I Have The Power!

I was looking at my stats when I discovered that some people found my blog by searching for “xkcd kansas politician”.  I googled myself and found that I am #2 for that (without quotes). #1 is the Digg article.

Um, when did this particular blog get that much juice?  ABW has a high rank, I know, but this thing?  I’m boggled.

(Sidenote.  When I posted about that guy around noon yesterday he had about 1400 donors tallied.  When I checked at 1am, he had 2,894.  Wow.  Of course, this was more to do with getting links on BoingBoing and the front page of Digg than anything I did.  I just find it amazing that the internet brought in double the donors in 12 hours.  Awesome.)

I also seem to be high up in rank for any search containing the words william, sanders, rejection, and helix in combination.  At least one person searched for “pantiwadulous definition”.  Unfortunately, s/he did not find one here.

Since I now have all this power, I will use it in evil ways.  Since now this post will bring in hits from all that, I will nefariously redirect you to Fantasy magazine content this week.

We have a great story up: Watermark.  Really one of my favorite stories I’ve read all year in any venue.  You can also hear the podcast.  The author, Michael Greenhut, is answering questions about his story here.

For more fictiony goodness, check out the first chapter of Ekaterina Sedia’s amazing new book, The Alchemy of Stone.  It’s steampunky.

In reviews, my bud Mercurio D Rivera liked WALL-E. Plus we have an article about a fantasy game princess that isn’t a stereotype (those be my favorite).

As I mentioned, i have a column up about the Doctor and how he’s a jerk.  Some interesting discussion going on there (please contribute to it!).  And check out this video of firespinners, because firespinning is cool.

No Blog for a Beer this week, but you can talk about how much you love our new design.

That’s it.  Have a pandiwadulous weekend everyone!

Election Fundraising XKCD Style

Sean Tevis is running for state representative in Kansas because his current rep is, well, kinda awful (in his opinion, at least).  He’s not a rich guy, a career politician, or someone with name recognition.  He’s just a dude who wants to make a difference… who also happens to be funny as hell.  Read this comic he drew, XKCD style, about why you should donate to his campaign.  He needs $26,000 by July 28th.  If 3000 people donate $8.34, he’ll reach that goal.  I just donated $16.68 because that comic is made of win, and so is Sean.

Just read the comic.  I dare you not to smile and, when you reach the end, to maybe plunk 8 bucks and change in his donation box.

(Via Jay Lake)

Fantasy Magazine Launches New Website

On July 17, 2008 Prime Books announces the launch of the new Fantasy Magazine website.

The site design is by Matthew Kressel of Senses Five Press, which publishes Sybil’s Garage and Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy.   The artwork is by New Zealand-based artist Sanjana Baijnath.

Fantasy Magazine’s authors have included some of the best new and established voices in the fantasy genre, including Stephanie Campisi, Paul Jessup, Richard Parks, Holly Phillips, Ursula Pflug, Ekaterina Sedia, Rachel Swirsky, Lavie Tidhar, Catherynne M. Valente, and Jeff VanderMeer. The magazine publishes a new story each Monday, with commentary, interviews, reviews, and essays appearing throughout the week along with Friday’s Blog for a Beer! feature, which allows readers to unleash their creative talents. The new site will add audio and video content, previews of Prime and Juno books and new contests.

“Fantasy Magazine … [has] already shouldered their way into the ranks of the most prominent fiction e-zines on the internet”—The Year’s Best Science Fiction

“Fantasy Magazine is one of the most promising new fiction publications to launch in the field in years.”—Locus

“We hope to continue bringing innovative and enthralling fiction and features to fantasy lovers across the globe . . . and this is just the first step in many to come. Keep reading Fantasy Magazine!” —Cat Rambo and Sean Wallace

The magazine’s staff includes co-editors Cat Rambo and Sean Wallace, managing editor K. Tempest Bradford, and intern Nivair H. Gabriel.

Upcoming content in 2008 includes works from authors such as Jim Hines, J. MDermott, Ursula Pflug, and Erzebet Yellowboy. This week’s story is “Watermark” by Michael Greenhut, accompanied by an audio version read by Cat Rambo.

On a personal note, I’d really like to thank Matt for the hard work he did setting up the site.  That’s a custom theme you see, which he made from the ground up.  He incorporated all of the elements I asked for and offered suggestions and improvements of his own.  I can’t recommend (or thank) Matt enough.  It’s really beautiful work and he’s a hell of a programmer.

I’m also super, super pleased that Sanjana allowed us to use her art.  I fell in love with that image the first time I saw it.

Apropos

From Ursula K. LeGuin’s website:

A copy of a rejection letter my agent received for the first book of mine she handled. Because I am a very kind person, I have omitted the name of the Editor and his publishing house. This is included to cheer up anybody who just got a rejection letter. Hang in there!

Rejection! In full.

Hat tip: Nick Mamatas.  Who else?

I’m getting more famous by the day

Dave Truesdale is a wee upset at me:

Tempest is angry at everyone and everything that doesn’t fit her narrow worldview. And everyone who disagrees with her on even the tiniest little thing she either labels (nay, screams is) a racist, a sexist, or a homophobe; and yet she labels this forum as full of racists, sexists, and homophobes, and doesn’t see how William can stand it over here. Talk about the utter arrogance and self-righteousness of her non-stop rants! She’d find sexism or racism in a blade of grass, for crying out loud. Rush was right after all, about her sort. I didn’t use to think so, but I’ve seen her type prove Rush right time after time after time. Whew.

Someone needs an emergency bitch-suction operation.

Oh yes he did.

The only good thing I can say is that at least he says things about me in public forums where I’m free to disagree or just laugh at him appropriately.  At least he gets as close to saying things to my face as he can without actually being in the same room as me. It’s super rare to find someone brave enough to actually have a face-to-face conversation with me about any issues I talk about often (race, sexism, etc.).

But I find it incredibly funny that he responded to my annoyance with the level of nasty on the boards by being nasty about me.

Dear People On The Asimov’s Boards and Elsewhere…

…who are quibbling about whether it was legal for Luke to post that rejection letter or any rejection letter, let’s get one thing straight: No one would be whining and crying about this had he published a rejection that said:

Dear Luke,

Your writing is very good, but this story isn’t right for our market. The spec element isn’t strong enough for our tastes, but you might do well to try more literary markets because I feel the story has a lot of merit.

The only reason this is upsetting to Sanders and, I assume, certain other editors, is because that letter revealed bigotry. Bigotry that Sanders assumed Luke shared with him (and he might have) and thus he felt safe expressing it. It seems to me that the only reason this would worry any other editor is if they realized that rejections they’d sent out might reveal their own bigotry in some way. That would scare the shit out of me, too. Know what? I can’t feel sympathy for you over it, though.

We can spend the next week quibbling over whether or not rejections are private correspondence and whether it’s unprofessional to post one to public or private spaces. (I don’t believe it is based on the fact that, since I’ve been a writer, writers have shared rejections, either in whole or in part, in forums relating to writing. Also, I agree with those who’ve said that once a person says truly despicable, racist things in letter form, professionalism is already off the table.) It may very well be true that, from a legal standpoint, Luke didn’t have the right to do what he did. But, again, would anyone care if it hadn’t revealed what it did?

The fact that Gardner Dozois brought up the specter of a lawsuit makes me wonder what’s hiding in his rejection letters. Why else try to scare Luke in that way? Maybe it’s just general fear on the Internet that people of his ilk seem to have. Either way, it makes me extremely dubious about Gardner and anyone else who focuses solely on the whole private/public correspondence bit and not the raging bigotry. As Celia said elsewhere, this is similar to what got David Moles in trouble with SFWA. The people in question couldn’t defend their (terribly disappointing and, in some cases, disgusting) words and opinions, so they fell back on whining about privacy.

I’ve made a man of straw, would someone like to use it?

ETA: It’s been brought to my attention in comments that Sheila Williams was the first to bring up lawsuits. I mistakenly thought it was Gardner mainly because Luke mentioned him, not Sheila. That still makes me sad, because I am still annoyed with all this focus on whether it was okay for Luke to post the rejection instead of the important issue: Sanders’ bigotry.

I also hear that people are mad because I’ve cast aspersions at (on?) Gardner Dozois. I elaborated in the comments, but basically I stand by my assertion that I am extremely wary of people who jump to “How horrible of Luke to post that letter” and not “How horrible of Sanders to say such things!” Those who do not speak out against bigotry usually do so because they are afraid/intimidated into not doing so by their peers or because they just don’t see the bigotry as being all that bad. (There are other reasons, too, these are just the ones I come across most of the time.) I have some sympathy for people who fall into the first category and absolutely none for people who fall into the second.

Daughter of ETA:  This very thoughtful comment explains how, in the context of the community and rules of the Asimov’s board, this particular annoyance began.  Unless someone who actually hangs over there wishes to contradict this, I’m going to choose to believe this is how things work there.  Which means that everything is Stephen Francis Murphy’s fault.  And I have no trouble believing that.  Above when I said there might be other reasons for reacting to the “oh, ethics and copyright!” and not “arg, bigotry!”?  This appears to be one of those other reasons.  I’ll amend my opinions accordingly.

Where do the candidates stand on superheroes?

Randy Henderson has a very funny take on what McCain and Obama would say about the destruction of cities by superheroes fighting villains.  In some alternate universe, these things are being said, I swear.

This Week @ Fantasy

This week we had a lot of interesting stuff go up at Fantasy, so you should all check it out!

First, this week’s story, Marrying the Sun, by the writer to watch out for, Rachel Swirsky.  Rachel has also agreed to do a Puppet Strings Author Spotlight for us, so go over there and ask her questions about her story and such.

And if you’re still in need of a fiction fix, there’s an excerpt from Seaborn by Chris Howard available.

On the non-fiction side, I did an interview with Gregory Banks about disability in SF/F fiction and there’s a review of Empress by my homeslice Naamen.

And, of course, today is Fantasy Friday.  Time to Blog For A Beer!  We’re talking about superheroes and property damage today, inspired by my marathon watching of Justice League Unlimited.  Almost every show in the Bruce Timm DC Animated Universe is like crack to me, so I’m happy to get a chance to talk about it (even if this particular aspect is annoying).

Today @ Fantasy

Today’s Blog for a Beer is all about your favorite female genre writers:

we invite you, dear readers, to share with us who your favorite female genre writers are and why. Be they writers with a solid track record like Eileen Gunn or Nancy Kress, or writers who you’ve only seen a few stories or novels from, but are so far impressed by.

Go forth and name drop!

Today @ Fantasy

Over the next few weeks we’re rolling out some new features at Fantasy Magazine. One that we’re very excited about is Puppet Strings, a cousin to our Author Spotlights. Once or twice a month a Fantasy author will give you a sneak peek into the magic behind their fiction–be it the inspiration, the writing process, the research, or whatever else. Then for the next five days the author will answer questions and participate in discussion about their story.

Our first author is Darja Malcolm-Clarke, author of His One True Bride.  She talks about the background behind her inspiration, which is wide ranging and very interesting:

I love the idea that a spontaneous, violent physical reaction is the only possible response to being separated from the divine after it being so close (whatever form He or She might take, and through whatever belief system). That is how I imagine being in contact with the divine must be: it undoes you. There’s no going back.

Read it here. Also, Darja will answer questions about her Puppet Strings post and discuss His One True Bride until Sunday evening.  So go and discuss, question, poke, and be impressed.