Catch 22: announcing a new project

A new blog project!

Readers of speculative fiction like finding new authors and books. They may be looking for something a bit different, or something in a subgenre that’s not widely available. That’s why we read things online.

More and more authors are self-publishing their books. They either do this to keep out-of-contract material in circulation or they publish entirely new fiction. They like to let the world know, but a lot of conventional reviews sites are closed to them and it gets tiring to beat your own drum. They’re in a catch-22.

Readers may want to try out a few of these authors, but they don’t like the risk of buying something that is not up to scratch. Another catch-22.

This blog series will be about meeting the two in the middle.

For each post, I will give the stage to an author to talk about their self-published book. But, in order to be featured here:

– the author must have some publishing credentials or be seriously underway to getting them (published at least one story at pro level, be a member of SFWA, have attended intensive writing courses such as Clarion, or won awards).
– the book must have a cover
– it must be freely available on ebook sites such as Smashwords and the Kindle store
– it must be speculative fiction
– it must not be free

At this stage, I have no idea how many posts there will be, but I envisage posting no more frequently than once a week, and I’ll keep this open for as long as I think this is useful.

Want to write a 500-word post on your book? Reply below.

Because April is Aussie Author Month, I’ll giving first dibs on Aussie authors.

ASIM 45 released

You will probably know that I work for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. We have just released issue number 45, which is available in print and PDF from this site

If you like varied short stories, or want to submit to the magazine, go and buy an issue, or a subscription. We will also have a stand at Worldcon.

Table of Contents:

ASIM #45
Edited by … Jacob Edwards

Fiction
Shaping Lily … Deborah Kalin
Amor Vincit Omnia … K J Parker
Count (Baron) Dracula and Baron (Count) Frankenstein … Stephen Marley
Dead of the Day … Simon Messingham
They’d Love to Come and Meet Us, But They’re Only CGI … Tom Holt

Non-Fiction
Overlooked … Jacob Edwards
Who’s That Knocking? … Eric Frank Russell

Poetry
The Man Who Invented Time Travel … Graeme Garden

Hugo nominations ahoy!

I’ll be going to Worldcon, and have paid for my membership, and can vote and nominate for the Hugos.

I believe strongly that voting is private. I will not use my nomination to make a statement, and frankly I’m getting tired of people doing just that.

I haven’t been writing much recently, because I’ve been reading suggested stories and novellas I hadn’t yet read. My question is this: why do we see the same little group of works mentioned again and again by the same people who are mostly each other’s friends? Surely there is more to good fiction than that? Surely this is why voting is private?

I am involved with a magazine that’s eligible for best semiprozine. Does that mean I’ll nominate them? That’s private and should remain that way.

However, it’s impossible of course for any one person to have read everything, but I want to make sure everyone who nominates considers the widest possible set of candidates.

I’m tired of hearing about the same old, same old recommended by the same old. What else should we be considering? It must have been published in 2009. Put your suggestions in the comments below.