Since I could not attend the Nebulas this year, Ken Liu graciously offered to accept on my behalf should it be necessary.  This required that I write him a speech.  This is that speech.

Choose Your Own Nebula Speech Adventure (A Shameless Theft Homage of Tina  Connolly’s Hard Choices)

A. You’re sitting at a banquet table in San Jose, CA when the Nebula Winner for Best Short Story is announced.  If your name is called, proceed to B.  If Helena Bell’s name is called, go to C.  If neither of those names is called, go to G.

B. You give a stirring speech about death and honor and bookmaking.  Men weep.  Women faint. The world is healed and made whole.  If you are satisfied with your speech, go to Z.  If there is more you want to do, go to I.

C. If you’re ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY CERTAIN that you are not suffering from an auditory hallucination and Helena’s name was actually called, you may recite Helena’s prepared Nebula Acceptance Speech.  If you choose the real acceptance speech, go to D.  If you choose the acceptance speech that is much more accurate of Helena’s thoughts and feelings, go to E.  If you would like to ensure that Helena is never nominated for an award again, go to F.

D.  On behalf of Helena Bell I would like to thank the Nebula voters, the editors and staff of Clarkesworld, as well as Cat Rambo.  Hel is honored and humbled to receive this award and wishes she could be here tonight.

E.  On behalf of Helena Bell I would like to thank the Nebula voters, the editors and staff of Clarkesworld, as well as Cat Rambo.  Hel is honored and humbled to receive this award and assures you she is in no way jumping up and down and screaming while watching this on U-Stream.

F. Hel was consumed by a flesh eating robot and can’t be here to deliver this speech, but she would like to thank X, Y, Z, Neil Clarke, Cat Rambo, Clarkesworld, the Nebula voters, the alphabet, and her college economics professor Charles Wheeler and also shout hysterically OMG OMG OMG YOU PEOPLE REALLY LOVE ME I FEEL SO VALIDATED.

G. If you sit quietly at the banquet table, go to Z.  If you rush up on stage anyway, go to H.

H. You drop everything you are holding and rush the stage, knocking down Aliette de Bodard in the process.  You are tackled by Gordon Van Gelder, John Joseph Adams, and Sheila Williams but shake them off one by one in your mad, frenzied rush to the microphone.  Men weep. Women faint.  They are very, very confused by your actions and wonder if this is some sort of performance art they are too weak-minded to understand.  But it’s okay because your plan is…

If your plan is to stage a coup, go to I.  If your plan is to educate writers on allowable Schedule C deductions, go to J.

I. Stage a coup.  When completed, go to Z.

J. You begin with a brisk overview of the Federal Income Tax system. Using prepared lecture notes and slides, you take the members of SFWA (and other ceremony attendees) from the darkness of tax ignorance into the light of the constitutionality of the 16th Amendment, realization events, timing issues, and the breathtaking sibilance of possessory interest.  The world is healed and made whole.  There are no regrets, no misunderstandings.  Nothing is left, except to go to Z.

Z. Drink.

Optional Props:

Sash, tiara, the Internal Revenue Code, Forms 1040, Schedule C, Schedule SE, Lexis
printout of Burnet v. Sanford & Brooks Co., Nerf Guns and/or Super Soaker, Alcohol,
Water Bottle, this speech, AA Batteries, the written consent of Major League Baseball

•••

Helena Bell is an occasional poet, writer, and international traveler which means that over half of what she says is completely made up, the other half is probably made up, and the third half is about the condition of the roads. She has a BA, an MFA, a JD, and a Tax LLM which fulfills her life long dream of having more letters follow her name than are actually in it. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Clarkesworld Magazine, Shimmer Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and Rattle.

The post Choose Your Own Nebula Speech Adventure appeared first on SFWA.

The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by the active members of SFWA for outstanding science fiction and fantasy published in 2012. The awards were announced at the Nebula Awards® Banquet held at in San Jose, CA, May 16-20.

The Recipients of the 2012 Nebula Awards:

NOVEL:  2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

NOVELLA: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon)

NOVELLETTE: “Close Encounters” by Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)

SHORT STORY: “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)

RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director),  Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)

ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)

2012 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Gene Wolfe

SOLSTICE AWARD: Carl Sagan and Ginjer Buchanan

KEVIN O’DONNELL JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Michael H. Payne

ABOUT SFWA

The Nebula Awards are voted on and presented by active members of SFWA.

More information about the Nebula Awards Weekend is available at http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/.

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.

2012 Nominees:

Novel

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella

On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette

“The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Book of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story

“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld4/12)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director),  Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight )
The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray  writers), (Lionsgate)
John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House Children’s Books; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

The post 2012 Nebula Award Winners Announced appeared first on SFWA.

It appears that 10,000 (one in six) of the books in the database have been opted in by the publishers. The ReLIRE website FAQ outlines what a publisher will get out of the arrangement:

‘You will have the possibility of having an exclusive publishing licence for 10 years, implicitly renewable, to exploit the book in digital form, without having to sign a contract with the author or the author’s successors in title for the digital rights.

Sofia [the collecting society] will contact the authors or the successors in title to pay them, in accordance with the terms set out in the publishing contracts’...

Two points that the FAQ discreetly avoids spelling out are:

1. The legislation specifically charges the collecting society with developing contractual relationships that will ensure the greatest possible availability of the works...This puts prospective publishers in a very strong negotiating position and more or less guarantees that the contracts agreed will be bargain-basement deals with very low royalty rates, regardless of the market value of the work.

2. Certain administration costs that in a normal publishing arrangement would be borne by the publisher will instead be borne by the collecting society, which will take them out of royalties (so all or part of them will be taken from the authors’ share of any income). These include the cost of contacting authors and estates.

Dear SFWA Members,

As many of you already know, the ReLire program currently underway in France has scanned many books it considers to be "orphan works" in order to make them available through a public database. This database has already been found to contain many titles that are clearly not orphan works or in the public domain, including a number by prominent SF and fantasy authors. A more detailed explanation of the program is available here.

As this is a program of the Bibliotheque Nationale Francaise (French National Library), the Board is currently discussing options for applying pressure to the French government to prevent further works by SFWA members from being scanned and made available through this program, and we invite any members who have connections with the United States Trade Representative or any relevant branch of the U.S. Government to contact us. For the moment, however, we are informing all members of the issue and making them aware of the process involved in finding out whether a work is included and how to request that it be removed from the database.

All parts of the ReLire website and database are available only in  French. The Society of Authors has produced translations of four key pages:

- The ReLire home page
- The Your Rights page
- The Search page
- The FAQ

Here is a direct link to the advanced search page. The search fields are Titre( Title), Auteur (Author), Editeur (Editor) and Date d'edition (Publication date). If you are aware of any works of yours that have ever been published in French, you are strongly advised to search under all of the first three fields, as the entries in the database have been found to have many typos. Please notify SFWA of any of your works that are found in the database, as that will be valuable information in our efforts to protest the program.

If you do find any novels, stories or any other works belonging to you in the database you may request to have them removed. Please note that at this time it appears as though you will need either a French identification card (only available to residents of France) or a valid passport to make the application. We are awaiting clarification on the question of whether any other forms of identification will be accepted.

Thanks to Aliette de Bodard, Lawrence Schimel, Michael Capobianco and Jim Fiscus for their help in researching and co-ordinating SFWA's response.

Whether or not you find that any of the books on the list are by you, or contain works by you, make a complaint to your government about the ReLIRE project, and talk to any author societies to which you belong.

The Berne Convention says: ‘Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall have the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction of these works, in any manner or form.’ (9.1) This can only be overriden ‘in certain special cases’ and ‘provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author’. (9.2) The Convention says of all the rights that are guaranteed under it: ‘The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality‘. (5.2)

By compelling foreign authors, in order to prevent their works’ being co-opted into collective management, to search for them on a database and request their removal, the French government has imposed an illegal formality on their exclusive exercise of the right of reproduction.

The ReLIRE scheme is in no sense a ‘special case’ within the meaning of Article 9.2. By intervening in such an outrageous manner in the fast-developing market for digital rights it interferes with the normal exploitation of the works and most unreasonably prejudices the legitimate interests of the authors.

The post Outrageous French Copyright Grab: ReLIRE Goes Live appeared first on SFWA.

Both BSFS and SFWA invite everyone to join professional and aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers from all across the nation as they socialize, snack, perform readings, and listen to musical performances. Nebula, Sapphire, and Prism Award winner Dr. Catherine Asaro will host the event, with music by the jazz ensemble, The Greg Adams Trio. There will be giveways of books and other prizes. The event will be held in Frankie and Vinnie’s and is free to enter, though you must buy a convention membership to attend the rest of the convention.

Organized by the BSFS, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention Balticon is a four day celebration of science fiction and fantasy with over 300 hours of multi-track programming featuring authors, publishers, editors, artists, scientists, musicians, and over a thousand fans. It will be held on Memorial Day weekend, May 24th – 27th 2013. BSFS is happy to work with the premiere professional organization for authors of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres, SFWA, to organize a Writers’ Gala at Balticon that will bring together fans and writers in a literary and musical celebration.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. was founded in 1965 by the American science fiction author Damon Knight. Today, SFWA is home to over 1800 authors, artists, and allied professionals, and is widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers’ organizations in existence. Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction. For more information, see www.sfwa.org.

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society is a 501(c)(3) literary organization focusing on science fiction, fantasy, and related genres. A not-for-profit literary society based in Baltimore, MD, BSFS holds many events such as anime socials, business meetings, gaming days, book discussion groups, writing critique circles, and day-long writing workshops regularly throughout the year, and also produces Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention.  The official BSFS website is at www.bsfs.org.

The post Writers’ Gala at Balticon appeared first on SFWA.

Award-winning game designer and author James Sutter is a co-creator of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Fiction Editor/Senior Editor of Paizo Publishing. Beyond wrangling writers, he produces his own writing as well, and does it well: Death’s Heretic was #3 on the Barnes & Noble Best Fantasy Releases of 2011 and a finalist for the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel, while his short stories have appeared such places as the first Machine of Death anthology and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Cat Rambo: How did you get started in game writing? Is it a course you’d recommend to other writers, and if not, what’s your suggestion on how to get started?

James Sutter: I’ve actually been working for Paizo since I was 20, so my road was a lot shorter than most. Right after college, I was working as a journalist, and realized that as much as I loved writing, I really didn’t care much for “facts” or “reporting.” Journalism in college had been primarily about music, sex, gonzo adventures, and social experiments–suddenly finding myself writing for suburban papers to pay the bills made me question some choices.

I was looking for an editorial position in the magazine world when I discovered that Paizo Publishing was local, and published not only the official Dungeons & Dragons magazines, but the venerable Amazing Stories as well. I made it my mission to work there, and took the only job available at the time–populating the Paizo.com web store with images for a nickel a jpg. From there I became an editorial intern, a customer service person, and finally an editor on Dungeon. A few years later, I was one of the main people to help launch the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its campaign setting, and we’ve since become the top-selling RPG, which still feels a little crazy!

So that’s my story, but in terms of what I actually did to make it happen, the answer is that I wrote and submitted. By the time I cold-called Paizo asking for a job, I already had a hundred articles published at various newspapers, as well as a couple of short stories, and there’s no question that my portfolio is what got me in the door. Once I realized that gaming was an option, I started writing for Dungeon and Dragonas well, working my way up into sourcebooks and tie-in novels. Nowadays I split my time fairly evenly between game books and fiction.

My suggestion to any writer looking to get into gaming is simply to start sending emails to your favorite gaming companies. There are surprisingly few authors in this industry, and certainly Paizo is constantly looking for new blood. Every book we produce is written out-of-house, by freelancers, which means we’ve got a huge amount of churn. If someone comes looking for a shot–especially if they’ve got some pro fiction credits, or have written for other gaming companies–we’re likely to give them one. And of course, it helps if the person already plays the game!

What have you learned from game writing that has been particularly applicable to fiction writing?

Game writing taught me how to build worlds. As someone who comes to speculative fiction primarily to see new places, creatures, and cultures, that’s huge. When you’re writing a sourcebook for a campaign setting, you’re not worrying about plot–you’re building a setting for someone else to tell their stories in. That means your world-building needs to stand on its own, and you get to flesh things out in a way you probably wouldn’t in a short story or novel.

When I write a sourcebook, I’m always thinking, “How could a Game Master use this bit to tell a story?” If something doesn’t provide at least one interesting story hook–and preferably more–I throw it out. There are books where I’m literally presenting a new idea, character, or adventure location every 100 words. If you start running out of good material, the fans can tell, and they let you know. You have to constantly work to keep things fresh.

I guess that’s the other thing that game writing and editing has really taught me: how to be creative on command. When a book needs to go to the printer in an hour and a freelancer’s article is running short, you have to come up with something to fill that empty page. Some of my favorite creations have come out of that last-minute panic, when I’m pulling random ideas out of the ether and stringing them together.

As a result, I’ve long since stopped worrying about muses and inspiration. If you create deadlines and stick to them, and just keep chipping away at the book, the creativity will come. As Spider Robinson says, just stare at the screen until beads of blood form on your forehead.

What do you value in a fiction writer when you’re looking for someone to write for Paizo?

As the Fiction Editor for Paizo, I have the amazing job of choosing writers for our Pathfinder Tales novel line. The first thing I look for is pro-level publications–while I’d love to have an open call, I simply don’t have the staff for it, so I only accept writing samples from folks who’ve already sold work elsewhere.

Next I look at the prose itself. Does the person write cleanly? Do they have a solid feel for rhythm? I know editors that say, “Oh, prose can be fixed if the ideas are good enough,” but I’m far too lazy for that. If I can see myself spilling blood over each page during editing, I’m going to pass on that author. Incidentally, I never cease to be amazed at how many authors don’t bother to proofread or spellcheck their writing samples before submitting them. It’s like showing up at a job interview without bothering to make sure you’re wearing pants.

After that, I look for the usual things: strong characters (since in a shared-world book, that’s what the author has the most control over), strong plots (because adventure gamers need plots with clear action and movement), and strong world-building (because like I said, I’m a fan, and even though the author’s using our world, I want to know that I could trust him or her to come up with cool new world elements to add to the canon). Familiarity with our game is also a huge plus, though not required.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, I’m looking for professionalism and flexibility. Writing for a shared world like a roleplaying game comes with its own unique challenges, and I need to know that an author is going to be able to work as part of a team, from answering emails promptly to remaining enthusiastic and creative even when ideas get shot down or changed in development.

How has working as an editor shaped your writing – and vice versa?

I think the biggest thing working as an editor did for me was removing the mystery around novels. It’s so easy to compare your own work to the books you’re reading for pleasure, but that’s not an accurate comparison–you’re comparing your own rough product with some else’s polished gem. Seeing the whole process from start to finish made me understand that books don’t spring forth fully formed–you work and rework the ideas until they’re right, and then you chip away at the manuscript. That old saw about inspiration and perspiration is really true–the latter is far more important.

I also hope that working as an editor has taught me how to be the sort of writer an editor wants to work with: someone whose manuscripts are as clean as possible, who never misses a deadline, who communicates, and who makes revisions promptly and with a smile. That last is key–I do my best to never argue with revision requests or line edits, even if I prefer my original version. While I’m always willing to discuss changes with my authors, I know that the last thing an overworked editor wants to do is battle over every comma, and an author who’s too precious isn’t one I’m going to hire again.

Of course, I also hope that being a writer has made me a better editor. I think if you’re only an editor, it’s easy to get used to being on top of the power dynamic, and to forget the effect that your words can have. I always do my best to encourage authors even when I have to reject them, and to give them as much input as possible into editorial decisions.

What challenges does writing in a world that’s a joint collaboration, rather than your own individual creation, pose?

I work in media tie-in, which is probably the most difficult form of shared-world writing. Let me state straight out that media tie-in writing is awesome, but it’s not for everyone. If you’re an author who hates working as part of a team, who hates doing research, or can’t handle having other people’s hands in your manuscript, you shouldn’t get into it. Tie-in writing is inevitably work-for-hire, which means that in addition to not owning the things you create, you’re ultimately beholden to the owner of the intellectual property. If your editor’s good, that means a lot of back-and-forth up front as ideas are proposed, modified, or shot down due to reasons that may have nothing to do with your proposal, finally resulting in an outline that’s been thoroughly vetted. If your editor isn’t as good, you may face significant revisions on the back end, including creative choices you don’t agree with but are contractually obligated to make.

I try to be really up-front with my authors about the fact that, as media tie-in writers, we’re less artists than artisans. While a tie-in novel can and should certainly be art, the relationship is not one of an artist going off into a cave, working alone, and then revealing her masterpiece. There are going to be compromises and disagreements, and while you can express your opinion, you serve at the queen’s behest. You’re using words like a bricklayer lays bricks–you may build a beautiful house, but it ultimately belongs to the client, and once you turn over the keys, they can do as they wish with it.

So given all of that, why would anyone want to work in tie-in? There are a ton of good reasons. Depending on who you are, the money could be a lot better than what you’re making off original fiction. Tie-ins also sell–check out which SF books are at the supermarket checkout–and usually come with a built-in audience that loves the brand and will buy your book regardless of the author, exposing you to a wider audience that may then follow you to your other work. Tie-ins can also give you a chance to play with a property you already enjoy as a fan, and I’ve had several authors tell me how much they love writing in a world that’s already been fleshed out, as it lets them focus more on plot and characters. If you’re the sort of author who needs inspiration, you get to pick and choose cool elements developed by other talented authors and then make them your own. It’s all a matter of personality and how you like to write.

In an essay for Fantasist Enterprises, you talked about creating new landscapes, and that’s certainly showcased in Death’s Heretic. When you’re trying to create a real wow of a landscape, what’s your process? How do you know when you’ve succeeded?

I’m a huge fan of world-building, which probably isn’t that surprising given my day job working on the Pathfinder campaign setting. I’ve always been drawn to authors like Dan Simmons and China Miéville, who create these vast and bizarre worlds to explore. So when I sat down to write my first novel, I knew I needed to find something that would let me showcase as many new vistas as possible. That way, regardless of whatever else the book did, at least it would keep world-builders like me entertained!

The resulting book, Death’s Heretic, is the story of an atheist forced to work for the goddess of death, tracking a missing soul across various planes of the afterlife. Getting to essentially reinvent the setting every few chapters–the robotic planar nexus city of Axis, the Boneyard where souls are judged, the primordial Maelstrom, the First World of the fey–was a real thrill, and allowed me to use a lot of what I’ve learned as a game designer.

While I’m afraid I don’t have a process, per se, I think my best advice on world-building would be:

1) Go beyond Tolkien. Everyone loves dwarves and elves, but if you cleave too tightly to traditional clichés, you’re not bringing anything new to the world-builders.

2) Have multiple angles. One-trick pony worlds are boring, and combined ideas multiply rather than add. Come up with several different ideas for interesting settings and see if you can merge them into one.

3) Explore the ramifications. Often the stories you come up with trying to explain how your crazy world ideas fit together are more interesting than the crazy ideas themselves. When you create a bizarre monster, don’t just give it tentacles–think about why it evolved those tentacles in the first place, and how they fit with its behavior, culture, and environment.

As for how you know you’ve been successful… well, I don’t think you ever do, until the reviews start coming in. But if I can think of a thousand other stories I could tell in a setting, that’s usually a good sign.

How do you see game writing and fiction interacting in the future?

I think there’s going to continue to be more and more game fiction out there. In a publishing world where everybody’s skittish, a successful game brand has the appeal of an established audience. It’s the same reason Hollywood’s constantly rebooting franchises and playing off nostalgia. But game writing also isn’t just about novelizations and fiction–the writing of games themselves has become a huge business. Look at video games like Bioshock or Mass Effect or Dragon Age–these are games with sprawling storylines, breathtaking worlds, and memorable characters. Those elements require writers, and the best of them keep the audience invested long after they’ve killed the bad guys or appreciated the digital scenery. Our society craves interactive entertainment, so I think game writing is only going to get more prevalent as our culture gets more technological.

What genre of games is your favorite: video, tabletop, casual…? Why?

Even after spending a third of my life in the industry, the tabletop roleplaying game is probably still closest to my heart. Video games are great, but the fun of getting your friends around a table and telling crazy stories together is impossible to beat. The fact that there are literally no boundaries–the story can go wherever you take it–means that tabletop will always be more flexible than a programmed video game.

That said, I should also give a shout-out to Rock Band. Any game that gets a whole party of people singing together is fabulous, and the fact that it’s trained a whole new generation of amazing drummers is a boon to society. Kids growing up today will have no idea how hard it used to be to find a quality drummer…

What’s the story behind your recent piece in Beneath Ceaseless Skies? Did it start as a Machine of Death story? Did you have any trouble reshaping it for BCS? Or did you even need to?

A few years ago, I had the honor of being included in Machine of Death, a shared-world anthology in which the only unifying theme was that there’s a machine which can cheaply and accurately predict how you will die, though the answers are often cryptic. The book was an independent production, but the editors were well established in the webcomics community, and by asking their fans to all buy it on the same day, they became the #1 selling book on Amazon for two days (knocking Glenn Beck and Keith Richards out of the spot). It ended up getting a lot of press, as a lot of folks were excited by the proof that grass-roots fan support could take a first-time publisher to the top, sell a dozen translation rights and film rights, etc.

Anyway, when the call went out for a sequel, I decided to press my luck and write another story–one about a princess in the post-apocalyptic Appalachian Empire, where you can’t be queen unless you know how you’ll die. For various reasons, it wasn’t able to be included in the book, but I was still really excited about the piece, and reworked it slightly to help the death-prediction angle stand alone. Reselling stories written for themed anthologies is always tricky, but to my delight, Scott at Beneath Ceaseless Skies picked it up immediately, and it’s currently up for free on their site.

•••

Cat Rambo’s most recent short story collection, Near + Far, appeared this fall from Hydra House. Find links to her fiction as well as her upcoming online classes on her website, http://www.kittywumpus.net.

The post Writing and Gaming: An Interview with James Sutter appeared first on SFWA.

As a physical therapist, I often treat patients who are suffering from neck and back pain or have developed repetitive stress injuries after spending extended times working at a desk. If a few basic ergonomic principles are followed, you can avoid this fate.

First of all, you should have an adjustable chair. The chair should allow you to sit with your feet flat on the floor. If you find your feet dangling but can’t lower the chair, then you can use a step stool or a phone book (they still make those, right?) or even one of those fancy footrests they sell at office supply stores. Your elbows should rest comfortably on the chair’s armrests and should be bent at about ninety degrees or slightly less, and they should remain close to your body.

Your chair should also have a good lumbar support. In other words, if you sit back, the chair should cradle the natural curve of your low spine. You shouldn’t feel as if you’re sinking into the chair or as if your spine is flattening.

Once you’re properly seated, computer peripherals should be adjusted accordingly. The top of your computer screen should be eye-level when you look straight ahead, and your mouse should be within easy reach of your dominant hand.

Investigate keyboards that allow you to hold your hands, wrists, and arms in a more neutral position. I’ve used a split keyboard myself and found it did the trick, although it took some getting used to. If you use a mouse throughout the day, look for one that allows you to keep your arm and hand in a neutral position rather than one that forces you to keep your forearm pronated. Or you can forego using your hand altogether and use a foot-controlled mouse.

Everything I’ve described up to this point is meant as the ideal position. It’s impossible remain like this for hours on end, and I wouldn’t recommend that even if you could. I encourage frequent breaks. Just remember 20/20/20. Every twenty minutes, look at something twenty feet away for twenty seconds. Better yet, stand up while you take this mini break. If you have some stretches you like to do, then do them at this time. If you routinely get sucked into your work and two hours pass before you even blink, then set a timer.

Your work space also needs adequate lighting. Natural light is best, but a combination of artificial and natural works fine, too. If your light source creates a glare on your computer screen, you might want to invest in an anti-glare cover to ease the strain on your eyes.

There are some great alternatives to the basic ergonomic set-up if you find that position doesn’t work for you. For those with back problems (or looking to prevent back problems), a large exercise ball could be substituted for a regular chair. The ball prevents you from slouching and is also a great, low-key way to subtly exercise your abdominal and back muscles while sitting. There are wheeled frames available for these balls so they don’t go rolling away every time you stand (or while you’re sitting on them). The downside to using an exercise ball as a desk chair is that it’s not height adjustable, and so you may have to get creative with fixing your desk height.

Another alternative is to not sit at all. Some people use standing or treadmill desks. There are numerous websites and videos to show how some of these work, and for those who have back pain while sitting, such desks might be a solution for getting work done and having less pain.

And now that you’re done reading this, go take a quick break!

•••

Rebecca lives in New Mexico where she writes primarily fantasy and horror. Her first novel, Shards of History, is available from World Weaver Press. Her short fiction has appeared in Uncle John’s Flush Fiction and in Stupefying Stories, and she is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s usually spending time with her family, torturing patients as a physical therapist, or eating copious amounts of chocolate.

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SFWA is pleased to announce the results of this year’s Board elections.

• President: Steven Gould
• Vice-President: Rachel Swirsky
• Secretary: Susan Forest
• Treasurer: Bud Sparhawk
• South/Central Regional Director: Lee Martindale
• Overseas Regional Director: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Congratulations to our new (and in some cases continuing) Board members! And we would like to extend our thanks to everyone who ran for office. Your active involvement is invaluable, and much appreciated. We also greatly appreciate the hard work of Lawrence Schoen and the Election Committee.

The new Board members’ terms will begin on July 1, 2013.

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4. Author Solutions' revenues are estimated at $100 million per year. Of the $100 million Author Solutions earns as revenue, approximately one third of that amount, or $33 million annually, comes from book sales. The rest of its revenue is derived from the services it offers, such as editorial services, formatting and design services, production services, and marketing services ("Services").

5. Despite its impressive profits from book sales, Author Solutions fails at the most basic task of a publisher: paying its authors their earned royalties and providing its authors with accurate sales statements.

6. Author Solutions also fails to take diligent care of its authors' works, making numerous and egregious publisher errors -- errors made by the publisher, not the author. These errors include errors on book covers, in addition to various typographical and formatting errors. In fact, Author Solutions profits from its own mistakes. Aggressive sales techniques ensure that these errors are corrected only for a fee of several hundred dollars. Even though, as a matter of policy, Author Solutions promises to correct publisher errors for free, it rarely does.

7. Most of Author Solutions' earnings are derived from its publishing and marketing Services. These Services, which can cost authors tens of thousands of dollars, likewise fail to deliver what they promise: more book sales and more opportunities for authors.

8. Therefore, even while Defendant Author Solutions prominently markets itself on its website as "[t]he leading indie publishing company in the world," authors often discover, once it is too late, that Author Solutions is not an "indie publisher" at all. It is a printing service that fails to maintain even the most rudimentary standards of book publishing, profiting not for its authors but from them.

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About Michael H. Payne

Before I joined SFWA, I was never a convention-going fan, and twenty years after giddily springing for a Lifetime membership, I’m never going to be a real pro, either. Tor published my novel 15 years ago because Algis Budrys convinced them to, but alas, he couldn’t interest them or anyone else in the sequel or the five other novels I wrote before he died. I sell short fiction here and there–I’m in the last five volumes of the Sword & Sorceress anthology, for instance–but I enjoy the impractical too much: everything I write features talking animals; I’ve posted between 11 and 14 pages of webcomics every week for the past eight years even though I have no business trying to draw; and shall I mention the quarter million words of My Little Pony fanfiction I’ve written since 2011? Yes, yes I shall….

About the Circulating Book Plan

When it’s working correctly, the Circulating Book Plan is a way for SFWA members to see a fair percentage of the new SF and fantasy books being published in order to recommend the ones they like for the Nebula Awards®. The program allows members to access and consider a wider range of titles for nomination, leading to a more balanced ballot. There are nine groups around North America, each with four or five members mailing books one to the other and each with a repository library at the end.

Michael took over coordination of the CBP in 1992, following Tom Zelinski.

The Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award

This is the twelfth time that the Service to SFWA Award has been presented. Previous recipients were Victoria Strauss, George Zebrowski and Pamela Sargent (joint), Michael Capobianco and Ann Crispin (joint), Keith Stokes, Vonda McIntyre and John E. Johnston, III.

About The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)

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 1800 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.

What is the Circulating Book Plan? (History, what it does, how long it’s been in existence, whatever you have that will give some background.)

The Circulating Book Plan is a way for SFWA members to get hold of new SF and fantasy books in order to recommend the ones they like to the Nebula list. We have 10 roughly geographical groups around North America, each with 3 or 4 members and a repository library at the end.

For most of the Plan’s existence–having misplaced my paper files, I have no idea when the program began–the publishers would send books to the Co-ordinators of each group, the Co-ordinators would give ‘em the once over, recommend the ones they liked, then send ‘em on to the next person in their group. The last person, then, would send the books to that group’s library.

The avalanche of change the industry lately has made getting 10 free copies of each new book from the publishers more like pulling teeth than usual, however, but I’ve got another round of request letters I’m getting ready to send out. And so many books are electronic these days, how do we deal with that? So, so mysterious…

How long have you been involved with Circulating Book Plan, and what do you do?

I took over from Tom Zelinski as Head Coordinator in 1992. I’m supposed to add folks to their nearest group when they join, am supposed to be the contact person for the various libraries, and am supposed to keep the request letters flowing to the publishers in the hopes that they’ll respond and send us books.

How long have you been a member of SFWA?

I joined in 1992, I guess–Joe Haldeman was president, at any rate–and the first thing I saw in the old Forum was a message saying they needed someone to co-ordinate the Circulating Book Plan. “Nearly free books,” I thought to myself, and I’ve been trying to keep the thing going ever since. I’ve also managed the “Featured Books” selections on the SFWA web site since the last redesign, I suppose I should mention.

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