2009 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine Nominees

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hugoThis week, we’re going to feature the 2009 Hugo Award Nominees for Best Semiprozine.

Best Semiprozine

The semiprozine category received 283 ballots, which is more ballots than Best Related Book, Best Graphic Story, Best Editor (long form), Best Fanzine, and Best Fan Artist received. It only received 5 fewer ballots than the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Fantasy

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fantasy2Fantasy Magazine’s first collection of fiction from their pages, Fantasy,  was published in 2007 by Prime Books.

Table of Contents:

“Goosegirl” by Margaret Ronald
“All the Growing Time” by Becca De La Rosa
“Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home” by Sarah Monette
“Shallot” by Samantha Henderson
“Bone Mother” by Maura McHugh
“The Greats Come A-Callin'” by Lisa Mantchev
“Zombie Lenin” by Ekaterina Sedia
“The Yeti Behind You” by Jeremy Tolbert
“The Salvation Game” by Amanda Downum
“Sugar” by Cat Rambo
“Brother of the Moon” by Holly Phillips

Descended from Darkness: Apex Magazine Vol. I

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Apex Book Company has announced that they have purchased the final two stories for DESCENDED FROM DARKNESS: APEX MAGAZINE VOL. I. It will contain 25 stories (approximately 90,000 words) and is scheduled for publication in early December.

Table of Contents:

“Hideki and the Gnomes” by Mark Lee Pearson
“Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens” by Peter M. Ball
“Waiting for Jakie” by Barbara Krasnoff
“The Last Science Fiction Writer” by Jamie Todd Rubin
“The Mind of a Pig” by Ekaterina Sedia
“The Puma” by Theodora Goss
“Dark Planet” by Lavie Tidhar
“Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands” by Gord Sellar
“On the Shadow Side of the Beast” by Ruth Nestvold
“Starter House” by Jason Palmer
“A Night at the Empire” by Joy Marchand
“Organ Nell” by Jennifer Pelland
“PLEBISCITE AV3X” by Jason Fischer
“Shaded Streams Run Clearest” by Geoffrey W. Cole
“A Splash of Color” by William T. Vandemark
“Behold: Skowt!” by Jason Heller
“Blakenjel” by Lavie Tidhar
“I Know an Old Lady” by Nathan Rosen
“The Limb Knitter” by Steven Francis Murphy
“Scenting the Dark” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“The Nature of Blood” by George Mann
“In the Seams” by Andrew C. Porter
“These Days” by Katherine Sparrow
“Post Apocalypse” by James Walton Langolf

The Edge of Propinquity

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Established: 2006edge
Editor: Jennifer Brozek

Overview:
The Edge of Propinquity is a series of short stories from four different authors in four different universes exploring the world that lurks just beneath the surface of everyday life. It is the world of the unexplained, supernatural, magic, horror, duty, responsibility, black humor, conspiracy, unknown heritage and power. Each month, a guest author story is included in the literary offering. New issues are published on the 15th of every month.

Each year we have a new theme. For 2009, the theme is ‘compromise.’ In order to be accepted for publication, stories must fit the webzine’s theme and setting. The setting is a modern day story focusing on a character deep within the hidden world that surrounds mundane society.

Awards and Recognition:
Editor and Preditors 2008 Readers’ Poll: 6th Place Fiction Magazine, 15th Place Publication Editor

Other Items of Interest:
We buy 12 guest author stories a year.

Website:
www.edgeofpropinquity.net

Information provided by Jennifer Brozek.

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show

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Established: 2005igms1
Publisher: Orson Scott Card
Editor: Edmund R. Schubert

Overview:
A blend of science fiction and fantasy, emphasizing good old fashioned storytelling; fully illustrated, and published online, bimonthly. Stories range from short-shorts to 20,000 word novelettes, and include hard and soft science fiction, as well as high, urban, and contemporary fantasy. Also publish interviews with established and up-and-coming authors. The stories require a password to access ($2.50 per issue); however the magazine’s website also includes free book, game, and movie reviews, writing advice, and other free monthly columns.

Awards and Recognition:
IGMS stories have been reprinted in various Year’s Best anthologies. In 2008 we saw, “The Tale of Junko and Sayuri” by Peter S. Beagle, which will be reprinted in Rich Horton’s Unplugged (best stories published on-line); “Silent As Dust” by James Maxey will be in Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Fantasy; and “From the Clay of His Heart” by John Brown will be in David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer’s Year’s Best Fantasy. Additionally, six stories published in IGMS in 2008 received Honorable Mentions in Gardner Dozois, and four more received HMs from Ellen Datlow. Previous year’s stories have been nominated for the Locus Award for Best Novella, and multiple stories have been on Locus’s Recommended Reading list and on the Top Ten list for the Million Writers Award.

Other Items of Interest:
Coming soon: IGMS forum.

Website:
www.InterGalacticMedicineShow.com or www.oscigms.com

Information provided by Edmund R. Schubert.

The Best of Abyss & Apex, Volume 1

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abyssapexbestCongratulations to Abyss & Apex and Hadley Rille Books on the release of The Best of Abyss & Apex, Volume One, edited by Wendy S. Delmater.

Table of Contents:

“The Night the Stars Sang Out My Name” by Ken Scholes
“Interfaith” by Lisa Mantchev
“Lament for Titan” by Robin M. Mayhall
“Godspeed, Inc.” by Vincent Miskell
“Night is My House” by Christopher Vera
“Metamorphoses in Amber” by Tony Pi
“City of Beautiful Nonsense” by Justin Howe
“New Spectacles” by Will McIntosh
“The Devil You Know” by Heidi Kneale
“Dear Yourself” by Yoon Ha Lee
“Nomad” by Karl Bunker
“Stories of the Alien Invasion” by Manek Mistry
“A Clockwork Break” by Shawn Scarber
“The Knife” by Jason L. Corner
“Hour by Hour” by Lindsay Duncan
“The Watchers” by Patricia Kelly
“In The Season Of Blue Storms” by Jude-Marie Green
“A Season With The Geese” by Rachel Swirsky
“Goddess” by Jon Hansen
“Quantum Semantics” by Norman Ball
“When Maxwell’s Demon Met Schrödinger’s Cat” by Jack Hillman
“Fading Away” by Jay Lake
“The Man Behind the Curtain” by Joseph Paul Haines
“God’s Guitar” by Justin Stanchfield
“Twelve Dancing Daughters” by Pam McNew
“Unicorn’s Rest” by Jill Knowles
“The First Stranger” by Kristine Ong Muslim
“The Sea a Deeper Black” by Tim Pratt
“Museum Beetles” by Simon Kewin
“Four-Dimensional Chess” by Robert Saunders
“Wikihistory” by Desmond Warzel

Black Gate

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Established: 2001blackgate
Editor: John O’Neill

Overview:
Black Gate publishes epic fantasy fiction at all lengths, including novel excerpts, as well as articles, and reviews. We’re looking for adventure-oriented fantasy fiction suitable for all ages, as long as it is well-written and original.

The magazine publishes all kinds of fantasy. Nobody wants to open up a magazine, especially a big magazine like Black Gate at 224 pages, and read only one kind of fantasy, so we try to cover everything. Do we have a focus? Yes – about 70% of what we publish is adventure-oriented fantasy. Does that mean a lot of sword fights in fantasy? No. It means that we’re looking for stories with a lot of dramatic tension. A good, rousing climax. Something based on the basic rules set down by Aristotle two thousand years ago, the three acts of drama. You’ve got to have an introduction, introduce your characters. You’ve got to get your characters to a point where your audience is convinced they cannot succeed. And then they have to succeed.

We want fiction with a more exotic setting. Most of what we see has a very familiar setting. Generic Middle Ages. It starts off in a tavern with a ranger and a bard and a half-orc having a conversation. I want more originality than that. You need to grab the reader on the very first page. It’s tough to do that with character, because character needs to be developed. It’s tough to do that with plot, because any plot that’s simple enough to grab me on the first page probably isn’t complex enough to maintain my attention. It’s easy to with the setting. If you’ve got an innovative, dynamic setting, then you’ve got my attention on the first page. You’ve got my reader’s attention, and that works.

Awards and Recognition:
“Awakening” by Judith Berman was nominated for the Nebula and several stories have been reprinted in Year’s Best anthologies.

Website:
www.blackgate.com

Information provided by John O’Neill

The storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2008

- Neil Clarke

storysouthThe storySouth Million Writers Award is an annual award that recognizes the best online fiction regardless of genre. The list of Notable Stories of 2008 has been posted and the final ballot of ten will be posted on May 15th.

The following notable stories from semiprozines are available free for your reading pleasure:

Abyss & Apex

Apex Magazine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Clarkesword Magazine

Fantasy Magazine

Strange Horizons

Beneath Ceaseless Skies was also singled out as runner up in the Best New Online Magazine category.

What you can do to help…

- Neil Clarke 1 Comment

I’ve recently received several emails from people who want to know how they can help. I’m repeating some of what I said here in hopes of interesting others to get involved.

If you want to help save the Semiprozine Hugo:

  • Be familiar with the facts and opinions involved. To understand why this is happening, it’s best to start with the videos from last year’s business meeting: technical debate and substantive debate.
    • If you disagree with their reasoning, please make sure you attend the business meeting at Anticipation in Montreal this August. Only people present at the business meeting can vote. (See this post for details about the meeting process.) If you can’t attend, but know someone who can, let them know what is going on. Send them here for details.
    • If you agree with the motion to eliminate the semiprozine Hugo as it stands, please talk to us or at least keep an eye on this site. We may not change one another’s minds, but a good discussion could help us at least understand one another. (Yes, that matters. For some reason, emotions seem to run high on this issue.)
    • Undecided? Glad to help, if we can.
  • Read. Check out semiprozines and let people know what you think of them. Even if we lose, you’re still doing something of value to the publications and their contributors.
  • Click on “Promotional Materials” in the menu bar above. You can use anything we put there on your website, Facebook account, or blog.

If you also want to help semiprozines in general:

  • Tell a friend. Buy or share a copy. Send them a link.
  • Submit semiprozine websites (individual stories/articles when online) to sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc.
  • Buy a subscription or make a donation.
  • Review new issues on your blog or link to their websites in your sidebar.
  • Authors: Mention them during appropriate panels at conventions.
  • Authors: Submit a story.
  • Offer to write an article for this site or comment on what others say.
  • Offer to take postcards or flyers from your favorite semiprozines to a convention.

There are dozens of other things you can do as well. Feel free to toss in other ideas in the comments to this post. For that matter, let us know what things we (semiprozines or this site) can do to help spread the word as well.