Friends,

I'm pleased to announce that Apex Books is now ready to take pre-orders for "I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein," which will be published in September. The book can be pre-ordered on the Apex Books website catalog at its own URL (http://www.apexbookcompany.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=30). You can pre-order either the hardcover or trade paperback edition, and although the paperback is slightly cheaper, I can give you two good reasons to order the hardcover.

First, all pre-ordered hardcover copies of the book will be autographed. If you want one of the original autographed copies of the book, that will be the only way to get one.

But second, we decided to sweeten the pot a little for those of you willing to step up to the plate early and order a hardcover copy of the book. And so we are announcing the "I Remember the Future" Tuckerization contest.

Everyone who pre-orders a hardcover copy of the book by June 15 will be entered into a raffle. Two lucky winners will have their names used as names of characters in the two new stories, "Empty Spaces" and "I Remember the Future."

For those of you who have never heard of Tuckerization, it means the naming of characters in stories for real people. The tradition is credited to Wilson Tucker, who named many of the characters in his books for his friends. More information on the practice can be found at the Wikipedia page on Tuckerization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckerization).

So...think about it. If you pre-order the hardcover book by June 15, not only are you guaranteed to receive an autographed copy of the first bound collection of my fiction, including two brand-new stories and afterwords for each story, but you'll also have a chance to have a character in a story named after you. (You can still pre-order the autographed hardcover after June 15, but the contest deadline is June 15.)

Pre-order "I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein

Tags: announcements, books, i remember the future, personal, science-fiction

For those of you helped me out when I was trying to determine a final Table of Contents for "I Remember the Future," thank you. Apex Books has posted the ToC on their blog at Apex Book Company » Final ToC for “I Remember the Future”. I repost it here:

“Kaddish for the Last Survivor” (Analog, November 2000)
“TeleAbsence” (Analog, July 1995)
“TelePresence” (Analog, July/August 2005)
“Broken Symmetry” (Analog, February 1997)
“Absent Friends” (Analog, September 1998)
“Reality Check” (Analog, November 1999)
“Empty Spaces” (original to the book)
“Spaceships” (Analog, June 2001)
“Decisions” (Analog, January/February 2004)
“Time Ablaze” (Analog, June 2004)
“Seventy-Five Years” (Analog, January/February 2005)
“Sanctuary” (Analog, September 2005)
“I Remember the Future” (original to the book)
“Cosmic Corkscrew” (Analog, June 1998)
“Paying It Forward” (Analog, September 2003)

There is a possibility that I might switch the order of the stories "I Remember the Future" and "Paying It Forward," but for the moment, the order you see above is the one I expect to use.

My reasoning is as follows. I'm opening with my most well-known and highly regarded story, then following with my first published story and its sequel, which appeared exactly ten years later. The four "Broken Symmetry" stories come next. followed by four "unthemed" stories in chronological order.

The last three are recursive science fiction stories, that is, science fiction stories about science fiction. In particular, they're stories about science fiction writers.

Each story will have an afterword; and Apex Book is going to start taking pre-orders in just two weeks, on April 7th. Furthermore, there'll be a little surprise in store for those of you who choose to pre-order the hardcover, which I'll announce in two weeks time.

Tags: books, i remember the future, personal, science-fiction

So, as most of you are probably already aware, Apex Books will be publishing my short story collection I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein in September. The cover has already been put together; my new user icon is a miniature version of the cover, which I'll probably try to use for book-related posts.

Pretty soon, we're going to have an announcement about pre-ordering the book, including a special possibility for people who pre-order the autographed hardcover edition. In the meantime, though, I've been thinking about some of the mechanics of the book, and I thought I'd throw out my question to the world and see if anyone wanted to share their thoughts.

The book will consist of 15 stories, thirteen previously published ones and two new ones. Here's the list, in chronological order:

1. "TeleAbsence" (Analog, July 1995)
2. "Broken Symmetry" (Analog, February 1997)
3. "Cosmic Corkscrew" (Analog, June 1998)
4. "Absent Friends" (Analog, September 1998)
5. "Reality Check" (Analog, November 1999)
6. "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" (Analog, November 2000)
7. "Spaceships" (Analog, June 2001)
8. "Paying It Forward" (Analog, September 2003)
9. "Decisions" (Analog, January/February 2004)
10. "Time Ablaze" (Analog, June 2004)
11. "Seventy-Five Years" (Analog, January/February 2005)
12. "TelePresence" (Analog, July/August 2005)
13. "Sanctuary" (Analog, September 2005)
14. Empty Spaces (original to the book)
15. I Remember the Future (original to the book)

Now here's the question. How should I order the stories?

One school of thought suggests that I should set the Table of Contents to be chronological. That way, people reading the book from beginning to end could track my growth (or possible lack thereof) as a writer.

But another school of thought suggests grouping the stories more thematically. For example, "Empty Spaces" is the fourth story in the "Broken Symmetry" series, and it might make sense to place it directly after "Absent Friends" and "Reality Check" (and to move "Cosmic Corkscrew"). And how should I open and end the book? I could bookend the collection with "TeleAbsence" and "TelePresence," since they are a story and a sequel that represent my first ten years in Analog. Or I could open the book with "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" and close with "Paying It Forward," which seem to be my most popular stories.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards keeping the chronological order, especially since I'm writing an original Afterword for each story. But the thematic grouping calls to me as well.

Tags: books, i remember the future, personal, science-fiction

As promised, here are some of the answers to questions people have asked me about "I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein" (Apex Books, September 2008). Note that the answers to any and all of these questions are subject to change.

When is the book scheduled to be released?

September 2008.

What will the book contain?

The book will include all twelve of my stories that were nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards; "Absent Friends," which was not nominated for either award but is part of the "Broken Symmetry" series; and two new stories: "Empty Spaces," which is the fourth story in the "Broken Symmetry" series, and "I Remember the Future." It's a total of 15 stories at about 130,000 words.

Wow! That's a big book.

Thanks, but that's not a question.

Will there be a hardcover edition?

The current plans are for a simultaneous release in a hardcover and a trade paperback edition.

How much will the book cost?

No idea at this point.

Where can I order it from?

The book will be available from all the usual sources. If you're in the Boston area, it should be available from Pandemonium and Brookline Booksmith as well as the chain stores. The book will also be listed at Amazon. And Apex Publications will be taking direct pre-orders on their website, at http://www.apexbookcompany.com.

How can I get it autographed?

Aha! If Apex follows their usual procedure, all hardcover copies that are pre-ordered from their website will come pre-autographed. You'll even be able to request personalization of the signature by contacting me.

The trade paperback edition will not come pre-signed; however, I plan to schedule autograph sessions at conventions throughout 2009.

I don't want to buy a copy of the book, but I do want to read the two new stories you've written. Will you send them to me?

Um, no. The point of including two new stories is to encourage people to buy the book.

What if either of those stories gets nominated for the Hugo or Nebula?

Talk to me then. :-)

Will the book include any of your essays?

The book will not include any of my essays. However, for those of you interested in the writing process, I do plan on writing a brand-new afterword for each story.

Who are you dedicating the book to?

My parents.

Will I be in your Acknowledgments?

That depends. Are you Stanley Schmidt, Jennifer Pelland, Bob Eggleton, Andrew Greene, Jason Sizemore, or Nomi? If so, yes. If not, convince me you belong. :-)

Seriously, though, it's hard for me to remember all the people whose help I want to acknowledge, given that we're talking about a time period of over a decade. If anyone reading this remembers my mentioning anyone who played a vital role in helping me develop some of the stories in the book, please let me know. (I'll also do my best to acknowledge people in the various afterwords who helped with specific stories.)

Are the stories any good?

The stories in this book are the best stories ever written in the universe, bar none. (Seriously, what kind of question is that? I think they're pretty good, and obviously a bunch of other people agreed, or else they wouldn't be my award-nominated stories. Also, I've got a few writers lined up to provide the book with blurbs; if you don't trust me, trust them.)

OK, I'm convinced. I want to buy the book when it comes out, but I'm afraid I might forget about it between now and September.

If you keep reading here regularly, there'll be plenty of reminders, don't worry. Or, if you haven't yet, you might consider signing up for my yahoo mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mabfan/ . It's for announcements only, and I promise it won't clutter your mailbox.

Tags: announcements, books, i remember the future, personal, science-fiction, writing

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes and their congratulations.

Secondly, I've already had a bunch of people ask me questions about the book, in both email and on LiveJournal. Rather than try to answer those questions individually, I plan to post a FAQ about the book here sometime tomorrow. So consider this a request for questions: if you have one, post it here and I'll do my best to answer it.

As for some of the ones I've already received: the book will have simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback editions, it will be possible to pre-order the book directly from Apex, and it will be available in bookstores as well.

Any other questions? Here's the place, now's the time.

Tags: books, i remember the future, personal, stories, writing

For release February 27, 2008

Apex Publications and award-winning writer Michael A. Burstein are pleased to announce that in September 2008, Apex will be publishing the book "I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein."

"I Remember The Future" will be the first bound collection of Burstein's fiction. It will contain all of Burstein's Hugo and Nebula nominated stories, plus two new stories: "Empty Spaces," the fourth, never-before-published story in the "Broken Symmetry" series; and "I Remember the Future," which lends its title to the collection. The book will contain Burstein's two most well-regarded stories, "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" and "Paying It Forward," as well as his two Analytical Laboratory Award winners, "TeleAbsence" and "Sanctuary."

The cover art will be a piece by Bob Eggleton that also served as the first ever cover art for a Burstein story. Stanley Schmidt, long-time editor of Analog magazine (where all of the reprinted stories in the collection first appeared), will provide an introduction.

Michael A. Burstein, winner of the John Campbell Award for Best New Writer, has been publishing award-nominated and award-winning science fiction stories since 1995. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award ten times and for the Nebula Award three times.

For more information on Apex Publications, see http://www.apexbookcompany.com. For more on Michael A. Burstein and his work, see http://www.mabfan.com.

Tags: announcements, books, i remember the future, personal, science-fiction, writing