Archive for March 10th, 2010

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.