so ask away!

Here’s some stuff that’s come up:

One thing that is part of the confusion is that we have 2 entities, the SFWA Qualifying Markets list, where a publication is an auto-accept and then pretty much other markets that aren’t on that list but which meet the 6 cents a word requirement. Right now we’re looking at those on a case by case basis and trying to figure out good rules.

At the same time, crowd-funded source is eligible if it pays AND the book is delivered (because we thought that was important.) To get on the SFWA Qualifying Markets list, you must meet certain criteria, including having been around a while. On the other hand, you can qualify with a market that is not on the list, you just have to show us it’s legit.

Net versus gross: mainly we’re trying to weed anyone out who’s trying to buy their way in by spending a lot on the selfpub equivalent of a vanity press. We know there are problems with this approach; I personally hope it will be dispensed with, but that remains to be seen.

A single work: People have pointed out that for some people it’s about writing quantity, and wonder if the sales amount couldn’t be split between multiple books. It’s certainly worth discussing, but I dunno. I would need a little more convincing.

Somewhat predictably, many people think the dollar figure should be different although mileage varies as to which direction that goes in.

I’ve been watching some new members come in, and others re-join because they’re happy about this direction. I’d be among the first to apologize for it taking so long, but I will point out that we will look at crowdfunded money where other organizations, as far as I do, don’t yet.

I was thinking about doing a Google Hangout on Air to answer questions, is that something people might be interested in?