Mabfan's Musings

For those of you looking to get a copy of I Remember the Future at a discount, the publisher, Apex Publications is having a 30% off sale today in honor of Cyber Monday:

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/news/2009/11/apex-cyber-monday-sale/

"Apex Cyber Monday sale–30% off all orders today only! Enter code CYBERMONDAY on checkout!"

The sale is on all their products, not just IRTF...

From 7:00 pm to 8:45 pm tonight, I'll be participating in a science fiction author panel at the Falmouth Public Library. The other authors are Jennifer Pelland, Jeffrey A. Carver, and Walter H. Hunt.

I haven't decided what I'll speak about yet; if the audience seems engaged, I might try doing "A Thousand Ideas in an Hour."

I'll have copies of I Remember the Future in both hardcover and trade paperback, as well as my special signing pen, for those who wish to buy a copy and get it signed.

Bibliophile Stalker has an interview with Jason Sizemore, the publisher of Apex Publications, here. It's a very good interview, and I especially like this part:

Any advice for aspiring publishers?

Please, I implore you, have a business plan. If you’re not serious about the gig, then don’t bother, otherwise, you’re just going to sully the reputation of the small press even further.

How very true. When I earned my Certificate in Publishing last year from Boston University, I learned the first rule of publishing: "Publishing is a business." It doesn't matter how much you personally like the material you're publishing; you have to approach publishing as a business, or you won't succeed.

Jason's also got some good advice for writers too. Go read.

For people in southern Massachusetts who were asking, when is Michael going to be in the area to talk about I Remember the Future, here's your chance.

On Wednesday, June 17, from 7:00 pm to 8:45 pm, I'll be participating in a science fiction author panel at the Falmouth Public Library. I'm looking forward to this event, as I love libraries and it's the first time that Falmouth is having a science fiction panel. Also, they got a great lineup. The other authors are Jennifer Pelland, Jeffrey A. Carver, and Walter H. Hunt.

I believe we'll all have books available for people to buy and get signed.

For more information, see
New England Science Fiction and Fantasy Events - Science Fiction Author Panel

Boosting the signal here...

Apex Publications, the publisher of I Remember the Future, is holding a lottery with a cool premise. The Apex Author Lottery consists of a variety of prize packages centered on specific Apex authors or staff members.

My author's stack consists of two books. The first is a hardcover, signed copy of I Remember the Future, of course.

The second book is a hardcover, signed copy of The Coming Convergence by Stanley Schmidt. Stanley Schmidt is the editor of Analog, and he wrote the introduction to my collection. I blogged about his book last year; it's very thought-provoking and a logical companion in the prize package.

Tickets for any lottery prize package are $1 each, and if you choose to buy ten tickets for any one package, that's only $8. Or, if you want to try your luck on all 19 prize packages, for $15 you can buy 19 tickets, one for each package.

Click here for details on the Apex Author Lottery.

Click here for a list of all prize packages.

Click here for my own prize package.

Last night ended my participation as a Book of the Month Club author in Joseph Mallozzi's book club, which he runs on his blog.

Joe runs the book club as follows. First, he announces the book a few months in advance and encourages everyone to go read it. Then, when the discussion week arrives, he posts his own thoughts about the book and encourages his readers to comment and ask questions. He passes along those questions to the author, who has as much time as needed to compose answers to the questions. Finally, Joe posts those answers on his blog, and the book club moves on to the next book.

It's been a lot of fun having I Remember the Future selected as one of the books for the month of May. I discovered that Joe's readers, while sometimes critical and analytical, are also very respectful. Whether or not they like a story, they explain exactly what worked for them and what didn't. And I have to admit that it was a thrill to have the book chosen by a producer of one of my favorite television show franchises. Joe noted my love of Stargate as well, in his introduction to the post with my answers:

When it comes to making a selection for our Book of the Month Club discussions, I like to take several things into consideration: recommendations, reviews, an intriguing premise, and, of course, whether or not the author is a Stargate fan. Well, when I learned that author Michael A. Burstein was an avid follower of the Stargate franchise, I was delighted to pick his book, I Remember the Future, for a May discussion. Michael is not only an established SF writer and fan of the show, but a blog regular as well and so it gives me great pleasure to turn today’s entry over to him.

Because I'm a fan of Stargate, I had an idea for an appropriate picture to go along with the post. Nomi agreed to the idea, and our friend Ari Baronofsky graciously agreed to take the picture and let us use it.

So the "author photo" that went along with my answers is a picture of Nomi and me posed with our DVD box set of Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series, which we purchased as a present to ourselves when it was released.

Anyway, here's the link if you want to see the picture for yourself, and maybe even read my answers:

Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: Author Michael A. Burstein Answers Your Questions

And for any of Joe's readers who make it over here, a bonus question and answer. No one asked me what my favorite episodes of Stargate SG-1 were. So, in order of broadcast, here they are: 1969, Window of Opportunity, 2010, 2001, Wormhole X-treme!, and 200. Yeah, I tend to flock to the fan favorites....

What's that? My favorite episodes of Stargate Atlantis? That'll have to wait for later.

Folks may recall that back in March, I announced that Joseph Mallozzi had chosen I Remember the Future as one of his Book of the Month Club selections for the month of May.

Again, for those of you unfamiliar with his name, Joseph Mallozzi was one of the executive producers of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and is also an executive producer of the upcoming Stargate Universe. (And, as I've mentioned a few times, Nomi and I are big fans of the franchise.)

Mr. Mallozzi has just posted his Book Club blog entry at Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein. He has some fascinating things to say about the stories; some of them worked for him, and some didn't, for quite legitimate reasons. Like many other readers, Joe Mallozzi compares my writing style to that of the Golden Age writers, and it's a comparison I do not shy away from.

Anyway, if anyone reading here still has questions to ask me about the book, feel free to go over there and post your questions. He's going to collect them all for me and I'm going to try to answer them within the week (or the month). And while you're over there, check out what else he has to say; he's a very funny guy, he knows a lot about good food, and sometimes his dogs give away big Stargate secrets.

The Chronic Rift has announced the winners of the 2008 Roundtable Awards on their latest podcast, and I am delighted to be able to announce that I Remember the Future is the winner of the Best Anthology award.

My thanks to all listeners to the Chronic Rift who voted for the book. If you listen to the podcast, you can hear my recorded thanks as well.

I'm also delighted to announce another win that took me by surprise as I was listening to the podcast. Back in December, I entered a radio script adaption of my story "Decisions" into the contest that the Chronic Rift was running. They were looking for a script to perform on the show. Well, they've chosen to produce "Decisions" as an audio play. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

(The Chronic Rift: Spotlight - The 2008 Roundtable Awards)

A year ago today, the world got the news that the last of the Big Three science fiction writers, Arthur C. Clarke, had died.

Growing up, I wasn't much of a Clarke reader. I loved Asimov's work, though, and Asimov himself used to say that people who liked his work also liked Clarke's. But for the most part, I never enjoyed Clarke's books as much as I did Asimov's. However, I did find Clarke's ideas mind-blowing, and I did enjoy Clarke's short stories more than his novels. (Who could forget "The Star" or "The Nine Billion Names of God"?)

I also loved Clarke's essays on science and the world. He seemed to have an innate inability to grasp the direction in which we were going as a species.

Oddly enough, when he died last year, I was in the middle of trying to figure out the plot of a new short story, the story that would give its title to my collection I Remember the Future. As I said in the book, Clarke's death somehow triggered in my mind exactly what I needed to write the story, and so I dedicated it to him.

As I noted last year when Clarke died, many people liked to quote his Third Law ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic") but I was more interested in exploring the ramifications of his Second Law: "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

It's something I try to do every day.

Remember just a few days ago when I pointed people toward Joseph Malllozzi's weblog?

I am pleased to announce that Joseph Mallozzi has chosen I Remember the Future as one of his Book of the Month Club selections for the month of May.

For those of you unfamiliar with his name, Joseph Mallozzi was one of the executive producers of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and is also an executive producer of the upcoming Stargate Universe. Nomi and I have been fans of the Stargate shows for a few years; in fact, as a present to ourselves, when Stargate SG-1 came to an end, we bought the full-series DVD set so we could go back and watch our favorite episodes over and over.

So I was delighted when a few weeks ago, Mallozzi asked me if I'd be willing to answer questions in the month of May about I Remember the Future for his Book of the Month Club. Besides being a writer of science fiction, Mallozzi is also a voracious reader of science fiction. Every month he selects books for his Book of the Month Club and encourages his blog readers to read the books and then discuss them and ask questions of the author. I'm looking forward to having a new audience enjoy my stories, even though I have slight feelings of trepidation regarding what questions they may ask. (Gulp.)

By the way, the other book Mallozzi has chosen for May is The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll. As a long-time fan of Carroll's work, I'm delighted to be in such august company. (I just hope the readers don't decide to spend their time comparing my book to Carroll's, since in my own opinion I would get trounced.)

If you'd like to join in the fun, check out Mallozzi's latest blog post, in which he also opens up the floor to questions for questions for the Stargate art department draftsman: March 17, 2009: Expert Analysis vs. Dumb Luck, Questions for Kate, Some Stargate News of Note, and May’s Book of the Month Club Selections.

The Highlander's Book Reviews site has posted their review of I Remember the Future, and given the book a rating of four out of five. I'm particularly pleased with this part:

..if you want to find Isaac Asimov’s natural heir both in the art of short story writing but also in that connection between author and reader, look no further than Michael A. Burstein.

Given how much I do try to emulate Asimov, it looks like I'm getting it right.

Here's the link to the review: Highlander's Book Reviews: I Remember the Future.

As part of my book tour for I Remember the Future, I've had two recent audio appearances.

First of all, I'm the guest on this week's episode of The Chronic Rift podcast. If you haven't heard The Chronic Rift before, and you're interested in science fiction and related topics, you ought to give it a listen. To paraphrase their own description, the podcast is based on the New York public access television show of the 1990's. Each month they deliver news, reviews, interviews and discussion on the latest in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art.

In my opinion, the cast of the show display an amusing banter and awesome wit. As for what else you can expect on this week's episode, I lifted this description from John Drew's announcement on his own LiveJournal at The View From Drew – Episode Ten Ready to Go!:

In our first double digit episode, Orenthal (popfiend) and John (drewshi) talk Knight Rider despite Andrea's best efforts to stop them. Also, Andrea warms everyone up for this year's Razzie Awards. In the review department, Keith (kradical) and Derrick (dferguson) rants about the glut of comic book "events". Plus, Keith interviews Michael Burstein (mabfan) about the release of his anthology, I Remember the Future. Listen for your chance to win a copy of the anthology.

Click here to find out more and to download: The Chronic Rift Episode Ten. (At the very least, you'll want to find out why I'm such a big fan of Andrea K. Linpinksi.)

As for my other recent audio appearance, radio station WRFR out of Rockland, Maine has a weekly broadcast about science fiction that's also a podcast, called Beam Me Up. The host, Paul Cole, recently read aloud my story Paying It Forward, and you can download his reading here:

Beam Me Up Podcast: Paying It Forward, Part One

Beam Me Up Podcast: Paying It Forward, Part Two

So, enjoy.

I am pleased to announce that I Remember the Future is finally available in a Kindle edition. Just click the following link if you have a Kindle and start reading immediately:

I Remember the Future: Kindle Edition

Freelance writer, illustrator, and comics artist Mike Dominic recently had some very nice words to say about I Remember the Future on his blog in a post titled Aiming for Peak Traffic. With his kind permission, I'm quoting him here (italics mine):

I'm currently reading Michael Burstein's "I Remember the Future" (available from the Apex store in hardcover and from Fictionwise in handy ebook format), and I'm enjoying it so much that I've purchased a hardcover copy for a friend of mine. As I said in my note to said friend, this is a book that makes you feel more human for having read it. Burstein manages to combine just enough hard sci fi to convince you that you've learned something, with humanist themes that appeal to your empathy. It's good sci-fi, not space opera, in the tradition of some of the great masters like Asimov and Clarke, and well worth the read...

Thanks, Dominic.

The December 2008-January 2009 issue of Brookline Magazine (along with its sister magazines Newton Magazine and Metrowest Magazine) has just published a very nice profile of me. Although the impetus of the profile is the publication of I Remember the Future, the focus of the profile is also my involvement with the town of Brookline:

Michael Burstein is a writer with a special focus, a profound concern with memory.

Burstein is a typical Brookline resident – well-educated, liberal, and with leisure enough to content himself with a wide spectrum of interests. A physicist by training and educator by practice, Burstein has been a Brookline town meeting member since 2001, a library trustee since 2004, was once a would-be astronaut and has a tendency to burst into song over dinner.

If you'd like to see more of the article, the author has posted a PDF from her blog entry Profile of Michael Burstein.

Arisia was a lot of fun, and kept us both very busy. If I have time, I might report on the convention a bit.

In the meantime, here's a link to an interview Steven H Silver did of me in which I talk about fandom, writing, religion, influences, and of course, I Remember the Future:

The SF Site: An Interview with Michael A. Burstein.

The money quote that has been popping up on links to the interview seems to be this one:

You've said that Isaac Asimov was a major inspiration to you. How did he affect your writing career and which other authors do you feel you owe a debt to?

I could write a whole article about Isaac Asimov. Come to think of it, I have, for the fanzine Mimosa, and it's available on my website. It would be far too long to reproduce here. But the short version is that Asimov, being as prolific and open about his life as he was, gave the rest of us a blueprint to follow if we wanted to do so.

(The interview is also available by downloading the latest issue of Argentus.)

[Original Press Release at http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/2009/01/apex-magazine-welcomes-guest-editor-michael-a-burstein/]

Apex Magazine is delighted to announce that the April issue will be a special one devoted to the concept of how the future will remember the past, and edited by award-winning writer and Apex author Michael A. Burstein.

“Ever since we published Michael’s collection I Remember the Future, we’ve been hoping that Michael could find the time to edit an issue,” said Jason Sizemore, publisher and editor-in-chief of Apex Magazine. “Michael’s looking for stories that evoke the same themes that tie his own stories together, such as the slipperiness of history and the dangers of forgetting the past.”

Burstein will be reading for this special issue of Apex Magazine from January 15th until March 15th. He said, “I want to thank Apex for this opportunity to edit an issue of the magazine. I’m looking forward to seeing the stories come in, and I’m hoping for some powerful ones that will stay with me for a long time.”

Guidelines for submission:
Stories for the special issue should be submitted as per the guidelines given on our submission page at http://www.apexbookcompany.com/submissions/. Please place the words “SPECIAL ISSUE” in the Subject line of the submissions. Michael will be looking for dark science fiction stories devoted to the concept of memory, including the slipperiness of history and the dangers of forgetting the past. Payment will be at the usual rate.
In the body of the email, please feel free to mention previous publication credits, if any.

Please mail submissions to our standard submission address. Our slush wrangler will forward all SPECIAL ISSUE submissions to Michael.

Michael is also interested in short poems (devoted to the theme). The payment for a poem will be $5.

Submissions should only be sent between the dates of January 15th and March 15th. Any submissions for the special issue sent outside of those dates will be deleted unread.

For more information on Apex Magazine, please visit http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/.
For more information on Michael A. Burstein and I Remember the Future, please visit http://www.mabfan.com and http://www.bursteinbooks.com.

This one I'm getting in just under the wire.

Apex Publications, the fine publisher of I Remember the Future, has been running a sales drive for the past two weeks under the title "Brother, Can You Spare $15.95?" If you check out the Apex Blog, you can see their posts about the sales drive interspersed with many other fascinating posts about writing stories, reading slush piles, reviewing books, and participating in a workshop.

As an Apex author myself, I encourage any and all to check out their store and see what books you might want to buy. Perhaps you haven't gotten a copy of I Remember the Future yet because you were waiting for the ebook, which is now available. Perhaps you'd like to pre-order The Convent of the Pure, or order a copy of Hebrewpunk or Unwelcome Bodies.

Or maybe you'd like an Apex Alien Plush Toy! (Click the link; it's adorable!)

So if you're interested in some good reading, take a look.

I'm pleased to announce that I Remember the Future is now available as an eBook from Fictionwise. In the first week of release, the eBook is being offered at 40% 15% off, so if you've been waiting for the eBook here's your chance to get it at a low, low price.

It's available in all sorts of formats, including Kindle.

I Remember the Future eBook

On Friday, SFScope posted a review of I Remember the Future. I had been eagerly anticipating this review for a few reasons, one of which is that the reviewer is my friend Ian Randal Strock.

What I find intriguing about Ian's review is that he didn't just write a dry review about the book, but he also wrote a little bit about the friendship we've shared over the years. In some ways, it may be an odd thing to do, but it does make it clear that there's a disclaimer to keep in mind when reading the review. He starts the review by talking about how we met, and then notes, "That's a far more personal introduction for a book review than I've ever written, or than I expect to read, but Michael's stories engender that personal kind of feeling."

Which, of courses, pleased me very much. Here's a sample of what Ian wrote:

His stories are quiet, often moving explorations of life and loss and memory. He writes eloquently about the need to remember horrible events after all the survivors have died ("Kaddish for the Last Survivor", "Time Ablaze"), about overcoming barriers not to happiness, but to fulfillment ("TeleAbsence", the "Broken Symmetry" series), time travel and memory ("Spaceships", "I Remember the Future", "Cosmic Corkscrew"), aging and science and some of the classical science fictional tropes ("Decisions", "Seventy-Five Years", "Paying It Forward"), and occasionally, outright, religion ("Sanctuary"). He isn't a splashy writer, probably not exciting enough to be best-seller material. But neither is he a flash-in-the-pan, here-today-and-gone-tomorrow writer. His stories have staying power because they're quietly moving. They may not stick with you word for word, but their ideas will remain.

If you'd like to read more, click on the link: SFScope Review of I Remember the Future. And if you want to see Ian's appearance in the second story I ever published (only 1000 words!), it's free to read at this link: Sentimental Value.