SPECULATIVE LITERATURE FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

In this issue:
Older Writers Grant Awarded to One of a Hundred Applicants
SLF Has a Blog
Volunteer Staffing Drive: Fresh Ideas and Strong Voices
Announcements: SLF Member Publications and Awards
SLF at Upcoming Conventions 

2009 Older Writers Grant
Awarded to One of a Hundred Applicants

We received over one hundred applications for this year's Older Writers Grant.
We're thrilled that so many writers made the effort to apply. The quality of the
applications was outstanding. Even if we were only able to supply one grant,
it's gratifying to know that literary speculative fiction is alive and kicking,
and we're proud to be supporting it.

This year's grant winner was Karen L. Simpson of Ann Arbor, Michigan. A
historian by profession, Simpson has designed exhibits for museums and other
historical institutions that address the issues of cultural diversity and racial
reconciliation. She often finds inspiration for her speculative fiction from the
discoveries she makes during her research.

Honorable mentions went to: S.H. Gilbert, Phillip Kaldon, David Shifren, K.P.
Graham and Ada Milenkovic Brown for their unique and thought-provoking
submissions. Full story >>
<http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Media_Kit/Release_2009_06_01.html> 

SLF Has a Blog
Our multi-talented webmaster Gregory Banks has set up a blog for the SLF. For
current information on SLF grants, news from the speculative fiction community
of interest to writers and editors, and SLF general announcements, check it out:
*www.speculativeliterature.org/SLF-Blog*
<http://www.speculativeliterature.org/SLF-Blog/> 

Volunteer Staffing Drive
Fresh Ideas and Strong Voices
Now that we've recovered from our (very successful!) fund drive, and allocated
the first grant of the year, we're ready to take a breather, reflect on what
we've accomplished, and look ahead to where we would like the SLF to go in the
future. With five solid years now under our belts, we're in great position to
take on some new volunteers with fresh ideas and strong voices. If you'd like to
help promote quality speculative fiction and you have ideas about how to shape
the vision of the SLF, please consider applying for one of the volunteer
positions listed below.

Classifieds Coordinator
The SLF is launching a Classifieds area on the website to bring together
writers, readers, editors and publishers to trade information and services in
the field of speculative fiction. The Classifieds Coordinator acts as the point
of contact for questions about the classifieds and spreads the word in the
writing community about the classifieds and vets ads/posts. The coordinator also
works with the SLF website manager to update the site as needed.

Gulliver Travel Grant Administrator
Here's your chance to hand out money! Each year the SLF awards a travel grant of
$800 to help writers in their research, whether it's for a novel, a book of
poetry, a play, or any other speculative fiction writing endeavor. The Travel
Grant Administrator keeps track of the incoming applications, and with the help
of slush readers, chooses the best of the entries to receive this award. The
person in this position should be well-read in speculative literature and
preferably also have published in the field.

Membership Coordinator
Like the PR Coordinator, the person in this job can make good use of social
networking skills to garner interest in the SLF. The less interesting part of
the job is keeping track of who is a member, but this is made very easy by the
excellent database programs written by our webmasters.

Mentorship Program Director
The Mentorship Program is a six-week program designed to facilitate new and
intermediate writers connecting with more established writers. The Program
Director helps solicit mentors, assigns writers to the program, and sets up
online discussion areas. Discussions range from the craft of writing, to
publication, to current SF gossip. According to our previous Director, it's a
lot of fun and not much work once the conversation ball is rolling.

PR Coordinator
The easy part of being the Speculative Literature Foundation PR Coordinator is
sending out press releases to an email list several times a year. The
challenging and most interesting part is forging connections in the SF community
as well as raising interest and awareness of the SLF. This is a very social
position. If you love going to conventions and talking with other writers,
editors and fans of SF, this might be the job for you. 

Announcements: SLF Members
Publications and Awards
Malon Edwards. "Blurred Edges," a short story by Malon Edwards, is available in
the July 2009 issue of /Expanded Horizons/
<http://expandedhorizons.net/magazine/?page_id=477>. Another short story,
"Johnny Fatlip Meets Lucy Pearl in: Undersea Grand Larceny," will be published
in the upcoming Issue 6 of /Polluto Magazine: the Anti-Pop Culture Journal/
<http://www.polluto.com/issues.htm>.

David Lunde. /300 Tang Poems/ translated and edited by Geoffrey Waters, Michael
Farman and David Lunde has been submitted to the publisher, White Pine Press,
for final edits. It is a new translation of a classic Chinese anthology
originally published around 1763. Very popular, this collection remained in
print in China for centuries, and was last translated into English in 1929.
Sadly, Geoffrey Waters passed away before the completion of the new translation.

Daniel Rabuzzi. ChiZine Publications will launch Daniel A. Rabuzzi
<http://www.fartheryount.com>’s dark fantasy novel, /The Choir Boats/
<http://www.chizine.com/chizinepub/books/choir-boats.php>, along with four other
books at the 67th WorldCon in Montreal on Saturday, August 8 at 7:30, in the
Maisonette Suite 2802. The novel addresses "issues of race, gender, sin and
salvation, and includes a mysterious letter, a purloined locket, mathematics,
smilax root, goat stew and one very fierce golden cat."

Tony Thorne. The 2009 Beach Book Festival Award in the Science Fiction category
went to /Tenerife Tall Tales/ by Tony Thorne <http://www.tonythorne.com>. The
festival highlights the hottest summer season reads and gives awards in several
categories. 

The SLF at Upcoming Conventions
World Fantasy Convention 2009
We will have a table at the World Fantasy Convention (October 29 through
November 1 in San Jose, California), which will celebrate Edgar Allan Poe's
200th birthday. Please stop to meet SLF staff, if you're attending WorldCon
and/or the WFC this year. 

*The Speculative Literature Foundation* is a volunteer-run, non-profit
organization dedicated to promoting the interests of readers, writers, editors
and publishers in the speculative literature community. "Speculative literature"
is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic
literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard and soft science fiction
to epic fantasy to ghost stories to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to
magical realism to modern mythmaking--any literature containing a fabulist or
speculative element. More information about the Speculative Literature
Foundation is available from its website <http://www.speculativeliterature.org>
or by writing to info@speculativeliterature.org.

*Newsletter information:* Suggestions, comments, and information to be included
in the Newsletter may be sent to the Editors David Lunde and Rebecca Rowe at
news@speculativeliterature.org. If you do not wish to continue receiving the
newsletter, write to the same address with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and
be sure to include your name.

*The SLF Newsletter* is a private publication of the Speculative Literature
Foundation. Unless otherwise indicated, permission to reprint, repost, or quote
is expressly denied. Unless explicitly signed by the Director, views contained
within do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Foundation.

David Lunde, Senior Editor
Rebecca Rowe, Associate Editor

Copyright (C) 2009 | Speculative Literature Foundation | All rights reserved.

• Interview with SLF Director
• AWP Conference & WisCon
• Thanks to Our Members
• SLF Grant Updates
• Our Membership Director Deborah Biancotti
• Colin Harvey’s 5 Years
• Karen Meisner, SLF and the Award
• New Staff Additions
• Announcements

Interview with the SLF Director

We caught up with Mary Anne Mohanraj after a long day of writing and teaching. She shared her perspectives on the SLF, writing and the genre. In any conversation with her, it is clear that she’s a practical visionary. When she sees a need, she goes about filling it. That’s what inspired her to launch Clean Sheets, Strange Horizons and later, the
SLF. One of the first foundations to offer resources geared specifically toward science fiction and fantasy writers, the SLF provides small grants and helps genre writers become familiar with the grant application process. Full story see below.

AWP Conference and WisCon 2009
The Speculative Literature Foundation had a table at the 2009 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference held this February 11-14. Late in May, the SLF will also have a table at WisCon in Madison. Please plan to stop by the SLF table, if you’re attending WisCon, WorldCon and/or the WFC this year.

Thanks to Our Members

The SLF would like to thank our new and renewed members for their support, as well as those who donated during the recent membership drive. Through membership purchases and donations, SLF volunteers raised 1,150 dollars. We would also like to thank these dedicated SLF volunteers who made the drive such a success. These funds make possible
our grants and other SLF ventures. Of course, if you would like, it’s possible year-round to become a member or make a donation. Read details here.

SLF Grant Updates

Older Writers Grant – Deadline March 31
There’s still time to apply for the 2009 Older Writers Grant. The SLF will award the 750 dollar grant to a writer who is fifty years of age or older and beginning to work at a professional level. Applications will be considered through March 31, 2009, so please pass along this invitation to apply to anyone eligible. Learn more here.

Gulliver Travel Research Grantee Heads for Mexico
Late last year, the SLF awarded the 2008 Gulliver Travel Research Grant to author Alaya Dawn Johnson. This year she plans to use the 800 dollar grant for travel to Mexico City and other historical sites in Mexico to research her novel. Johnson’s stories have appeared in Fantasy, Interzone and Strange Horizons, and have been reprinted in both the SF&F Year’s Best anthologies edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. Her first novel was published by Agate Publishing in 2007, with the sequel due in 2009. “Alaya’s fiction is lean and muscular but bejeweled with strangeness,” said Colin Harvey, author of Blind Faith, editor of Killers, and the Foundation’s UK travel grant juror. Full
story here.

Our Membership Director Deborah Biancotti
Having served as the Membership Director and Associate Director, Deborah Biancotti is leaving her position due to her many other commitments. Her short stories have received the prestigious Aurealis and Ditmar awards, and she is now working on a novel. Twelfth Planet Press plans to release a collection of her stories this year.

Colin Harvey’s Five Years of Dedication
After five years of volunteer service as the SLF Grant Administrator, Colin Harvey has stepped down from his post to focus on his many projects. His work as one of the grant judges and the administrator has been invaluable to SLF and the authors who have received these grants. Colin is the author of many books, including most recently, Blind
Faith (2008), as well as over twenty short stories in numerous magazines. His upcoming anthology, Future Bristol will be released this Spring 2009.

Karen Meisner, SLF and the Award
Karen Meisner has been with the SLF from its inception and helped shape the organization. Over the years, she has done a ton of work for the SLF, ensuring the Foundation Award was a success, and is now leaving SLF. Karen is the Fiction Editor/Associate Editor of Strange Horizons and working on a novel set in San Francisco.

New Staff Additions

Simone Widney is the new research and personal assistant to the SLF director. Formerly a project manager, Simone found it exciting to volunteer on boards, various coalitions and fundraising banquets. She now resides in Chicago with her husband and two young children, filling her days with parenting, homeschooling and blogging.

Mathew Lindsay (who prefers to be called ‘Mateo’) is a student of Mary Anne’s writing workshop and interning for the SLF while he completes his B.A. His interests range from jazz and philosophy to (of course) fiction. He’s thrilled to work for the SLF, as he learns the business side of writing. His goal is to become a published writer and to complete his first novel by the time he turns forty. About which he says, “Mocking bird, wish me luck!”

Shilpa Sehgal is graduating this May from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in Creative Writing. A former student of Mary Anne’s, she will be interning for SLF this semester. Outside of writing short stories, Shilpa is also involved in Bollywood dance. Her plan is to go into the creative field of advertising, and her ultimate dream is
to run her own classical Indian dance academy within the next ten years.

Announcements:

• Gregory B. Banks had The Summoner released by WheelMan Press in November 2008. It’s become WheelMan Press’ best selling Fantasy ebook, in print for the first time. The story is about Davian, brother of a disgraced former member of the Sacred Order of Permeation, who must contend with a haughty ghost, a brash and beautiful female who may be the most powerful Summoner ever born, and a growing darkness within his own soul, the very same temptations that destroyed his brother three thousand years ago.
• David Lunde ‘s poem “Singularity Song” was published in the February 2009 issue of Asimov’s SF Magazine, and his poem “First Beer on Mars” in the March issue.
• Corie Ralston has the short story, “A Giving Heart,” coming out in Clarkesworld Magazine this Spring.

Interview with Mary Anne (continued)

Q1: What prompted you to establish Clean Sheets and Strange Horizons?

*MAM:* It seemed like there weren’t any erotic magazines out there that didn’t trade in shame or develop content strictly for women. With Clean Sheets (which I ran from 1998-2000), we wanted a magazine that provided
erotic content that was matter-of-fact, anything goes, sweet or edgy, but broad-based for everyone. Strange Horizons started because of a conversation about the lack of places for new authors to get published.
I ran it for two years (2000-2002), and we faced a lot of challenges.

Q2: What kind of challenges did the magazine face?

*MAM:* For starters, our webmaster and two of our fiction editors quit in the first week because they realized they didn’t have the time, but we still managed to get the first issue out on-schedule. Challenges aside, I feel like the magazine accomplished what we set out to do. Even now, while publishing many established authors’ works, Strange
Horizons remains committed to publishing new authors and is for many, their first pro sale.

Q3: Since you founded the SLF to help genre authors, do you find that part of your position as the director is to convince people that the speculative genres are useful and relevant?

*MAM:* It isn’t so much convincing people that speculative fiction is useful and relevant, as convincing them that it’s literary. I find that if they don’t regularly read science fiction or fantasy, then when they do and they like it, they’ll often redefine the story as not genre fiction at all, but literary fiction. The challenge is getting people to realize that often what they like is really speculative fiction. Of course, there’s badly written genre fiction, but there’s just as much
poorly written mainstream fiction out there. /(This is the first part of a two-part interview. Part II focuses on writing and the writing process.)

=================================================

*The Speculative Literature Foundation* is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of readers, writers, editors and publishers in the speculative literature community. “Speculative literature” is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging
from hard and soft science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to magical realism to modern mythmaking–any literature containing a fabulist or speculative element. More information about the Speculative Literature Foundation is available from its website or by writing to info@speculativeliterature.org.

*Newsletter information:* Suggestions, comments, and information to be included in the Newsletter may be sent to the Editors David Lunde and Rebecca Rowe at news@speculativeliterature.org. If you do not wish to continue receiving the newsletter, write to the same address with “unsubscribe” in the subject line and be sure to include your name.

*The SLF Newsletter* is a private publication of the Speculative Literature Foundation. Unless otherwise indicated, permission to reprint, repost, or quote is expressly denied. Unless explicitly signed by the Director, views contained within do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Foundation.

David Lunde, Senior Editor
Rebecca Rowe, Associate Editor

Copyright (C) 2009 | Speculative Literature Foundation | All rights reserved.

In this issue:
Welcome to the second 2008 Newsletter
Denvention/WorldCon in Denver, Colorado
Gulliver Travel Research Grant – September Deadline
SLF Older Writers Grant 2008 Results
October Fund Drive
Foundation Seeks Volunteer Staffers
Announcements

Welcome to the second 2008 SLF Newsletter
Welcome to the second 2008 SLF Newsletter! While this year has flown by, the SLF has been busy. In this issue, we have updates on SLF grants and awards, as well as news about the foundation and our members’ most recent publications. As a reminder, the September 30th submission deadline for the Gulliver Travel Research Grant is swiftly approaching. When you have the chance, be sure to check out the SLF Forums on our website. Also, several volunteer positions are currently available. If you’d like to become more active with the foundation, please consider applying. As always, we appreciate your continued support of the SLF!

Denvention/WorldCon in Denver, Colorado
In August, SLF had a dealers table with seven authors and presses represented at the 66th World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, Colorado. Corie Ralston, the SLF Managing Director, and Colin Harvey staffed the table and sold a total of 34 titles. They met lots of interesting people and had a great time. SLF plans to have a table at the next WorldCon in Montreal, Canada, as well as WisCon and the World Fantasy Convention in 2009.
Gulliver Travel Research Grant – September Deadline
The September 30, 2008 deadline to submit proposals for the Gulliver Travel Research grant is nearly upon us. It is our pleasure to announce that this year, the annual SLF travel grant has been increased to 800 dollars. SLF awards this grant to assist writers of speculative fiction, poetry, drama or creative nonfiction in their research by covering airfare, lodging and/or other travel expenses.

Learn full details on how to apply for the grant here. For additional inquiries, the PR Coordinator is Ashley Gronek at press@speculativeliterature.org.
SLF Older Writers Grant 2008 Results
The fifth annual Older Writers Grant in 2008 has been awarded to Deborah Roggie. Her stories have been published in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Realms of Fantasy, andEidolon, anthologized in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, as well as The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Grant Administrator Malon Edwards said of Roggie’s entry, The Puzzle Tree: “From the beginning, the reader is thoroughly taken with the witch Tamana Sorn. She’s kind, strong-willed but flawed, and extremely intelligent.”

Learn full details about the grant here. For additional inquiries, the PR Coordinator is Ashley Gronek at press@speculativeliterature.org.

October Fund Drive
The SLF is gearing up for a Fund Drive in October. Get ready to donate and receive lots of cool prizes! The funds we raise will go toward grants and awards for writers, tables for the small presses at conventions and increasing public awareness of the amazing, vast landscape of speculative fiction.
Foundation Seeks Volunteer Staffers
If you are interested in volunteering for any of the following positions, or have any questions about the positions, please contact the SLF Director Mary Anne Mohanraj at director@speculativeliterature.org.

Mentorship Program Director
SLF is looking for a Program Director for the Mentorship Program. This six-week program helps new and intermediate writers connect with more established writers to discuss all aspects of writing: craft, publication and all other burning writing-related questions. The Program Director helps solicit mentors, assigns writers to the program, and sets up online discussion areas. According to our previous Director, it’s a lot of fun and not much work once the conversation ball is rolling.

Classifieds Coordinator
SLF is launching a Classifieds area on the website to bring together writers, readers, editors and publishers to trade information and services in the field of speculative fiction. The SLF is looking for a volunteer to manage this section of the site. The coordinator acts as the point of contact for questions about the classifieds and spreads the word in the writing community about the classifieds, vets ads/posts, and works with the SLF website manager to update the site as needed.

Grant Readers Needed
The number of submissions for the Travel Grant and Older Writers Grant has been steadily increasing. While this is definitely a good thing, we now have the need for readers to help out with reviewing and evaluating grant submissions. If you are interested, please email Mary Anne Mohanraj at director@speculativeliterature.org or Corie Ralston at CYRalston@sff.net.

Announcements
Read on for details about our SLF members’ most recent publications and speculative fiction news.
Gregory Bernard Banks was recently interviewed in Fantasy Magazine about how disability is portrayed in Science Fiction and Fantasy, which is available on the Fantasy Magazine website. Most recently, Greg has also had a couple of stories reach numbers “1″ and “2″ in several speculative fiction categories at Amazon Shorts. These stories are: ”The Summoner” and ”Law of the Land”.

Jennifer Dawson’s Flash Me Magazine, is having a fund drive that lasts through October. The magazine accepts donations in any dollar amount. Certain dollar amounts bring instant rewards, while other prizes will be awarded through a drawing at the end of the fund drive. Every donor’s name will be entered into the drawing. Visit Flash Me Magazine for more information, including a list of prizes. Also, Flash Me Magazine will have a table at the 2008 World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, Canada. If you plan to attend WFC this year, make plans to stop by and see the FMM staff! As an aside, Jennifer’s YA story, “Not Quite As It Seems,” was recently published in the Beyond Centauri July 2008 issue.

David Lunde has a book coming out this Fall 2008 published by White Pine Press calledBreaking the Willow, which is a collection of translations of Classical Chinese poetry. He is currently collaborating with Mary Fung on a collection of Chinese Zen poems, and with Mike Farman on the 300 Tang Poems anthology. He also participated in the North Coast Authors’ Fair in Lincoln City along with his wife, Patricia McKillip.
Patricia McKillip is the winner of the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award this year along with the husband and wife artist team of Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon. The awards will be presented to the recipients at the World Fantasy Convention.

Mary Anne Mohanraj had a wonderful time teaching at Clarion this past summer; she misses her students! She recently started a new job as a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, teaching fiction writing and Asian-American literature. Mary Anne also taught a writing workshop out of her home this past summer, as well as an online workshop; she’s tentatively planning on teaching another online workshop in December; watch Mary Anne’s website for details. Her most recent sale is the short story “Sequins” toTumbarumba, a collaborative project of writer Benjamin Rosenbaum and artist Ethan Ham.

Douglas Smith, the award-winning Canadian author, will have his first collection of short fiction, Impossibilia, published this Fall 2008 by the UK press PS Publishing. For further details and/or to order limited jacketed hardcover and hardcover editions, check out Doug’s website .
Lyssa Thorne has a book planned to be released at the end of this year called Embers of the Past published by Double Dragon Publishing, Inc. Her first novel published by DDP came out in January 2007, called Between World and Space.
Tony Thorne has a new flash fiction story in Alien Skin called ”The Potting Shed”. For additional publications and news, check out Tony Thorne’s website.

The Speculative Literature Foundation is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of readers, writers, editors and publishers in the speculative literature community. “Speculative literature” is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard and soft science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to magical realism to modern mythmaking–any literature containing a fabulist or speculative element. More information about the Speculative Literature Foundation is available from its website or by writing toinfo@speculativeliterature.org.

Newsletter information: Suggestions, comments, and information to be included in the Newsletter may be sent to Editor David Lunde at news@speculativeliterature.org. If you do not wish to continue receiving the newsletter, write to the same address with “unsubscribe” in the subject line and be sure to include your name.

The SLF Newsletter is a private publication of the Speculative Literature Foundation. Unless otherwise indicated, permission to reprint, repost, or quote is expressly denied. Unless explicitly signed by the Director, views contained within do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Foundation.

David Lunde, Senior Editor
Rebecca Rowe, Associate Editor

Copyright (C) 2008 | Speculative Literature Foundation | All rights reserved.

• Welcome to the first 2008 Newsletter
• SLF Older Writers Grant and 2007 Results
• The Gulliver Travel Research Grant and 2007 Results
• Awards in the Field
• Participation in the SLF Small Press Co-operative
• Re-launching the SLF Forums
• SLF Seeks Volunteer Staffers
• Meeting New Members of the SLF Staff
• New Anthology Available

Welcome to the first 2008 SLF Newsletter

Welcome to the first 2008 SLF Newsletter! You may not have seen us in a while, but this year promises to bring the full return of the SLF, with many new staff additions and a revitalization of several programs, including the

Mentorship Program and the Fountain Award. We are also re-launching the forums and are planning on opening a Classifieds section of the website. To help us in our mission, we have several new volunteer positions open (see below). Thank you for your continuing support of the SLF!

–Corie Ralston, SLF Managing Director

SLF Older Writers Grant

The final day for submitting 2008 applications for the fifth annual Older

Writers Grant closed today, March 31, and this year’s winner will be announced June 1, 2008. The grant is intended to assist writers who are fifty years of age or older at the time of grant application, and who are just starting to work at a professional level. One 750 dollar grant is offered, to be used as the writer determines will best assist his or her work. Learn full details about the grant here. http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFOlderWriters.php.

2007 SLF Older Writers Grant Results

The fourth annual Older Writers Grant was awarded to Hilary Wilce, journalist

and writer. Grant Administrator Malon Edwards said of Wilce’s entry, /After

Beauville the Road Changed/, “The reader is immediately thrust into a

deliciously creepy story from the onset. A subtle, macabre atmosphere is set

with excellent imagery, which includes a decrepit house sitting on untended

grounds and unsettling, disturbed children. This is a rural French countryside few see, and none ever want to see again.” More details here

http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFOlderWriters/OlderWritersGrant2007.php

The Gulliver Travel Research Grant

One SLF travel grant of 600 dollars is awarded annually to assist writers

(speculative fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction) in their research by covering airfare, lodging and/or other travel expenses. Travel grant

applications will be considered from July 1 through September 30, 2008. Learn

full details on how to apply for the grant here.

http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFTravelGrant.php

2007 Travel Research Grant Results

The Travel Research Grant was awarded to author Matt Hughes for travel to

Seville, Ecuador, to research records concerning the Spanish Inquisition and

the history of a local family for a historical novel with elements of magical

realism. Hughes’ novels have been published by Warner Aspect, Tor, the Science Fiction Book Club, Night Shade Books, Pocket Books, PS Publishing, Robert J. Sawyer Books, Maxwell Macmillan Canada, and Doubleday Canada. More details here

http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFTravelGrant/TravelGrant2007.php

Awards in the Field

2008 Crawford Fantasy Award

The winner of the 2008 Crawford Fantasy Award is Christopher Barzak for his

first novel,/One for Sorrow/ (Bantam). Sponsored by the International

Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, the award recognizes an outstanding first book of fantasy published during the preceding year and is presented at the association’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Other titles on this year’s shortlist included: Laird Barron, /The Imago Sequence/ (Night Shade); Ron Currie, Jr., /God is Dead/ (Viking); Ellen Klages, /Portable Childhoods/ (Tachyon); and Ysabeau Wilce, /Flora Segunda/ (Harcourt).

Announcements

Participation in the SLF Small Press Co-operative

The SLF Small Press Co-operative offers a unique opportunity for small presses within the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres to co-operate on projects and exchange useful information. Membership is currently free. All that SLF asks is that members place a small, 100 x 100 pixel button on their websites (when applicable). Jennifer Dawson is updating members’ information, so please let her know if your listing needs to be added or updated. Members can also contact Jennifer at webcoord@speculativeliterature.org with suggestions for content and/or programs the SLF Small Press Co-operative should consider offering. We also encourage all Small Press Co-operative

members to become institutional members of the SLF. More details about the SLF Small Press Co-operative

http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Programs/SLF_coop.php>

Re-launching SLF Forums

The foundation has new and improved SLF Forums with lots of additional

features thanks to the work of Greg Banks. The new forums provide much more

flexibility. Among the features available with the new forums are calendars

for posting events, uploading articles with layout formatting, and many other

options, such as an image gallery. Before announcing the forums to the public, we would like to give SLF members a chance to explore the new SLF

forums. Please go to this link, register and take a look.

http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Community/>

SLF Seeks Volunteer Staffers

If you are interested in volunteering for any of the following positions, or

have any questions about the positions, please contact the SLF Director Mary

Anne Mohanraj at director@speculative literature.org.

Mentorship Program Director

This program helps beginning writers connect with, and gather advice from,

experienced writers. The Director is responsible for reviewing applications

for the program, assigning writers to mentors and setting up private

discussion areas (such as on Yahoo) for each mentor.

Fundraising Assistant

This person will help Mary Anne with fundraising for the SLF, including

arranging readings, writing grants and applying for sponsorships from

organizations.

Classifieds Coordinator

We will be opening a Classifieds area on the website to bring together

writers, readers, editors and publishers to trade information and services in

the field of speculative fiction. The SLF is looking for a volunteer to manage this section of the site.

Meeting New Members of the SLF Staff

Jennifer Dawson is the new Web Content Coordinator. She has always had a love

of the written word. Her passion for reading inspired her career as a writer

and an editor. Concentrating mostly on fantasy works, she occasionally dabbles in science fiction and poetry. Her work has been published online in places like /EOTU Magazine/ and /Flashshot/. She is the owner of Winged Halo Productions <http://www.wingedhalo.com/info.html>, a web design and publishing company and Editor-in-Chief of /Flash Me Magazine/

<http://flashme.wingedhalo.com>, an online magazine for stories under 1,000

words. She currently resides with her husband and their three children in

Illinois.

Malon Edwards is the new Grant Administrator. Malon (pronounced May-lon) was

born and raised in Chicago. He is a Media Relations Specialist for a school

district in his home state of Illinois and also writes. He’s been reading

science fiction and astronomy books since he was eight years old, and both

fueled his desire to write, especially Frank Herbert’s/Dune/. At the

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, he majored in Rhetoric with a

Creative Writing focus. Malon has had short stories published, both

speculative fiction and literary fiction. He is also a freelance writer and

contributor to an online underground music magazine. Currently, he’s working

on a collection of short stories based in a not too distant Chicago. His wife

Anne and he have a four year old daughter and a 16 month old son.

Genevieve is also new on staff. She is an academic librarian at a small-ish

liberal arts institution in the Northwest and an occasional freelance writer.

Recently, Genevieve received her first fiction acceptance notice–the first of many, no doubt–and also writes professional and scholarly articles in her field.

Corie Ralston is the new SLF Managing Director. She is a staff scientist at

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and likes to describe herself as a “customer

support scientist.” She manages several x-ray crystallography beamlines and

helps other scientists collect x-ray data, which is used to solve protein

structures. She has always loved reading and writing speculative fiction, and

she manages to squeeze in writing time between work, karate, running and

fostering high-energy kittens. She has sold stories to /Strange

Horizons/, /Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet/, and a variety of other

venues. More details here <http://www.sff.net/people/cyralston/>

New Anthology Available

Gregory Bernard Banks, co-webmaster for the SLF, has a new book due out April

14./Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death and Life/ (2nd edition), is a newly

revised and expanded collection of 21 short stories. The book will be

published by Banks’ own WheelMan Press. In addition, WheelMan Press has

officially launched its website <http://www.wheelmanpress.com/>. It not only

serves as home for WheelMan Press, but also as a resource supporting all

independent presses and the Speculative Fiction field.

The Speculative Literature Foundation* is a volunteer-run, non-profit

organization dedicated to promoting the interests of readers, writers, editors and publishers in the speculative literature community. “Speculative

literature” is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of

fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard and soft

science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to folk and fairy tales to

slipstream to magical realism to modern mythmaking–any literature containing

a fabulist or speculative element. More information about the Speculative

Literature Foundation is available from its website

<http://www.speculativeliterature.org> or by writing to info@speculativeliterature.org.

*Newsletter information:* Suggestions, comments, and information to be

included in the Newsletter may be sent to Editor David Lunde

at news@speculativeliterature.org. If you do not wish to continue receiving

the newsletter, write to the same address with “unsubscribe” in the subject

line and be sure to include your name.

*The SLF Newsletter* is a private publication of the Speculative Literature

Foundation. Unless otherwise indicated, permission to reprint, repost, or

quote is expressly denied. Unless explicitly signed by the Director, views

contained within do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Foundation.

David Lunde, Senior Editor

Rebecca Rowe, Associate Editor

Copyright (C) 2008 | Speculative Literature Foundation | All rights reserved.

_____________________________________________________

In this issue:
SLF Older Writer’s Grant Applications Open
Travel Research Grant 2006 Results
Website Updates
______________________________________________________

SPECULATIVE LITERATURE FOUNDATION (SLF) OLDER WRITER’S
GRANT

Older writer grant applications are considered from October
1st to December 31st.

The SLF Older Writer’s Grant is awarded annually to a
writer who is fifty years of age or older at the time of
grant application, and is intended to assist such writers
who are just starting to work at a professional level. We
are currently offering two $500 grants annually, to be used
as the writers determine will best assist their work.

This grant will be awarded by a committee of SLF staff
members on the basis of merit. Factors considered will
include:

> a short (less than 500 words) autobiographical statement,
describing the writer and his/her work thus far; be sure to
include date of birth;

> a writing sample (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of
drama, or 10,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction–
if sending a segment of a novel, novella, or novelette,
please include a one-page synopsis as well);

> 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 provide a
brief excerpt from their work, and an autobiographical
statement describing themselves and their writing (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).

Older Writer’s Grant Application Procedures
1. Send the three items listed above to our Older Writer’s
Grant administrators, M.J. Goodner, Sandra Kasturi and
Sheree Thomas, as attached .doc files, to
olderwriters@speclit.org. Please include a brief cover
letter with your name and contact information (email and
phone in case of emergency). If you have questions, direct
them to that same address.

2. Older Writer’s Grant applications will be considered
from October 1st to December 31st, annually. Applications
received outside that period will be discarded unread.

3. The grant recipient will be announced by March 1,
annually. All applicants will be notified of the status of
their application by that date.

Please visit http://www.speclit.org for more information.

TRAVEL RESEARCH GRANT 2006 RESULTS

The SLF is delighted to announce the results of our 2006
Travel Research Grant judging!

The Travel Research Grant is awarded to assist a writer
(speculative fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction)
in his or her research. The 2006 Travel Research Grant
includes $600 to be used to cover airfare, lodging and/or
other travel expenses. The grant is awarded by a committee
of SLF members on the basis of interest and merit. Our
jurors for 2006 were: Tiffany Jonas, editorial and
publisher for Aio Publishing Co, LLC in the United States ,
and Colin Harvey, author of Lightning Days, in the United
Kingdom .

Winner:
Sharon Zink

Sharon will use the grant to research the history of female
astronauts and undertake basic flight training in her
research for a fabulist novel, involving travel to NASA
Headquarters Library in Washington , DC , Kennedy Space
Center in Florida and Johnson Space Center in Houston .

Sharon has published poetry and short fiction in
publications such as the More Words in Edgewise poetry
anthology, Rain in the Upper Floor Cafe poetry anthology,
Carve and Alt Future: New Writing from Brighton . Her short
story, “Lobsters,” was translated into Spanish and
published in the Mexican national paper El Independiente.
She has been named the winner of Writers Inc. Writers of
the Year in the short story category, awarded two Arts
Council Free Reads by The South and The Literacy
Consultancy, and short-listed for the Raymond Carver
International Short Story Award. Her short story “Dust” is forthcoming in The New Writer magazine.

The jurors will offer comments on Sharons ‘ writing sample
and grant applicaton in November at the SLF website:
http://www.speculativeliterature.org. Please check the SLF
website for more on the recipient of this year’s grant!

WEBSITE UPDATES

Resources: Magazines

Magazines:
Electric Spec: http://www.electricspec.com

A semi-pro ezine featuring shockingly good short works of
science fiction, fantasy and the macabre. Electric Spec was
founded in 2005, publishes issues three times per year, and
pays authors $20 per story.

Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly:
http://helixsf.com/index.htm
“Helix is a magazine of speculative fiction published
electronically by the Legends group, an unincorporated
association. Issues are published in January, April, July
and October.” They are not currently accepting unsolicited
manuscripts.

Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show:
http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com
Science fiction and fantasy e-zine.

Resources: College/University: Film

Film:
Learning Theory Through Pop Culture:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/%7Efelluga/pop/
Graduate course created by D. F. Felluga.

Science Fiction Film: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/sffilm/shorthtml.html
An online syllabus by E.K. Sparks.

Resources: Literature

Literature:
Fantasy and Speculative Fiction:
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/courses/listing.jsp?CID=17%3A
611%3A542
“This course offers professionals serving middle and high
school students the opportunity to increase your
appreciation and knowledge of fantasy and speculative
fiction through intense reading and discussion of
representative works.”

Fantasy and World Literature:
http://www.umass.edu/complit/ogscl/syllabi/JenRogers
Fantasy.htm
Course by Jennifer Rodgers. Texts include: Orson Scott
Card, Ender’s Game; Lewis Carroll, Alice ‘s Adventures in
Wonderland; Neil Gaiman, Season of Mists; Mercedes Lackey,
Magic’s Pawn; and Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age.

Science Fiction:
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/dial/sfclass/03SYLSF.htm
Syllabus for English 356 class taught by E.K. Sparks.

Science Fiction: Literature & Film:
http://earthshine.org/sf
Popular culture course taught by Dr. Gerald Lucas. Syllabus
available online for download.

Science Fiction(al) Syllabus:
http://www.english.uiowa.edu/faculty/landon/brooks/tlucht/
mysf-syllabus.html
Proposed SF syllabus by Thorven Lucht.

SF&F: Learning Theory Through Pop Culture:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/sf/
“This course will posit that speculative fiction
(specifically, the speculative fiction one finds on
television and film) represents one of the only still
viable generic forms that deals with the present in an
allegorical form.” English 373 course created by D. F.
Felluga. **This is an updated version of a course
previously linked through SLF.**

NOTE: If you know of a relevant link that’s not yet posted
on our site, please email it to us.
_________________________________________________________

Newsletter information:
Suggestions, comments, and information to be included in
the Newsletter may be sent to Editor David Lunde at
news@speculativeliterature.org. If you do not wish to
continue receiving the newsletter, write to the same
address with “unsubscribe” in the subject line and be sure
to include your name.

The SLF Newsletter is a private publication of the
Speculative Literature Foundation. Unless otherwise
indicated, permission to reprint, repost, or quote is
expressly denied. Unless explicitly signed by the Director,
views contained within do not necessarily reflect the
official views of the Foundation.

David Lunde, Senior Editor
Rebecca Rowe, Associate Editor