Archive for October, 2004

In this issue:
Winner of first SLF Travel Grant
New SLF Homepage
SLF Co-op at World Fantasy Convention
Website additions/Call for volunteers
____________________________________________________

* First SLF Travel Grant Winner:

The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) is
delighted to announce that its first annual Travel
Grant has been awarded to Nora Jemison. The $600
grant will be used to help Nora research Native
American cultures as they existed pre-colonization for
a fantasy novel and series of short stories. The
travel will be to the Navajo National Monument in
Arizona and to Monument Valley in Utah. Ms. Jemison
has published science fiction and fantasy short
stories in Flashshot, Eternally Erotic (eBook
anthology), Ideomancer (forthcoming), and Dark Sins
and Desires Unveiled (anthology; forthcoming).

Ms. Jemison said: “Over the past few years I have had
a strong interest in blending ‘high fantasy’ tropes
with non-European cultures, characters, and themes. I
would like to explore the concept that ancient Egypt
and/or Nubia may have had contact with the Americas
lon g before European discovery. My hope is to explore
the universal impact of colonization, through the lens
of a fantasy Egyptian and fantasy pre-Columbian native
South American society.”

SLF’s Award Coordinators were an international team
comprising Tiffany Jonas in the USA and Colin Harvey
in the UK. Tiffany said: “While we received several
excellent applications, Nora Jemison’s story sample
was the standout. With a cultural and culinary
emphasis reminiscent of Joanne Harris (Chocolat, Five
Quarters of an Orange), the characters jump off the
page, and the reader can nearly taste the garlic and
onion, the seared meat, and the pappardelle. Nora’s
synopsis of the novel she intends to write using
research partially funded by the travel grant is
intriguing and unique.”

Further details of SLF’s Travel Grant program can be
found at:
http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Awards/SLFTravelGrant.php.

Applications for next year’s Travel Grant will open on
July 1st, 2005.

* New SLF Homepage:

It was decided this month that our website had become
complex enough that a sitemap would display its
contents more clearly and facilitate navigation
between areas. Working from an outline provided by
Director Mohanraj (with considerable tweaking and
critiquing by other staff) our incomparable webmasters
Greg Banks and Kaolin Fire have created a super new
SLF homepage. Check it out and let us know what you
think.

* Small Press Co-op at World Fantasy Convention:

We had modest returns at this convention, selling about $300 in texts and a few new memberships in the SLF. The texts that did best were those whose authors were present at the convention (doing readings or panels), or those with particularly attractive covers. Quite a few people did stop by and ask about the co-operative, and some new presses said they planned on joining. Overall, I’d say it was a quiet but generally productive convention for us, and we plan to attend again next year.

–Mary Anne Mohanraj

* Website Additions/Call for Volunteers:

In order to continue to update and expand the content of the SLF’s website, we need a committed staff of volunteers to search the web for related sites and recruit new web content. If interested, please email webcoord@speculativeliterature.org. Thanks!

–Shannan Palma, Webcontent Coordinator

ACADEMICS
ASSOCIATIONS / CONFERENCES
The Science Fiction Foundation: http://www.sf-foundation.org/index.html
“Semi-autonomous association of writers, academics, critics and others with an active interest in science fiction.” Publishes the journal Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction. “Our aim is to promote science fiction and bring together those who read, write, study, teach, research or archive science fiction in Britain and the rest of the world.”

WRITERS
MARKET LISTINGS
Challenging Destiny: http://challengingdestiny.com
Canadian science fiction and fantasy short story magazine published by Crystalline Sphere Publishing

WRITERS’ ORGANIZATIONS
International Women’s Writing Guild: www.iwwg.org
P.O. Box 810, Gracie Station; New York, NY 10028-0082;
Tel: (212)737-7536 / Fax:(212)737-9469 / E-mail: dirhahn@aol.com
Network founded in 1976 for the “personal and professional empowerment of women through writing.”

CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAMS
UPDATED LISTING!
Seton Hill University: http://www.setonhill.edu/academics/wpf_homepage.cfm?ACID=102
One Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA; E- mail: lynn@setonhill.edu

Seton Hill University’s unique Master of Arts in Writing Popular
Fiction teaches students to write marketable novels in popular
genres like mystery, romance, science fiction, horror, and
fantasy. Additional specialties include literature for children
and adolescents, and cross-genre blends like romantic suspense or
young adult mysteries. Students attend two week-long, on-campus
residencies each year to master the core elements of fiction
writing and effective marketing and to gain inspiration from
faculty mentors and special guests, all published authors in
genre fiction. Established authors mentor students one-on-one as
they work toward completing a market-ready manuscript from home.
Readings, classes, and on-line discussion about the history,
trends, and techniques of genre fiction add depth to the
student’s experience.

PUBLISHERS
Ace Books, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014; Susan Allison,
E ditor-in-Chief.

AIO Publishing Company, LLC (www.aiopublishing.com) Tiffany Jonas,
Editorial Director. P.O. Box 30788, Charleston, SC 29417. “Our books focus on the humanity in science fiction, not on the technology…We prefer a sociological, psychological, or political emphasis, with all the intrigue that can come with it.”

Avon Books, (Avon Eos, SF & F), 1350 Avenue of the Americas, Room
231, New York, NY 10019; Attn: Avon Editorial.

Bantam Spectra Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036; Anne
Lesley Groell, Editor. No unsolicited mss. Agented queries and
mss. only.

Bella Books, P.O. Box 10543, Tallahassee, FL 32302; Tel: (800)
729-4992; www.bellabooks.com. Publishes titles by and about
lesbians: “General lesbian fiction, romance, mystery/thriller,
sci-fi/fantasy, and erotica.”

Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016.
Submit through agent only.

DAW Books, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014; Peter Stampfel,
Submission Editor.

Del Rey Books, 201 E. 50th Street, New York, NY 10022. Veronica
Chapman and Steve Saffel, Sr. Eds. Query with outline and 3
sample chapters.

Fairwood Press (www.fairwoodpress.com), Patrick & Honna Swenson, Editors & Publishers, 5203 Quincy Avenue SE, Auburn, WA 98092. Publishers of Talebones magazine. No unsolicited manuscripts. Send query letter, but new works are not being acquired by the submission process presently.

Rising Tide Press, P.O. Box 30457, Tucson, AZ 85751; Tel: (800)
311-3565; www.risingtidepress.com. “RTP exists to serve and
document the ascendancy of women–in their personal lives and in
their public roles within society.” Heterosexual and lesbian
adventure, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, non-fiction, and
romance.

TSR, Inc., www.tsr.com. Work for hire. Game-related, shared world
fantasy novels. See submissions info at
www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/main/submissions.

Wheatland Press (www.wheatlandpress.com), Deborah Layne, Publisher and
Fiction Editor; Jay Lake, Fiction Co-Editor; P.O. Box 1818, Wilsonville, OR 97070. Publishers of the Polyphony anthology series as well as other books.