Member Newsletter

Speculative Literature Foundation Newsletter - No. 05

Editor's Note: Our Webcontent Coordinator, Shannan Palma, is in the process of moving to another state, so this month's list of website additions will be postponed until the July newsletter. Because we are an all-volunteer staff with job, school, and other commitments, occasional disruptions of schedule are inevitable—the newsletter being a prime example. Please bear with us.

In this issue:
        Fountain Award Results
        Membership Drive Results
        SLF Receives Donation
        Travel Research Award
        New SLF Position
        Publicity in OZ
        
* SLF Announces Fountain Award Winner
The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) is pleased to announce the results of the first ever Fountain Award. The winning entry was "The Specialist" by Alison Smith, first published in McSweeney's Quarterly
Concern. Ms. Smith wins a prize of $1000. Sixteen other stories received honorable mentions. Full details are available on the SLF web site:

http://speculativeliterature.org/Awards/SLFFountainAward/2003.php

The Fountain Award is given to short stories (up to 7500 words) of exceptional literary quality. The Award is judged by a select jury, and is chosen from work nominated by magazine and anthology editors for the year in question. The judges for the 2004 award (for works published in 2003) were Heinz Insu Fenkl, John Kessel, Larissa Lai, Kelly Link, and Maureen McHugh.

SLF is particularly pleased to note the participation of many mainstream publications in the Award, in addition to traditional genre venues. Stories receiving honorable mentions included works from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Conjunctions #41 and Missouri Review.

* Membership Drive Results:
Between our new discount memberships received at WisCon, and the new members who signed up in June during our fund drive, the SLF is richer by 44 members. We're delighted to welcome you all, and a special congrats to new member Kalamu ya Salaam, who has been randomly selected to receive our fund drive prize, a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com! These memberships make it possible for us to offer a travel research grant -- more details below.

* SLF Receives Donation:
Director Mary Anne Mohanraj notifies us that we have received a generous donation of $500 from an individual who likes what we are doing. Hooray! We are extremely grateful, and we'll put it to good use. After discussion, it has been decided to add some of the money to our new Travel Research Grant (see following story) and retain the rest in our bank account for expenses.

* Travel Research Grant
SLF travel grants are awarded to assist writers (fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction) in their research. They are not currently available for academic research, though we hope to offer such funds in the future. We are currently offering one $600 travel grant annually, to be used to cover airfare, lodging, and/or other travel expenses.
Our travel grants will be awarded by a committee of SLF staff members on the basis of interest and merit. Factors considered will include:

• a one-page written description of the project in question, including details on the travel location and an estimated completion date (no more than 500 words)
  
• a writing sample in the proposed genre (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction)
  
• a bibliography of previously-published work by the author (no more than one page, typed); applicants need not have previous publications to apply.

If awarded the grant, the recipient agrees to write a brief report of their research experience (500-1000 words) for our files, and for possible public dissemination on our website.

PLEASE NOTE: This grant, as with all SLF grants, is intended to help writers working with speculative literature. If you're not sure what areas that term encompasses, we recommend referencing our FAQ (question #2).

Travel Grant Application Procedures

1. Send the three items listed above to our travel grant administrators, Colin Harvey and Tiffany Jonas, as attached .doc files, to travel@speculativeliterature.org. Include a brief cover letter with your name and contact info (e-mail, phone in case of emergency). If you have questions, direct them to that same address.
   
2. You may apply for travel to take place at any point in the following year (from September to the following September).
   
3. Travel may take place from any country to any country, or internally within a country; the grants are unrestricted. Funds will be disbursed in U.S. currency (but can be sent through PayPal if that is more convenient for international recipients).
   
4. Travel grant applications will be considered from July 1st to September 30th, annually. Applications received outside that period will be discarded unread.
   
5. The grant recipient will be announced by October 15th, annually. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application by that date.
   

* SLF Adds New Position: Public Relations Coordinator
Founding staff member Cheryl Morgan has agreed to take on the newly created position of Public Relations Coordinator. Previously, the tasks associated with this function (press releases and other publicity, events, convention activities, etc.) were handled by our Director, Mary Anne, who has more than enough other jobs to do. Cheryl assisted at the recent Bay Area Events and at WisCon, and has other experience in this area as well. The Travel Grant press release above is her first official effort. She is one of our most active staff members, and we know she'll do a great job!

* SLF Publicity Down Under
Staff member Deborah Biancotti distributed SLF flyers at the Australian National SF Convention and had a friend take some to another smaller convention—just a reminder that the SLF is an international organization. We look forward to welcoming more Australian members!