Resources

• “Dark Futures,” which includes stories by several SFWA members, is available for pre-order.

Member News

• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Mark C. Newton, author of “Nights of Villjamur” from Bantam/Spectra.
• SFWA member Jim C. Hines posts part 1 of the results of his First Novel Survey.
• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Howard Jones, author of “The Desert of Souls.”

Industry News

• Four publishers try to strike a deal with Amazon about ebooks. Buy buttons at possible risk.

If I compiled bits of my recent phone discussions with Nollywood film director Tchidi Chikere on African science fiction, I think it would address many discussions of the topic quite well. It would go like this:

“Hello? Tee? Can you hear me? It’s Nnedi.”

“What?”

“Can you…”

“Hello?”

“Hello??”

“Hello? Nnedi, are you there?”

“Yeah, Tee, I’m here. I think this connection is bad.”

“Nnedi, how are you? I’m on location. It’s f*cking hot! I can barely hear you.”

“Oh.”

“We’re all going to die out here. It’s so hot! You wouldn’t believe it.”

“Yes, Tee but I wanted…”

“You want to know what science fiction is? An air conditioner in Nigeria that is quiet enough to run when I’m filming!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

“Look, Nnedi, Nkemdili, dear, we’ll talk later. Carry your cell with you. Gotta shoot this scene…ACTION!”

*Click*

You see how science fiction from an African perspective might differ from science fiction from a Western perspective even when the science fiction is SET in Africa? Technology occupies a different space.

For more on the question of SF and Africa, check out my essay, Is Africa Ready for Science Fiction?

However, there is one thing that has bubbled to the surface since then which I feel the need to address and that is the question of “Who is African?” Walk with me and let me tell you a story…

Back when I was an undergrad at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, there was chaos over this very question. I was in my junior year. This was about a year after I had written my first short story. My sister (who was a law student at the University of Illinois) and I were members of the African Student Association (a.k.a. the ASO).

The controversy began when someone on the executive board decided that he wanted to make the ASO constitution more… specific. The change that got people angry was the part that said that the only people who could vote in the ASO were “real Africans”. Who was a “real African”? Well, according to this executive, those who had been born in Africa or those who had lived in Africa for at least ten years.

I remember my ex-husband (we were dating at the time) looking very very smug. He was born in the United States to two Igbo parents, just like me. BUT when he was three years old, his parents took him and his brothers back to Nigeria where they lived for ten years. He’d just made the cut off. He was an “authentic African”. Mind you, he hadn’t been back to Nigeria since he’d returned when he was thirteen and I’d been back and forth plenty of times since I was seven (he was not interested in going back and I was).

Soon word spread about this new change to the ASO constitution and so did the number of attendants of ASO meetings…especially when African American and Caribbean students caught wind of the controversy (thanks to my sister and me, hee hee). Even local newspapers came sniffing around. The meeting room on the day that the decision was to be made was packed with dark faces of the Black Diaspora. The executives sat at a desk in the front. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

No one really cared about the ASO and its duties. It had nothing to do with that. This change in the constitution, the specification, was highlighting the tension between the black peoples of the Black Diaspora. I wonder what nature the fireworks would have taken if the white South Africans had come to represent.

At some point, I grew infuriated and raised my hand are started to speak. I was giving my spiel about how the issue of “Who is Africa” is a complex one and that such things could not easily be defined and really SHOULDN’T BE defined. “And does anyone ever ask ‘Who is Asian?’ or ‘Who is European?’ There’s a problem with the very meaning of African. It’s not the same as with other places,” I was saying. Halfway through my little speech, one of the executives, Ernest Seri, turned to me. He looked me right in the face with bulging eyes, sneered and said in his bass-filled Ivory Coastian accent, “SHUT UP! YOU SHUT UP!” Mind you, my sister Ngozi had spoken before me and she has a way with words that can cut deep (she’s a lawyer). She’d basically said the same thing as me but more articulately. So already, we had gotten on Ernest’s nerves.

It’s one of those moments where things could have gone several ways. I could have jumped up and slapped the sh*t out of him (and by the look on his face, he’d have slapped me right back). I could have said, “You shut the f*ck up, a$$hole!” Or I could have just sat there stunned. I sat there stunned. I was so flabbergasted by the sheer hatred on his face. And no man had ever said such a thing to me with such nastiness. Mind you, Ernest was claiming that his wife (whom he had a child with) should be considered an African by marriage to him. His wife was white.

Eventually, because of all the press and attention, the ASO retracted the stipulation. But the damage was done. You didn’t see any African Americans who wanted to be a part of the organization. And even my sisters and I eventually left.

As for Ernest, a few years later, he was beaten to death outside a campus bar. At the time, there were speculations that it was a hate crime, as his assailants were white and he was…black in America in a predominately white neighborhood outside a bar at night. Nothing ever came of these allegations but one of the bouncers was sentenced to twenty years for first-degree murder. You can read a bit about it here ( other stories about Ernest are on Lexis-Nexus).

An aside: It was very very upsetting for me to revisit what happened to Ernest. It’s one of those things that I purposely don’t think too hard about because it hurts. Ernest was finishing his PhD in French Literature. He was only 31. Goodness, he seemed so much older than me at the time. The blow that killed him was an awful kick to his head that sent him flying. From what I recall, Ernest wasn’t even a big guy. This country, o.

My point is labels suck.

Yes, they are ways to simplify life. They make things easier to understand and faster to find. They have their uses. But when you take them too seriously, they are bullsh*t.

One last thing, when it comes to the question of “Who is African”, it MUST be remembered that colonialism and slavery happened and they left behind nasty residues that make things harder for people of a darker complexion. Is it a surprise that the first major African science fiction film was directed by a white South African and starred a white South African actor? So let’s not be in denial that there are issues of race that often fuel the tension circling this issue. There are questions of who assumes they can speak for whom. There are questions of culture and cultural appropriation. There are questions of authenticity. There are questions of blood. There are questions of history. There are questions of spiritually.

When discussing it, one should be aware that it is a sensitive topic and treat it with respect. AND DO YOUR RESEARCH!

If you are expecting me to use this essay to answer the question of “Who is Africa?”, you must be kidding. I’m not stepping into that trap. I know what I am and I know what I write.

Here’s my list of “African SF”. It’s really short. I decided to only focus mainly on novels because there are a LOT more short stories and I don’t have time to put it together. How do I define African SF? I don’t. I know it when I see it. ! Debate amongst yourselves. . The main fact is that this list DOES exist. Africans ARE writing their own science fiction, contrary to what some may think. But the fact is that Africans need to also write more of it. As I said, this list is short…way too short. I probably missed some folks, so add to the list if you like; we should all be viewing literature with open eyes. It shouldn’t take people making lists to expose other kinds of SF. Be curious. Search inside and outside the box.

NOTE: I have not read all these! Come on, is it reasonable to assume that I have? And yes, this list is VERY dominated by South Africans of a lighter shade.

• Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
• Waiting For The Barbarians by JM Coetzee
• In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi
• The Stone Chameleon by Nick Wood (this is YA)
• Dr. Satan’s Echo Chamber (Chimurenga Vol. 12/13, March ‘08) This is a South African Literary journal. This volume was dedicated to African SF.

And then there’s my work. I live on borders and edges and in enchanted spaces. Betsy Wollheim, my editor at DAW, calls my forthcoming novel, Who Fears Death, “magical futurism”. It is a category that does not exist. It’s perfect, ha ha.

Zahrah the Windseeker and The Shadow Speaker are mixes of fantasy and science fiction and some other stuff. But hell, I’d be silly not to include these books on the list, so I am.

Here’s a nice essay by Nick Wood on South African science fiction (I thank Lauren Beukes for forwarding it to me): SF in South Africa

Film wise, there’s District 9. It has problems but it is definitely African science fiction.

Also, check out Pumzi, a new science fiction short directed by Wanuri Kahiu, screened at Sundance this year.

—

Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author of Nigerian descent. Her novels include Zahrah the Windseeker (winner of the 2008 Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature) and The Shadow Speaker (An NAACP Image Award Nominee). Her forthcoming novels Who Fears Death (from DAW) and Akata Witch (from Penguin) are scheduled for release in 2010. Her Disney Fairies chapter book, Iridessa and the Fire-Bellied Dragon Frog (Disney Press), is scheduled for release in 2010. She holds a PhD in literature and is a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University. Visit her online at nnedi.com.

–

Reprinted with permission from How to Talk Doctor! Lesson 1 on How To Kill Your Imaginary Friends, by Dr. Grasshopper

Dr. Grasshopper is a science fiction and fantasy author who is finishing up medical school and seeking residency in the field of internal medicine.

Resources

• Locus offers An Overview of International Science Fiction/Fantasy in 2009.
• For aspiring screenwriters, SFWA member Robert Mellette blogs the Dances With Films Festival.

Member News

• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Associate member, Ken Altabef, with a sale to F&SF.
• Congratulations to Stephanie Dray who upgraded to Active status with six novel sales!
• Welcome to SFWA’s newest active member, Euan Harvey, with three sales to Realms of Fantasy.
• Congratulations to SFWA member Sherrilyn Kenyon whose Dark-Hunter Vol 2 is on the New York Times list!

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

A content mill, if you aren't familiar with the term, is a website that aggregates huge numbers of articles on a constantly-updated basis, written by freelancers who are paid by page views or ad clicks rather than wages or fees. A few examples: Examiner, Suite101, eHow, Triond, Associated Content, Helium.

I've written on this blog about a number of content mills, focusing mainly on their Terms and Conditions and the implications for writers of the legal language contained therein. But are content mills worth writing for? Can you make money? Will they help you start or build a freelance writing career?

This week I'm hosting two guest posts that address these questions (both originally posted at The WM Freelance Writers Connection). The first is by journalist Carol Tice, who argues that content mills are not a good way for aspiring writers to establish a sustainable writing career.

As many WM readers and readers of my Make a Living Writing Blog may already know, I am not a fan of content mills. I advise the writers I mentor to avoid them, and many of my mentees approach me with the specific goal of kicking their mill-writing habit.

I think there are many types of people for whom these sites are a superb option -- but in my opinion, those types don't include writers who're serious about building a good-paying, sustainable writing career. To clarify, I mean people who want to earn $50,000 a year and up from their writing. People who ultimately want to have unlimited earning capability from writing.

Let me explain why I'm down on content mills. In my experience, here are the career problems writers may experience who rely mostly on content-site assignments:

1. It does not teach you to report. Most of the stories on content sites are written with light Internet research or off the top of your head. They don't help you develop newsgathering abilities, which are a bedrock skill needed for most good-paying byline reporting and corporate writing work. You don't develop interviewing skills since you generally aren't conducting interviews. If you dream of earning $800-$1500 for a single article, mill writing is not helping you get there.

2. It does not teach you to research. A lot of good-paying writing assignments call for extensive research. I recently wrote a $650 article for a regional magazine about all the stimulus money our state got and how it was spent. I wrote a $1,500 article about where Seattle's trash goes and what happens to it. I'm doubtful that anyone cutting their teeth on mill stories will ever be able to write stories like these. Writing for mills does not teach you how to do investigative reporting, how to dig deep into documents, understand them, interpret them, or synthesize complex information. Copywriting as well can demand a decent amount of research and ability to dive in-depth into a topic.

3. It does not give you nurturing editor relationships. I would be nowhere today without two or three amazing editors I worked with earlier in my career. Editing at mills is usually cursory at best, and not the kind of close, one-on-one relationship you want where someone will really take you under their wing and take the time to show you exactly what you need to do to improve.

4. It does not teach you to market. Many mill writers have spoken in ecstatic terms of how much they love never having to market their writing. But marketing your writing is a key skill for those who want to earn big. Generally, you go out and find the really lucrative magazine connections and corporate clients yourself...they do not fall in your lap. Every week you write for mills is a week you don't learn this critical skill.

5. It does not enhance your reputation. While some mill writers have reported they were able to parlay their clips into better-paying assignments...I usually find when I nail them down that their definition of "better paying" and mine are very different. They often mean something like they've worked their way to $50 an article. Know that many editors at quality publications discard outright the queries of anyone who offers clips from mill sites, so this work can slam a lot of doors for you.

6. It's a model that may disappear. There's been much discussion online of the possibility that Google may soon find a way to screen out mill sites in its search results. If that happens, the entire article-aggregator industry, which sprung up to serve Google's ranking analytics, will disappear overnight. As it is, mill sites go out of business on a regular basis, taking any promised "lifetime" residuals they owe writers along with them.

If you write for mills, ask yourself how you would replace that income if this model goes away? What other client types could you find work with?

There's already signs that even if it survives, the content-site model is changing -- check out ProVoices, the new site that wants professionally reported articles for up to $250. The trend is toward rates going up, and more work being demanded of mill writers as these sites seek to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Carol Tice is a business journalist, copywriter, blogger and Web-content author. A contributor to the WM Freelance Writers Connection, she also blogs about small business for Entrepreneur magazine's Daily Dose, and about the business of freelance writing at her Make a Living Writing blog. In addition, she mentors writers on how to find better-paying markets and increase their earnings. She has three children ages 7, 8 and 17.

McIntyre is being honored for her many years of maintaining SFWA member websites and other sections of the original SFWA website on a volunteer basis, as well as numerous other volunteer activities. Stokes is being honored for his service on multiple committees, as well as managing SFWA news alerts, ensuring organization membership is kept up to date with developments in SFWA and the publishing industry.

McIntyre sold her first short story in 1969 and published her first novel, The Exile Waiting, in 1975. Her 1978 novel Dreamsnake won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and her 1997 novel, The Moon and the Sun, won the Nebula Award.  She organized the first incarnation of Clarion West Writers Workshop (1971-1973), has taught at numerous other workshops and served as the Evans Chair Scholar at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash., in 2000. McIntyre is a founding member of Book View Café, an authors’ co-op distributing its members’ work in electronic form. She is a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she volunteers.

Stokes, a freelance photographer and travel writer, operates his own travel web sites www.kansastravel.org and www.mightymac.org. His genre publishing credits includes the SFWA Bulletin, Locus and File 770. Stokes helped found the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (which was latter incorporated into the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle) and was chairman of the SFFHoF from 1996-2001. In addition to chairing and holding various staff and committee positions at regional and national science fiction conventions, he currently serves as secretary and treasurer of First Fandom and is president of the Dawn Patrol, a loose organization of more than 300 science fiction, space and aviation enthusiasts from throughout the United States and Canada.

This is the tenth time that the SFWA Service Award has been presented. Previous recipients were Victoria Strauss, Chuq Von Rospach, Sheila Finch, Robin Wayne Bailey, George Zebrowski and Pamela Sargent (joint), Michael Capobianco and Ann Crispin (joint), Kevin O’Donnell, Jr., Brook West and Julia West (joint) and Melisa Michaels and Graham P. Collins (joint).

Prior to 2000, the award was a surprise announcement at the Nebula Awards banquet, but in recent years the recipients have been announced in advance.

The 2010 Nebula Awards® Weekend will be held in Coco Beach, Fla., May 13-16.  The date was chosen to coincide with the scheduled launching of the Shuttle Atlantis on Friday, May 14. The Nebula Awards will be presented at a banquet on Saturday evening, May 15.  Joe Haldeman will be honored as the next Damon Knight Grand Master. For more information, visit www.nebulawards.com.

About SFWA

Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.

Since its inception, SFWA® has grown in numbers and influence until it is now widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers’ organizations in existence, boasting a membership of approximately 1,500 science fiction and fantasy writers as well as artists, editors and allied professionals.  Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.

Resources

• The Apex Book of World SF. Stories from Thailand, the Philippines, China, Israel, Pakistan, Serbia, Croatia, Malaysia.
• Editorial by Charles A. Tan “The Dilemma of the Term “World SF.”

Member News

• SFWA member Michelle Knudsen has a new middle grade fantasy short story in Candlewick’s anthology I Fooled You..
• SFWA member Seanan McGuire (as Mira Grant) has a new story in The Living Dead 2: “Everglades.”
• Happy book release day to SFWA member Carrie Ryan for Toady: The Dead-Tossed Waves.
• SFWA member Cat Rambo’s novelette, “Narrative of a Beast’s Life,” is on Podcastle.
• Congratulations to SFWA member Paolo Bacigalupi: whose Young Adult novel Ship Breaker made the nominations for Best Fiction for Young Adults!

It’s tempting to label this essay as “Third World Science Fiction” but why limit it to the third world? One of the most pleasant surprises the Internet has brought about is the discovery that you’re not alone, especially when it comes to Science Fiction and its related genres (fantasy, interstitial fiction, slipstream, speculative fiction, etc.). Last year, for example, I was thrilled to find out that there was such a thing as The Apex Book of World SF. I’m from the Philippines and friends with the two Filipino contributors so there was a part of me that was shocked that neither of them cared to inform me that they were included in the book! This also led to the discovery of the existence of The World SF News Blog, maintained by the anthology’s editor, Lavie Tidhar. While a part of me was envious, I wanted to be a part of this project. It was a cause that I could be passionate about. After all, one of the reasons I created the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler was because I wanted to promote Philippine literature to the rest of the world. With The Apex Book of World SF and the blog, I’d be doing just that, along with other neglected countries–at least by the standards of First World countries, which, unfortunately, dominates the current publishing market (let’s put it this way: if a book gets published in the US by a major publisher, it’ll probably be available in the rest of the world but that’s not the case if the book was published in, say, India, Singapore, or even Australia).

Of course the first thing that I realized when I signed up for The World SF News Blog is how much international fiction has already been translated and made available in the English market. Take for example the following anthologies:

• The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction edited by Brian Aldiss and Sam J Lundwall (1977) (Table of Contents can be found here)
• Travelling Towards Epsilon: An Anthology of French Science Fiction edited by Maxim Jakubowski (1977) (Table of Contents can be found here)
• The World Treasury of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell (1989)
• Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction edited by Nalo Hopkinson (2000) (Table of Contents can be found here)
• Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain edited by Andrea L. Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilan (2003) (Table of Contents can be found here)
• So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan (2004)
• The Black Mirror and Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Germany and Austria edited by Franz Rottensteiner and translated by Mike Mitchell (2008)

Clearly, The Apex Book of World SF isn’t the first of its kind by any means (and some of those anthologies were published before I was born). But how come this is the first time I’ve heard about SF from countries other than Europe or the US? Well, one reason is the Internet and how the world is now more interconnected. Even China, a country that restricts Internet access, is hard-pressed to maintain its secrecy. The second is how society’s values have changed over the years. People in general are more culturally aware of each other nowadays compared to, say, three or four decades ago. Take for example the existence of the Carl Brandon Society. While there are important differences between the agenda of the Carl Brandon Society and The World SF News Blog (the latter for example wants to sell copies of its book!), they do have areas in which they overlap. Just look at the Carl Brandon Society’s authors: they write international SF!

The other thing that has also become evident is how much I don’t know about international SF. I mean it’s already hard to keep track of SF published in the US alone; how much more when it comes to the rest of the world? And that, I think, is the presumption we fatally make (and I’m guilty of this as well): we think that just because we don’t hear about it that it doesn’t exist. I was fortunate to have the chance to interview Wu Yan, a Chinese professor, editor, and writer. During the interview, he talked about Chinese SF as well as that of Russia–two subjects I know absolutely nothing about. The same applies when I read Mihai Adascalitei’s interview with Romanian science fiction novelist Sebastian Corn. I’m humbled by the interview as it revealed to me how massive the field is, and despite the world being “globalized”, there’s lots of room for us, whether as genre fans or human beings, for exploration and discovery.

Lately though, there’s been a boom when it comes to international SF available in English. There’s Haikasoru, an imprint specializing in Japanese Science Fiction, be it novels or short fiction. Solaris is releasing Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF edited by Jetse de Vries in a few weeks and includes contributors from around the world. De Vries even has a series on Optimistic Literature around the World and SF in Particular over at the Shine blog. Nick Wood, an African writer just won 2nd place in the Aeon International Awards 2009. Tor just released a Russian fantasy novel, Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov, last month. Baggage, an Australian-themed anthology will be published soon. Angry Robot Books has published authors hailing from France (Aliette de Bodard), Israel (Lavie Tidhar), Australia/Fiji (Kaaron Warren) and South Africa (Lauren Beukes). Ash-Tree Press released the Exotic Gothic 3 anthology earlier this year and includes various international writers such as Tunku Halim and Zoran Zivkovic. Let’s also not discount one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world: India. Or various online magazines for that matter, whether it’s publications that focus on writers of color, such as Expanded Horizons, or those with a more general focus, such as Strange Horizons, Fantasy Magazine, and Apex. I’d also like to mention the newly-established Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards.

About the Author

Charles Tan’s fiction has appeared in publications such as The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Philippine Speculative Fiction, and The Dragon and The Stars. You can read a sample here.

From the Aussiecon 4 organizers:

The deadline for sending in your Hugo Awards nomination ballot is Saturday, March 13, 2010 23:59 PST (Sunday, March 14, 2010 03:59 EDT, 07:59 UTC/GMT, 18:59 AEDT).

If you were a member of the 2009 Worldcon (Anticipation) or purchased a membership in the upcoming 2010 Worldcon (Aussiecon 4) by 31 January 2010, you can nominate using the online ballot at http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/index.php?page=66

You will need a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to nominate online. If you have not received your Aussiecon 4 or Anticipation PIN or have other eligibility questions please email hugopin@aussiecon4.org.au