This is a bit fluffy for me, but Norilana Press Books is calling for submissions for a new anthology of science fiction stories with strong female protagonists. The anthology is being imagined as a sister series to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress series, with the major difference that Warrior Wisewoman is science fiction instead of fantasy.
The anthology is paying 2 cents a word. Here’s some text from the call, written by the anthology’s editor Roby James:
“I am looking for stories that shed light on the truth of what it means to be female, that illuminate the wisdom and the strength of a woman, but not in cliché ‘goddess’ stories. I love action and adventure, grand space opera, thrilling discovery, and intelligent protagonists. Make the story thoughtful, wise, and surprising, not merely the same old metal spaceship hull filled with cardboard military uniforms with female names ‘barking’ orders and firing at aliens. In addition, the stories in the anthology should appeal to genuine emotions, suspense, fear, sorrow, delight, wonder. The science can be part of the background and the characters foremost, or the science can be central to the story, as long as the characters are realistic and appealing.
“This is science fiction, but I also welcome stories of spiritual exploration, looking at the bond between the scientific and the divine. I want to see how a woman survives tragedy and disaster, overcomes impossible odds, achieves her true potential, or goes on to thrive in a marvelous universe of so many possibilities, using what is inside her, as well as what she finds in the laboratory, the alien planet, or space itself.
“The stories should contain the question of ‘what if’ on some level. And they should have a woman answer it.”
The description of what the editor’s looking for rubs me a bit the wrong way, but I think this is probably overall a good thing for the genre. Sword and Sorceress put women’s faces on fantasy stories written in extremely traditional modes, perhaps Warrior Wisewoman can do the same for traditional SF.
Maybe some of y’all can send some gender-bending metal stories Ruby James’s way. Or, if you’re not a writer, you might want to consider picking this book up when it comes out.
Thanks for the re-post of the announcement, but please note that the name of the publisher is “Norilana Books,” not “Press.”
Thanks, Vera. I fixed it on the Aqueduct Press blog, too.
Two cents a word? Damn, I feel guilty paying people five cents a word for nonfiction.
Supply and demand in action, Robert.
But fiction is harder to write.
Stupid writers and their refusal to rationally value time!
Oh well, it’s a living.
“Oh well, it’s a living.”
Actually with short stories, it isn’t.
I meant for me ;). I have a writing and editing services company.
Everyone knows that (fiction) writers can’t earn a living. But that’s OK, surely they’re used to it by now. (Woohoo, payday! Now I can get the REAL ramen instead of the Safeway brand.)
Well, there are a few jackpot winners…
…although since I post here for free instead of turning that political energy into $$$ articles, clearly I’m not a candidate for Likely Businesswoman.
Professional leeching, here I come!
although since I post here for free instead of turning that political energy into $$$ articles
Activism: sucking the life out of promising careers since 1871.
Actually with short stories, it isn’t.
exactly. Novel writers can make a living doing it, so they’re more prone to self censorship and boilerplate. Short fiction is where the mind experiments, art can be created, and you know they’re only doing it for the creative effort, because they can’t actually earn a living doing it.
and yes, I do believe artists SHOULD be able to make a living being creative, but in the current enviroment, I’m more likely to pick up a literary magazine of short fiction than some random novel at a book store. page count is about the same, and the artistic worth is probably going to be higher. but that’s besides the point.
Seems interesting. I look forward to reading it. I’d even submit something, but I doubt I’d make the deadline, but who knows. I’d been kicking around participating in NaNoWriMo this year, if I keep it shorter, I might actually finish by the deadline.
Because you can be female and over the age of 20 and still have an adventure. But you wouldn’t know it from fantasy and scifi. Female protagonists are universally young, and older protagonists are universally male.
Which lit mags do you recommend for finding experiments? I’ve found the academic mags to be disappointing in this regard. Offhand I’d think of McSweeney’s and Zoetrope… am I missing lots of great stuff (I hope)?
I was speaking more hypothetically than not, I haven’t had much of a budget for whim bookshopping for a few years (which makes me sad) But I do tend to enjoy short story anthologies in general.
typically, you’ll get very good short fiction, often experimental in regional lit journals, but their fiction tends to snobbishly avoid fantasy and SF. Omni WAS a fantastic publication, I had a subscription as a teenager. I’m trying to dig now, see if I can find any of the old magazines I used to buy that are still in print (I’m skeptical of that, sadly.)
“typically, you’ll get very good short fiction, often experimental in regional lit journals”
This is what hasn’t so much been my experience, though I’m happy to be proven wrong.
I’m pretty well aware of the F/SF markets. I never read Omni (too young at the time) but it’s definitely sad that Ellen Datlow, since the death of SciFiction, no longer has a periodical market for editing short fiction.
your best bet really is just look at the lit mags at the store and flip through until something catches your eye. that was my standard method when I was buying regularly.