In this issue:
- 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
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*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.