Mabfan's Musings

Back in December, I entered a competition over at the podcast The Chronic Rift, which is devoted to discussion on the latest in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art. They were looking for a script to turn into an audio drama, and I thought that my Hugo-nominated short story "Decisions" (Analog, January/February 2004) might work well as an audio drama.

So, relying heavily on The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski, I sat down with a copy of the manuscript of "Decisions" and adapted it into an audio play. An audio play has different requirements from a short story to work properly. It may seem obvious, but to write an audio play, you have to imagine how the listeners are going to paint a picture of the action in their minds using nothing but sound. In his book, Straczynski gives an example of a television scene in which George shoots Frank, and points out that if you closed your eyes and listened to the scene the way it was presented, you could come away with the impression that Frank shot George.

I felt "Decisions" lent itself to the audio treatment for a few reasons. First of all, there were only four main characters, so it wouldn't be hard for the listener to keep track of them all. Secondly, there weren't that many different locales in the story, so once again I wouldn't have to set up too much for the listener. And finally, I felt that it was a tight little story with a lot of tension between characters that lent itself well to the audio treatment.

I had a lot of fun imagining "Decisions" as an audio play, and now here's your chance to decide for yourself if I succeeded. It's been produced by John S. Drew of The Chronic Rift, with an all-star cast, including Keith R.A. DeCandido, Andrea K. Lipinski, Orenthal V. Hawkins, Judith Furnari, and Jay Smith.

If you click on The Chronic Rift: Spotlight – Michael A. Burstein's Decisions you can listen to the episode.

And then you can add a comment at The Chronic Rift: Spotlight – Michael A. Burstein's Decisions Forum Discussion and you can rate the episode here.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think.

And in other news...

In August, Nightshade Books will be publishing the collection of vampire stories By Blood We Live edited by John Joseph Adams. Jennifer Brozek has reviewed the book, and had this to say about my contribution, a reprint of my story "Lifeblood":

For me, there are three outstanding stories in this collection that shine above the rest. It is their writing, perspective, and originality that made these stories stick in my head long after I finished reading them...

“Lifeblood” by Michael A. Burstein – This story tells the tale of combating a vampire with faith – Jewish faith rather than the traditional Christian faith. The use of song and prayer within the song is a brilliant reinterpretation of brandishing the crucifix.

It's very high praise to have a reviewer cite my story as one of the three outstanding ones in the book, even more so when the name writers in the book include Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, and Stephen King.

The review can be found here: Review of By Blood We Live. It's also on her blog at jennifer_brozek.

Maybe I should start writing my own vampire trilogy...

I suspect most of the people who read my blog are probably already aware of this, but in case not...

Jeremy L.C. Jones interviewed ten editors of short fiction, including Patrick Neilsen Hayden, Shawna McCarthy, John O'Neill, Cat Rambo, Mike Resnick, Stanley Schmidt, Jason Sizemore, Gordon Van Gelder, Sheila Williams, and Ann VanderMeer. The interview has been published by Clarkesworld Magazine at the following link:

The Story Is All: Ten Fiction Editors Talk Shop.

It's a very good piece, with a lot of useful information for any writer trying to place a story with any of the editors interviewed.

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.

As the editor of the special issue of Apex Magazine (April 2009), I'm reposting this announcement from http://www.apexbookcompany.com/news/2009/05/story-titled-changed/ :

This morning, it came to our attention that Jamie Todd Rubin’s story “The Last Science Fiction Writer” (April Apex Magazine) shared the same title as Allen Steele’s “The Last Science Fiction Writer.” This had been causing some confusion, especially since Allen Steele had released a nice collection of his short stories using that same title.

For this reason, Jamie Todd Rubin has retitled his story to “Hindsight, in Neon.”

We apologize to our readers, Allen Steele, and Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press for any confusion and inconvenience this might have caused.

I've been meaning to let people know about all of the following, just haven't had the time. None of this is Earth-shattering, but it might be of interest.

First of all, I reviewed the play The Superheroine Monologues for SF Scope. Unfortunately, at this point the play's run is over, but if you're interested in my opinion, you can find it at The Secret Lives of Superheroines – a review of The Superheroine Monologues: A Parody of Super Proportions.

Secondly, and a little more timely, I had an opinion piece appear on SCI FI Wire (soon to be Syfy Wire?) about tonight's season finale of the TV show Heroes. I managed to snag quotes from Paul Levinson, Bob Greenberger, and Miranda Thomas about the show; I thought Miranda's point about a need for a big battle was a good one. You can find the article at 5 things Heroes must do to deliver a killer season finale.

Thirdly, John Joseph Adams has chosen to reprint my Jews versus vampires story, "Lifeblood," in the anthology By Blood We Live (Night Shade Books). I suspect it's going to be a somewhat different take on vampires than the other stories in the book. "Lifeblood" originally appeared in the 2003 DAW Books anthology New Voices in Science Fiction edited by Mike Resnick, and I'm glad to see it come back into print.

Fourthly, Apex Publications announced that they're doing a book collection of stories from Apex Magazine, and it turns out that they're including the two stories I selected for the special issue as part of the book: “Waiting for Jakie” by Barbara Krasnoff and “The Last Science Fiction Writer” by Jamie Todd Rubin. If you want to learn more about Descended From Darkness: Apex Magazine volume 1, read their blog post Apex Magazine antho: Update.

And finally, the Falmouth Public Library in southern Massachusetts has invited me to participate in their SCI FI Author Panel on the evening of Wednesday, June 17. I'm particularly pleased to be invited to speak at a library because of my own connection to libraries in Massachusetts. One of the other panelists will be my good friend Jennifer Pelland, so I expect the audience that comes to the event will hear a lot of brilliant repartee. (At least, I'd like to think so.)

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)

I'm delighted to announce that the April 2009 issue of Apex Magazine, the issue for which I served as Guest Editor, is now available.

I'm very proud of this issue. As I discuss in the editorial, the stories I selected for the issue struck some very personal chords with me. "The Last Science Fiction Writer" by Jamie Rubin and "Waiting for Jakie" by Barbara Krasnoff both explore themes that I've also explored in my own fiction.

I was also pleased to be able to support science fiction poetry by publishing two poems: Michael Ceraolo’s “Message in a Bottle” and Elizabeth Barrette’s “Fallen Gardens." Apex Magazine doesn't usually publish poetry, so this was a departure for them. I'm glad they were willing to go along.

Editing the special issue of Apex also allowed me to reprint one of my favorite stories of all time: "Love, Dad" by Jeffery D. Kooistra, which originally appeared in the March 1992 Analog. It's also a bit of a departure for Apex, as it's more touching and moving and perhaps less dark than their usual fare, but I think Apex's readers will like it nevertheless.

Finally, the cover art by Stephen Rider does a wonderful job of illustrating "The Last Science Fiction Writer." You can see it for yourself if you check out the catalog page for the PDF version. And while you're there, maybe you'll consider buying the PDF; it's only $2, well worth the cost to support great short fiction online.

In addition to editing this issue, I also wrote a blog entry for the Apex Blog, Thoughts on Professionalism and Guest Editing, in which I discuss the process of serving as guest editor for the issue. I actually had a few surprises in store for me when I took on this task, and I encourage anyone who wants to know what happens on the other side of the desk to check it out.

Once again, many thanks to Jason Sizemore, the publisher of Apex, for allowing me this opportunity.

(Permalink to the April 2009 Apex Magazine)

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.

The 2008 Roundtable Awards have been announced, and I am very pleased to note that the nominees in the Best Short Story category include both "Empty Spaces" and "I Remember the Future."

What this means is that I Remember the Future has now truly earned its subtitle, "The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein." Because the two new stories have now been nominated for an award, every story in the book is now an award nominee, with the exception of "Absent Friends." ("Absent Friends" is included because it bridges the other three stories in the "Broken Symmetry" series.)

I'm also amused to note that "The release of I Remember the Future" was nominated in their Best Thing of 2008 category. Certainly, it was probably the best thing of 2008 for me personally....

I would like to thank the voters in the Roundtable Awards, which is sponsored by the podcast The Chronic Rift, for their nominations. I'm honored to be up against stories by my friends Terri Osborne and Ian Randal Strock.

To see a list of all nominees in all categories, check out The 2008 Roundtable Award Nominees and listen to the podcast.

(ETA: I forgot to note that the book also got nominated in their "Best Anthology of Short Stories" category. So that's a total of four nominations for the book.)

I had been planning to wait until the whole story was up on the Polu Texni website, but this is too good to wait.

I've been reading a fascinating story by my friend Seth Gordon, called "Very Truly Yours," which is currently being serialized in the webzine Polu Texni. The story is set in either the future or an alternate world, in which some sort of biological change can cause people to become...

Well, I don't really want to spoil it. Would you trust me if I just told you that the idea behind the story is fascinating, that the voice of the first person protagonist is compelling, and that I am now eager for Part III and the resolution?

Go read. Click on the links below.

Very Truly Yours, Part I

Very Truly Yours, Part II

Last Tuesday, SFScope broke the news that Realms of Fantasy magazine was closing down after the April 2009 issue. Which means it's time for me to revisit the question of supporting short fiction.

Ironically, the last time I wrote on this topic, in an August 2007 post titled "Supporting Short Speculative Fiction," it was because the assistant editor of Realms of Fantasy had decided to start a subscription drive for short fiction magazines. A year and a half later, we can probably guess how well that worked.

So with the folding of Realms of Fantasy, writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who used to edit the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, sent out a similar plea which got picked up by ComicMix last Wednesday at Fight the downturn! Here's how... You can follow the link to read her letter, but the essence of her statement can be encapsulated in the first sentence: "If you’re really worried about the magazines, subscribe to them."

I'm not going to revisit the question of the economics of short fiction; those who are interested can go back to my November 2005 post Thoughts on the End of SCI FICTION and the Status of the Short Fiction Market. Instead, I'm going to add my own plea to the ones already out there, and note an interesting experiment being done by Apex Magazine.

First of all, as always, I remind people who like my stories to consider subscribing to Analog. Most of my stories have appeared there, including all the stories collected in I Remember the Future. If you like my stories, you'll like what you find in Analog. (And a shout out to fizzixrat, who has informed me that he is subscribing to Analog!)

Secondly, I want to boost the signal on a fascinating announcement made today by Apex Publications. Apex, which publishes my book, has been publishing Apex Magazine since 2005. It started as a print digest, and then in 2008 they moved it online as a free website. The website included all of the same fiction, but didn't have the same look and feel as the digest.

Well, for those readers who liked the digest and want to support the magazine, they've announced that starting with this month's issue, they are offering a PDF version of the magazine for those readers willing to pay for it. For $2 an issue, or $12 for an annual subscription, readers of Apex can received a PDF emailed to them which has the look of the original digest, including a cover and full-color art.

I like this idea a lot. Apex keeps their fiction available to readers on the Internet for free, but at the same time, they've created an appealing product for those readers who liked the digest. Furthermore, they're giving their readers the opportunity to show their support for the writers and artists, as they note that the money raised by selling the PDF is going to them.

I'm hoping that this business model works out, and helps stave off the death of short fiction markets that people keep predicting as we see one market after another vanish away. I have subscriptions already to Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF, and if you'll excuse me, I'm off to purchase one from Apex as well.

Back in 1996, in the early days of the Internet, I became one of the first writers to offer my stories to members of the World Science Fiction Convention who were voting in the Hugo Awards. It actually wasn't until after the nominations came out, when I contacted the Hugo Administrator and suggested that all of us who had been nominated be given a chance to post our stories online for people to read. In the end, I hosted my own story and some of my competitors in the Short Story category, and voters didn't have to struggle to track down the nominated stories and read them.

Of course, today, everyone who has stories to offer for potential nomination now does so over the Internet, and so I'm doing the same. I had three stories published last year that I feel might be worthy of nomination:

Short Story:

• "Collapse" (Polu Texni, September 29, 2008), about an astronomer who discovers that the universal collapse has begun – or so he thinks
  
• "I Remember the Future" (I Remember the Future, Apex Publications, November 2008), about a retired science fiction writer at the end of his life who fears that humanity has forgotten how to dream
  

Novelette:

• "Empty Spaces" (I Remember the Future, Apex Publications, November 2008), about a scientist whose work in studying a parallel universe has come between her and her friends and family
  

You'll notice that while "Collapse" is available to read online, the other stories aren't, because they're the new stories in my collection, I Remember the Future. However, if you're a member of Worldcon who would like to read either one of those stories and you don't have the book, I'm more than willing to email PDF copies of them to you for free.

Just drop me an email at story at mabfan dot com, telling me which story you'd like to read, and I'll send it along.

[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.

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.

The December issue of Apex Magazine is now available on their website. This issue includes two items I'd like to point out:

• An interview with me, in which I discuss a few of my influences and talk about what's next;
  
  
• A really freaky short story by Jennifer Pelland called "Organ Nell". As soon as I read this story, I rushed to recommend it for both the Nebula and the Stoker. Highly recommended.
  

A few folks including my half-brother Danny have reminded me that tomorrow is the date of the Muller Election.

What's that, you ask? It's quite simple. In 2008, the United States, as it had done for the previous few presidential elections, had the supercomputer Multivac determine the winner by selecting one citizen to be America's representative. Multivac chose Norman Muller as the voter of the year for 2008, the man whose views on politics were closest to the American average for the year. Muller reported to Multivac to answer a series of questions about his political preferences and his opinions on the state of the world, and based on that interview, Multivac named the winning candidate who would go on to become president in 2009.

Or so Isaac Asimov wrote in the short story Franchise, first published in August 1955. I had completely forgotten that the story was set on Election Day 2008.

Nomi and I plan to vote first thing tomorrow morning. Go ye and do likewise.